Day 3: Hot Chocolate

So... the title is a little bit misleading...

In fact, I'm not sure why video #3 is called Hot Chocolate at all.  I felt the heat, but there was no chocolate to be found.

This routine was similar to yesterday's.  Boat pose came back!  This time there were two kinds of boats.  My friend from yesterday, and a reverse boat pose in which you start by laying on your stomach, then grab your ankles from behind you, and lift your chest and legs up off the ground.  I have a strong back, so this pose has always been an easy one for me.  Its direct inverse on the other hand.... quite challenging!  I was able to do boat pose with my legs bent this morning, but I think it'll be a while before my version looks anything like Yogi Extraordinaire's in my post from last night.

An interesting thing is happening to me as I check off day 3 of this challenge... I'm getting a little bit... pissy?
This has happened to me before when I did a hot yoga challenge at Darcy's Moksha Yoga Studio in North York 2 years ago.  I couldn't explain it then, but I got, ...well... ANGRY!  It appeared I was angry for no apparent reason.  This would be true except for the minor detail that Anger was one of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' grieving stages that I had never allowed myself to experience after my mom's death.  Kubler-Ross defines this stage as a feeling of "Why me?  It's not fair!  How can this happen to me?  Who is to blame?!"  She says that when in this stage, any individual representing life or energy becomes the subject of projected resentment and jealousy.  At this point it had been 4 years since my mother died and in those 4 years I had never expressed any of these emotions.  This wasn't a conscious decision or anything, the anger just didn't come out.  The tears sure did.  But the anger?  Not so much.

After a solid week of deep hip opening exercises with Darcy, I was all a rage.  Literally.  I really have to thank my two girlfriends Angie and Jacqueline for even being able to put up with me during this time,  as well as my sister who shared virtually everything, including oxygen, with me in our bachelor apartment that year!  The slightest things would set me off.  A couple, deeply in love, walking past me on the street would set off intense feelings of hate and I would have to stop myself and think, "What is WRONG with you?! You don't even KNOW them!? Chill the france out!"  All the yoga instructors I have ever practiced under always give caution about those wonderful hip openers..."When doing hip opening exercises, you may notice a release of previously stored emotions." 

Knowing what I know now about Asian Medicine from my studies as a Naturopathic student, it makes total sense to me that such strong rage and anger could result from something as simple as stretching my legs and opening up my hips. 

There are 12 standard meridians that go up and down the arms, trunk, and legs; one of them is the Liver Meridian.  In a Western sense, the liver organ is responsible for the storage and filtration of blood, the secretion of bile, and metabolic actions.  In Asian Medicine, the Liver also stores and governs the blood and ensures its free movement.  However, the liver has many other functions, and Anger and Fear are within this realm.  A common pathology, "Liver Qi Stagnation" will result in anger, impatience, and rash decisions.  The Liver meridian runs up along the inner aspect of the legs and across the hips into the ribs as you can see in the picture I've attached.  So it's no surprise that any kind of deep stretching around this hip area will release emotions that you've unconsciously stored away.  I think everyone can agree that yoga is a good way to detox toxins out of the system...but clearly, it's a good way to detox the emotional toxins out of your body too.