"Feel-U-Feel-Me" Novel by Stewart and Rebecka Dickson

Julia has joined her Yoga class, outdoors on a lawn beneath large, old trees. She has taken her towel out of her bag to sit on. The has put her dress and bikini back into her bag. Her sandals are on the ground next to her bag. She sits down and begins doing her stretches.

As she draws her heel up toward her hip, she can feel the pull in her outer thigh. But she knows it is not just that muscle being stretched. She can feel the stress draining from her shoulders as she silently counts to eight. What is the stress in her life? Nothing of her own. Ben's struggle is her struggle.

Julia knows the total connectivity within her body.

She puts both feet, sole-to-sole, clasps both hands around her toes and pulls toward herself. The pull is in her groin muscles, but the warm sensation spreads upward into her throat.

She looks at her toes. They have "fingerprints" just like her fingertips do. The sensation-generators in her toes are just as powerful as those in her fingers, but the sensations are filtered -- eroticized -- by the neural pathways through her pelvis.

She has a brief memory of walking barefoot on gravel. The sensation had gone straight up the inside of her thighs and made her butt tighten -- like a feeling of bad sex.

Gya Mon's Disciple sounds a Tibetan prayer bowl to get the class' attention, and speaks: "Are we ready to continue?"

The Disciple says, "Open yourselves to the energy of the biosphere through the nearby trees. Love the trees around you and you will exchange your energy for theirs. Gya Mon advises that the body is the interface between the central nervous system and the external environment and thus is the interface between the spirit and the universe. Feel the energy of life flowing between yourself and the trees."

The disciple's soothing voice evokes for Julia mental images of humanity immersed in the earth and the cosmos. It is like the dream she has from time to time -- like today, when she fell asleep by the pool.

Julia is fully accustomed to the rhythm of the class. There is plenty of time to resolve her internal issues and explore outward...

"Now we will work with the energy of a partner", the Disciple's voice interrupts Julia's thoughts this time. "Move to your partner and align your spines."

Julia looks to her right -- sure enough, he's getting up. Well, he's not so bad. He's a regular with the group. He sits down behind her. They are sitting in pairs, back-to-back.

Gya Mon's Disciple continues. "Now, sitting back-to-back, your spinal energy channels are aligned in parallel -- there is a resonance between you and your partner. Channel the universal energy flow into the resonance between you."

Julia is not comfortable with erotic thoughts about the people in her Yoga class. Though she feels that she is being pushed inevitably toward sex with these people, since Gya Mon teaches the Hindu Tantric exercises. She's just not ready for it, she tells herself. "At least they let us go at our own pace here," she thinks.