I’m a firm believer that yoga is the world’s most perfect exercise. It relaxes, detoxifies, and tones. Put some pep into it and it can eve be a cardio workout to assist with boosting your metabolism and contribute to weight loss. Sun salutations is a basic yoga vinyasa (flow) that if done for five to ten minutes, or until you feel muscle fatigue is a great way to start your morning or end your day. One the days you can’t get to the gym, you can do this flow while you’re watching your favorite prime time show.

Here’s the overview:

The first move, you reaching up to the sky, lengthens and elongates the spine (1). Forward fold activates the hamstrings (2, 3). “Monkey looking up” activates the upper back muscles and the shoulders (4). Plank activates your center core muscles (5). Here’s a challenge–try staying in plank for a whole minute. That will get you sweating! Up dog reverses the movement of the spine from down to up, and activates the lower lumbar region of the back as well as your shoulders and biceps (6,7 (chaturanga). Down dog–believe it or not–is a resting pose (8). It activates the upper shoulders stretches your calves and hamstrings.

Here’s a demo video I did a while back…

Namaste!