As a 66 year old male I have been trying to achieve this position practising every day for 3 months. I am still a centimeterover my heels with my butt and have considerable pain in my knees trying it. No so easy but I will persevere

You never cease to impress. I was stationed in Japan many years ago and took up kendo. So learning to sit in seiza was hard but it really does have health benefits. Thanks for teaching others how to sit in this position.

I used to spend time in seiza doing Kenjitsu..Once again yall are making me realize the old ways are best.

Thanks for the tip of placing the heel under the sit bones. Just this small change allowed me to drastically increase the time I could sit in this position comfortably.

The best seiza video I have seen. So complete. I have seen several other seiza videos and they were so incomplete and I never got the answers I was looking for. Thanks!

I've found myself gravitating to this style of sitting more and more. It initially wasn't conscious, but I've really grown to embrace it. It gives me a real sense of rest while still remaining alert, plus it feels good. Great video. 👍

I know a lot of people complain about knee pain when they first start seiza, but my pain point has always been the front of my feet/ankle flexion.

Your teaching is beyond awesome as is your generosity in sharing your expertise. Thank you.

Great video! Thanks!

Thank you for this video. Best thing I learned this week by far.

Excellent presentation, thank you.

Very helpful video, I’m in the mix of self training myself and it instantly made a lot of sense thank you sm!

Thanks! Very informative and helpful!

I've been following your channel for quite some time, and the content had always been great, but the videos you've been producing for the past few months are on a whole another level - AMAZING. On another note, Elements are awesome, and I really enjoy seeing movements from that program, as well as from Resilience, making appearance in your videos. Thank you and keep up the great work!

Great video! Thank you! 🙏

Thank you for covering the many why's of this practice.

Thank you very much for revealing these intricacies-this is wonderful information! 🙇🏻‍♂️

Thank you so much for this video. It is really helpful. I will be participating in a tea ceremony in about a month and been practicing couple of times a day but this video helped a lot

Excellent video

Thank you for this very helpful video. I've also lived in Japan for many years and practice a style of Japanese buddhism where we chant to a mandala while sitting seiza. Most Japanese adherents seemingly have little to no problem maintaining this position for comparatively long periods. However, for me, after about five minutes my legs start to go dead and it is quite painful to actually stand up. I resorted to a small stool years ago! I'm going to try your execises and see if I can get down there with my Japanese friends!

So great loving these new videos you are putting out. I was just wondering how I could learn to sit on my heels comfortably and was already intuitively doing what you recommended so its great to know I am on track! Now I just need the patience.

Very nicely explained. Thanks for sharing. I noticed that sometimes I do sit in it with the toes slightly crossing, with no certain preference. Cheers!

Nice!

Wow! I've always had pain in my knees when trying to sit like this. I never knew I was doing it wrong! That explains a lot. Thanks for all of your awesome videos! 🙏

Man the last videos are so great. Luckily I worked my seiza for years :) I've done Elements, and I'm currently doing Vitamin, Floor Loco and Integral Strength. End-year goal is the press to handstand. This is so much fun! Thanks and keep the videos coming!

I practice Aikido. I've always wondered if there's a proper way for Seiza and now I know! Thank you for the tutorial! Gonna try the proper way out from now on!

Thank you for this video. I've been using this position for mediating but never feel comfortable. Because of your instructions, I was able to mediate without issues. Much appreciated it!

When I was younger doing Seido karate we used to meditate in Seiza. However it was so painful for me it was like torture instead! Now 30 years later I’m even worse. I’m gonna try this for a minute a day, I’ll update with progress. Cheers!

Thanks for the guideline!!! I want to reach this level!!!

This is a nice explanation of seiza. I've now been here for over a decade, practicing Aikido, and I can sit in seiza comfortably, with my back straight. Some thoughts: Seiza is not a Samurai seating method (except in later history, and only in formal situations). It's a more modern method of sitting that nobody in their right mind who has to move quickly would ever sit in for longer than a couple of minutes. I don't think most Japanese people are aware of this. It might be worth adding that for sitting cross-legged, Japanese people often use a zabuton -- a cushion, if they are going to sit for any length of time on the floor. Women do not feel as comfortable sitting in seiza with their legs spread so far apart as you've shown, in my experience. Cheers from Fukuoka.

As always brilliant. What a way to balance out the muscle groups. Knee was diving me a few twings, some seiza and ohhhh so much better.

