As promised, Stephanie was waiting for me just outside the common room. She gave me a conspiratorial look.

"Was it good for you?" she asked, winking.

"Yeah," I answered. "How about you?"

"Just what I needed," she replied with a proud smile.

Other couples filtered back into the room over the next five minutes. Kayla and Stewart resumed their position at the front of the room. They began to process the activity - What had we gotten from it? How did it feel to disclose these stories to our partners? How did we feel hearing about their most intimate thoughts and experiences? The couple I'd seen in the woods walked in a couple of minutes late, also looking cheerful and refreshed.

"Namaste," Kayla said. We dutifully repeated the word back to her, like a church congregation. She continued, "Namaste is an ancient Sanskrit word. Literally, it means I bow to you. But its deeper meaning is that the divinity in me recognizes the divinity in you. My soul sees your soul. How often do we really look into each-other's naked souls? How often do we really see and let ourselves be seen?"

"Right," Stewart picked up. "This next activity is not only about seeing your partner's divinity, but also possessing the vulnerability to be seen yourself. Okay, so I'd like to invite everyone to remove their clothing. These are nothing but disguises we wear to hide our true nature."

Stewart and Kayla stood, and began to strip off their clothes. Shirt and shorts, yoga pants and sports bra were quickly cast onto the floor. The pair stood, casually naked at the front of the class, watching the reactions of rest of us. I felt shocked, but everyone else seemed to be taking it all in stride. Soon the other attendees were taking off their clothes as well, exposing breasts and asses, penises and vaginas, pubic hair styles ranging from bare to trimmed to wild and untamed, in a number of different shades and colours.

Stephanie and I looked at each other questioningly. On one hand, I was thrilled at the opportunity to finally see Stephanie naked, but on the other, this was clearly stretching the boundaries of our collegiality. I looked around again at the others. We were the last people in the room with our clothes still on. I felt other people's eyes expectantly on us, as we stood there awkwardly.

"What do you want to do?" I asked in a quiet voice.

""I mean, it's not really that big a deal is it?" Stephanie asked. "It's just our bodies."

"Everyone else here is naked," I observed.

"I know, but..."

"When in Rome?" I suggested.

"Do as the Romans do," Stephanie finished. "Okay, I will if you will."

"Yeah? You sure?"

Stephanie nodded. Slowly, she began to pull at her top, watching me to see if I'd reciprocate. I lifted my shirt over my head, and let it drop to the floor. Stephanie did likewise, revealing a powder-blue bra beneath. She reached behind her back, unclasped it, and let it fall away from her chest. Her breasts looked even more amazing than I'd imagined; round and perky. She looked down at them, and then back at me. I gave her what I hoped was an encouraging, and appreciative, but not in a perverted way, sort of smile. I must have looked like a total goof.

"Okay," she said. "We can do this."

I nodded. Stephanie hooked her thumbs into the waist band of her yoga pants. I did the same with my grey sweat pants. Then we hesitated. It seemed like this was crossing a line that we wouldn't be able to come back from. Were we really going to go through with this?

"For the research?" I whispered to her.

"For the research," she responded, nodding.

"On the count of three," I said. Stephanie nodded solemnly. "One... two... three."

Decisively, I pulled my pants and underwear down to the floor. My cock dangled in the open air. A second later, Stephanie pulled off her pants, yanking them from her ankles ungracefully, while trying to keep her balance. Instinctively, I moved forward to steady her. Only after she'd gotten them off did I realize that I was naked and holding my naked co-worker.

"Sorry," I said, stepping back.

"It's fine."

I finally took in her full naked body from top to bottom. The round perky breasts, the flat stomach, the smooth pubic mound between her thighs. At the same time, I noticed Stephanie's eyes scanning my own body, lingering on my cock. I wasn't hung like a porn star, but I didn't have anything to be ashamed of either. Judging from the look on Stephanie's face, she wasn't disappointed with what she saw. I couldn't help but feel a little proud.

Then, she glanced around the room. I followed her gaze, noticing all eyes were on us. Suddenly, I felt shy and awkward all over again. From the other side of the room someone began clapping. Soon the whole room was applauding us. Even Kayla and Stewart joined in. Stephanie and I waved back timidly, and finally sat down on our mats.

"Okay, so this is called the soul meditation," Kayla said. "All you have to do is sit facing your partner and stare into their eyes like this."

She and Stewart demonstrated, sitting naked, cross-legged and still in front of each other. Her hands rested palms upward on her knees, and Stewart lay his hands on top of them. They stared fixatedly at each other for a few minutes. I watched Kayla's bare chest rising and falling as Stewart penetrated her with his eyes. They were completely focused on one another, almost as if they were in some kind of deep telepathic communication.

