About eight years ago, my local yoga studio was having some sort of summer celebration that entailed 108 sun salutations on the front lawn. My initial reaction?WHY. Sun salutations are boring. And they hurt my wrists. 

I'm still not a fan of the same sun salute over and over, but playful sequencing and cool variations thrown in the middle take them from mundane to interesting. There are a few poses, however, that remain the core of a sun salute. No matter what variation or unique twist you put on a sun salute, it's likely that downward dog, plank pose and chaturanga (reverse push up) will always be in the mix.