Thankyou for this. I am a karate instructor and nice to have this perspective from you. Just recovering from two totally torn ankle ligaments so seiza a challenge for me at present but working on it!

Thank you for this video. I'm 36 years old and I started Kendo 4 months ago and I've really been struggling with sitting in seiza. This has been a big help and I've finally understood how to do it properly.

I have been following this program for 3 days, first 2 days were minute on minute off repeated 2 or 3 times. Today my body figured something out and trusted the movement and my legs relaxed into it. I sat for 7 1/2 minutes and got 5 minutes of meditation in. The padding was 3/8 inch puzzle mats one thick. Thanks again for the good work. I think the key thing is getting your hips on your heels, that way weight goes straight down and skips the knee.

Thank you Very much.! Knee injury had resulted in either painful or non ability to do seiza and heel sitting for the past 10 years. Your pulsing idea inspired me to forearm press against my bad knee with hand on the floor to power stretch my calf area. It works in just a couple minutes...temporary pain free seiza and heel sitting both. Like decades past in judo and sosuishi-ryu where we did both on the mat. I will continue doing this stretch and appreciate your video.

there are paths through the woods, your videos and GMB are a well blazed path through the forest of good safe movement and strength.

Thanks for the guidance. GMB has been instrumental for my Seiza although I'm still working on Kiza :)

What a great video! As a judoka I found the content very interesting and useful!

Love you guys :) still so great 😄

Toes tucked under hurt a lot at beginning but doesn't take too long to get used to. Defo worth doing. Great video thx 🙏😊

Glad to know this is a safe way to sit long term, I've always found it most comfortable but had concerns it may negatively impact my knees and ankles.

Great video. Also the heels in proper position push precisely on the sciatic nerve, which important to remain proper posture...

Healthy and considerate, good work and advice.

Just watched this twice. I'm mid 60s and can sit back on my heels but struggle to hold the upright position for any length of time. Will have to practice more. Just taken up yoga too. The video is very helpful. Thank you.

I learned seiza in Goju Karate. I never crossed the toes before. However sometimes I used it to hold the position longer. Seems to take off the pressure. However if I am doing a quick sit I sit normal to get up quick as you showed.

I really admire your training in martial arts🙏 your point on heel in contact with sit bones is gold 🤩 thanks Master Ryan 😊😊😊

i sit-squat and sieza (including balancing while sitting on my heels while bored) with the toes up position pretty much all the time, because i often move between standing and squatting throught my daily. i sit in sieza while doing laundry... it's easier to reach things further away vs cross-legged... very practical. (toes up is my favorite)

I'm from China. You can try to do it in a new level by separating your big toes BUT keeping the heel touched. It looks like English letter Y or Chinese character 丫. I learned it from my teacher Chi Song.

Awesome teacher

Back when I was young and doing a lot of karate training I could jump straight out of seiza, throw a kick with each leg one after the other and land in a ready position Being a lot older older now and having a collapsed fracture in my kneecap following an accident where I also snapped the tibia and tibia just below the knee I can't even get into the position now, your video came up my feed and watching it's kinda given me a push to start working on it, I'm back to where I can run on it now so if I take it slow I should be able to make some gains Really good video, subscribed to your channel after seeing it

I tend to sit with my heels facing out. Your explanation of what can happen with that longterm is seriously making me want to work more on that heels straight up variation more often.

❤❤❤❤❤🎉 LOVE THIS Thank You! Subscribing now 😜 👍

I feel ya bro, lived in Vietnam 17 years. No seiza there .But my static squat is dope.

This is awesome. Very solid steps. I had been making progress on my own but my knee and ankle ended up getting messed up and it's almost impossible to get into the position. So I have to start over and I just haven't put in the effort yet. Hopefully now I will that I'm reminded.

Been doing this and horse stance daily for a few weeks now. doing only these two exercises and Im starting to really notice a massive positive difference. Thanks

Thank you for creating these videos. I am interested to see any tea ceremony videos you may want to make as well.

I’m a Zen Buddhist, who use to study Iaido and Kyudo. Siting in seiza for me as natural as breathing^^ ATB🙏🏻🍀❤️

Saw it one time in some cartoon anime when I was like 9 and its just the norm for me, seeing others struggle with it blows my mind because it just feels normal

My right foot always cramps up immedicately when I sit in the proper seiza position. For some reason, crossing my feet, even slightly, takes care of this. (I take lot of magnesium and potassium, so I don't think it's due to a vitamin deficiency.) Sitting in the on-the-toes position also helps, but I can't sit like that for too long. When I'm sitting in on a grading session (2-4 hours), or I'm in a seminar with a sensei that likes to talk more than demonstrate, I'll also sit in the Indian position a lot of the time.

