healthy sitting

I first met Danny Dreyer, the founder of ChiRunning, in 2018 when we were both leading workshops at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts. Danny and his assistant teachers were leading their students outdoors in Nature in an engaging and enjoyable activity. It struck me that this could be a beneficial next step for Gokhale Method students who have overcome their pain and injuries.

Running, for those able to do it, has a particular draw, since it is a natural activity and such an efficient way to get exercise in a busy world. The model populations that inspire the Gokhale Method (children, non-industrialized people, hunter-gatherers), run regularly.

So I was intrigued by what Danny Dreyer offers: a systematic program on how to run with less injury and more enjoyment. In the video below, we talk about our complementary approaches to keeping healthy. I value that he has helped a large number of people become active and stay active. We have different views on some details of how to walk and run, which makes for an especially interesting exchange. Enjoy!

A little about ChiRunning

ChiRunning is a well-known method that teaches a running technique with the very desirable result of keeping people active and moving. Their mission is to help you love running forever. The ChiRunning book has sold almost a half-million copies and is published in thirteen languages. Over 200 Certified Instructors teach ChiRunning in 27 countries, and they continue to grow and expand around the globe.

Danny has generously offered a free e-book as a gift for Gokhale Method community members interested in learning about sustainable running posture. To access it, click the button below.

Grab Your FREE Gift from ChiRunning

What you'll get

• A free PDF copy of 10 Components of Good Running Technique.
• The ChiRunning newsletter with technique tips, recipes and news.

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.

The oldest surviving dated Chinese Buddha figure shows surprisingly slumped posture. Note the forward head, absence of a stacked spine, and tucked pelvis. He would not look out of place with a smartphone in his hand!

This surprisingly hunched Chinese Buddha figure is the oldest dated Chinese Buddha figure that has survived into modern times. The inscription on its base dates it to 338 AD, 500 years after Buddhism came to China from India. Compare the Chinese Buddha figure with this Indian Buddha figure from roughly 800-1000 AD…
 

This North Indian Buddha figure from the post-Gupta period (7th - 8th century AD) shows excellent form. He has a well-stacked spine, open shoulders, and an elongated neck.

There is a dramatic difference in posture. The Chinese figure looks like a lot of modern folk, whereas the Indian one looks upright and relaxed. Why the difference?

Since the models these figures were based on, and everything and everyone contemporaneous to them are long dead, the best we can do is to make educated guesses about these characters.

India, compared to China, is a warm country. Much of the Indian population sits on the floor cross-legged to gather, eat, play, socialize, and more. To this day, the default praying position is cross-legged without props.

Devotees attending a puja in a temple in Bhubansewar, Orissa.

China, by contrast, is generally a cold country, being further north. It is not comfortable to sit cross-legged on the floor in a cold country, and accordingly, it is common for Han Chinese people to use furniture. In fact, China has many famous styles of furniture, like Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture, and the oldest sitting implements date to earlier than 1000 BC.

This historical northern Chinese furniture dates back to the Liao Dynasty (907-1125 AD). Though they are weathered, the chairs’ armrests, backrests, and seat shape give clues about posture in this period. Original image is licensed by Wikimedia Commons user smartneddy under CC BY-SA 2.5.

As is true in our culture, when people sit on chairs, stools, and benches, the hip socket (acetabulum) is not subject to the same forces as in a person who sits cross-legged on the floor habitually. In my blog post about cross-legged sitting, I use a common-sense argument about why the shape of the hip sockets of someone who grew up sitting on the floor are different from those of someone who grew up sitting on chairs. By the time we are 16 years old, the hip socket is entirely ossified and not amenable to significant shaping or “editing”. For this reason, most modern people from colder climates cannot sit comfortably on the floor for long periods without props. This is also why, I conjecture, this oldest Chinese Buddha figure shows an awkward and uncomfortable posture as he sits cross-legged without props.

I imagine the model for the Chinese Buddha statue to have been a dedicated seeker, eager to embody every aspect of his chosen spiritual tradition. Some of these borrowed aspects would have worked well, probably bestowing on him benefits in his chosen path and practice. The borrowed posture, however, does not help him. He would do better with a prop. If he used a prop to elevate his ischial tuberosities (sitz bones) and let his pelvis tip forward, he would all of a sudden discover that he could be upright without any tension or effort. His back could rise and fall with his inhalations and exhalations. And he would be spared much degeneration and discomfort. My guess is that he had the skills to work with much of his pain, but maybe not all of it, maybe not all the time, and maybe not into his old age. The mind has amazing capabilities to override pain signals, but when those pain signals can be quite addressed at their root with simple mechanical solutions, this is worth learning how to do. The mind can then be used to try to address more unavoidable pain, both physical and emotional.

This young woman’s posture, with her protruding head, slumped shoulders, and tucked pelvis, shares many similarities with that of the ancient Chinese Buddha figure. Original image courtesy Andrew Le on Unsplash.

