108 Sun salutations to celebrate the summer solstice!

Yesterday the whole yoga community of Playa gathered on the roof of one of the hotels with a wonderful sea view, to celebrate the summer solstice by offering 108 Salutes to the Sun. For those not familiar with yoga, each salute is made up of several different postures from forward bends to lunges, planks, cobras, and downward dogs.
I reckon there were about 250 yogis there, men and women all dressed in white, there was a lot of chanting, singing and probably a few mumbled curses when your spine starts to complain about the prolonged movement. It was a pretty amazing experience, the sharing of group energy with so many people, and a lot of exultation when we finished.

Fortunately, yesterday was an overcast day with almost no humidity (a nice change after 4 months of hot hot days and 90%+ humidity) so it was cool to exercise. Unfortunately the Rain Gods smiled down on us and the skies opened, once before we started, and twice during the offering, so by the end our yoga mats were soaked and most of us looked like drowned rats. It's the first time I've ever been cold in Playa!
The number 108 is a sacred number and has special significance and occurs often in nature. For example, the distance between the earth and the moon, divided by the moon's diameter, is 108. Similarly the distance between earth & the sun, divided by the sun's diameter, is 108. The diameter of the sun is also 108 times the diameter of earth.
It is also 1 to the first power, by 2 to the 2nd power, by 3 to the third power (1 x 4 x 27). There are 108 beads on a rosary, and on an Indian mantra chain.
There are 108 stiches on a baseball.
In astrology there are 12 houses and 9 planets, 12 x 9 = 108
It is a Harshad number because it is divisible by the sum of its digits

well, I could go on and on, but you get the message.

Not everyone did all 108 salutes (me included, I reckon I completed between 60-70), and it's OK to do 1 or 2 and breathe through the next 5, or whatever suits your body. Yogis believe in Ahimsa, looking after your body, honouring and respecting it - like "First do no harm". There was a suggestion that if 108 of us each did one salute .....
But in the end, the group energy just carried you along, the chanting, the singing. It's an experience I would not have missed. This is the 5th year it's been done in Playa and I look forward to the next one. Maybe I should start training now to do all 108!