You smiled and took a deep exhale as you came out of an effortless side split. "Done, now I'm all nice and warmed up," you said cheerfully.
"Good for you, Gumby," Tony sassed.
"Show off," Pietro grumbled.
You smacked both of their shoulders in unison. "Knock it off! Yoga isn't a competition. It's your first day; I've been doing this for years."
You looked around at the rest of your friends spread out in your favorite airy upper East side yoga studio. With its high ceilings, warm natural lighting and vivid tapestries, you always felt invigorated just by stepping through the door.
You had been working with the Avengers for a month now and while you were impressed by all the physical training everyone went through, you were deeply concerned with the lack of emphasis on the mental side of things. You had went off on an impassioned rant after being fed up watching another Pietro vs Tony argument, loudly exclaiming that you were taking everyone to yoga with you the next week so, as you put it bluntly, "you can all mellow the fuck out."
"You guys focus too much on this," you had said, flexing your muscles, "and not enough on this," you added, tapping your forehead. "You are going to breathe, relax and find some inner goddamn peace if I have to knock you into chavasana (corpse pose) myself!"
"Well, that doesn't sound very relaxing," Tony remarked. You snarled and started toward him and he immediately raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"That's actually a good idea, Y/N," Natasha called out from the couch. "I'd love to see all these knuckleheads trying to touch their toes," she chuckled.
And so word spread through the tower about the group yoga session and now here you all were. Natasha sitting alert and focused as always, Clint propped up on his forearms comfortably with his legs outstretched, Steve and Thor looking inquisitively around, Wanda gently humming to the low, melodic music drifting through the studio, Bruce resting crossed legged with his chin cupped in his hands and Tony and Pietro sitting impatiently.
The instructor, a tall, willowy woman in her early 30s came through the doorway smiling. "Hello, Y/N! I see lots of new faces; are these your friends?" You smiled warmly back, "Yes, it's the first class for many of them. They all needed some serious mental relaxation and I figured there was no better way than a class here."
The instructor beamed. "Excellent, welcome! I hope you all will enjoy our practice today."
Brushing some stray auburn strands out of her face, The instructor took her place on the mat. "Good morning, everyone. Let's begin in a seated cross legged position with our eyes closed.
—
An hour and a half later, you all rose from your final meditation and met your instructor with a collective, "Namaste." You were grinning from ear to ear. You were genuinely surprised that once the practice started, everyone – even Pietro and Tony – fell quiet and actually attempted all the movements and breathing exercises. The only time you had to go into mom mode was when Pietro nudged Tony out of tree pose and he fell right over, but one quick look from you immediately silenced his giggles and he extended a hand to Tony to help him back up.
"That was fun, Y/N," Steve said smiling at you. "Nice to see I've still got some flexibility at my old age." You laughed and gave him a quick hug. "I'm glad you liked it, Steve," you replied.
"Indeed, that was most excellent," Thor added. "Any pain in my muscles has almost entirely vanished. I do not feel, as you say, stressed out anymore."
Wanda looked ahead dreamily and smiled. "I feel so calm," she laughed. "Like I'm floating on a cloud." The corners of both Bruce and Natasha's mouths were even turned up in small smiles.
"What about you two troublemakers,?" you called out to Pietro and Tony.
Pietro shrugged. "Wasn't bad." Tony added, "Yeah, Y/N, I'm all peace and love and 'save the whales' now. But I thought they gave out free pot at hippie stuff like this, I feel cheated." You rolled your eyes but smiled.
You had silently watched both of them meditating, using your powers to feel their auras lightening and their pulses steadying. You were just happy that everyone, whether they'd admit it or not, felt better on the inside.