I turned to Stephanie, once again admiring her naked Black skin. Just colleagues, I had to remind myself. We're researchers doing a study, adapting to the local customs of the natives. That's all. I took her hands, resting them on her knees, and focused on her bright blue eyes. What I saw there was nervousness and uncertainty. I could certainly relate to that. Just what had we gotten ourselves into here? How would it be at work after this? What did she think of me? There were so many questions reflected in her eyes.

After a minute of staring, they seemed to change. It's hard to describe exactly what changed, but the questioning turned into more of a curiosity. The worry faded./ She was looking into me, trying to see me. Who's really in there?

I suddenly felt self-conscious. My first instinct was to look away. But I forced myself to hold her gaze. In it, something else appeared. There was sort of an accepting reassurance. It's alright. And then, as I looked deeper into the blue, Stephanie's eyes took on an openness. It was as if she had disrobed all over again, mentally, a nakedness of the mind. In it there was warmth and acceptance. I surrendered myself to it, allowing my heart to go out to her, to return her soul's embrace.

All the while, we were sitting perfectly still and silent. I don't know how much time passed like that. Finally, Kayla's voice spoke up calmly and quietly. She began to direct us to see different things in our partner. To see them as children. To see them as old and frail. To see them in their joy. To see them in their pain. To see them afraid. To see them desire. Finally to see ourselves as they saw us, fully, completely, open, vulnerable, honest, naked, with deep compassion and understanding.

Stewart took over from Kayla, instructing us to close our eyes now and concentrate on the feeling of contact between us. To imagine the meeting of our energies between our hands. I could feel every slight twitch and movement of Stephanie's hands beneath mine. We were asked to breathe deeply in and out, in synchrony. As I breathed out Stephanie breathed in. As she exhaled, I inhaled. We visualized our spirits flowing between our bodies for several more minutes. Finally, we concluded by opening our eyes, looking into each other's eyes again, and saying namaste.

The rational part of me knew it was all pseudo-mystical hippy bullshit, but that didn't prevent me from being deeply moved by the experience. I'd never felt as deep a connection with another human being as I did just then with Stephanie. So when I told her namaste, it wasn't just a thing I said. I really did mean that my soul had recognized hers. And when she repeated back to me, I could tell that our spirits were well-met.

Kayla and Stewart had us stand up, and proceeded to guide us through another series of yoga poses, this time sans-clothing. Each of the poses involved some kind of contact with our partner. In one we'd hold hands, in another our feet would be pressed together, in another we'd be lean against each other back to back. I found myself becoming aroused at the physical touch between Stephanie and I, even though none of the poses was explicitly sexual.

I looked around the room at the other couples, a garden of asses and dangling body parts. I was comforted to find that I wasn't the only one in a state of arousal. At least half of the guys were sporting erections. Some of the women were visibly turned on as well; a flushed chest and neck, a slight glisten around pussy lips, nipples stiffening.

The energy of the room was sexually charged. I wondered if Stephanie was turned on too. I looked at her. She looked back at me with a hungry look. That was answer enough. I wondered if we'd have to take care of our own business again before the night was through.

An hour and a dozen poses later, we finally broke for the evening. Stephanie and I and a few of the other couples put our clothes back on. At least half of the attendees, however, seemed content to spend the rest of the night in the buff. They wandered the grounds, striking up conversations as if their nudity was completely natural. They reminded me of old guys in the gym locker room who knew no modesty - yeah the weather's nice, but could you get your junk out of my face? Of course, the people here were in far better shape than most of the old guys at the gym.

At dinner (Portobello burgers with asparagus fries), Stephanie and I sat next to the couple I'd seen fucking in the woods earlier. Their names turned out to be Janis and Jim. Both of them were naked. Every once in awhile, one of their hands would dip beneath the table, and the other would get a surprised look and start giggling. We did our best to take it all in stride.

"So this is your first time here?" Jim asked through a mouthful of mushroom and bread.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Stephanie asked, amazed.

"It's nothing," Janis reassured her. "It's just the way you are."

"New couples are always a little shy their first time," Jim explained.

"Oh, we're not actually a couple," I tried to clarify. This drew skeptical looks. "I mean, we work together. We're friends. We just thought it would be kind of fun to check out the retreat together." The couple exchanged bemused expressions. "Kayla invited us, actually," I finished, hoping that would excuse our non-couplehood.

"She's a real hoot, isn't she?" Janis exclaimed with jiggling breasts. "You know, we've been coming to this retreat for..." She turned to look at her husband. "How long?"

"This is our fourth year."

"Four years! And we just love it."

"It really has brought us closer together as a couple."

"I can see that," I said, reflecting back on the soul meditation I'd shared with Stephanie.

