
Stretching is an aspect of yoga, but to equate yoga with stretching is a common mistake and an ongoing problem for the yoga profession (including pop yoga culture’s obsession with stretchy hamstrings and “open hips”). Gratefully, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman understands this (to some extent) in his recent podcast on stretching and acknowledges that yoga has benefits that go beyond increasing range of motion:
“Practitioners of yoga don’t just learn movements, they learn how to control their nervous system in ways that really reshape their relationship to pain, to flexibility, and to the kinds of things that the neuromuscular system was designed to do.”
Nice!
I’ve been listening to Huberman’s podcast since he started about a year and a half ago. He produces some fun, interesting episodes (okay, he can be redundant but I kinda like that about him – since repetition is how we learn). Anyway, I was excited last week when I saw his episode was about stretching and I listened to the whole 2 hours and 6 minutes – twice – in order to pull out some of the juiciest bits (you’re welcome).

apologies to Dr. Huberman and all for doing this in the first place and for my terrible editing skills
Mechanisms of Stretching
As usual, Huberman starts with the basics – what’s going on with stretching at a neuromuscular level – if you want to review that, listen to the first 20 minutes or so (after the ads). An important point is that just about everyone needs some kind of stretching – because between the ages of 20 to 49 we lose about 10% of our flexibility every decade (and I’m assuming more after that, but his audience must be mainly millennials because he doesn’t clarify 😘).
What’s even more interesting to me are the benefits of stretching that go beyond increased range of motion, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Huberman then discusses the different kinds of stretching (static, dynamic, ballistic, and PNF) and concludes from the literature (citing this article) that all stretching is good, but static stretching seems to be the most beneficial (and the least risky) for increasing limb range of motion. He recommends that you stay in a stretch for about 30 seconds, for an average of 3 sets, 5 times a week, to make changes in range.

author – taken in Dunedin, Aotearoa
This is different from what I’ve heard from various yoga trainers BTW – particularly the Yin yoga folks – so it would be interested to read critiques of this podcast from some of them.
But Huberman’s assessment doesn’t contradict how I was trained in the Viniyoga tradition – where there are typically several repetitions of a pose (in order to give the Golgi tendon organs a chance to figure out what’s going on and allow the stretch) and then a stay that is often in the 30 second range. BTW, I prefer the term “stay” rather than “hold” because it produces a less aggressive attitude toward practice and, as we’ll get to in a moment here, less aggressive stretches appear to be more beneficial.
How Hard?
The next question Huberman explores is how hard should you stretch? You may or may not know that Huberman is a serious gym rat, so this question is particularly important to him. And, need I say, the exercise world is rather biased towards more is better, feel the burn, no pain no gain, etc. thinking.

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But I have to give the guy props here, the fact that he even considers this question is remarkable to me.
For me, thousands of hours of exploring slow, mindful movement in my own yoga mat laboratory revealed the same results as what he got from this study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, which is that “very low intensity stretching,” meaning “effort that feels not painful and might feel easy and not straining” turns out to be more effective than moderate intensity stretching.
Huberman said:
“I find these data incredibly interesting…If you are going to embark on a flexibility and stretching training program, you don’t need to push to the point of pain. In fact, it seems that even approaching the point of pain is going to be less effective than operating at this 30-40% intensity prior to reaching that pain threshold.”
Huberman has a hard time wrapping his mind around the why. He doesn’t buy the author’s commentary that it may have something important to do with how low intensity stretching (i.e. not painful stretching) prompts a parasympathetic response. Hmm. That seems really obvious to my armchair neuroscience mind, but I’ll just let that be.

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Huberman and Yoga
After about an hour and 45 minutes of exploring stretching research, Huberman finally gets to yoga. He mentions that he’s not a yoga practitioner, but that he’s done some hot yoga and it was really hot in there. 🤣
Still, he’s so impressed by this study which showed that yoga practitioners have greater pain tolerance and more gray matter in the left insular cortex, that he begins to convince himself that there must be something useful going on. He says:
“If ever there was a practice one could embark on that would not only increase flexibility and limb ROM, but would also allow one to cultivate some improved mental functioning as it relates to pain tolerance and other features of stress management that no doubt wick out into other areas of life, it appears that yoga is a quite useful practice.”
Beyond ROM
Then he shifts and starts to talk about the benefits of stretching beyond range of motion.
I’m cheering again because he brings up research from Dr. Helene Langevin at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (she’s one of my faves) about the health benefits mice enjoy from getting stretched.
If you want to watch Dr. Langevin talk about how she carefully stretched mice (and BTW, the mice liked it), watch this. She starts to get into it at about 13:40 mark. Not only is Dr. Langevin insanely brilliant, she’s also disarmingly adorable. Her study showed a 52 percent reduction in tumor growth in the mice that got stretched.
This study demonstrates that there is some correlation between stretching and a reduction in inflammation and increase in relaxation that helps the immune system combat tumor growth (at least in mice).

