108 Sunny Salutations for Mom

Well, we could not have asked for a more beautiful day to salute the sun! On Saturday almost 300 yogis (including myself) gathered at Memorial Stadium under the sun for Yoga for Hope. We completed 108 sun(ny) salutations to raise money and awareness for City of Hope.

If you don't know about City of Hope, you should. It is a cancer treatment center that goes above and beyond to treat the whole patient, recognizing the importance of complementary and integrative therapies like yoga. The researchers, doctors, and nurses at City of Hope understand the mind-body-spirit connection and this enables them to better care for their patients, and their patients' families. I signed up because, like many of you, cancer has touched my family. Most of you know that five years ago my Mom (Lucy) battled and beat breast cancer. Watching her go through the pain and fear associated with this disease was one of the hardest and scariest things I've ever had to do. My Mom's fight taught me that cancer patients need so much more than just good medical care- because cancer doesn't just break you physically, it can break your spirit too. Healing involves restoring hope and tending to the patient's and family's spiritual health as well. This is what City of Hope strives to do- so, thanks to YOU, I was excited to raise $565.00 for this organization! You will never know how much it touched me and my family to have so many of you support my participation in this event.

Here is a picture of my mama and I post-recovery.

I think she looks gorgeous & I love that little pixie cut!

Here we are waiting to begin under a gorgeous blue sky.

I was so grateful to connect with my favorite yoga instructor Jenniferlynn before we got started!

If you haven't been to one of JL's classes at Haute Yoga or Yogalife, put that on your bucket or summer to do list! I always walk away from JL's classes feeling renewed, energized, and full of gratitude.

It was incredibly inspiring to practice with so many

devoted, caring people and to be surrounded with such awesome energy!

let's play a little Where's Waldo and see if you can find me in this picture...

So why 108 sun salutations? What's the significance? Well, instructor Jennifer Isaacson described that the numbers 1, 0, and 8 are meaningful in themselves- the 1 stands for the individual practice, the 0 for the union of all of us practicing together, and the 8 signifies infinity, that there are infinite possibilities of what we can achieve in our practice together. She also informed us that 108 is a meaningful number in many spiritual practices... 108 is the number of beads on a Catholic rosary and a Tibetan mala... the number of names for Buddha and the number of names for Shiva in the Hindu philosophy... it is also said that there are 108 energy lines converging to form the heart chakra in yoga... interestingly enough, 108 is also the number of stitches on a baseball! Huh.

I love the strength & energy in this woman's arms & hands!

So it was an inspring (and exhausting!) day. I felt that every salutation I performed was a physical prayer of gratitude for my mom's healing. Every morning I still thank God that my mom was healed and that both my parents continue to be in good health. Now I also thank God for the people at City of Hope, that they are healing other mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers who are battling disease. I'm so glad I could have a small part in that.

If you are looking for an organization to support, either financially or through volunteer work, I encourage you to consider City of Hope and visit their website to learn more about the great work they do!