"Not to mention the effect it's had on our sex lives," Janis added giggling, and gave Jim another little goose beneath the table.

"Research has shown that the quality of sex is based largely on the quality of the connection between partners," Stephanie stated like the boring cerebral academic she really was back home. "What we did today would certainly help facilitate that."

"Ah, today was nothing," Jim said, waving his hand dismissively. "Tomorrow's when we get to the really good stuff."

"Why? What are we doing tomorrow?" I asked, suddenly concerned that maybe we were in over our heads. I imagined that our professional relationship was pretty much at its limit. I didn't know how much more it could take.

"You'll see..." Janis sing-songed.

I wanted to press for more information, but I was afraid of what I'd find out, so instead I let it drop. Besides, as Janis said, it was only a matter of time before we would find out for ourselves what the next day had in store for us. The conversation drifted on to other topics.

Later that night, there was a campfire. Several bottles were passed around, followed later by a couple of sizable joints. A couple of people had brought guitars. Another couple picked up the hard guitar cases, and banged on them. Others went back to the resort to find other objects to drum on; books and boxes, a few people raided the kitchen for pots and spoons.

They began playing a tribal rhythm. A number of people who weren't playing began to dance naked around the fire pit. I rolled my eyes at the superficial cultural appropriation - White people thinking they were spiritual because they were doing some ignorant approximation of whatever it was they believed native people did. I was about to make this observation to Stephanie, but before I could, she stood up.

I watched her in the glow of the fire, her self-consciousness subdued by the alcohol and a couple of tokes, as she stripped out of her clothes and joined the dance. My research partner has just gone totally native! I thought to myself, dismayed about the state of the study. This was no way for researchers to behave! We were supposed to blend in, but keep our perspective at all times.

A kind of wordless call-and-response chant began: ooo-ee-ooo-ahh - OOO-EE-OOO-AHH, ah-ah-ee-ee-oo-oo-ee - AH-AH-EE-EE-OO-OO-EE, and so on. If you can't beat them, join them, I reasoned after a few lonely minutes of observing Stephanie in the dancing circle. I took off my clothes, and joined in right behind her beautiful dark round ass bouncing jauntily in the firelight. Pretty soon, I too had abandoned myself to the night, the music, the dance, the fire, everything.

I don't remember what time it was when we finally stumbled laughing, covered in the dirt of the forest, back to our room and fell intoxicated and exhausted into bed, but it was late.

***

When I awoke, the sun was shining through our window. Stephanie was lying next to me. We were both still naked, but I was pretty sure nothing had actually happened between us... pretty sure... I couldn't remember it, anyway. I sat up and looked over Stephanie's body at the clock on the night stand. It was twenty minutes past seven.

"Shit!" I yelled, waking Stephanie.

"What?" she asked groggily. She looked around at where she was and who was next to her. A look of alarm crossed her face. "Hey, what happened last night?"

"Didn't you remember to set the alarm?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"Uh..."

"We're late!"

"Late?"

"We need to go." I threw the covers off the bed. It was covered in the dirt we'd tracked in last night. "We can't show up like this," I said, feeling my anxiety build.

"Like what?" Stephanie asked. I wished she would wake the fuck up because this repetition was getting on my nerves.

"We're covered in dirt from last night," I explained. "Remember?"

"Alright, alright," Stephanie said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "I'll shower first and then you."

"There's no time," I said.

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked.

"I mean, there's no time for separate showers. We'll have to shower together."

Stephanie considered me for a minute, then looked down at her own naked body. Thought processes were slowly coming on line. "Yeah, alright," she said finally.

I followed Stephanie into the shower, and watched her as she lathered up her body with soap, running the bar across her collar bone, and then over her gorgeous breasts, the water spilling sexily from each of her dark nipples. Her hand descended even further across her stomach, over her waist, between her thighs. Then she bent over, soaping each of her thighs, and going all the way down to her ankles. As she bent, she inadvertently pushed her ass back into me. My cock had gotten quite hard watching her, and now it poked between her cheeks.

"Javi!" she cried out, surprised. "What the hell?"

"Sorry. It's a natural reaction."

"I can't shower with you like this," Stephanie complained.

"It will go back down eventually," I said.

"We haven't got time for eventually," Stephanie argued, not really upset.

Before I knew it, she had taken hold of my stiff cock, and began to stroke it.

"This is just because we're running late," Stephanie said. "It doesn't mean anything."

"No," I agreed. "For the sake of the research."

"Right," she smiled up at me.

At that moment I would have agreed to anything she said, just so long as she kept jerking me off. The feeling of her hand running up and down the length of my erection was amazing.

"Are you close yet?" she asked a minute later.

