SUN SALUTATIONS
Practicing sun salutations can be an act of reverence - a beautiful offering of gratitude and thanksgiving for the gift of life itself - especially when the cycle of physical movement is combined with 12 mantras honoring the light-giving force of the sun.
Practicing sun salutations can also be an act of tapas - a kind of challenge that asks us to meet it with enough inspired passion, fortitude, and patience to willingly (and even enthusiastically) endure intense experience. The Sanskrit word "tapas" can be translated to English to mean "heat causing change." Practicing tapas involves purposely staying in the crucible of intense experience until the flames die to embers - embers that carry the potential to spark real transfiguration. Tapas recognizes the reality of suffering and asks us to willingly bear adversity to open up to greater insight. It knows that sometimes we are unaware of our own capacity unless we're challenged and discover within ourselves a force that matches the adversity we face. Consecutively practicing A LOT of sun salutations (like 108!) is a way of welcoming intense experience as part of the whole of our human experience. It holds the potential to connect us with a fierce kind of grace - a grace that reflects back to us our own inner essence.
The number 108 has many auspicious and symbolic meanings across diverse disciplines. The ancient rishis regarded the number 108 as a representative of consciousness itself. Consciousness exists a one thing (1), nothing (0), and everything (8). 1 represents consciousness manifested, 0 represents latent consciousness as nothing - emptiness - the void, and 8 represents conscious as all - infinitely interconnected. In this way, the number 108 represents the basis of all creation.
The practice of 108 sun salutes is challenging and usually lasts about an hour. Completing 108 consecutive sun salutation IS NEVER A REQUIREMENT and there is no trophy waiting for you if you do! It's just an idea and it may not be a good idea for a variety of reasons. The essence of yoga is knowing ourselves - not some sort of physical achievement. Yoga is an invitation to connect with our body, mind, and heart. It welcomes us as we are and our practice as is it. So, if we're feeling like we want to try a lot of sun salutes - great - if we're feeling like we want to try a few sun salutes - great - if we're feeling like other poses or a single resting pose is best - great. Yoga welcomes it all.
This chart can help guide us through the practice of sun salutations - however we decide to practice.