Thank you, I can already see this is helping, and I can take time each day to work on it before my next kendo session in two weeks time. Honestly, once I realised it was so difficult, this is what was bothering me the most about kendo. Cheers

Is that Ichika Nito I hear in the background music near the end? That's awesome if it's the case. He is easily my favourite guitar player.

I started months ago to be occasionally in a deep squat. Like while watching video or staring at the food in the oven. It has improved my mobility in gym quite a bit and in general better feeling in legs and lower back/core. During this video I tested seiza and I can do it but ankles and tibialis anterior(had to look up this name) are quite stretched and hurting so I find that good reason to start doing seiza regularly. Great video!

When you did seiza with the heels pointing out, the first thing I thought of was O-kyaku, and sure enough you said that. I'd never connected the two, and I'd always wondered why so many elderly Japanese women are bow-legged. But yeah, I do find seiza much better for the lower back.

Excellent video! We regularly sit seiza in our class, and use it throughout several katas. Any tips for..more seasoned.. practitioners to make sitting seiza for perhaps 15 minutes more comfortable? It seems it bothers many of us in our 50's, when in our 20's it was not an issue.

I have sat like this incorrectly since I was a kid! I think it shortened my achilles and led to plantar fasciitis. I miss sitting like that. Nice that maybe I can still do it if I do it correctly (and not for too long). Great info. Thanks.

From Wikipedia: “A law that came into effect in April 2020 recognizes seiza for extended periods of time as a morally unacceptable form of punishment according to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.” Why? “Those unfamiliar with seiza will likely find that maintaining it for more than a minute or two tends to lead to paresthesia, whereby the compression of the nerves causes a loss of their blood flow, with the accompanying "pins and needles" feeling, followed by painful burning sensations, and then eventually complete numbness in the legs.” … “Experienced seiza practitioners can maintain the posture for forty minutes or more with minimal discomfort. Certain knee problems are made worse when assuming this position.”

Nice video! First learned Seiza when I did tea ceremony, then we did it when I started learning jiu-jitsu (daito-ryu). When I am at someone's house in Japan and I'm sitting on the floor, I do instinctively sit in seiza. tbh didnt honest there were any health benefits related to it, but makes sense!

Interesting video, is there any modifications as to doing it with footwear or boots, especially ? It would/could be a practical posistion to be in when out and about in the field supplementing the squat and/or kneeling ones when working on ground level stuff.

Great video!! Do you have any recommendations or exercises to help for the tate-hiza position?

Amazing subject. Thank you for helping us improve our mobility

This is the video I need! I have practiced martial arts for over 25 years and I really struggle with knee issues. Making Seiza is almost impossible these days... so I don't even attempt it anymore. I'm going to work on this as part of my training. 👍

I had no idea you lived in Japan. Very cool 😎

My understanding of proper seiza is the knees are two fists widths apart, and your left big toe is resting on your right big toe. Of course, your heels are under your sit bones as stated. Also, I found the key to learning and mastering seiza was doing opposing stretches (articulating everything the opposite direction). Most people only do the obvious stretches, shown in this video. But it helps a lot to do leg extension stretches, hip rotation stretches, to try to lay back in seiza, sumo stretches, etc. The more general flexibility you have, in each direction, the easier this gets.

Thank you for the detailed video! I’ve been trying to get into comfortable seiza for about a year now. My issue seems to be my calves that are screaming more than my knees when I’m fully resting on my heels. Any suggestions for what to do?

A “smaller” but very important goal for me this year. Regain my ability to sit and then COMFORTABLY sit on my heels (seiza style) Used to never be a problem. Then I lost it for a while after a knee injury, but I got it back and could sit in seiza again 2018-2019. But LOST it during 2020 (lockdown depression) I did not even try to sit this way for 2 years. I started working on regaining it last week and I’m already seeing some improvements. But just stumbled on this training video 😃 Now I can work on it a bit more intelligently and strategically. THANKS A MILLION, @GMB Fitness

Interesting viewpoint about sitting butt between your legs. That is the popular position in yoga for hero pose.

just watching this gives me phantom pains in my knees. All the same I am working toward a deep resting squat(also torture at the moment). This just got added to the list. :))

Well explained, thank you. I noticed that if I bow low, in seiza, stretch my hands out as far as possible, I get a good stretch in the upper back and shoulders. Could you comment on that please. I found seiza by watching a Japanese serial and I found it self aligning, as you stated, and quite refreshing.

