Are you getting in your 108 sun salutes?

Early Saturday morning, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere moved ever so subtly from summer to fall.

It’s still pretty hot in Los Angeles (not unusual for September); but the days are getting shorter and shorter, ever more rapidly.

For many yogis, the change of the season offers the chance to mark the occasion by a yoga practice involving 108 sun salutations. A yoga mala, some call it. (I also see that online it is compared to a 5K — long enough to be challenging, but not too daunting.)

One of our first Ashtanga teachers, Shayna Liebbe, introduced us to this practice. (For Steve, a few of these practices were among his first yoga classes.) It is very athletic, very sweaty, and for Bobbie early on it always resulted in an opening of the hamstrings. (You can, if you want, take quick breaks after each 27 sun salutes.) It also, in some ways, is an even more intensely focused and regimented practice than the usual Ashtanga sequence.

Perhaps you could say it is Ashtanga on steroids.

On Sunday, we’ve decided to turn our home practices over to 108 sun salutes. If you haven’t done so, give it a chance.

Posted by Bobbie and Steve