Remember Me? Mind Arts Lesson 3, Firsties

Mel waltzed happily into her Mind Arts classroom, instantly taking a moment to catalouge each scent, touch, and sound she perceived. It was good to practice. When she had finished, she sat cross legged on a mat and waited for the teacher. This was shaping up to be an intriguing class and she couldn't wait to try whatever the teacher threw at her next.

Mora danced into class on the wings of light, extremely distracting, salsa music. The hand held radio in her hand buzzed out sound loud for its size, and the spanish feel to the music had Mora thinking of Vi, and therefore, smiling.

"Good morning!" She greeted, taking her usual seat in front of the first year. As she set down the radio, the music drastically changed to rock metal so loud and obnoxious it was hard to think through. The vocals screamed, and the lead guitar screamed even more.

"Today!" Mora shouted. "We learn to mediatate in the midst of distraction!" She nodded. "I am glad to see that you have already started, can you list for me all the scents in the room?" It would be very difficult, for the music changed to often for one to get used to it. One moment it was Metal, the next it was Pop, the next Rock, the next Salsa once more. It was distracting, and Mora knew it.

Mel winced at the loud music, though she nodded along to the beat. One of her feet was always tapping along. "Apples!" she shouted. "Woodsmoke... pine sap from outside... um, floor polish. It's lemony." Her attention kept being grabbed by the music. She longed to get up and dance. Though she knew this was what the teacher wanted, she kept getting distracted. "Uh... the must off the bean bag chairs and the mats... horses, since I just came from Equitacion..." She trailed off again, distracted by a song she particularly liked, then shook herself. "You make things difficult," she muttered.

Mora smiled. "This is a lesson that will do you the most good out of everything else I teach you." She confided, turning the radio down low enough so that the girl could hear her. "Meditation is easy without distraction, in my classroom, I tried my best to make it the most peaceful it could be... However." She shook her head. "The real world does not work like my little classroom. People are loud; it's just a fact of life. The odds of you finding a place to meditate in a world this large are too small to measure. You need to be able to focus on everything, and yet, still mediate. You have to be able to push through the music." She nodded and smiled a bit. "This is the hardest part of this class. If you can properly do this, then the rest of my course, for the next few years, should be only minorly challenging."

She ran her hand through her hair. "Try again. Breathe through your mouth. What do you taste?" She amped up the music again, the fast electronic beat pounding on her eardrums. Quickly, it changed to rap, then pop.

Mel closed her eyes again, doing her best to ignore the music as she breathed in. As the air ran over her tongue, she struggled to identify the scents. "There's the smoke from the fire again... A... clean sort of taste that I think is from outside. That's the best I can describe it. I can taste what I had for breakfast- eggs and a muffin." She inhaled again. "Uuuummm... the must from being closed up so long. Taste is harder than smell."

Mora nodded slowly, a small smile gracing her features. "Well, of course it is, dear. Most people aren't used to tasting the air. They need more substancial things. More..." She waved a hand. "Things like food. It's there, you know it has a taste, so you taste it."

Reaching over, she flicked off the radio. "That'll be all for today, little one." She said, getting to her feet. "Have a nice day, and try to practice a bit, if you can. You're showing more and more improvement every lesson."