I’ve written a blog with the same name some time ago, but I thought the subject is important enough to give it some more attention, and to add some inspiration and information from other movement specialists.
Let me first start with a really funky song, especially made for the promotion of the resting squat:
Now, these people are not the only ones promoting the squat. Some time ago, Ido Portal, set up his very successful 30/30 squat challenge: try to squat (feet flat) for 30 minutes a day (accumulated), and this for 30 days. You can his squat routine here.
Now the squat is a very interesting position (from the point of view of physical and overall wellbeing), but it is not our only resting position on the ground. Remember the picture from the anthropology article with all the different resting positions. Not so long ago, Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat, sent a newsletter with the following picture:
Here you notice the importance Erwan places on the many floor resting positions. I’ll quote from the newsletter:
“So the key to effective, beneficial and enjoyable sitting is variety. While the overwhelming majority of fitness programs totally disregard these fundamental positions, at MovNat sits are regarded as practical positions, and practical positions are part of Natural Movement. Therefore they should never be forgotten or neglected.”
I’d like to highlight something very useful:
“No position is perfect or set in stone; sit positions are adaptable as well, for instance you can lean forward, backward or sideways, twist your torso, or extend an arm or both as if you were trying to reach something.”
Personally, I think that ground postures and floor living are both very ordinary and very important. They are ordinary and commonplace, because they are just different ways to sit on the floor. In many cultures, people would be very surprised that we are even talking about these. It is not even an activity, it is just a position in which you do something, or just rest. There’s nothing special about that.
On the other hand, it is very important for most people living our modern way of life, because it sitting on the floor has a very good ‘return of investment’. It is very effective and very efficient. It is simple (not necessarily easy), cheap, and safe. Sitting on the ground uses your body in such ways that are ‘restoring’ and ‘tune’ the body, and the organism.
(I’m aware of the very nebulous wording I’m using here)
I’d like to inspire you to sit on the floor more often, try the things I mentioned in my original blog, or maybe take up Ido Portal’s challenge.
Thanks for reading,
Pieter
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