ZLATA Goddess of flexibility

A 200-hour yoga teacher training course in the middle of rural Pennsylvania was the most unlikely place for Peter to find his soul mate, and Jun never thought her life would wind up in America with a cute, flexible guy, either. However, fate had a strange way to bring two people from opposite ends of the earth and very different backgrounds together. Peter Campbell is the typical Midwestern type of man. He has his father’s work ethic from the factories of General Motors, John Deere or whatever company that would hire his father’s skill set. However, Peter wanted more than being on an assembly line. He wanted to expand his world. After getting his high school diploma, Peter left his home and went to the University of Iowa. There, he studied writing and journalism, eventually earning his bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication. After graduation, he found himself writing for a few small-town newspapers, doing everything from features to city council and school board meetings to local sporting events. But through it all, even from his earliest memories, he had been fascinated with extreme flexibility. As a kid, he watched circus performances, gymnastics competitions — both artistic and rhythmic — and dance recitals of his female cousins and admired how the contortionists, gymnasts and dancers would stretch themselves to difficult, yet in his mind attainable, positions. One day, he found in the library a book with a picture of a woman on the cover in a similar position that was the subject of his fascinations: It was a yoga book. He took it home and started practicing, though with the lack of yoga teachers, and the fact his family moved whenever his father was laid off from a factory, he couldn’t really keep up his practice. He finally found a yoga studio while working at his third newspaper, a small-market daily in northeast Iowa. The studio was just starting up after a few months of its owner operating out of a dance studio. After a few years, the owner suggested he take some teacher training, because she found some potential in him as a teacher. Plus, her other teachers are from other yoga traditions, and she wanted one of her assistants to be trained by either her teacher’s teacher or by the Himalayan Institute. She wrangled a little bit of a “scholarship” for Peter, and he was off to eastern Pennsylvania for a couple weeks of asana and learning how to teach it. During the first session, he unrolled his mat and loosened himself up before he heard the slap of rubber on hardwood next to him. He looked up to see a somewhat petite, though nicely built woman of the Asian persuasion set herself up next to him. Out of respect, he greets her with hands in prayer position with a bow and the utterance of “Namaste.” She returned the gesture and started her warm-up. While most of the other students in the session are doing some simple twists, cobras or head-to-knee seated front bends, this person slid into a front split, right leg forward, and a very deep backbend with her shoulders touching high on her left thigh. Peter was slack-jawed. She hasn’t even warmed up and she’s already doing a super-advanced position. Of course after a few seconds, he realized he was gawking at this Asian woman and resumed his own warm up. The asana class went smoothly, with everyone having no problems following the head teacher’s directions. Following the class, the prospective teachers gathered in the cafeteria for breakfast. Peter found his way to his Asian neighbor, sitting alone pondering her plateful of fruit. “Is this seat taken?” he offered. “No. Please,” she replied. Peter could note she had good handle of English with a couple of different possible accents. After he takes his seat, Peter introduced himself. “I am Li Jun-bei,” she said. “You can call me Jun.” “I’m impressed with what you did before asana class this morning, and I think I detect some Chinese and Australian in your inflection. Am I close?” “Yes, I am from China, but I went to university in Australia, University of Sydney to be exact.” “Well, then, I guess a hearty ‘gidday’ would’ve been more apt, or ni hao.” Jun giggled a little. “You Americans! You always make fun of people from other cultures. Maybe I should’ve said, ‘How-dee!’” The last part she tried to imitate Minnie Pearl, the late Grand Ol’ Opry comedienne. That made everyone else in the room turn and look at who made the nose. Peter, though, chuckled at the attention the Chinese woman created for herself. “Point taken,” he retorted, and then took a bite of his granola cereal. “How did you get so good that you could perform a back-bending split with no warmup?” “Before I got into yoga, I was a contortionist with the Chinese State Circus,” Jun admitted. “I was conscripted into the circus school by my parents because I was second born. This was just at the beginning of China’s one-child policy, so they couldn’t keep me without being penalized economically. They were rice farmers, so they couldn’t afford having a second child. The