Embracing the Power of 108 Sun Salutations at My Yoga Place
Updated: Sep 21
Doing 108 sun salutations in large groups around the world was popularised by Californian yoga teacher Shiva Rea. She describes herself as "A Global Movement & Yoga teacher." In 2007, she organised a Global Mala for Peace for the International Day of Peace on 21st September. She envisioned "a mala around the earth" and encouraged people worldwide to practice 108 sun salutations. Participants donated the proceeds to vetted international organisations focused on health and climate, such as Trees for the Future. While she still holds retreats and events at seasonal solstices, her activism and fundraising are not directly associated with these events. Many yoga studios continue to arrange 108 sun salutations events—some for charity and others for commercial purposes.
Why 108?
The association between 108 and yoga has roots in the Indian Vedas. Scholars have placed sacred significance on the number 108 due to its mathematical properties. For instance, trigonometry reveals that the distance between the Earth and the Sun is roughly 108 times the Sun's diameter. The number is also a hyperfactorial of 3 and a Harshad number. If you want to dive deeper into these fascinating calculations, click here#cite_note-15) for Wikipedia explanations.
This knowledge likely spread along with other teachings from India via the Vedas to Tibet, China, Japan, and beyond. As humans, we tend to see patterns, and the number 108 appears in various stories and contexts.
Significance of 108
There are 108 beads in a mala bracelet used for reciting mantras during meditation.
The Upanishads contain 108 Vedic Texts.
The Kangyur, the official historical Tibetan Buddhist canon, is traditionally compiled into exactly 108 volumes.
The Sanskrit alphabet has 108 spoken frequencies.
The design and architecture of ancient Vedic fire altars described in the Rig Veda feature the number 108.
In Homer's The Odyssey, there are 108 suitors for Penelope.
A regulation baseball has 108 stitches.
Whether all of this holds meaning is subjective. Both the mathematical and spiritual significance can be overwhelming. It’s a bit like noticing blue cars everywhere once you start thinking about them.
I've participated in 108 sun salutations a few times. I enjoy the physical challenge and the endocannabinoid response from a long bout of medium-intensity exercise. This experience is often referred to as a "runner's high." Practising yoga in a group setting adds to the enjoyment for all the reasons listed below.
Ceremony and Community
Why do we perform rituals and ceremonies?
In my view, we have lost valuable aspects of religious practices in our mostly secular society. However, we've also shed some less desirable habits, such as offering flesh to the Gods and blindly following doctrine. Connection, community, and ceremony are essential elements that many are trying to revive through events like this.
The Importance of Connection
Connection is vital for our well-being. When we gather for a shared purpose, we foster a sense of belonging. This is especially important as we navigate life's transitions.
Collective Effervescence
Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, demonstrated that collective effervescence occurs when people come together to do something in unison. He studied totemism among Australian Aboriginal tribes in the 1920s. Durkheim sought to understand what held societies together. He concluded that chanting, making movements, and focusing on a shared goal create a kind of "social electricity."
In a peer-reviewed meta-analysis of collective effervescence outcomes during gatherings, researchers reviewed instances of collective behaviour, such as demonstrations, rituals, and celebrations. They found that when people come together and pay attention to the same thing, it produces self-transcendent emotions. These emotions include compassion, awe, gratitude, and love, as cited in this paper by Jonathon Haidt.
We all know that when we sing or dance together, we feel a connection—to ourselves, our environment, and each other. This connection enhances our self-esteem and sense of purpose.
Practising yoga asana in a class is a modern way of coming together as a community. It doesn't need to have a religious basis to provide us with feelings of exuberance. Is it so wrong to engage in this practice simply because it helps us feel connected and at ease with one another? We can set aside the distractions of our ego minds and just move and breathe together.
Honouring Our Roots
It's essential to remember where these practices originated. We should research their historical roots to avoid creating untrue narratives about our actions. Whether it's possible to trace these roots accurately over time is debatable. However, questioning history can lead us down a complex path.
Join Us for 108 Sun Salutations
We are hosting 108 Sun Salutations on Sunday, 26th September, at 2 PM at My Yoga Place in Ayr. This event will raise funds for Megan's Space, a local charity dedicated to preventing the needless loss of young lives to suicide and reducing self-harm while promoting mental well-being. If you prefer a recommendation for what to donate, we suggest £20, but please feel free to contribute whatever you can.
To participate, you can complete some or all of the sun salutations. Alternatively, gather a friend and do it as a relay. Once you get into it, the experience becomes quite meditative.
We invite local studios and yoga teachers to join us, either in our studio or at their own locations. Together, we can create a mala of practice and giving.
Resources used for this blog:
(the list below)
Research assistance: background research for this post, including locating sources and summarising academic papers, was carried out with the help of Claude (Anthropic), an AI assistant. The blog was written in my own words.
Sun salutations and 108 sun salutations
Wikipedia, "Sun Salutation" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Salutation
Yoga Journal, "The Origin of Sun Salutations: Where Did They Come From?" — https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/history-of-yoga/the-origin-of-sun-salutations/
https://www.yogamatters.com/blogs/philosophy/yoga-mala-time-find
Ritual theory (Durkheim, Turner, secular ritual)
Wikipedia, "Collective effervescence" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_effervescence
Wikipedia, "Victor Turner" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Turner
Mark Jennings, "An extraordinary degree of exaltation: Durkheim, effervescence and Pentecostalism's defeat of secularisation," Journal of Sociology (2015) — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0037768614560959
Olaveson, T., "Collective Effervescence and Communitas: Processual Models of Ritual and Society in Emile Durkheim and Victor Turner," Dialectical Anthropology 26 (2001) — https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1023/A:1020447706406.pdf
Frontiers in Psychology, "Arts, secular ritual, and health" — https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/social-psychology/articles/10.3389/frsps.2025.1477404/full
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Durkheim, Emile" — https://iep.utm.edu/emile-durkheim/
Collective effervescence meta-analysis
Pizarro, J. J., Zumeta, L. N., Bouchat, P., Włodarczyk, A., Rimé, B., Basabe, N., Amutio, A., & Páez, D. (2022). "Emotional processes, collective behavior, and social movements: A meta-analytic review of collective effervescence outcomes during collective gatherings and demonstrations." Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 974683. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.974683/full
Self-transcendent emotions
Haidt, J., & Morris, J. P. (2009). "Finding the self in self-transcendent emotions." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(19), 7687–7688. https://www.pnas.org/content/106/19/7687
Stellar, J. E., Gordon, A. M., Piff, P. K., Cordaro, D., Anderson, C. L., Bai, Y., Maruskin, L. A., & Keltner, D. (2017). "Self-Transcendent Emotions and Their Social Functions: Compassion, Gratitude, and Awe Bind Us to Others Through Prosociality."
Yaden, D. B., Haidt, J., Hood, R. W., Vago, D. R., & Newberg, A. B. (2017). "The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience." — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1037/gpr0000102
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