"Uh..." I said noncommittally.

"Shit. Come on, Javi. We have to get going or we're going to miss it."

Stephanie dropped to her knees, and took my cock into her mouth. In her story of her first time from yesterday, she'd been a novice with no idea how to give head. Now, she took me with eagerness, one hand gripped around my shaft, while another gently squeezed my balls. I could feel her tongue darting around the head, running over the sensitive spot beneath, hitting all the right places. She continued to move her mouth relentlessly up and down my shaft, until I announced that I was close.

"Give it to me, Javi," she said, standing, and staring into my eyes. She gripped my cock again in her hand and pumped it furiously. "Give it!"

Within seconds I exploded. I hadn't cum so quickly since I was a teenager, but with all the sexual tension between us for the last few months, I couldn't help myself. I shot my white semen over her belly and thigh, where it washed away in the water spaying from the shower head.  She continued to stroke me until I was totally spent.

"Feel better now?" she asked.

"Much," I said, with a goofy post-orgasm smile.

"Good," she responded impatiently. "Then soap my back."

***

In another 15 minutes we were dressed and headed to the main building. By the time we'd gotten to the common room, it was empty. Voices were coming from the dining hall so we headed in that direction. Everyone was eating breakfast - well, most people, anyway. We were glad to see that there were a few other couples who were also missing in action. We each got a plate of honey and cheese, fresh fruit and whole grain toast. Looking for a place to sit, Janis and Jim waved us over to their table.

"Running behind schedule?" Jim asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," I answered. "What did we miss?"

"Not too much," Janis said smiling. I got the impression that she was one of those permanently positive people. "We did the sun salutation, and then Stewart read another of his  poems - He's such a good writer, isn't he?"

"And now breakfast," Jim concluded.

"Well, at least we got here in time for the important stuff," Stephanie joked, dipping a slice of muenster into her smear of honey. "God, I'm starving."

"I know," I added, breaking off a piece of buttered toast. "I could kill for some bacon and eggs."

"I hear you, brother," Jim said. "There's a lot of veggies here, so they try to cater to that crowd, you know. But I'm looking forward to a nice rare steak soon as we get out of here."

"Sounds good," I said.

Since we'd arrived late, we had to eat quickly before the morning session resumed. Returning to the common room, I noticed that most of the people had taken the same spots where they'd been the previous day. Stephanie and I rolled out our mats, and sat cross-legged facing the front of the room. Almost as soon as we'd taken our places, Stewart instructed everyone to get up and get undressed again. This time Stephanie and I removed our clothes with barely any hesitation. I was actually getting used to the idea of nudity - both my own and everyone else's.

Kayla had us repeat the soul-meditation from the day before. Stephanie and I once again stared deeply into each other's eyes. It was easier this time to get past the initial instinct to be guarded towards each other. Instead, I found questions in her blue stare. What are we doing here? What does this all mean for us? And beyond that there was surrender and acceptance. Whatever would be would be. There was nothing to fight against, nothing to resist. There only was whatever was.

Kayla told us to focus on the sacral energies of our partners, and to share ours freely with them. We were to imagine giving ourselves to each other sexually, and receiving our partner's sexuality without reservation. Holding Stephanie's hands lightly in mine, and staring into her eyes, I visualized her naked body, reclining on a bed, her legs spread, her pussy glistening, inviting, beckoning me towards her. I thought of how it would feel to enter her, the sound of her sighing, the feeling of her breath warm on my neck.

In my mind's eye (aided by Kayla's distant guidance), I pictured us making love in the most intimate way, staring deeply into each other's eyes, slow and sensual. Feeling every millimeter of each other. Sharing our bodies, sharing our souls. We visualized each other in orgasm. Stephanie and I cumming together. The feelings of climax spreading through both our bodies, and outward into each other.

I heard a few moans and vocalizations from around the room as I kept my eyes fixated firmly on Stephanie's. In them I saw her totally giving herself up to me. And I gave myself to her in return. The image of her was so vivid, despite the fact that we'd never been so intimate together. Our sexual experience of each other was limited to the one hurried blowjob in the shower that morning. Nevertheless, I could see, feel, smell, hear, and taste everything about her and I together, as if we'd been making love for all of infinity.

When Stewart told us to close our eyes and focus on our breathing and the tactile sensation of our partner's hands on our own, I didn't want to break off. Stephanie was the first to let her eyelids shut. Reluctantly I closed my own as well. Her fingers firmly gripped my own. I squeezed her hands back.

Stewart led us through a number of breathing exercises designed to harness our energies, and connect us to the astral plain. All I could think of was Stephanie there sitting across from me, and the connection we shared between us. I was aware that my cock had grown quite rigid again. Finally, Stewart brought our attention back to the room, back to reality, giving us a minute to come down from the experience.