circus school in Wuqiao County adopted me and started to train me when I was 3. I was stretched in so many different ways that when I started performing when I was 12, it was all natural. I stopped performing when I was 25, as I had an injury and wanted to try something else. I also felt a little empty…” “What did you hurt?” “I pulled a back muscle. It’s healed now, but at the time, I couldn’t sufficiently do a backbend. As I said, I felt somewhat empty, like my spirit was needing something. I enjoyed stretching and bending, but it was almost mindless except when I performed. I went to university to learn physical education. I thought maybe I could become a teacher, either of contortion or just gym in a school somewhere. While I was in Sydney, I saw a few yoga schools, and found one that taught this style. I could feel the energy when I practiced the asanas, not just feeling my muscles stretch out. I felt a calm that I never felt in my life. But, there was a yearning for more. After I got my degree, I returned to China and found a similar yoga school in Shenzhen, where I became an apprentice PE teacher. When the opportunity came to come here to get a yoga certification, so I can teach it in school, I… I don’t believe I’m going to say it, I bent over backwards to do this.” “We have a saying here in America: ‘Oh, no you didn’t!’” “Oh, yes I did. I literally bent over backwards to get my school to sponsor my trip here. I showed them what I can do both for yoga and contortion and persuaded the school masters to have me include yoga in the phys ed curriculum.” “And here you are.” “Yes. So, how about you? What’s your story?” Peter told Jun about his yoga interest, his career and how he joined this certification class. As fascinated he was about her exploits with the Chinese circus, she found his journalistic exploits very interesting. She imagined how he could help shape civic discussions and tell the stories of the average person trying to make the difference. “Wow. No one in my country can do that,” Jun said. “That’s the beauty of the First Amendment,” Peter said. “‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,’ etc. It’s one of the foundations of our government here, or at least one of the major freedoms of the people here.” “Doesn’t that also have some unintended consequences?” “Not really. You can’t spread lies about someone. It’s not illegal, but the offended person can sue for monetary damages. It’s called libel and slander. When we write something, we have to be sure it’s correct.” “I see. Oh, it’s time for the first training workshop! We need to get in there.” They hustled to the classroom for the asana workshop, where they learned about how to adjust students’ form as well as constructing practice plans for classes. After that class was lunch, followed by another workshop, with dinner and free time following. Each day went on a similar schedule, and during each meal and free moment, Peter and Jun spent that time getting to know each other. By the second of the three weeks came, the two felt they were falling in love, and after the class was over, they spent a day in Philadelphia before returning to their homes in Iowa and China. It was at that moment when they made a promise to find a way to spend the rest of their lives together. “Do you have a computer at home?” Peter asked while they had dinner at a nice restaurant. “I have one. Why?” Jun queried. “Well, we can chat with each other over Skype until I can go visit you in Shenzhen. I’d done a feature on a couple, an international marriage, and looked into immigration issues with those kind of relationships. It seems U.S. immigration law says for a marriage visa for you, we must be married over there, or we can do a fiancée visa.” “Oh, Peter! Yes, I will marry you!” “Are you sure?” “I knew we were meant for each other, or at least bent for each other, since day 10 of the class.” As Peter didn’t have a ring to make it official, the couple simply decided to seal their promise with a sensual kiss as the dessert was about to be served. Afterwards, they went to their hotel room and made love with each other. Even though they are very flexible, their copulation for their first time was ordinary in position, though long lasting. Peter was able to make Jun cum multiple times before he finished off. They slept in each other’s arms for the rest of the night before the hotel’s desk gave them a wake-up call at 6 a.m. After they woke, they spent an hour in the shower together before getting themselves ready for their flights home. At the airport, they reiterated their promise to get together soon and also exchanged email and Skype info. The couple wrote each other daily, and on weekends, they talked over Skype. They even were able to train together over cyberspace, with Jun giving Peter some advanced tips to further increase his flexibility. He could feel himself getting more and more flexible, nearly matching hers. All the while, he’s been planning his trip to Shenzhen, making sure his passport is in order and applying for a