i'm bigger than my body [open & closed]

[tanker]

who: John Proudtar + Shigeru Miyata, Minsu Oh, Cisco Ramon, and anyone
what: Catch-all
when: throughout march
where: various places, mainly the perimeter guard training grounds
warnings: none that I can think of! Will update if necessary



i. meditate (open to all)

[ Since putting his training offers out on the Quarantine network, John has been putting up dates and times and locations for 'classes' - he hates calling them as such, but if the shoe fits.

There's nothing special about the spot he's chosen - it's by the river, shadowed by some trees, pleasant and quiet. John's sitting straight on the ground, cross-legged, as he waits for any 'student' who might be interested in learning about meditation. He's prepared to fight stereotypes, remembering Lorna's reaction the first time she saw him practicing, how surprised she'd been, how long she'd teased him for it after.

John waits, until a few people are seated in front of him, before he says anything. ]

Before we start, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. The goal here is to get some tools for you to center yourself if you ever feel like control, or your sense of self is slipping. Meditation is what we make it out to be - contrary to popular belief, it isn't about sitting on a rock for days at a time, humming to yourself, although you're welcome to do that, if it works for you.

[ John smiles. This should be fun. ]

We're going to start much smaller, here.

ii. combat (open to all)

[ Come one, come all, whoever is interested in trying to test themselves against that mutant who can't get hurt. He'll take your punches and will try to give pointers wherever he can - he is, after all, an ex-Marine himself, and has seen combat situation more than once.

Depending on who's here to train and who's interested in helping, there are several stations set up in the Perimeter Guards training grounds - one, large and further away than the rest, for those who want to try out their powers but might struggle with control, or simply have a huge range. One for hand-to-hand combat, with dummies and training equipment strewn around. One for swordfighting - the weapons are blunt. John's walking around between the different stations, helping out wherever he can, and learning, himself - he's never held a sword before, after all.

Come and train, fight, help out, or whatever else you want to do! ]

iii. wildcard

[ Closed starters in comments! Find me at ellievolia if you want a specific starter, or just hmu with anything, I'm happy with basically anything. ]

Comments

i

[wingedman]

[Sam drops by one of John's classes one day, quietly seating himself in the back of the group. Mostly, he's interested in seeing where this goes - he believes John knows what he's talking about, but he's curious about his teaching style. Sam hasn't done a whole lot of meditation himself, but he's familiar enough with the traditional process, so he just settles into a loose-limbed, relaxed seat and waits for instructions.]

[tanker]

[ John looks around, pretty satisfied with the turnout, and smiles when no one raises their voice, at first. They'll get there. ]

One of the things I hear a lot about meditation is that people don't think they can 'shut their brain off'.

[ Yes, he does do the air quotes. ] But the thing is, you don't have to. Have your thoughts, think them. They can be positive or negative, happy and sad. Just let them happen. But don't hang on to them. Focus on your body, and imagine the thoughts are clouds, that you're watching pass overhead.

[ He pauses - he keeps on speaking slowly, keeping his voice steady, rhythmic. ]

I'll guide you through a series of short exercises. Get yourself comfortable - if you lie down, put your feet on the ground, knees raised. Close your head, or don't, whatever you prefer. Let's start with breathing.

[wingedman]

[Sam makes it through the rest of the class easily, and he does feel more relaxed; last night had been one of those nights, where he'd been up running through Riverview before sunrise. He's still tired, but that's only to be expected. Once everything is done, he waits for the last few stragglers, then approaches John with a smile.]

Hey, I'm Sam. We talked on Friendr? Good to see you running these sessions.

[tanker]

[ A good session, if John can say so himself. He likes doing these, teaching something that's so helpful to him, in the hope it gets other people to feel better, more in control and in sync with themselves. It's been a lifesaver, for him.

When Sam approaches, John stands, wiping dirt off of his jeans before offering Sam a hand, nodding. ]

Yeah, of course! The therapist, right? Nice to meet you, I'm John. [ He smiles. ] Yeah? I thought it'd be a part of training that people wouldn't think about, but it's useful, in my opinion.

[wingedman]

[Sam takes the hand and shakes it with a firm grip.] Yeah, I thought I'd take a look at what you were doing, think about maybe referring a few of my clients who could benefit from it. I'm into mindfulness as a treatment for PTSD, keeping yourself grounded and focused on what's around you. So meditation obviously goes hand in hand with that kind of thing.

[tanker]

Is there a lot of people suffering from PTSD around?

[ At least, John doesn't have that issue. Sure, he gets nightmares, and he gets jumpy sometimes, although rarely. It's just one of these things. ]

Actually, nevermind, that's - none of my business. I agree, though, mindfulness has kept me in check for a long time. Used to meditate while on transports, back in Afghanistan.

[ He smiles. ]

So if I can help anyone, count me in, 100%.

[wingedman]

Mostly I get short-term people who just need a little help to deal with trauma, nothing major.

[You know, nothing like the stubborn cases he knows are out there refusing to seek help for decades of buried trauma.]

Man, if I'd known how to meditate then- [Sam laughs and shakes his head.] I swear I read more when I was deployed than I had the rest of my life up till then.

[tanker]

[ John laughs, nodding. ]

Same, man. I've never been a big reader - growing up on the reservation, I was running around with my brother more than anything else, and then I ended up deployed, and having nothing else to do, because there's only so much meditation and yoga you can do. Maybe I should have learned the guitar instead of reading Lord of the Rings, though.

[ He wipes some dust off of his jeans, shrugging. ]

I'm hoping I get to fall back into the habit, here. I've lost the time to read in recent years.