Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Day 119

Late Monday, as I was preparing to take to the ice for my ice hockey game, I noticed that my voice was getting really hoarse. One of my team mates told me that laryngitis is going around. So I stopped talking.

Laryngitis is a yoga teacher's worst nightmare. I had it a few years ago and literally lost my ability to speak for three days. Not a good thing when you use your voice to pay the rent!

I think I caught it in time. Over the past 48 hours, I've been resting my voice as much as possible. A combination of steam tent, slippery elm, neti pot and lots of lukewarm water have soothed my larynx and I managed to teach today's classes, albeit not loudly.

I practised yesterday, but not Ashtanga (I couldn't trust myself not to use Ujjayi breath during the practice and I knew an constriction of the glottis could aggravate my larynx). Instead, I did a gentle Hatha practice.

I did a short form of the Primary Series this morning, trying to be very mindful NOT to use Ujjayi breath. Amazing how difficult that is! It made me realise just how second nature the breathing becomes after awhile. It wasn't a great practice, but I was just glad to be doing it. I will probably do a short form again tomorrow, returning to full series on Friday when I know I'll have a few days off.

2 comments:

Mary said...

I hope you feel better really soon! x

Kaivalya said...

Thank. I'm feeling well, I just need to kick this cough - it's making my voice hoarse!