108 Sun Salutations:

For the First Time the World is Ready for this Beautiful Mindset

by Monica Fernandi | January 2019

108 Sun Salutations

Welcome to the New Year!

Happy 2019 to you! Every year and each decade, time flies by as we all evolve, change and transform, hopefully for the better. Ancient wisdom is looked at again and again with new eyes, and youth learns the awe of the current world around them, depending on how it is shown to them by parents, mentors and now social circles beyond local neighborhoods. Opportunities to educate oneself beyond the brick and mortar university has multiplied thanks to the World Wide Web and the many connections it provides. Inspiration comes from tons of sources other than historical texts written over the centuries by masters.

In the world today, we are a species of over 7 billion living in a super fast paced story.  Our story is the same in that regard, but oh so unique person to person, place by place, soul to soul. None of this is news to you,  but I have a new way of looking at life to share, thanks to an ancient and sacred number that jumped into my life with much determination. This number exists to be studied, analyzed and renewed. It has become my passion in this chapter of my life. My love of yoga, energy, vitality, and healthy living has brought this number into a new and very bright light. I will dive deeper into this exciting new method below.

Numbers and their Importance

I’m always curious as to the “why” something has begun. I’m not necessarily always able to find answers, but willing to dig deep and learn how a certain idea or event was created. As a yoga practitioner, early on I was taught about the history of yoga and all it’s 8 limbs, based on the book Patanjali wrote nearly 4-5000 years ago. Records cannot confirm exact dates but back then, his Yoga Sutras, meaning thread, guided people to a path toward peace and enlightenment. I was hooked instantly and for the past 25 years my curiosity led me to read many books and take many classes digging deeper into the mind, body and spirit connection. Today, we all still need this ancient wisdom and advice!

Welcome to the world of Sun Salutations

The act of doing 108 sun salutations on the first of each new year along with the change of season was an intriguing learned behavior that seemed to be done all over the world in yoga studios, communities and homes. This number has been referred to as a sacred number in yoga and Hindu texts along with many other phenomena that gives rise to its ritual significance: the traditional mala/prayer bead has 108 beads plus one for the guru; there are 108 pithas, or sacred sites, throughout India; there are 108 marma points, sacred places of the body; the average distance of the sun and the moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters; there are 108 Upanishads-sacred texts written in Sanskrit as part of the Vedas/religious texts.

108 Sun Salutations

Many other facts came up over my years of studying this number, including the Chicago Cubs not having won a World series in 108 years; there are 108 stitches on a baseball and oh, the number you call in an emergency in India instead of 9-1-1? 1-0-8 of course!

And so it is my mission to get this beautiful sacred number out to the masses in a new light with a somewhat simple approach to all of life:

Introducing… The108Method (you can check out a detailed description here).

My own challenges in the last 10 years included dealing with death, divorce, bankruptcy and moving several times. All of those events have been guided with the meaning of this number. Breaking down each of the three numbers with their individual meanings along with the sacred number as a whole can be applied to all aspects of your life. Here goes the short version:

ONE: Truth is one, paths are many. We are all in it together. Unique, but together. We can do this.

ZERO: Represents nothingness. We come into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing. So..let it go!! The zero is a huge life lesson for us all.

EIGHT: Infinity. Eternal. What goes around comes around. Infinite possibilities. Life is short in our human bodies but our souls, spirit, and legacy are eternal.

As a personal trainer and yoga teacher I created a workout based on these sacred numbers. It has been used for everything from 108 breaths to 108 leg or abdominal exercises. Any way you look at it, it can help create an easier time on this beautiful planet. Three sacred numbers for your one amazing life. Try it…it really does work!

For more on the workouts see my workout library. Be on the lookout for my e-book coming this spring. Got curiosity? Leave a comment below.

xo

Do Your 108 Sun Salutations