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108 sun salutations

31st May 2010 by Helena 4 Comments  

On Saturday I went along to my favourite yoga teacher’s class to do 54 sun salutations in a row. Why on earth would you want to do a thing like that you may wonder, but I was scarily excited by the challenge and wanted to see how tough it was.

I was unpleasantly surprised. I was actually sweating after about 10. After 25 I wondered how I would last until the end. Did you know that one sun salutation is actually two? That is, one on either side? No, neither did I.

It took us one hour and ten minutes. At times I went into a trance-like state. Other times I tried to count them (this was bad, they went really slowly). Then I tried to focus on my breathing and finally on the plot for my novel. I have to admit that most of the time I was wishing it was over. Although I was determined to keep on and not collapse into child’s pose like the woman in front of me.

At the end of 54 I lay back in a haze of exhaustion and sweat.

“Next week,” said Ria the lovely yoga teacher. “We will be doing 108.”

“Why 108?” I groaned. “Are you serious?”

“Indian/Buddhist thought states that the outer universe is mirrored in the inner man. He is the microcosm and the objective universe is the macrocosm. The number 108 represents the distance between the devotee and the God within.”

I’ll just have to take her word for it. And yes, I will be there on Saturday. I might never recover, but I will be there….

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2010


Filed Under: Yoga, blog --> Tagged With: salutations

4 thoughts on 108 sun salutations

  • Allison says:
    1st June 2010 at 12:56 pm

    You rock! I’ve done the sun salutation millions of times but never more then 4 in a row. I love the simplicity of the challenge. I’m going to try doing 10 this weekend.
    A

  • Cate Jumeirah says:
    3rd June 2010 at 11:44 pm

    So pleased you’re doing yoga again, Helena. But I also want to say how much I’m enjoying reading More, More France Please. A friend in France sent me a copy and I’m finding it unputdownable even though our own French-connection is very much in the past. It’s a hugely informative book written in a very entertaining style, it should be essential reading for anyone giving even the slightest thought to moving to France.

  • mihnas says:
    4th June 2010 at 1:47 pm

    my first yoga class ever , after years of not doing anything was all about Sun salutation ,
    I don’t remember how many we did , for sure less than 54, but I slept 14hours after that ^^

    It’s was exhausting , but in a very positive way )
    that’s why I really enjoy yoga

  • helena says:
    4th June 2010 at 9:26 pm

    I didn’t make it, as I write my fellow yogis will be 20 minutes into it. My back is sore so not worth the risk. But am there is spirit….Hx

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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