40 Days of Relaxation - Day 5, part II

Wednesday, Feb 2, 2011 - Day 5 (part 2)
I attended Thomas's Yin class last night at the Y and it was LOVELY! I am so happy to know that there is another teacher in town who is teaching Yin. I love to be the student in a relaxing class.

I realized that I have not been teaching a true Yin class, which I guess I already knew. I combine styles: Yin, Restorative (lots of props), Therapeutic and Deep Relaxation. It works for me and for my students but I enjoyed the purity and the challenge of the Yin practice Thomas lead. Part of my deal with not teaching a "pure" Yin class is my fear of hurting myself or my students. I definitely bumped up against my fears of hurting myself last night. I'm afraid I will go too deep in a pose and then have SI joint pain later. I have a hard time telling the difference in my body between deep pressure and discomfort/pain. But today I feel fine - no back pain.

Oddly though, I am all puffed up again. I feel like I can barely open my eyes because my face is so puffy and my fingers are stiff and swollen. I suppose both Acupuncture and Yin release toxins into the system which could cause all this puffiness. I did not eat a big bowl of salty popcorn last night and I tried to stay hydrated all day yesterday. If anyone has any thoughts on reducing fluid retention I'd love to hear them.

In addition to this 40 day relaxation practice, I am taking a 30 day "challenge" Ayurveda class at Yoga North. Our first class was on Sunday, Jan 30th. We'll meet for 5 weeks. The first night we tried to figure out our doshas. Turns out I am mostly Vata and Pitta, not so much Kapha. Something the teacher said cracked me up. She said, "A pitta person will not just take a walk, they will take a walk to get somewhere." This is me all over. I'm not just going to relax to reduce inflammation so my teeth don't hurt, I'm going to relax for 40 days and blog about it! What a goofball (I say about myself in a loving tone).

Want to know your dosha? Here's a few links I found to some quizzes:
Yoga Journal:
http://www.yogajournal.com/health/498
Banyan Botanicals:
http://www.banyanbotanicals.com/constitutions/index.html
Chopra Center:
http://doshaquiz.chopra.com/ 

I'm sure there are more resources out there but these three are a good start.