Opening my eyes, everything looked vibrant and surreal.

"The mind is the largest and most sensitive erogenous zone," Stewart commented. "As you see, we can achieve some of the deepest and most intense orgasms while barely touching."

"Too often, people only focus on the body during intercourse," Kayla added. "They use each other as masturbatory devices. But through the practice of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga, we can achieve so much more than they could even imagine."

"I feel sorry for them, actually," Stewart interjected. "Stuck in a world of bad sex because they don't know how to open their minds, their hearts, their souls to each other. They're selfish, and they're frightened. They hold themselves back, and they don't even know it.What we're teaching you here in our workshop, is how to elevate yourselves in spiritual union by practicing a sacred sexuality based on centuries of ancient Hindu yogic wisdom."

"Tantra is not just a bunch of sexual positions like you see in Cosmo magazine," Kayla added. "It's about wellness of body, mind, and spirit."

I had to fight the urge to role my eyes. I doubted that any actual Hindu gurus would recognize what we were doing here as real yoga. I didn't know what it was we were doing, and it wasn't all bad, but I didn't see why these White people needed to justify it with all this cultural talk. I looked around the room. Many of the attendees were listening raptly, and nodding their heads, but some looked impatient and bored at the lecture.

"Okay, let's move on," Stewart said, as if reading the mood of the room. "Guys, please lie down on your stomachs on the floor."

I obediently lengthened myself horizontally on the mat with my hands beneath my chin. At the head of the class, Stewart had taken a similar position in front of Kayla. My cock felt slightly uncomfortable trapped beneath my body.

To begin with, Kayla had the women use a finger to mindfully trace several patterns across their partners' backs. These patterns had some kind of spiritual significance of opening the flow between chakras, and aligning various energies. Meanwhile, Stewart led the men in rhythmic breathing exercises which were supposed to work in conjunction with what the ladies were doing to us. As far as I was concerned, it was more shit-talking, but I played along, delighted at Stephanie's touch.

Kayla asked the women to apply light pressure with their middle knuckle at certain points on our backs: Left shoulder, right shoulder, top, middle, lower spine. This gave way to massaging starting at the shoulders, working their way down the back. Their palms pressed at the center of our spines, pushing outward over the kidneys to the sides, and then sliding back again. Both men and women were reminded to be present, aware, and mindful of the touch between them, and not to lose focus. Then Kayla guided the women's hands lower.

"Is this alright?" Stephanie asked, letting her hands gently glide down to my buttocks.

"Mhmm," I mumbled softly, deeply relaxed. "It's all in the interest of research, right?"

"Yeah, right," she agreed.

Following Kayla's guidance, Stephanie cupped my ass more firmly in my hands. She lifted my cheeks upward, and then smoothed them back down again toward my thighs. She squeezed them from the sides, and then spread them apart. I felt her fingers reaching further inside than necessary and delicately teasing the back of my testicles. My cock twitched excitedly, pressed between my stomach and the yoga mat.

Stewart continued guiding our breath: "AH ha heee... concentrate on your partner's touch. Feel them releasing the tension in your body. Let that energy flow through your spine down to your root chakra and up to your crown chakra, illuminating you. AH ha heee..."

The massage ended with Stephanie rolling my little toe between her fingers. Stewart told us to turn over. In near synchrony, the men flipped onto their backs, erections springing up  like released catapults. I saw Stephanie eying mine with that hungry look again.

The touching began again with slow and frustrating, but delicious deliberateness. Hands explored faces, fingers traced down throats, a palm laid flat against our heart. Stewart resumed our breathing exercises, while Kayla directed the women on where and how to touch our bodies. A unending number of minutes passed glacially, while the ladies felt and massaged us everywhere but the one place that was desperately begging for their attention.

Finally, Kayla told the women to lightly circle their fingers around the base of our erections. Stephanie, kneeling by my waist, looked back at me with a questioning expression. I simply nodded, not having the strength even for words. When she gripped me, her touch felt electric.

"Remember," Stewart said. "This is all about the process, not the goal. Keep breathing and focusing only on the sensation of your partner's touch. If you feel that you're close to climaxing, you can rest for a minute."

Kayla encouraged the women to tease us with light touches, fingers gently gliding along our length, over the head, balls caressed, fingers wrapped around us, squeezing gently. Stephanie was driving me crazy. I heard a number of moans from around the room. After a few minutes, on the verge of my second orgasm of the morning, I pushed her hand away. I took several deep breaths until I felt like I'd come back far enough from the edge. Then I nodded, and she resumed.

