Maybe you have the wrong pillow or an unsupportive mattress. Maybe you slept in a bad position. Whatever it is, you wake up feeling tight. Your joints feel stiff, and trudging to the bathroom makes you feel older than you are.

It may also be that you just had a long, good sleep and your body barely moved. While healthy and vital for us, this long bout of inactivity makes the joints cranky. This is true for any extended period of little or no activity in the few hundred joints. Examples are working at a desk, long commutes, and Netflix binging.

What are we to do?

Get moving.

A long, long time ago folks practiced a series of poses, stretches, and movements called Surya Namaskar, otherwise known as Sun Salutations. They would practice this sequence in the morning as a way to honor the rising sun and stay vital mentally and physically.

It’s a fantastic thing to do first thing in the morning, but a few rounds of the Sun Salutations at any time in the day will be undeniably beneficial.

The transition from pose to pose is facilitated by inhaling or exhaling, so ideally, like the breath, you'll flow through the series in a smooth, rhythmic way.

This course introduces students to the quintessential sequence of postures that open up all the body's major joints. Strengthen your arms and shoulders, prepare your chest for backbends, open the backs of the legs for forward bends, and open and release the hips to remedy the effects of our daily lives.

After taking these sessions, your body will feel open, free, and moveable. The sequence prepares the body for deeper opening, and strengthens all of the major muscles and joints to prepare for inversions and bends.

If you have little experience with Sun Salutations, stay with level one classes until you can modify the movements to fit your needs, and when you can flow through the series with ease.