Saturday, September 25, 2010

108 reasons to love 108...

Darlings,

September is Yoga Month.

The Global Mala project unites us today, the 25th of September in service, yoga and collective consciousness.

Global Mala Yoga for Peace Project has spread around the world in its efforts. For more info, check out www.globalmala.org.

I'm so very very lucky to be the first comic book superhero to teach at Lululemon Santa Monica and lead this fabulous class. I'm honored.

We start with meditation cards, 12 in total at the foot of our mats. We will use these cards to count our intentions and asanas as we travel through 108 reasons to love the sacred number 108 and celebrate our ability to practice together in community.

Today, we honor a great organization, www.AmaYoga.org, a non-profit organization offering balance, healing and transformation through establishing yoga programs in homeless shelters and transitional housing facilities around the city of Los Angeles. I'm so lucky to have been lead to meet the founder, the inspirational Aimee Schoof working with her and the amazing teachers that make yoga happen for so many people.

108 is considered sacred in many eastern religions and traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices.

Today, we practice together in celebration of this number, this organization and this great place, Lululemon.

If you would like to download the class, please log on to www.YogiChocolate.com and donate what you can and practice!

Every cent makes a difference and every cent goes to www.AmaYoga.org.

We start with setting a personal intention we repeat three times within.

We travel through 9 sun salutation a's.

9 sun salutation b's.

2 set's of 36 purifying kapalabhati breaths.

12 Om's

12 prayers for peace

A bunch of stretching

And this....

Reasons why 108 is sacred and why we love it so...

1. Both 9 and 12 have been said to have spiritual significance in many traditions. 9 times 12 is 108. Also, 1 plus 8 equals 9. That 9 times 12 equals 108.

2. Hindu deities/goddess’s and Shiva have 108 names. There are 108 names for Buddha.

3. Mala beads, Catholic rosary beads, the Sikh knots, Chinese Buddhist, Taoist and Tibetan malas all have 108 beads for which to use in prayer, meditation and/or chanting.

4. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that there are 108 sins

5. In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times to finish the old year and welcome the new. It represents 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve nirvana

6. The sum of “the numbers” in the hit TV show, Lost is 108.

7. According to Ayurveda, there are 108 Marma or pressure points

8. There are 108 moves in many traditions of eastern style martial arts as well as Indian dance.

9. In Homer’s Odyssey, the number of suitors coveting Penelope, wife of Odysseus

10. There are 108 outlaws in the Chinese classic Water Margin/Outlaws for the Marsh

11. Surat al-Kawthar ("Abundance") is the 108th sutra of the Qur'an, and the shortest.

12. There are 108 love sonnets in Astrophil and Stella, the first English sonnet sequence by Sir Philip Sidney

13. The distance between Earth and the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Sun

14. The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth

15. A baseball has 108 stitches

16. There are 108 cards in a deck of UNO cards

17. 108 is the emergency telephone service number in India

18. 108 is the name of the American hardcore band founded in 1991

19. The powers of 1 to the first power, 2 to the second power and 3 to the third power all equal 108

20. 108 is a Harshad number, which is an integer divisible by the sum of its digits (Harshad is from Sanskrit, and means "great joy")

21. There are said to be 108 earthly desires in mortals, 108 lies that humans tell and 108 delusions or forms of ignorance.

22. The chakras are the intersections of energy lines. There are said to be a total of 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra. One of them, sushumna leads to the crown chakra, and is said to be the path to Self-realization.

23. There are 54 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. Each has masculine and feminine, shiva and shakti. 54 times 2 is 108.

24. If one is able to be so calm in meditation as to have only 108 breaths in a day, enlightenment will come. Kids, don’t try that at home.

25. The angle formed by two adjacent lines in a pentagon equals 108 degrees.

26. Some say there are 108 feelings, with 36 related to the past, 36 related to the present, and 36 related to the future.

27. There are about 115 elements known on the periodic table of the elements. Most of those, around or higher than the number 100 only exist in the laboratory, and some for only thousandths of a second. The number that naturally exist on Earth is around 108.

28. The sacred River Ganga spans a longitude of 12 degrees and a latitude of 9 degrees. 12 times 9 equals 108.

29. In astrology, there are 12 houses and 9 planets. 12 times 9 equals 108. Chinese astrology says that there are 108 sacred stars.

30. In the Krishna tradition, there were said to be 108 gopis or maid servants of Krishna.

31. 1, 0, and 8: Some say that 1 stands for God or higher Truth, 0 stands for emptiness or completeness in spiritual practice, and 8 stands for infinity or eternity.

32. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Moon.

33. Silver and the moon: In astrology, the metal silver is said to represent the moon. The atomic weight of silver is 108.

34. Meditations: Some say there are 108 styles of meditation.

35. Breath: Tantra estimates the average number of breaths per day at 21,600, of which 10,800 are solar energy, and 10,800 are lunar energy. Multiplying 108 by 100 is 10,800. Multiplying 2 x 10,800 equals 21,600.

36. Paths to God: Some suggest that there are 108 paths to God.

37. Islam: The number 108 is used in Islam to refer to God.

38. Stages of the soul: Said that Atman, the human soul or center goes through 108 stages on the journey.

39. First man in space: The first manned space flight lasted 108 minutes, and was on April 12, 1961 by Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut.

40. 108 is the number of "Upanishads" comprising the Vedic texts of Hinduism.

41. 108 is the Chinese number representing "man".

42. 108 is the number Buddhists use to represent that number of human passions.

43. 108 is six times the number "18", which is a Jewish good luck number.

44. 108 is twelve times the number 9, which is the number of vinyasas (movements linked to breath) in a Sun Salutation.

45. There are highways in Canada, The US, Japan, China and The Virgin Islands called, the 108 and 108 is a hip hop, country, jazz, oldies, pop and internet station across the US.

46. Octoer 8 2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.

47. October 8, 1962 – Algeria joins the United Nations.

48. October 8, 1956New York Yankees's Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series; one of only 20 perfect games in MLB (major league baseball) history.

49. October 8, 1932 – The Indian Air Force is established.

50. October 8, 2004 Martha Stewart is sentenced to to prison

51. October 8th is Matt Damon and Chevy Chase’s birthdays. Send ‘em an e-card.

52. October 8th is the earliest date Columbus day can fall on the calendar

53. October 8th 1991 is the official date that Croatia becomes Independent of Yugoslavia

54. 108 minutes was how long it took me to put this list of 54 facts together.

54 times 2 is 108. Bam!

Flying at the speed of 108,

Lady Yoga

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