Her hand closed around me and lightly began to stroke. My thoughts drifted back to the shower, how she'd looked into my eyes as her hand pumped my cock furiously until I came over her dark skin. 'Give it to me, Javi,' she had said. Oh Christ, those words had been so hot, the way she said them, so urgent, so...

I thought I had myself under control, but the orgasm came over me so suddenly in an ambush. All of the sudden I felt the muscles in my body tense up. I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned as my cock throbbed in Stephanie's hand and began to spurt out white streams of cum. The orgasm coursed through my entire body, and exploded in my brain, actually making me see stars. Stephanie gripped me harder and continued to squeeze and pumped me until I was completely drained.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, leaning over me. "I was doing too much. I should have gone slower."

"No," I answered. "It's my fault. I lost my concentration. I should have been more in control."

"It's fine," said Stewart, coming over with a handful of paper towels. "Totally natural. Remember; no judgment, no shame."

"Thanks," I said.

Stewart returned to the front of the room to continue leading the workshop. Stephanie and I cleaned ourselves up, and then sat watching the others. Before the activity came to an end, several of the other men also climaxed, one of them, shooting impressively up to his partner's chin. Each time, Stewart would dutifully go to them with a handful of paper towels and a few words of consolation.

Finally we took a break for lunch. No one bothered to get dressed. Stephanie and I found our new friends prodding at cubes of curried tofu with their forks.

"I can almost taste that rib eye  tonight after we leave here," Jim said.

"Sounds good, man," I agreed.

"So...?" Janis asked expectantly. Stephanie and I looked back at her with puzzled looks on our faces, prompting her to clarify. "So how are you and your girlfriend enjoying the retreat?"

"We're just work colleagues," Stephanie corrected

"Right," Jim and Janice said together, exchanging skeptical looks.

"We are," I said defensively.

"Listen, son," Jim said. "None of my co-workers ever gave me a hand-job in a room full of naked people."

"They better not!" Janis shouted, playfully slapping her husband on the bicep. Then she turned back to us, "Pshaw. Don't listen to him. He works at a tire shop with a bunch of other guys, anyway."

That made us laugh.

"I'm just saying it would never happen," Jim clarified with a shrug.

"Seriously, though, how are you liking it?" Janis persisted.

"Good," Stephanie said.

"Yeah," I added. "I mean up until that last part. I kind of feel like we fucked that up. I don't know, maybe we're not cut out for this."

"Bullshit," Jim stated. "Everyone cums their first time."

"Sometimes even their second time," Janis added, shooting a sly look at Jim. "But these things take practice, honey. Don't be too hard on yourselves."

***

Back in the common room, this time it was Stephanie on her stomach and my fingers probing along her shoulder blades, and then down along her spine to the top of her ass. I was doing my best to follow Stewart's example on Kayla's back, and improvising as best as I could when I got lost. I could feel Stephanie's rib cage expanding and contracting rhythmically beneath my hands, imitating Kayla's breathing patterns.

"Research?" I asked when Steward instructed us to continue downward to work on the buttocks.

"Mmm," she affirmed.

I took her cheeks in my hands, squeezing, and massaging them. I pushed them together, and then spread them apart to reveal a pink glisten between her pussy lips. My cock, which had been relatively well behaved since lunch, began to twitch back to precocious life again at the sight of Stephanie's arousal.

As I continued to work down Stephanie's thighs, I noticed she spread her legs slightly, almost inviting me to press my fingers, inward. And perhaps I 'accidentally' brushed against her hot wet lips a time or two, judging from the low moan that interrupted the steady rhythm of her breathing. The sound made my cock throb again.

Too soon (we could have spent hours there, and it still would have been too soon), Stewart directed our hands down to our partner's calves, and away from their sex. We continued, pressing and squeezing fingers into flesh, down to ankles, heel, the soles of feet, and right to each toe, ending with the little one.

"Okay, ladies, it's time to turn over," Kayla said.

In unison, all the women spun onto their backs, while the men looked down wolfishly at their naked bodies. Stephanie and I were no exception. I gazed down into her eyes, and saw her looking back at me with an almost untamed desire. A pinkish hue had come into her face and over her chest. Her dark nipples were standing at full attention atop the brown hills of her breasts. Her eyes went to my cock, now at completely swollen erection, and I could tell that she was doing everything in her power to resist just leaning over and grabbing it again.

Stewart only allowed us to tease them with light touches and caresses at first. Our fingers grazed from their shoulders, down to their finger tips, ran up along their sides, circled the periphery of their breasts, and crossed across their stomachs. All the time, Kayla, Stephanie, and the other women continued their breathing: 'AH-AH-OH-OH-OH-HEEE!' Their tone had taken on a hot  desperate lustfulness.

