Sharma Written: May 20, 2003 From the early days. Tantric Dom ftw. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Elijah’s eyes drifted open, unfocused, the first thought that entered his mind was: Why am I awake? Facing the wall, he couldn’t see the clock, but he knew it was early. Unforgivably early. The angle of pink light from the eastern window was too low, and the air coming through it was still raw with night chill and heavy with fresh dew. He blinked slowly, still confused, and then realization set in as he rolled over sluggishly and looked at the expanse of bed beside him. There was only one thing that could pull Elijah Wood out of a sound sleep in the hour after dawn on one of his rare and precious days off. Come to think of it, there was only one thing that could pull Elijah Wood out of a sound sleep at all. He stared at the empty pillow and the Dom-shaped hollow in the wrinkled sheets, and then squinted at the room around him. He cocked an ear toward the bathroom, but heard nothing. There was no sound anywhere, and the morning sun jabbed his eyes as he hitched up onto one elbow and called out softly. "Dom?" When there was no reply, the sleep began to dissolve from Elijah’s brain and he threw back the sheet, now thoroughly confused and a little alarmed. The hard floor was cold under his bare feet as he padded softly in his boxers into the next room. The sunlight was brighter in the living room, clear pink and gold pouring in from the open windows. Their white drapes stirred and flowed in the crisp morning breeze, billowing in around the open sliding glass doors. The draft calmed, and the wispy material fell back to reveal the figure of Dom sitting cross-legged on the floor just inside the doors. Elijah’s eyes widened. Dominic sat perfectly motionless, his back arrow-straight and the tops of his bare feet resting on each thigh. The thin white cotton of his pajama pants sat low on his hipbones, its crisp folds fluttering in the open air. His calm face shone in the rising sun, eyes closed and hands poised lightly on the back of each knee, palms up. His bare chest rose and fell with each slow breath. The only other motion in his entire being was the occasional stir of a lock of hair in the breeze. He sat facing the sun, absorbing the wide expanse of the New Zealand dawn, oblivious to Elijah’s presence, and glowed soft-edged white in the early sunlight. Elijah realized his mouth was open and closed it. His confusion dissipated as he realized Dom was meditating. It occurred to him that, despite listening to Dom trying to proselytize everyone for months, telling Billy he should give up "that kung-fu shite" and start "practicing" with him, Elijah had never actually seen Dom do his yoga thing. The few weeks since he had moved in had been too hectic, and this was their first morning off together in almost a month. It also occurred to Elijah that he had never actually seen Dominic remain still for so long without being asleep. And now here he was, sitting serenely like Buddha with his long fingers curled into circles on his palms, and amidst the sharp smell of fresh morning air Elijah could just catch a faint whiff of incense. He smiled, and was just about to move forward into the room with a loud remark about Bodhisattva, when Dom suddenly and smoothly rose to his feet like the uncurling of a flower in time-lapse and Elijah froze where he stood, his eyes going round as the last trace of sleep dissolved in his brain and was replaced by complete amazement. He moved back a step, out of peripheral vision, and stood transfixed with wonder as Dominic began to move. His arms swept out in a slow circle and came together overhead, long and deliberate as if moving through water. His fingers intertwined, laced together palms up above him, and he leaned back a fraction and drew in a deep breath until his stomach went concave above the loose white pants and his ribcage spread like wings. Every line in his body grew taut with held-back energy, but his face remained passive and still and his closed eyelids did not so much as flutter. Before Elijah could even comprehend the beauty of him standing stretched and shining in the brightening light, the breath Dom had taken rushed out from between parted lips and his body folded double at the waist, curving downward until his palms came to rest flat and parallel on either side of his feet. The tension he held back ran down his spine and through his arms into the floor. His head hung loosely, neck soft and hair swaying slightly, and his nose pressed into the folds of white cloth between his knees. Blue-painted toes flexed and wiggled once between his splayed fingers. A heartbeat later and he opened and extended, rolling like crystals in a kaleidoscope, smooth and seamless, lunging down and forward onto his right foot until his chest pressed hard into his straining knee. His left leg stretched out behind him, instep flat on the smooth hardwood floor, while at the same moment his head lifted to face the sun. He rested on the palms of his hands, arms straight and eyes closed, and the muscles in his thighs and legs bunched and flexed into solid lines of force beneath the now-taut fabric of his pants. A deep breath in, and soft rush out, and the right leg went back to join the left as Dom prostrated himself flat on the floor, arms bent sharply and shoulder-blades shifting until they nearly touched. The muscles of his back rolled smoothly as he pushed his torso up off the floor, lifting and arching and bending his head backwards until his body formed a perfect seamless curve from the breeze-blown hair to the splayed toes of his feet. His eyes finally opened, directed upwards into unknown heights, wide and clear and pale blue-tinged silver in the morning light. Elijah watched all of this graceful dance in silence, fascinated. Gone were the ticks and twitches of Dom’s usual frenetic hyperactivity, replaced by a low hum of energy that blurred just underneath his skin. Dominic moved like a serpent over clean sand, coiling and uncoiling with fluid ease, and Elijah was entranced by the strange and sinuous beauty of it. Dom shifted from one pose to the next in a deliberate slow motion, constantly moving yet seeming suspended and still at the same time. Another breeze drifted in through the room, making Elijah hug his bare arms against the chill, but the gooseflesh that spread across his body had nothing to do with the temperature. Dom blinked at the ceiling, once, twice, and then his eyes slid shut again as he dipped his head