Sitting by her hotel room window in San Francisco and looking out across the pool and toward the woods full of evergreens, Daphne tried hopelessly to clear her mind of the growing waves of longing she felt all over her body. She told herself she would gaze into the distance at the trees and count fifteen long breathes and, like the meditation tutorials all say to do, just focus on the sensation of her breath.
As she did this, her body flooded her consciousness with memories and fantasies that only seemed to exacerbate the longing and the urges she was trying to subdue. She reached a count of 9 breaths and then dropped her eyes toward the hotel pool. The water looked cool and inviting, and she imagined how good it would feel to swim right now. She decided that sitting still and meditating could wait, that her body needed to move and be active to settle these urges and feelings for a while, just until she finished her business trip and returned home in five days to her fiance Jason — then she could let them safely return.