Finally Stewart had us reach up and cup their breasts in our hands. I felt Stephanie's nipples brushing against my palms. She was not the only woman in the room, who let out an involuntary loud gasp at our touch. Kayla reminded the ladies to stay focused on their breathing. We continued to work with their breasts, squeezing and caressing them.  Then  we focused specifically on their nipples. Our fingers, ran circles around them, slid over their tops, squeezed, pinched, and pulled at them gently. The sounds of their breathing became even louder, and more intense.

After a few minutes, our hands were directed back down the ladies' torsos, pressing over stomachs, and to their hips. Stewart had us slowly trace our fingers inward along their waistline, and down towards their pussy. The women had different levels of grooming. Some were hairy, some trimmed. Stephanie was totally bare. Her mound was as flushed with excitement as her face and chest. As my fingers approached it, I could feel the heat radiating from it.

"For research, right?" I asked in a whisper, hesitating at the threshold of her sex.

"Just fucking do it," Stephanie responded too loudly, her voice full of need. Laughter erupted around the room.

"Concentrate," Kayla reminded everyone.

I slipped my fingers between her thighs, dipping into her juicy pussy. Stewart guided us in ways to tease their clits, running our fingers along the sides of it, and down, spreading lips, exploring all around the labia, finally returning to the clit, allowing our fingers to run gently upwards across it. We pinched it lightly between finger and thumb, rolling it like the world's smallest joint, and then, slipped back down again. There was a lot of moaning now from the ladies. Their breath work had taken on the intensity of yelling. 'OOOH AH HEEE HA HA!'

Stewart, then had us probe our fingers inside them, guiding us on how to find and stimulate their g-spot. I had two fingers working inside of Stephanie for a few minutes. I could see the strain on her face trying to focus on her breathing and hold back the orgasm that was building to an incredible intensity within her. When Stewart then told us to use our thumbs to resume stimulation on the clit, the sensations were too much for her.

"Oh my god!" Stephanie cried out as the explosive climax rocked her body. I felt her thighs close tight around my wrist, trapping my hand. Her body tensed and shuddered, as her eyes squeezed tight, and she growled loudly through her gritted teeth. I'd made girls orgasm before, but never with this kind of intensity. It seemed almost like it would never end.

Stephanie's orgasm started a kind of chain reaction around the room, as several of the other women also came. I watched their expressions of total overwhelming ecstasy, and the kind of prideful looks spread across the men's faces as if to say 'yeah, I did that.' A couple of the women actually squirted - something I'd only seen in porn videos before  - sending a stream of fluid spraying out across the floor. Sex filled the room. Not just the sounds and smells of it, but the actual energy was there like a physical object. You could feel it pressing on your skin, wrapping you, and entering you as you breathed it in.

Sensing that the workshop was about to get away from them, and still having more to teach, Kayla and Stewart called an end to the activity. Those who had climaxed looked happy. Those who hadn't appeared eager for the next lesson to begin.

"Now, as I'm sure many of you have been waiting for, we'll being doing deep couples tantric yoga," Stewart announced. There was a good deal of cheering at this. "The first pose is called yab yum."

Stewart sat down cross-legged on his mat. His cock stuck up from his lap like the head of a bird rising above its nest. Kayla moved into a standing position so that her pussy was directly in front of his face, and then squatted down. As she did, Stewart grabbed his cock and guided it effortlessly into Kayla's pussy. She gave a sexy little gasp as she let her full weight descend into Stewart's lap and his erection buried itself deep inside her. She wrapped her legs and her arms around his back, and sat looking into his eyes.

"Now, we want to hold this pose like this, with a minimum of movement. Instead, we'll practice the soul meditation as we've done earlier."

I looked at Stephanie, who was staring back at me.

"Really, Steph, this is pretty far for colleagues. If you don't want to do it, I'll understand."

"Listen Javi, we didn't come this far just to stop now." Stephanie looked around at the other women, most of whom had taken their positions already. "Fuck," she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I need to feel you inside me Javi. Right now! Don't you dare fucking deny me that. Not after everything else we've been through this weekend."

It wasn't her words so much as the wild desperate look in her beautiful blue eyes. It was terrifyingly ravenous. I sat cross-legged on my mat, looking up at my beautiful dark-skinned colleague, and she lowered herself majestically down onto my waiting erection. I felt the head of my cock press into the wet heat between her dark thighs. Then her hand reached below, taking hold of the shaft, and guided me into her hole. I slid in easily as her weight settled on me.

I couldn't help but groan at the sensation of Stephanie's hot wet pussy all around me. We stayed still, and stared into each other's eyes. In her gaze, the fear was gone completely. She had given herself up totally to me - to us. The world dissolved around us into murky background, and we dissolved with it, egos and identities melting away. We were no longer university professors, no longer Black and Hispanic, no longer anything but us, the essence of two bare souls connected.