travel visa into China. Meanwhile, both of them started teaching yoga in their communities — Jun in the school during gym classes and Peter at the studio a couple of times per week while still doing his job. Six months later, Peter boarded a plane and headed to China to be with Jun. While on the flight, he crammed as much Mandarin Chinese as he could so he could make his way around before he reached his love. He had a five-hour layover in Beijing, so he was able to find his way to a restaurant and order there without making a fool of himself, and then visited the duty-free shop for a few gifts for Jun. He then heard his flight from Beijing to Shenzhen was boarding, so he rushed to the gate to check in. Another three hours later, the jet touched down in Shenzhen’s airport. After disembarking and entering the terminal, he sees a familiar looking girl wearing a floral mini qipao holding a sign with “Peter” blazoned on it. He smiled and briskly walked up to Jun while she wasn’t looking and give her a kiss on the cheek. “Peter!” Jun squealed and leapt onto him with a big hug with her arms and legs around him. She then gave him a huge kiss on the lips, which he eagerly returned. When they separated, she asked: “How was your flight?” “Long, and I need to really stretch. Those airplanes weren’t made for yogis.” “Are you hungry? I can make you some dinner when we get back to my place.” “That would be lovely, but I need to get my bags first.” After a half hour, which to them seemed like an eternity, Peter was able to get his luggage from the baggage carousel. The couple then exited the terminal to Jun’s car, which was a smallish Hyundai, but served her purpose of getting her to and from her job. Once Peter put his bags in the trunk — two suitcases and his yoga bag, which contained his mat and a few other accessories — they were off to Jun’s house. When she pulled up, Peter could see the house was pretty humble, as he expected for a teacher in China. It wasn’t too small, but not very big either. Inside, he saw her sense of style: very simple yet ayurvedic. The living room had a few chairs, but mostly cushions on the floor. There was a fireplace along one wall, and a small flat-panel TV in a corner adjacent to it. “As you can see, I don’t use many furniture in the living room,” Jun explained. “That television also is my computer, and that’s what I used to Skype with you.” “Oh, it’s one of those Smart TVs,” Peter surmised. “Yes. I also use this room for my practices, that’s why you don’t see a sofa or anything like that. I’ll show you the rest of the house.” Jun led Peter to the kitchen, which had a small table, a gas range, a refrigerator that looked like it came from the 1950s and ample amount of cabinets. “I can make a mean batch of rice,” Jun said with a smile. Next, she showed him two empty rooms that were meant to be bedrooms, had a family of at least four lived in this house. However, since Jun is single, she had one converted into a study, which has a large bookcase with several Chinese works along with the quintessential yoga works, including “Light on Yoga,” “The Heart of Yoga,” “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” and “The Bhagavad Gita.” The other room was used for storage of her equipment as well as some of her clothes, kind of like a large, walk-in closet. Finally, she shows him the main bedroom. He sees she has a nice queen-sized bed, and there is a master bathroom adjacent to it with a large ball-and-claw tub. “It’s big enough for two,” Jun whispered into Peter’s ear. “Is there a shower in here? I don’t know if you can tell, but I feel grungy. I need to clean up before dinner.” “Just the bath in here. Let me draw it while you undress in the bedroom. I bought a man’s robe yesterday; you can find it in the big closet.” Peter goes to get the robe, and then takes off his clothes to get ready for his bath. He hears the water turn off and walks into the bathroom. He sees Jun in the tub. “I think the phrase you Americans say is, ‘C’mon in, the water’s fine.’” He smiled, and then took off his robe. With Jun grinning at his yoga-toned form, Peter climbed into the tub on the opposite side with a long sigh as his body entered the hot, sudsy water. “I really needed that,” he breathed out. “And I need this…” Jun said as she leaned across the tub to plant a big kiss on Peter’s lips. He allowed the kiss to get deep, as their tongues started to dart on each other. A few seconds later, he let it end. She backed up an inch. “Something wrong?” “I’m just a little tired. It’s been a long trip. All that time on the plane from Waterloo to Chicago, then all the way to Beijing and finally here in Shenzhen. Seeing you in the terminal…” he then gave her a kiss, “made all that travel worthwhile.” The couple remained the tub for a while, with Jun soaping down Peter to wash away his travels. After they got out and dried each other off, they slipped on their robes, hers made of silk, and went to the kitchen. Jun then fixed Peter a nice meal of shrimp, noodles and rice with some white