Orissa

This is the third post in our multi-part series on floor-sitting. Read Part 1 on floor sitting and Part 2 on squatting!

It’s very common for women in Africa to sit with their legs outstretched. I’ve seen rows of women use this position to spin yarn, engage in idle chatter, sort items, and more. I’ve seen babies massaged by women using this position both in Burkina Faso and in the U.S. by a visiting Indian masseuse who does traditional baby massage in Surat, India. In Samiland I saw this position used to bake bread in a lavoo (a Sami structure very similar to a teepee).

The Sami, who I visited in July 2015 (see my post Sleeping on Birch Branches in Samiland), bake with outstretched legs in their traditional lavoos (teepees). This is my friend Fredrik’s family.

Sitting with legs outstretched is useful when you need an extended flattish lap and your hamstring flexibility allows it. The ground needs to be dry and clean to make this an inviting position. It’s a particularly useful position for childcare. In addition to the aforementioned baby massage, our team member Angela Häkkilä has observed Anatolian women using their outstretched legs as a cradle for babies and toddlers, who are rocked to sleep with a sideways motion of the legs and a gentle lullaby.

 
In this case, the Burkinabé woman at the left is leaning against a wall for extra comfort while carding wool. With her degree of hamstring and gluteus maximus flexibility, she’d be fine without a wall, too!

The problem
Many people don’t have the hamstring and gluteus maximus flexibility to sit on the floor with outstretched legs and not round the spine. Tight hamstrings and gluteal muscles cause the pelvis to tuck under, preventing upright and relaxed stacking. Over time this can lead to a rounded back, degenerated discs, and pain. 

The fix
Place something under the bottom to encourage the pelvis to antevert, and/or consider sitting against a wall, tree trunk, or other surface to counteract the tendency to round the spine. 

With the modification of adding a support under or behind you, you will not only have expanded your repertoire of healthy sitting positions and possible activities, you will also be elongating your hamstrings to better garden, clean, and hip-hinge in general.

Though this Orissa woman would probably be just fine sitting on the ground, her technique of elevating the seat is very helpful for people in modern societies.

 
This Burkinabé massage therapist is testing the temperature of the water she will use to massage a newborn baby. Note her outstretched legs, sitting stool, and seated hip-hinge, all of which support the baby, the action, and the massage therapist to be healthy.

If this way of sitting would be helpful in your life, or if you’d benefit from increased hamstring and gluteus maximus flexibility, we recommend beginning by sitting on a support that will help antevert your pelvis, or with your behind against a wall for support. Since it’s only an issue of muscle flexibility, it’s certainly possible to work up to sitting with your legs outstretched without other support.

This is the first post in our multi-part series on floor sitting. For Part 2 on squatting, click here.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor is common in many cultures around the world, and has become popular in some segments of modern Western societies.

This Druze woman who I met in Israel has sat cross-legged all her life. She runs a hospitality business — all the food is laid out on the floor and the guests sit along the periphery of the room. She is at ease in this position for extended periods with her back remaining upright and relaxed.
 

In this temple in Bhubaneswar, devotees sit cross-legged for extended periods in performing rituals.
 

These Buddha figures in Thailand show relaxed, healthy, upright cross-legged sitting posture.

For those who grew up sitting on the floor (thus maintaining their original muscle flexibility and joint mobility), sitting on the floor is comfortable and healthy.

Babies in any culture have the capacity to sit cross-legged with healthy upright posture. This is Monisha White, Esther Gokhale’s youngest child.

It comes in handy at sporting events, in working with young children or with objects on the floor, or in a minimalist context. For people who did not grow up sitting on the floor, though, it can cause a host of problems.

When we are born, our hip, knee, and ankle joints are not yet made of bone, but rather of cartilage. The cartilage ossifies with a timeline that is specific for each joint. The hip socket, for example, is made of three cartilaginous plates at birth. The first pair of these plates ossifies at age 2; the last pair ossifies at age 16. We know that ossification patterns are influenced by mechanical stresses, so it is a commonsensical argument that the habitual positions a person assumes during the ossification period in childhood will dictate how the hip joints (and other lower body joints) set. Someone who has not sat on the floor since being a baby will have a different hip architecture than someone who sat on the floor to eat and squatted to use the toilet growing up. The shape of the joint will be different, as will its range of motion. Some joints have a “use it or lose it” mentality! Additionally, the muscles around these joints will have resting lengths that are adapted to the habitual positions. With muscles, it is simply a matter of stretching to get them to cooperate and be comfortable in new poses. For the bones and joints in an adult, however, things are more fixed. It is unlikely that any amount of practice could find us comfortable and sitting healthily in the lotus position for the first time as an adult.

In this first post of our multi-part series on floor sitting, we will teach you how to modify cross-legged sitting so it is more accessible and healthy for your modern body.

How the “pros” do it

Having grown up with this position since early childhood, people like the Thai woman below are able to preserve a healthy base anteverted pelvis and a well-stacked, relaxed, and upright torso.

This Thai woman sits through a prayer ceremony sitting cross-legged. Notice her upright and relaxed torso atop an anteverted pelvis.
 

In a tribal market in Orissa, this woman sells pots and roots while sitting cross-legged for hours comfortably.