I was intensely aware of every twitch of her body, and of my own body, my cock throbbing involuntarily inside of Stephanie. The walls of her pussy squeezing back against me. I held her close, feeling her breasts press against my chest as we breathed in and out together. It was sex, but not exactly sex, and at the same time, so much more than any sex I'd ever experienced.

Somewhere in the murky distance there arose voices - male and female - Kayla and Stewart. Reluctantly, the world intruded back in on us. They were calling for us to change to a new position. In this one, I was to lay flat on my back, and Stephanie was to lie face down, head to foot on top of me. Then, with my cock still inside her, she was to raise up her shoulders and torso in a cobra pose. We held this for another five minutes.

Next she took the bridge pose with her head, shoulders and feet planted firmly on the floor while she raised her ass as far off the ground as she could. I positioned myself between her knees, entering her again as I leaned backward. In another I lay on my back, raising my legs up to my chest (as far as they'd go), then she sat on my thighs, angling my cock into her dripping pussy. In yet another, I stood, and she raised her entire body into the air, resting on her head and shoulders, and leaning her back against me, and then I pressed my cock down and entered from this position.

We cycled through a number of other poses, holding them still, intensely aroused, but breathing through it, harnessing our sexual energies, and letting them spread through our bodies like light, and flowing into each other. The room itself actually looked as if it had taken on a kind of subtle surreal glow, though I was sure that had to be a trick of my imagination. Finally, we arrived back in the yab yum position, with Stephanie in my lap, her blue eyes staring directly down at me.

"Now," Stewart announced, holding Kayla on top of him. "Focus on your energy. Feel how it fills you almost to bursting. Feel its intensity, its density like a star about to supernova. Relax into it. Know that it is contained within you. You are its master. And when you're ready, you may release that energy to your partner."

Stephanie and I stared deep into each other's eyes. She shifted subtly in my lap. That was all it took. I allowed myself to cum. I could feel my cock throbbing hard inside Stephanie's pussy, pulsing against her walls. Those same walls began contract and spasm around as Stephanie let go of her own orgasm. Our bodies pressed together, clinging firmly to each other, absolutely shuddering as the universe exploded around us in ecstasy. But our eyes stayed locked, looking deeply into each other, even as we cried out loudly and inarticulately. We came to a Satorial blankness, our minds literally blown.

It felt like hours before we came back down to reality, though it couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes. We were still seated facing each other, and I was still inside Stephanie, though my cock was beginning to lose its firmness. I could feel our juices, mixed together, running down my shaft, over my balls, dripping down to my asshole, and soaking into the mat beneath me.

I looked around the room at the other couples, looking dazed and disheveled, all recovering themselves. Finally Kayla slipped off of Stewart. Paper towels were passed around the room to help clean up as best we could. Then Stewart led us in a final meditation, uniting us with nature and the universe. After that, and a short break, they allowed an hour for group sharing about the experience, and answered any questions people might have about the practices.

"We thank you all for being here and experiencing this with us," Kayla said.

"Honestly, this couldn't happen without your attendance," Stewart added. "Thank you."

"Namaste," they said in unison, bowing to us.

"Namaste," we all repeated back to them, bowing in turn.

***

There was a kind of silence as we got dressed and packed up everything including our thoughts. Just before we stopped, Jim and Janis met us in the parking lot. Jim invited us to come with them to a great steakhouse he knew, but we were traveling in the opposite direction.

"So, do you think you'll be back again next year?" Janis asked.

"Well..." We looked at each other, still unsure what this whole experience meant for us. Could we still be colleagues? Could we be something more, and if so, what, exactly?

"But you had a good time here together didn't you?" Janis pressed hopefully.

"Yeah," I said. "Great!"

"It was amazing," Stephanie agreed. "I had no idea what to expect when I got here, but I could never have imagined it being anything like that. Really. Wow."

"Well, there you go," Jim said, giving me a light clap on the arm. "Come on, babe, let's hit the road. I've got a date with beautiful cut of beef to keep."

The couple got into their car, and we got into ours, driving away East and West. Over the next year we kept in touch with them. We also continued doing yoga at the university with Kayla (just the regular stretching and shit-talking). We quickly became her favourite students, and over the year we moved further and further towards the front and center of the studio. Now we sometimes assist the new comers in getting comfortable and learning new poses.

As for Stephanie and I, our relationship is still ambiguous. We're more than just colleagues, but we're not really a couple. Maybe you could call us monogamous friends with exclusive benefits, but that doesn't really seem accurate. What we really are is yoga partners.