Umm, good question!
As a yoga teacher this is something I’ve been asked and it’s a reasonable question.
My answer is … how many times this week, month or year have you been on your yoga mat?
The research shows that a frequent yoga practice has greater impact on flexibility than how long you hold a yoga pose for.
So how often – not how long – you practice yoga will affect your flexibility.
However, some people practice yoga for years and their flexibility doesn’t improve. This may be down to how they spend time outside of yoga – flexibility is affected by what our body is doing the other 23 hours, or maybe their joint structure has a physical limit on how far it can move hence impacts the tissue attached to & close to the joint.
But how long should you hold a pose to improve flexibility?
The science says, for flexibility gains the optimal time to hold a yoga pose is 30 to 60 seconds at a moderate intensity.*
Not less than 30 seconds because that’s not enough time for the neural pathways to relax the tissues and not more than 60 seconds because the flexibility benefits start to diminish.
That’s not to say that holding a yoga pose for more than 60 seconds is not worthwhile – particularly if its relaxing restorative poses. Having the chance to stay in a relaxing yoga pose for a while is incredibly beneficial – calming -for the nervous system and heart rate. If you’ve been super busy & are feeling tired & stressed, giving yourself some time to be still and relax is just what you might need.
So, if you want to improve your flexibility a consistent shorter yoga practice outperforms an occasional long one.
* Moderate-intensity stretching is defined as a stretch that causes a sustained sensation of tension within the tissues, but remains below the threshold of pain or sharp discomfort.