and pushed his pelvis up and off the floor, the curve of his body breaking and bending upwards, back and back until it formed a perfect upside-down V between stretching arms and straightened legs. He inched back further, head down, body elongating, arms reaching and fingers spread like a cat scratching on carpet. He stretched to the limit for the space of a heartbeat, and then his head lifted as he surged forward and lunged out onto his left foot, stretching his right leg behind him in a mirror of his earlier pose. The beads around his left ankle clicked together softly with the movement. Now he was staring clearly into the distance, out over the treetops and into the brightening sun, eyes focused and lucid but retaining a dreamlike softness. He drew in a long, deep breath, and released it gently through parted lips. With a push of his left thigh he rose to his feet and bent double once more, palms spread flat beside his feet and nose tucked neatly between his knees. And then he rolled up, slowly, uncurling and unfolding like a stem until he stood upright and perfectly straight. His arms swung out in a long graceful arc and met palm to palm over his head, and he drew them downward in front of him to rest gently against his chest. His eyes fell closed, and the crystals in the kaleidoscope rolled to a stop. The wind chimes clinked together from somewhere outside. Elijah released a breath he did not realize he had been holding. Dom’s hands sprang apart and he turned his head; when he saw Elijah standing there, his startled expression faded back into a small and tranquil smile. His hands dropped to his sides. "Good morning," he said. Elijah stared at him, standing half-turned and luminous, the thin white pajama pants now clinging to his body in a sudden draft. He felt that he’d broken the spell somehow, and he wished he could have remained unnoticed awhile longer. His voice sounded harsh and jarring in his ears when he tried to speak. "Dom... that was beautiful." He waited for the snap, for the cocked eyebrow and twitching fingers and angled smirk as Dom made a smartassed remark. But the air around Dom remained placid and heavy, and the tranquil smile only warmed and softened. "Want to try it?" Taking Elijah’s silent gape as an affirmative, he lifted one finger and beckoned. "Come on, then." Elijah stepped across the room and stood before the open sliding glass door. He faced Dom, chewing on a forefinger. He suddenly felt very gangly and awkward. He said dazedly, "Dom, I don’t think— I wouldn’t even know where to start." "I start with that progression every morning. It’s called the Surya Namaskara — the Sun Salutation. You do it first thing, to warm up a bit." "That was a warm-up?" Elijah looked doubly doubtful. Dom put a hand on his shoulder. "Don’t worry, Lij, I won’t put you in any weird pretzel poses yet." He glanced downward briefly. "Especially not in those shorts." He turned Elijah towards the sun and said, "Let’s just start with breathing. Have a seat." They sat side by side, straight-backed and cross-legged on the wooden floor. Dom folded his feet up into his lap as they had been when Elijah had entered, and said, "This is called the lotus position. It takes a bit of practice but after some—" "Like this?" Elijah’s feet twisted up and sat on his thighs nearly where they met his hips. Dom shook his head. "It took me weeks of stretching every day to be able to do that. I can barely manage full cobra pose even now." "The what?" "Cobra pose. It’s where you lie on your stomach and rest the soles of your feet against the back of your head." "Oh! I can already—" "Elijah?" "Yes?" "You’re disturbing my karma." "Sorry." "Now relax." Dom turned his head to face the sun, eyes drifting closed, and rested the backs of his hands on the top of each knee. His fingers relaxed and curled inward. Elijah watched him, fascinated. "Draw a deep breath in through your nose, really slow, and hold it for four heartbeats. Then let it out through your mouth, slowly. Not too hard." He demonstrated, his ribcage expanding and head lifting slightly as he inhaled, relaxed and calm, and then let the air rush out of him in a steady stream. "This is called Tantric breathing." Elijah was becoming mesmerized by the pulse in Dom’s throat, but his eyes perked up at that word. "Tantric? You mean like Sting?" Dom’s lips curved upward. "Close your eyes, Elijah." Elijah did so, turning his head and extending his hands to duplicate Dom’s posture, and took in a long inhalation of crisp air until his nostrils tingled. He held it, counting out four thudding heartbeats, and then released it in a soft whirr from between his lips. A dizzying head rush ran through him like a wave, and then his entire body relaxed around him, and he would have slumped if he hadn’t been holding his spine so rigid. "Whoa," he whispered. "Now let’s do it together." They breathed in unison, drawing in and in and in, holding on for four long moments, and rushing out and out and out. Elijah could hear his heartbeat like a kettle drum in his ears, and if he didn’t know better he would have sworn he could hear Dom’s as well, thumping slowly and synchronizing into the same hypnotic rhythm. They took a second breath, and Elijah could feel the fully-risen sun crawling warmth up his face, and smell a tinge of bittersweet incense mingling with the still-cool morning air. Dominic’s voice was low and languid. "When you get comfortable with this, we can move on to a few starting positions. You should be able to go straight into some of the more intricate ones." Another extended breath, and Elijah could feel the energy he had seen shimmering beneath Dom’s skin beginning to prickle and stir in his own flesh. He could smell Dom this close to him, clean and vital, and remembered in his mind’s eye the rolling motion of his back muscles as he pushed his body upwards from the floor. "Dom?" "Mmm?" "What kind of positions?" He could hear Dom’s smile grow wider. "Concentrate, Elijah." As his body opened with the next breath, Elijah sensed himself slipping out of the last traces of chilly sleep and into the center of something warm and vibrant, humming in his tingling body. The sharpness of Dom's presence faded from his side but he remained a constant undercurrent, a subtle warmth. Elijah leaned on that support and reached out at the same time, and somewhere between the coolness of the wind in his hair and the heat of the sun on his face, he looked into a endless vista of possibilities. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ home