108 Sun Salutations: Tips and Tricks for Students and Teachers.
Cover photo taken by Marissa Phillips (@marissaphillipsphoto) partnered with Lululemon Honolulu
For the new year, I was asked to teach 108 sun salutations. I was excited and honored, but also a little nervous. While I’ve attended 108 salutation classes, I have never taught one myself. There are so many ways to approach teaching and practicing sun salutations and even more ways people weave them into a full practice of 108.
While this post is directed more towards teachers, there are multiple tips that carry over to students as well, especially if you are planning on practicing 108 salutations at home.
For Teachers
Keep in mind that 108 sun salutations are intended to be a celebration. When you come to your mat to honor the new year, summer or winter solstice, you want to move in a way that also honors your body. Keeping students safe during 108 is the most important factor when teaching. Don’t be afraid to move your students into
Ahimsa
As
When you practice the same movements multiple times in a row, you are at a higher risk of injury. As meditative as repeated sun salutations can be, you can also go on autopilot. This results in a loss of mindfulness which can lead to improper engagements and alignment. Additionally, practicing strength based movements for an extended period of time can be quite taxing. Meaning there is a higher possibility of injury from fatigue in 108 salutations compared to a regular class.
Practicing Ahimsa can be a great theme to weave into your 108 salutations and can enhance student’s experiences. When you incorporate Ahimsa into class, you are providing an open invitation for students to listen and honor their body. This encourages students to have compassion for themselves and modify or take a break as needed.
Offering Modifications
Practicing a full 108 sun salutations is a lot of work, even for an experienced yogi. That is why offering up modifications for chaturanga are crucial for a safe class. Some teachers demo a few different options for chaturanga before teaching class. This is perfect since not everyone knows the modifications. However, demoing modifications is not always enough to keep students safe.
I chose to teach a few rounds of modified sun A’s as a part of the full 108. This offered a nice warm up and cool down to practice and allowed students to feel comfortable and confident when choosing to modify.
It’s important to note that a modified sun salutation is not any less legitimate. Modifications allow you to explore what your body responds to best in your yoga practice. Moving through multiple rounds of modifications as a group was extremely beneficial, it helped remove the egos and the “all or nothing” attitude.
Active Rests
Along with modifications, it’s important to offer childs pose or a seated meditation if anyone needs to rest. When resting, I encouraged students to continue breathing with the room. This offers a physical break for students, but also a way to stay connected to the rest of the room.
I was surprised to see the number of students who chose the meditation and visualization option. It was really fun to talk to those students after and hear about their experience. Most students seemed to have enjoyed this option. It’s a nice alternative and can be a powerful method to maintain a meditative state of mind.
Keeping Count
Apart from creating a safe environment to practice in, keeping count was one of my biggest worries. Every teacher I talked to regarding counting gave me similar advice. Break down the sun salutations into sets so it’s easier to keep track of where you are. I chose to break up the salutations into nine sets of twelve.
Fortunately teaching with someone else made counting so much easier! I led the students initially, and Brooke took over after the fifth set. Whoever wasn’t teaching, was tallying the sets and offering hands-on adjustments.
I have heard of teachers using Mala beads to track their count as well. This can be a nice option if you’re teaching solo. Another method is to fill a small cup with twelve beans. When you teach one salutation, you remove a bean from the cup. When all twelve beans are removed, you know you’ve done one set. All you have to do is keep track of your sets making the counting more manageable.
Counterposing and Reflection
Whether you decide to teach in sets, or you go for gold and take breaks as needed, counterposing and pausing to reflect
Furthermore, adding poses between sets can create a nice pause for reflection. If you choose to add any other poses to your salutations it’s important to pick postures that promote a healthy spine. Sun salutations involve a lot of
When Brooke and I taught, we added a posture or two at the end of each set. During our longer held postures, we reconnected with our breath and offered key points of reflection for students. At the very end of class, we moved through a few seated and restorative postures. We held these poses for a significantly longer period of time in order to allow our bodies to soak up the benefits of our
For Students
The most important thing to keep in mind as a student, is to stay safe. Take breaks when you need and modify when you need. If you catch your mind wandering, slow down by skipping chaturanga and hanging out in down dog. 108 sun salutations can be intimidating, but if you take your time to move in a way that supports your physical wellbeing, it is an attainable and exciting experience.
I hope these tips were helpful in terms of your own teaching and practice. I’d love to hear if you have anything to add to the list of tips and tricks!
Love and Light,
Sarah