wine. After dinner, Peter told Jun that he felt tired after the traveling and would like to turn in early. They went to the bedroom, where Peter went to his suitcase to pull out his sleep shorts. “Just sleep with me as you are,” Jun pleaded. “I just want to sleep,” Peter retorted. “I always sleep in the nude. No sex tonight. I promise.” Peter then relented, dropped his robe and slid into the bed on the right side. Jun then followed and entered the bed next to him. They shared a quick kiss before Peter closed his eyes and fell fast asleep. As he slept, Jun admired her intended, lightly stroking his arm, chest and face, thinking of the next few days before they go to the Bureau of Civic Affairs to fill out their marriage books. The next morning, Jun awoke to an empty bed. Groggy and disoriented, she looked around for Peter and eventually found him in the living room in front of her TV. “What are you doing up at 3 in the morning?” she said with sleep and concern in her voice. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just woke up. I guess the jet lag has my body thinking it’s the middle of the afternoon. It’s like 2 p.m. back home.” Peter then pushes a button on the remote control to pause the video he was watching. Jun sits next to him on the cushions and realizes what he was watching. “You’re watching my old performances?” “I just wanted to see how you were when you were on stage.” Peter then hit the play button to continue the video. “The crowd shots showed they were mesmerized when they saw you, much like I was the day we met.” Jun then goes to the keyboard to bring up another file. “Here’s something you really should see…” The video on the screen changes from a performance to a training room. “This is how it was for me behind the scenes. This is probably why I got injured, not immediately, of course.” The video showed the circus contortion trainers pushing and prodding a young Jun into extreme splits and backbends and front bends, and her face gets just about as contorted as the rest of her body with pain. “This was all before yoga entered into my life. Although all those positions I can still do easily, the way I enter them now is much more comfortable, because I know how to get there without injury. I listen to my body, and I can better feel the energy flow rather than feel the force of the move.” Peter doesn’t respond to Jun’s statement. He just admires what she went through as a girl and a teen preparing for her circus performances. The scene then changes to a group rehearsal, where Jun and three other girls practice some choreography and pyramid work. “Wow, so much work. Of course, without the work, it wouldn’t be such a beautiful art form,” he observed. He then noticed that Jun had spread her legs wide into a perfect straddle. She then raised one of her legs into a slight overstraddle, propping it on Peter’s crossed legs. She’s wearing her short, silk robe that usually would go just past her hips. He can feel the skin of her leg over his. He then strokes her leg with his hands. “May I?” he asks. After she hummed an affirmative, he lifted her leg higher so her foot rests on his shoulders, creating a 210-degree straddle. She then guides one of his hands from her calf to her exposed womanhood. Taking her cue, he strokes her nub and then inserts a finger inside of her. Keeping her leg on his shoulder, he rises some to increase the angle of her legs, getting closer to a 270-degree split. “How are you feeling?” Peter asked with some concern. “Keep going!” Jun said with a sexual tension in her voice. “All the way up.” As her left leg gets totally vertical and her right still flat on the floor, she wraps her left arm around her leg and grabs at Peter’s shorts — which he slipped on after he awoke — with her right hand. She unties the drawstring in the sleep shorts he wears and reaches for his stiffening manhood. She then leans in her head to kiss her beloved. The triple stimulation of the split, Peter’s fingers and their kissing sends Jun over the edge, exploding in orgasm. After a minute of bliss, Jun comes down off her high. Peter chuckles. “Has that ever happened before?” “Once or twice,” she breathlessly said. “I experimented with masturbation while doing an extreme split or bend, and found I can go farther without injury.” “Endorphins! That’s how they do it in the Kama Sutra!” “Have you ever done oversplits? I want you to try this.” “Only as far as one yoga block high on straddles and fronts. I’ve never tried to go higher.” “Take off your shorts and get into a straddle.” Peter does as instructed. Once he spreads his legs to a complete 180 degrees, Jun lifts his right foot and slides her thigh under his, creating a 187-degree angle. She leans in to kiss him before grabbing his manhood and starts to stroke. After a few seconds, she observes his pleasure start to rise, so she starts to lift his leg higher gradually, getting it past 200 degrees. She pauses to let him get used to the added sensation of the stretch and the stimulation. Feeling the resistance ebb from the