Sophie Hartley and the Facts of Life Read Online Free PDF Page B

also make you strong.” She smiled around at everyone. “Best of all, in yoga everyone gets to move at his or her own pace. It’s not a competition. It’s you against yourself, doing as much as you can.”
    That sounded good. Sophie got tired of the way kids in the fourth grade tried to be the best all the time. The best at math, the best at writing, the best at sports.
    â€œBy learning the different poses and practicing them at home, every one of you can become stronger. Your body will become leaner,” Ms. Bell went on. “If you keep doing yoga, you’ll become more coordinated, too, and have more energy. But first, I want to talk about how to breathe.”
    â€œHow to breathe”? If they didn’t know how to do that, they’d be dead. Sophie and Alice looked at each other and giggled. So did some of the other kids.
    â€œI know—it sounds funny,” Ms. Bell said, “but bear with me.”
    She told them to sit up straight and rest their hands on their knees with their palms up. “Now, close your eyes again,” she said, “and slowly breathe in and out. You inhale, or breathe in, through your nose. When you exhale, or breathe out, it should be through your mouth.”
    Sophie closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.
    â€œInhale . . . and exhale . . .” Ms. Bell’s voice was slow and gentle. “When you inhale, feel the air fill your lungs . . . As you breathe,
feel
your body . . . Pay
attention
to your body.”
    â€œYour body.”
There it was again.
    Sophie didn’t know why it should suddenly feel so embarrassing. Before yesterday,
body
was only a word. Now it felt full of meaning.
    She opened an eye to find Alice looking at her, and quickly closed it.
    â€œYou’re doing great. Let’s move on,” Ms. Bell said. “Next, I want to teach you some of the yoga poses we’re going to use.”
    Most of the poses were named for animals or things in nature. They learned the cow pose and then the cat pose. Kneeling on their hands and knees, they arched their backs.
    â€œLike Halloween cats,” Ms. Bell said. “Stretch your back as high as you can. Feel the stretch. Good.”
    In the downward dog pose, they had to put their hands and feet flat on the floor and raise their bottoms in the air as high as they could.
    â€œStretch! That’s right,” Ms. Bell called. “Try to keep your heels on the floor and
lift
your bottom! Feel the muscles in the backs of your legs!”
    Alice looked so funny with her bottom sticking up. Sophie started to laugh. Alice did too, and fell over.
    They learned the tree pose next. It was meant to improve their balance. Sophie stood with her arms out to the sides, the way Ms. Bell told them, and rested the sole of her right foot against her left leg. She glanced to see how other kids were doing and saw Destiny put her foot on the floor to steady herself. Sophie started to wobble too. She looked back at the floor and stared as hard as she could at the blue circle in front of her.
Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall,
she told herself.
    Slowly, her leg got steadier. Sophie was amazed. By using her brain and concentrating, she was able to calm her body down enough so that she could stand on one leg, still as a tree. She even felt like a tree, except without branches. Maybe she was going to be good at this. She was pretty sure she could already feel herself developing self-control. But then Ms. Bell called, “Do
not
watch your friends! If they wobble, so will you!” So, of course, Sophie had to look at Alice.
    That was all it took for the two trees to wobble, giggle, and fall.

five
    â€œIt was pretty hard, but it was fun,” Alice told Jenna when the other two joined her in line in the cafeteria.
    â€œI think it gets easier when you get stronger,” said Sophie.
    â€œDid Alice tell you about my meeting?” It was