The problem in modern cross-legged sitting

This position tends to tuck the pelvis in people who did not grow up sitting cross-legged. The pelvis is limited by the external hip rotators as well as by the shape of the hip socket itself. Without an optimal alignment of the pelvis, you will be stuck between two poor choices: relaxed and slumped, or upright and tense, each of which causes different kinds of damage.

Cross-legged sitting on the floor for modern urban people usually involves a tucked pelvis.

     
A retroverted (tucked) pelvis often results in a relaxed and slumped torso (left). Being upright on a tucked pelvis requires tension in the long back muscles (right). This is not a sustainable or healthy position for long periods.

The fix: use implements (pillows, wedge, blankets) under your bottom to help facilitate rotation of the pelvis. Allow the legs to be lower than the hips to accommodate tight external rotators and the shape of the hip socket.

A support under the sitz bones facilitates sitting cross-legged in a healthy way — upright and relaxed.

Do you use any of these techniques? Do you have props that help you sit on the floor more comfortably?

I’ve been in Orissa for the past week, the last of my three-week stay in India. I'm observing village and tribal people in their everyday activities, learning what I can in a short stay, and looking for nuggets of body wisdom to bring home to my students. This visit has been a rich experience indeed! Orissa has more distinct tribes (62) than any other state in India; inland Orissa is off the tourist track and entirely new to me though I was raised and well-travelled in India. 

Sharing bananas with some pottery vendors at the Kakirigumma tribal / village market.

A great vantage point for observing the comings and goings at the Kakirigumma market

One activity that strikes most new visitors coming to India, first in the cities, and then with greater frequency in the villages and tribal areas, is how impressively people carry things on their heads. The balance and elegance is arresting; the strength and health this practice imparts to the neck is a good reason to adopt it into a modern lifestyle.

People who routinely carry weights on their head usually have beautiful carriage

Why carry on the head?

1. It strengthens the longus colli muscle, which elongates the neck

In the torso, there are many muscles, including the three deeper abdominal muscle layers, that can contribute to elongating the torso and protecting the spinal nerves and discs. In the neck, which is also prone to wear and tear and injury, there are many fewer muscles that can do the equivalent job of elongating the neck to protect the cervical (neck) discs and nerves. Carrying weight on the head activates and strengthens one of the most important of these muscles, longus colli. 

Modern lifestyles often have us facing computer screens for many hours a day, which can result in the head projecting forward. Carrying weight on the head and strengthening the longus colli muscle counteracts the tendency for the head to protrude forward. This spares the neck and shoulder muscles a lot of unnecessary and painful tension. 

Carrying on the head results in an elongated, upright, and healthy neck

2. It strengthens and stretches numerous neck muscles

To balance a load on the head requires numerous mini-excursions of the head from side to side and from front to back. All of these movements serve to strengthen and stretch important groups of muscles in the neck. The result is more strength, flexibility, and relaxation in the neck.  


Balancing a load on the head involves shearing motions to the sides, front, and back - these motions strengthen and stretch neck muscles.

3. Your hunter gatherer ancestors did it for millennia - we may have some dependencies that have evolved around this action. 

Extrapolating from modern hunter gatherer societies, it is reasonable to conjecture that we have been carrying things on our heads for millions of years. It was logical for our hunter gatherer ancestors to carry weights on their heads. In the absence of vehicles, or carrying implements (if you go far back in time), the head presents a particularly efficient way to carry weight. It’s right on the weight bearing axis of the body - so carrying on the head causes no torque in the spine.  

Carrying weight on the head is a particularly efficient way to carry weight that causes no torque in the spine.

When an action has been part of our evolutionary history for long stretches of time, there’s usually a web-like interdependence between that action and other functions. For example, it may be that carrying weight on the head from time to time is necessary training to easily carry the weight of our own heads all day long. 
 

4. It gives you poise.

In my experience, there’s nothing quite like carrying weight on the head to help you find your central axis and a feeling of being “centered.” People who regularly carry weight on their heads tend to have wonderful poise and presence. 

Carrying weight on the head gives poise and balance

How to carry weight on your head?

1. Begin with a small weight and work your way up.
    
2. Locate the top of your head accurately (see our Gokhale Method Head Cushion FAQs)
    
3. Carry your head weight for brief periods (maybe 30 seconds at first) until you are strong enough to carry the weight for longer.
    
4. If you have the opportunity, get some bodywork to help you through any transition soreness.

Receiving a neck massage from the local healer in tribal Orissa

Practical tidbits

Our Gokhale Method head cushion is crafted to not slip off your head too easily while still challenging your neck muscles to do the desired balancing maneuvers. Having a cushion handy at strategic locations is a good way to ensure you develop a habit of using it. I like to use a head cushion when I'm at a keyboard or cooking. If you are able to take it out walking without causing negative repercussions for yourself, this is the best way to learn carrying on your head. Not only will you improve your neck strength and architecture, but the weight will probably help you find a healthier gait. To support your head carrying efforts, we have created a 3X head cushion bundle at a discounted rate - one for home, one for work, and one as a gift to a special person in your life to join in your primal posture revival.

Please share if you've had problems with your neck, if you've tried carrying a weight on your head yet, and what your experiences have been.

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