How to instantly feel more centered: Sit in a meditation posture, and straighten your spine. Bring your awareness and attention to the breath, and with each in breath feel grounded through your root chakra and let the energy of the inhaled breath rise to the crown of your head. Become aware of the luminous channel connecting you to the earth as well as the heavens. Repeat.
A 108 sun salutation workshop is being offered at Radiance Yoga in Old Town on the solstice, Sunday June 21 . (Also the book club at Radiance Yoga this month will discuss The Four Agreements, one of my favorite books). I was curious to the significance of the number 108, as I am planning to do 108 sun salutations on the Summer Solstice as one way of being mindful of the zenith. I came across this Q&A on the Yoga Journal website, but I will continue researching this further because I am interested in the power in numbers. Here is the Q&A reposted below:
The number’s significance is open to interpretation. But 108 has long been considered a sacred number in Hinduism and yoga. Traditionally, malas, or garlands of prayer beads, come as a string of 108 beads (plus one for the “guru bead,” around which the other 108 beads turn like the planets around the sun). A mala is used for counting as you repeat a mantra—much like the Catholic rosary.
Renowned mathematicians of Vedic culture viewed 108 as a number of the wholeness of existence. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Such phenomena have given rise to many examples of ritual significance.
According to yogic tradition, there are 108 pithas, or sacred sites, throughout India. And there are also 108 Upanishads and 108 marma points, or sacred places of the body.
And, yes, one can offer a yoga mala of 108 Sun Salutations. Please take a moment to visit www.globalmala.org for more information on the power of 108 and joining the “mala around the earth” to be formed by the worldwide yoga community on September 21 and 22 of 2007.
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