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I definitely recommend listening to the whole podcast – if you have the time (and the band width). But I hope this synopsis has been helpful.
Yoga is not simply stretching, but stretching is an aspect of yoga practice. I love when neuroscientists start to explore the benefits of yoga and I’m glad Huberman was able to step outside his gym box to see that there may be other ways to approach stretching that improve health. Still, there are plenty of things about yoga that neuroscience cannot explain – and may never.
The yoga practitioner walks a path between science and mysticism – a journey that acknowledges the beauty of both analysis and experience, data and magic, the known and the unknown.
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Thanks so much for the synopsis. Always happy the year a gym rat give some street cred to yoga!
right?! I love it!
Thanks for the summary! Great points! I plan to share in my classes with my peeps on Thursday.
I really love it when modern science /research confirms what yogis knew SO many ago…
me too!
Thanks for a great article and an even more excellent final line!
Thank you Sara. I’m glad you enjoyed it. xo
Thank you so much for flagging the episode. I listen to the podcast a lot, but have missed this. I am so happy to be able to back up the wonders of yoga with science. I also find it soo interesting about the low intensity stretches being the most beneficial. It seems that again, slow and steady wins the race. I love your newsletters, thank you so much.
yes! For me that was the highlight of the episode. I’m sure I’ll be repeating this little gem often 😍
Thanks so much for bringing this to us in a nugget. It is worth reading and considering and yet the,”bandwidth” limitation certainly is a factor for most of us. You bridge the gap while adding context and content.
Thank you Kathryn. Bandwidth is a big problem for everyone these days I think! Glad you enjoyed the nuggets!!
Thanks for this Kristine! I love your final comments… I was thinking almost this exact same thing on my walk this morning. Science has studied and understands increasingly the mechanics of things… but the ‘why they operate in the first place’ is more vague. Thanks also for this summary… really appreciate all you bring to the awareness of this yoga community.
that was great. . .thanks
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Horses also like being stretched, especially if they are ridden. My sacred herd are all pasture puffs (grass-fed therapy, if you prefer) and very much enjoy stretches (especially if treats are involved). Great article. Thank you for sharing.
oh how sweet! Thank you for sharing!
This is wonderful. Glad these things are being discussed and that the word is getting out! I’m definitely sharing this on my yoga site!
Thank you!
As a gym rat for a looooong time, and gym rat thats been teaching Yoga for a loooong time I Love this. A friend turned me on to Huberman about a year ago and I listen when I can, and I loved this take on stretching. We know that Yoga is more than stretching and that stretching itself is more than a quickie after a workout. But to hear his clear (without dumbing down) explanations of what stretching is and how it affects us reminds me of your way of explaining and teaching! Also now I have to go check out Dr. Langevin I dont know how I missed her but Yea more fun learning experiences!
Thanks Cheryl! You are one of my fave gym yoga rats – but you knew that! Yes, check out Dr. Langevin, her work is great!
This is great! As another long term weight lifting gymmy and yoga teacher (Yin & Hatha), it is really great to see this understanding spreading via Hubermann – one interesting dude! I’ll be sharing this with my trainer as she put me onto Hubermann and is always fascinated with the synergy between yoga and gym training. A number of her clients who do yoga and weight training, have much higher levels of body and breath awareness and fewer injuries (go figure!).
It would be interesting to hear from other Yin teachers their thoughts on the info. It maybe that the word “stretch” and time spent staying in the stretch is more related to muscle groups rather than the “lengthening” terminology targeting deep connective tissue now being used more by Yin practitioners.
It is such a fascinating area to work in and your last sentence is definitely quotable.
Thank you!
Thanks Rose! Yes, I’m hoping some Yin people will chime in, it would be good to hear their response.