Celebrating the Fall Equinox with 108 Sun Salutations

The number 108 has great significance in Hinduism and that has translated to yoga practice as well.  At the change of the seasons, yogis will often practice 108 sun salutations as a way to mark the changing of the seasons and honor this time.  I have often heard about these workshops in the past and thought "wow, now that sounds hard!"  And during the yoga retreat this summer, I set completing this workshop as one of my goals.

Tonight was the first time my schedule aligned to make it possible for me to participate, so off I went.  I was a little nervous and a lot determined.  I knew it would be difficult and I was stubbornly set on making sure I did not "give up" and actually completed all 108.  That stubborn determination went out the window about an hour in.  Luckily that was about the same time that the endorphins kicked in, and it truly felt like a meditative, almost out-of-body experience.  At that point, it felt almost effortless, that I was not necessarily in my body.  It was awesome.  I had a strong craving for Vitamin Water, and I was sweating so much it was gross.  But I was loving it.

Not long after that I started feeling things again.  And they were not blissful.  My hips were yelling at me, as were my calf muscles and my hamstrings.  Surprisingly my arms did not have much to say.  But my wrists did--and I noticed that my thumb and forefinger on my right hand were numb.  And then I felt a weird pull in the back of my left knee.  So there went my determination, swept away by care and compassion for my body, that had been working so very hard and was clearly telling me that I had done enough.  That it was OK to back off a bit.  It felt strange sitting there doing nothing with so many people being active around me (many of them had wisely slowed down earlier) and this was also, unfortunately, the point during the workshop when a couple of my favorite teachers were leading.  But I let all of that go and focused on how proud I was that I made it as far as I did.

I have absolutely no idea how many sun salutations I actually completed, but I lasted for about 90 minutes and did what I could that did not involve my wrist for the remaining 30 minutes.  I'm so glad I tried it, and I'm happy to report that I can feel my thumb and forefinger again!