108 Sun Salutations

Thursday April 18th was day 108 of 2013 and the yoga community of Montreal set up a practice of doing 108 Sun Salutations from 7:30-9:30pm. Two full hours of yoga. More specifically two full hours of sun salutations.

 

I was both excited and terrified to participate in this practice. I have been practicing yoga for under a year, and only two weeks ago did I finally feel like I was able to do modified chaturanga properly. I took on the challenge though as part of my commitment to do yoga daily and my intention to deepen my practice. 

I arrived at the studio for 7:15 like I was instructed to, and went to the back corner of the room where there was still space, rolled out my mat and sat. I had thoughts of, "What if I cannot do all 108? My flow is not that great. Can I lay in shavansana or only in child's pose if I have to break? Are all these people really going to do all 108?!" I looked around the room and realized that I also had the thoughts of, well if they can do it so can I and wow there are a lot of people here and I wonder if any of us really knows what we've gotten ourselves into. 

We finally began our practice at 7:45 after some technical difficulties occurred with the webcast of the other yoga studios around the city. We began slowly for the first 12 salutations and then the owner of the studio was up for her 12 and she was not nearly as easy on us. There were six instructors there that evening to guide us through the 108 salutations. I am sure that we lost count more than a few times and we actually were guided to do more than 108. 

I was very impressed with myself. I did what I could do and surprised myself because it turns out that what I can do is more than I tend to give myself credit for. I completed my practice, drove home and had myself a candle lite bath. The next day wasn't too bad. I could move with ease still and then Saturday came and I could have sworn I had participated in a heavy weight lifting competition my body was so sore. I am still feeling it and have therefore not been doing yoga over the past two days. I intended to go to class this morning and could not bring myself to face a downward dog pose. 

I am however realizing that I miss doing yoga and being in a flow and connection with my breathe. Therefore I will do my own slow and relaxed practice tonight before bed because I enjoy it. I will go at my own pace and hold my poses for my desired length of time, allowing for more or less stretch. I know from experience that in the end I will be very thankful that I took time for me. 

I'll be back on my mat in class tomorrow morning!