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Time has an almost magical capability to vary your perception. A lengthy hold in a yoga pose can test your endurance and resolve but additionally give your nervous system a rare opportunity to center and settle. Alternatively, moving quickly from posture to posture can bring a much-needed tempo change to your day, although it may well also challenge your control and coordination and, perhaps, your ability to be present. So which is the popular approach?

The reply, as with many questions that arise within the practice of yoga, is “it depends.”

So, how long must you hold a yoga pose?

Imagine a bell curve with the x axis because the period of time spent in a pose. Rapid, uncontrolled movement can be on the left side and an agonizingly long hold on the correct. The best period of time to sustain a yoga pose, measured on the y axis, would fall somewhere in between.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Typically, you ought to remain in a pose long enough to feel its advantages, but not so long you could now not maintain the integrity of the posture.

A have a look at short holds

There are reasons to play toward the left end of the curve. A faster pace lets you create warmth, increase your heart rate and blood flow, lubricate your joints and fascia, and cultivate a way of rhythm not unlike dancing. An energizing pace may be a really perfect morning wake-up, midday energy boost, or after-work stress release.

But on the minus side, a quick pace allows little time to think about your alignment, position your props, or maintain a gradual pattern in your respiration. In an already fast-paced world, rushing through poses can feel frenetic.

And let’s explore longer holds

There are also reasons to explore the correct side of the curve. Slowing down gives you time to inhabit each pose fully—to mindfully position each a part of your body, secure the support of props, breathe into the form you could have created, and feel its physical and energetic impact.

It’s on this liminal space, the moments when the length of time between ticks of the secondhand seems to stretch, that your body and mind can adapt to the challenge offered by the pose. In additional intense asanas, you grow stronger or more mobile. In additional introspective practices, you may have time to settle into the posture in a way that facilitates deep physical, mental, and emotional release.

In fact, what’s “long enough” relies on the person. In the event you’ve ever had the experience of overstaying your welcome in a standing posture, jaw clenched and muscles shaking, or feeling the initial calm of a less intense pose dissolve into discomfort, you understand.

The reply to how long to carry a pose…

So how do you discover that magical middle zone? Again, it depends. The duration times for a pose can vary tremendously. The practice style, your intention, and your level of experience are key considerations.

Vinyasa
The word “vinyasa” roughly translates from Sanskrit to English as “to put in a special way.” This style prioritizes free movement and flow, with breath as the inspiration. Each pose punctuates the rhythm of the breath like mala beads on a string. You may inhale as you open into one pose after which exhale as you transition into the subsequent. It’s possible you’ll spend only a couple of seconds, if that, in each shape.

Ashtanga
Some yoga styles have set sequences and standard hold times. Most Ashtanga poses are held for five breaths, normally representing a bit of under a minute per pose. Research suggests that this pace and breath rate elicit positive physiological effects, especially on heart rate variability.

Hatha
In hatha classes, the emphasis is on staying in a pose to cultivate patience and persistence. It’s possible that you just might remain so long as a few minutes in a posture.

Bikram
The form of hot yoga often called Bikram consists of a set sequence of postures that is similar in every class. The time in each pose can vary from 6 to 60 seconds. Research suggests that a one-minute hold is sufficient to construct strength and suppleness provided the hold is repeated five times every week.

Iyengar
There may be an emphasis on precision in Iyengar yoga, which frequently relies on props to attain the “perfect” alignment in a posture. This style leans toward longer holds in a pose, sometimes 5 minutes.

Yin
In Yin practice, you hold still able that gives sustained traction or compression on targeted tissues. Three to 5 minutes is the minimal period of time required within the pose to elicit subtle physiological changes within the connective tissues.

Restorative
It’s not unusual to spend upward of 10 minutes in a single restorative pose together with your body weight supported with propping. It takes a protracted time to completely soothe and settle the nervous system, and the aim of this style is to do exactly that by decreasing sensation and sensory input slightly than creating more of it.

…ultimately relies on you

Whatever the form of yoga you practice, the center zone of the curve for the way long to carry a yoga pose is fairly small when you find yourself introduced to yoga. It takes longer to search out your alignment, and also you are likely to fatigue more quickly. Even within the quieter and more reflective styles resembling Yin and restorative, it takes time to learn to sit down quietly with whatever sensations arise without shifting or fidgeting.

Nevertheless, as you turn into more adept within the postures, your middle zone expands. You’re capable of arrive within the familiar shapes more quickly, and your body and mind have adapted to will let you remain still longer without losing your form or focus.

For a lot of students, the time spent within the pose is where self-study, the true foundation of any yoga practice, begins. In a set sequence with standard hold times, your outward pace may not vary, but your internal experience does. A minute holding Plank Pose can feel just like the blink of a watch on some days. On other days, it seems an excruciating eternity. In experiencing each, you learn to ride out those peaks and troughs and arrive in your mat less attached to expectation and a bit of closer to equanimity.

In case your practice style isn’t centered around a regular sequence with a set pace, then how long you hold the yoga pose is one in all the more influential variables you need to use to curate your experience on the mat. Do that you must move, to shift and shake off, or will you lean in and linger? Honing the skill of self-study in this fashion teaches you the way adjusting your approach, acting mindfully slightly than out of habit, can completely change your end result.

About our contributor

Rachel Land is a Yoga Medicine instructor offering group and one-on-one yoga sessions in Queenstown Latest Zealand, in addition to on-demand at Practice.YogaMedicine.com. Enthusiastic about the real-world application of her studies in anatomy and alignment, Rachel uses yoga to assist her students create strength, stability, and clarity of mind. Rachel also co-hosts the brand new Yoga Medicine Podcast.