How long should we spend in a pose?

This week have been covering a variety of classes locally, meeting wonderful new people and fielding several questions about the practice of yoga.

At Shekinashram yesterday, a student wanted to know, how long should we spend in a pose.

Patanjali tells us in the Yoga sutras sthiram sukham asanam , poses should be steady and comfortable. It is one of my favourite aphorisms, I quote it regularly. What does this mean in practical terms?

Firstly, it is a matter of physical comfort. If we are approaching yoga from a mindfulness perspective, we move into postures and extend ourselves an appropriate amount. We are challenged by the pose, yet can hold ourselves comfortably there. There is a point in every pose where we reach our personal limits. If we attempt to go beyond this point, we are likely to experience tension, discomfort, pain and are likely to cause injury. Vanda Scaravelli notes, ”Students are sometimes inclined to force the flexibility of their bodies to the maximum, but this leads nowhere.” ¹

The second aspect is that of the breath; the breath is a great guide in this regard. At all times we should be able to maintain a steady flowing breath through the nose. Generally speaking, one maintains a pose for five full breaths, the slower the better. Naturally this is easier to achieve in supine, forward bending or restorative poses. During dynamic sequences and standing poses, twists and inversions the breath may be shorter, faster, less available.


¹ Vanda Scaravelli, Awakening the Spine p41, Harper SanFrancisco 1991