hip and hamstring, she resumes lifting the leg until it gets nearly halfway off the ground, still pointing straight outward from the body. At that point, he wraps his arm around his leg to help her lift it. As his sexual energy builds, his thigh and hip continue to loosen allowing them to lift his right leg higher and higher until his knee nears his shoulder. Peter feels his loins start to boil and starts to breathe heavily. Sensing this, Jun guides her lover’s leg down, as she doesn’t want his first extreme oversplit to turn into an injury when he orgasms. It gets halfway down before Peter’s load blows. “Are you OK?” Jun asked with concern. “I’m fine. More than fine!” Jun gets up to grab a washcloth from the kitchen to clean off Peter. Once the sticky fluid is cleaned off, Jun invites Peter to do some morning asanas to get their day started. “As we are, no workout wear,” she said with a smile. “It’s how some groups in India used to do it.” They grab and unroll their mats and go through some warm up poses, Sun Salutations, and then some double-yoga postures. The skin-to-skin contact made things difficult, but they were able to get through their workout without problem. Peter found one pose to be benefited extra by the close contact: they did a middle split where the entire surface of their inner legs, their groins and their torsos were in full contact and they were in total comfort. Though there was no genital contact, they felt an awakening in their energies as if they were making love. They embraced and remained in a wide-legged straddle, semi-meditative as they met their foreheads and looked deep into each others’ eyes as their arms held each other tightly. It was a tantric embrace, they felt. They could feel the energies rush up their bodies at the spiritual level, ignite the chakras and give them a sense of ecstasy. They felt a pleasure that was equal to orgasm, but without any outward expulsion of energies. As their rapture builds, they start to bend their bodies backwards over their arms, while their bellies and below remain in constant contact. After a few minutes in that posture, they decided to try something different. They wrapped their legs around each other for a moment, with Peter’s legs over Jun’s hips. She then raises her legs, one at a time, to put herself into “noose pose,” where her legs are behind her head and hooked together. Peter then shifted himself to lift his legs around Jun’s and hook his feet behind his head. In the process, the couple became an interlocked pair of human knots. Jun reached below them and maneuvered Peter’s manhood into her sex to complete the circuit. They didn’t have to move much to feel the energies start to rise again. Jun squeezed her inner muscles around Peter’s member to heighten the sensation. They kept themselves calm, though, as their energies rose again through their chakras. When they felt it hit their “third eyes,” centered around their foreheads, they started to shudder. Minutes later, they felt a full-body orgasm, causing them to teeter to their side. With his hips free, Peter bucked himself deeper into Jun, making their ecstasy even higher until suddenly, they stopped. No breaths taken. No movement made. They remained connected to each other, legs wrapped around each other and their own heads, arms holding their bodies tight, eyes gazing straight into each other, but nothing else. Their hearts slowed to a few beats per minute. After about two minutes, which they felt like either an eternity or an instant, they start to breathe slowly as they came back to their senses. Soon, they start to kiss each other again as they begin to unhook themselves from their extreme posture. Once free, they return to their mats and lie on their backs to practice a final relaxation pose, known in yoga as “savasana.” After 10 minutes, they then got up into a sitting lotus posture and meditated, facing each other. Jun then unfolded her legs and remounted Peter for a classic tantric “yab yum” couples meditation. Once complete, they bathed, dressed, had breakfast and went about their day. Jun showed Peter around Shenzhen, including the school where she teaches. Two days later, they go to the bureau to get their marriage books completed. Peter then called the U.S. consulate about petitioning for a marriage visa for Jun. A week later, they said farewell at the airport, as Peter had to return home while Jun awaited her meetings with the U.S. State Department officials at the consulate. Nine months later, her visa was approved, and Peter was allowed to return to gather her for her trip to her new home in the United States. After they got settled in, they renewed their vows in a civil ceremony in front of Peter’s friends and family. Jun was able to join the studio Peter was a member and part-time teacher, eventually becoming the owner’s assistant. Their marriage never got boring, as they had their yoga and some contortion mixed in, and every time they made love, they always experimented with a different way to put a literal “kink” into their night.