Thank you. I'll see how I do with these stretches. I can sit criss cross no problem, but for seiza, I can't get my butt anywhere near my heels at all. Do you think it's possible to improve this with these stretches then? I've been looking at some of your videos and gads, my modifications need modifications. I have been doing barbell lifts the last couple years (cause why not start this in your 50s right) and am stronger, but mobility issues keep getting in my way.

was extremely painful for me, attacked it aggressively. in a month i could sit in the full position but still hurts.

Interesting. I will try, though I don't know how far I will go...because of osteoarthritis on my right knee...range of motion is not the same on both legs.

I know this is outside the scope of your channel but would you consider maybe a miniseries about moving to Japan long-term (kind of an expat thing)? Personally, I 'd be more interested in cheaper, more rural living in Japan but still close to the beach. I've been learning from you for a while now and you present information very well

Great video. I’m an Elements member but have not used the program in a while but plan to get back. Q: My challenge with seiza is that I am missing 30% of my plantar flexion so my feet won’t lie flat to the floor??

I think what works for me is buy switching toe positions when I'm getting tired

Good video. Though is it a good thing to practice if you have cartilage problem, ACL rupture , bakers cyst? I'm very active in variety of sports but kneeling isn't the best for me! Any thoughts? Thank you in advance

Nice explanation. What’s the location of your studio?

Out of my own experience I can tell you that after more than 20 minutes this position cuts the blood to a way I can even not stand well up anymore and it takes me some minutes to be able to walk normally again. I mean I do it because of my karate tradition but not more than a few minutes.

I was able to do the sitting position but I had cramps in my feet. I don’t think you covered what I could do to eliminate that. Thanks for any ideas.

Hello sir, fantastic content as always! A question if you have a moment: when I sit in this position, the top of my feet really get jammed into the ground, and that is the thing that limits my sitting in this position. At 2:20 you talk about having your heels point straight up, which for me, increases that pressure on the very feet bones that hurt! If I slightly roll my feet out, it's a bit better, but that is against your advice. My quads are also very tight and prevent my sitting back on my sit bones (Sitz Bones?) and heels ... that may be relevant. Any suggestions, or is this just a matter of time, pain, and patience? Cheers and best wishes, 有難うございます。とてもいい先生です。jz

Which is better way of eating Sukhasana(easy pose-indian way) or Seiza(Japanese way)?

I've been practicing martial arts for about 20 years now. We're sitting in seiza quite a lot. In the beginning there was around 20cm between my butt and my heels. Now my butt touches my heels, but it's still nog really resting on it. If I have to sit in seiza for more than 10 minutes, it starts hurting and I loose the feeling in my legs eventually. Also, I heard it's not really good for our knees.

what to do about feet circulation getting cut off and feet getting numb? is there any feet position for that

I feel a ton of pressure in my knees, especially the backs of my knees when I try to sit like this. Please advise.

Great videos! What pants are those?

7:02 is easy for me. However, when I point my toes backwards (like in the regular seiza) my feet start to cramp painfully. Any ideas how I can get around this?

I grew up with this and still have traces of the bubble cushion ‘taco’ posterior below my ankle. Why do this? Strengthens knee supporting structures especially if done from childhood! My knees are strong!!! When feet fall asleep sitting seiza, was taught to lick index finder and make sign of the cross on forehead. Distraction or works? ? 😂

What us your opinion on the blood circulation impediment while sitting in seiza or keiza? I'm a martial artist with 40+ years experience and nave no mobility issues for either position, but I noticed that when I get up from sitting in seiza for an extended period of time I get dizzy and lightheaded and my feet are noticeably colder than the rest of my body. I discussed this issue with my doctor who expressed the opinion that sitting in seiza affects popliteal vein. You have probably seen small Japanese wooden benches that are used to sit in an elevated seiza position. I tried one and instantly felt more comfortable. Your opinion? Thank you

i dont have pain in my knees but my feet when i try this, is that normal and will it stop with time?

Hi there. Quick question. Should we be trying to get our ankles together when we sit seiza? Or does it matter?

Does anyone else find their trousers split at the gusset a lot with seiza sitting?