With such slumped posture, my experience indicates that the model’s chest and back would be encumbered by the cantilevered weight of the upper body, and not available for easy expansion. Only the belly is readily available for expansion. The person would learn to soften the belly to allow for easier expansion with the breath. In my imaginings, the belly breathing pattern that started out as a hack could easily get mistaken for a desirable practice to emulate. And this misperception continues into modern times.

If there is any truth to this storyline, the posture demonstrated by the oldest Chinese Buddha figure serves as a cautionary tale. It reminds us that practices develop and thrive in a culturally-specific context. When we import a practice from a different context, it behooves us to consider which portions of the practice can be imported whole, which need modification for local conditions and use, and which need to be edited out of our local version of the practice.

Centuries later, in Japan, Buddhist practitioners invented the zafu, the perfect prop for hip sockets of the kind found in cold countries. A zafu enables a modern meditator to be upright and relaxed, just like the Buddha!

Elevating the seat can make a big difference in meditation posture.

Do you engage in practices you find challenging that are easy in the country of their origin? How have you modified an “imported” cultural practice?

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?

There are several more weeks of summer vacation before school starts again: plenty of time to squeeze a family camping trip or two out of the sunshiny drops of Summer!  Here are a few tips to promote healthy posture while you’re on the road, by the campfire, and in your tent.

Are We There Yet?

During the long haul to your nearest national park, it’s easy to strain your cervical spine (the vertebrae in your neck) by craning your neck forward to see the road.

Justin Bieber, in this photo, is demonstrating forward head—his ear is forward of his collar bones, and his chin is far in front of his sternum

If you notice your head drifting out of alignment with the rest of your spine, a quick fix is to gently pull your chin in so it aligns above your sternum, and stretch the crown of your head—the part of the head that’s home to many a cowlick--up towards the roof of the car.

You can give your neck a little manual lengthening by pressing up on your occipital bones, behind your ears

Once you’ve lengthened your neck, relax your head into alignment with the rest of your spine. It should be a smoother drive from here on out!
(For further specifics on setting up your car for comfort, see this blog post on modifying your seat for Stretchsitting.)

Relaxing Fireside

Collapsible fabric and steel chairs are popular with campers, but these seats are often draped in a way that promotes slumping and slouching.

Fabric that hangs without any support induces a curved body position, and will force you into tucking your pelvis and slumping

A better option is to bring along a collapsible stool instead.  With a stool, you’re better equipped to “leave your behind behind you” while you roast your s’mores.

A tri-pod style fabric stool can be used to help antevert the pelvis, because although the fabric hangs, you can tip your pelvis forward using the elevated corners in the same way as a wedge; a firm-topped stool may be even better for stacksitting, and will allow more flexibility in how open your hips are while sitting

Lights Out

Except for encountering a bear, sleeping in your tent can be the most uncomfortable part of camping. In the Gokhale Method Foundations Course, we teach our clients a technique called “Stretchlying” that decompresses the spine and can help sleepers tolerate a wide range of bed firmness. Here are two tips borrowed from the Stretchlying technique that may help prevent an achy back the next morning:

When sleeping on your back, check the position of your pillow (or if you don’t traditionally pack pillows on your camping trips, whatever you stuff under your head).  Your head, neck and shoulders should be slightly raised on the pillow.

If you are too low on the pillow, it can cause your neck to curve forward. If you are too high, it can cause your neck to sway and compress your cervical vertebrae.

Your pillow should be able to support your head, neck, and shoulders without your head tilting back as if slipping off the top end of the pillow, which can cause a sway; a pillow that is too full can cause you to round your neck and/or back. Your pillow should provide just enough padding to support your current cervical curvature and encourage a very gentle lengthening stretch

I also recommend positioning a pillow underneath your knees when you sleep.  Many people have tight psoas muscles, which can cause an unhealthy sway in your back if you lie down with outstretched legs.  A pillow beneath your knees keeps them in a slightly bent position, which relieves the stress on your low back.  Again, if you didn’t pack a pillow, you can always use a folded up fleece or other extra clothes you brought on the trip.

Stretchlying with a pillow supporting the head, neck, and shoulders, and a second pillow providing gentle support under the knees, can greatly improve your night’s sleep on a thin camping pad

An outstanding technique to use for sleep when camping, is the way most of the world sleeps—one leg is straight, one leg is bent, the body is ¾ -turned toward toward the ground.

This is an assisted version of sleeping ¾ turning toward the ground, using extra pillows under the knee and arm to help support the rotation and avoid a sway and a slumped shoulder

The challenges here are to not sway the lumbar spine, not tuck the pelvis, not force the head to turn more than it easily can, and not slump the upper shoulder forward. Easier said than done! We teach these techniques in our advanced technique classes after people have learned the basics of healthy sitting, lying on the back and side, standing, bending, lifting, and walking.

In the meantime, take along a thicker sleeping pad and extra pillows to make sleeping on the back comfortable for you.

Hopefully these tricks, along with supportive hiking shoes and plenty of bug spray, will keep your whole family in good spirits during your next excursion. And if you capture any good pictures that show these techniques in use, post them in the comments below!

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