Odaley, chico, here is my happy daily routine! Woo hoo!

It is important to keep in mind NOT to stretch to the point of PAIN. Minor discomfort is fine; searing pain no es bueno. So, don't stress it if you can't put your feet behind your head... all in good time! Hold each stretch for between a minute and three minutes. Doing this routine every day is great, three times a week should be the minimum if you plan to do other physical stuff.

  1. Sit on the floor, straighten out your legs, and grab your ankles. Try to keep your back as straight as possible during this one.
  2. Tuck your left foot in, put your right leg out, and grab your right ankle. Repeat on the other side.
  3. Kick both your legs out as far apart as you can. After a minute of so -- It is very good if you re-adjust your leg spread between each of the above exercises (wider, not narrower!!)
  4. Right after 3, bring your feet in to your waist (slowly!) as if you are going to do the butterfly stretch. This action should BURN like a mutha. Move your knees from side to side; ah, this should feel GREAT.
  5. Legs out in front one more time, grab ankles again.
  6. Replicate 5, but at 90 degrees -- stand up and touch your hands to the ground. Keep your legs straight.
  7. Walk your hands forward, end up with your butt up in the air. Let gravity pull your heels down (as much as possible)
  8. Lunge forward with your right leg. Try to get your right foot in front of your right knee. After a minute, reach behind with your right hand and pull your heel to your butt.
  9. Lock out both your legs; this is like #6, but your right foot is in front now.
  10. Bend your front knee, get back into position 7.
  11. Repeat 8, 9 and 10 with your left side.
  12. Slowly walk your hands back into a hang, just like #6.
  13. Stand up; put your hands on your knees and rotate your knees around in little circles. Switch direction.
  14. Put your hands on your hips; rotate your hips around in big circles. Switch direction. Try to keep your head in one place the whole time.
  15. Spread your feet twice-shoulder-width apart; hang down. Do trunk rotations; Circle your hands up and over your head and down the other side in a huge arc. When your hands are over your head, try to keep your hands in back of your head; nice back stretch. AAaaaaah. Oh yeah, watch your hands the entire time -- develops good balance.
  16. Swing your arms around in front of you in big circles. Swing them behind. Swing 'em side to side, behind your back. Touch your hands behind you if you can.
  17. Lock your right arm across your chest with your left. Switch sides. Get your shoulder out of your ear!
  18. Put your right elbow up above your head, put your right hand behind your head, down your spine. Hold your elbow in place with your left hand. Switch sides. Duh.
  19. Ah, happy! Shake out your whole body.
There are lots of variations and additional stretches you can throw into this routine; you can even do the steps in completely different orders. Just don't overdo it -- the idea is to NOT kill your body, to slowly make yourself flexible. Take yer time. Relax. RELAX. Never tense a muscle that you're trying to stretch. RE - LAX!

Hope this helps. This routine really doesn't take too much time; I tend to spend twenty minutes a day stretching, more if I can. Also, find ways to work stretching into your daily life; i.e. While waiting for NetScape to download a big pic, do three of the stretches above, etc.