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PERSONAL JOURNEYS
Dr. Jeremy Brook
Dr. Jeremy Brook is a Los Angeles chiropractor, yogi, and movement special-
ist. In 2001, Dr. Brook founded The Life Center Chiropractic, a unique healing
oasis that incorporates the disciplines of chiropractic medicine, spinal correc-
tive protocols, yoga, and other movement art forms to make sure the spine,
body, and mind are aligned.T.E. The rst question is when we do yin yoga, which tissues are we
exposing?
J.B. It’s a simple answer because everything is completely interconnected.
There’s really no separation if you really want to get down to it. There’s no start
and there’s no finish. So, I say everything. But if you want to get a little bit more
technical, you’re going to be stretching the connective tissue. If you want to
break it down even further, you’re talking about stretching fascia, you’re going
to be stretching muscles, you’ll be involving tendons, and you’ll be involving the
ligaments. Depending on how intense your stretch is, especially in yin, you’re
going to be expanding or compressing the organs as well.T.E. When you are holding a yin pose, how long does it take to get
into the connective tissue?
J.B. One of my teachers from chiropractic school, named Dr. Robert Cooper-
stein, had a published paper on this topic and he said five minutes. If you want
to get into the fascia, and the connective tissue, then you have to relax. If your
muscles are tense, then you’re not really able to hit the fascia. Five minutes is
the maximum amount of time you need to hang out in a shape to create that
type of fascial change. That being said, he also did say that it was beneficial to
hang out in that posture for about 90 seconds to two minutes. But it appears
that the two-minute to five-minute period is where you're probably going to
get the greatest benefit. And these days I'd say it's probably closer to the five-
minute mark just because everyone's living more in a sympathetic state. I think
for the psychological benefits, in addition to the tissue benefits, five minutes
is the magic number.