Maybe, but he didn't say, and he didn't have a diagnosis from his doctor. Let's assume his menisci are ok. There's many people who have good menisci but are just too inflexible to sit on their heels, maybe because they didn't try for a decade or more, or because they sit on chairs 14+ hours a day etc. However, if the menisci are broken, then the movement sequence in this video should be used with great caution. There's other, more suitable exercises. Gentle reminder: Don't compromise your health. Take good care of yourself. Don't hurt yourself.
KA, I teach form of somatic education with a direct lineage to Feldenkrais. A client came to me with knee pain and DID have a torn meniscus. After her first hands-on session, her knee pain was completely gone. She went home with self care moves to help her brain continue to neurologically lay down new pathways between her body and brain so she could move freely. Just FYI, we actually focused on tension in her torso, I never "worked on" her knee. Alfons' moves here are great! Play with them and sense how they are all connected to your body, not just the legs. Thank you Alfons for your work! I have clients who are subscribers to your channel and they love you too!
I only feel this pain in one of my lower legs. I have had this problem for years. I tried squatting, but it only made it worse. When doing the first leg movement, the pain is literally relieved! Thank you, sir. ❤
I haven't tried this yet but am a great enthusiast for your videos which totally change how I feel. It doesn't matter which one I choose (usually one of the length I have time for) it always transforms how my whole body feels, and my mind too. I've watched many of them many times and always watch new ones with great interest. I'm 67 years old and have never been able to sit in seiza even with years of yoga. I always thought I never would but now I'm intrigued to try this. I can see that encouraging this rotation of the lower leg can only be beneficial even if I don't ever sit in seiza fully. I tell many people about your videos. Thank you Alfons!
Thank you Alice, good to know ! I guess it will take some time and dedication to reach a full seiza sitting position, but the way to get there is graceful :-)
I did karate at Malthes' age, and we used to jump up from kneeling, to stand. I'm trying to learn again how, but I noticed I could no longer even sit in kneeling without having this same problem. And now, after this video, I can do it, with a few clunks and clanks and a bit of grinding and slow careful movements I landed it finally. Thanks!
This is an issue I have come across in my meditation practice while sitting in the Seiza position. I am grateful that there is something I can do to ameliorate the discomfort I feel at times while meditating. Thank you, Alfons.
Alfons: "The body will adjust to your ideas and your thinking". Just let that sink in deeply and everything (including your old aches and pains) suddenly becomes blindingly obvious. Thank you Alfons your videos and willingness to share your experience and insights. They have become an intergral part of my recovery from a "catastrophic medical event" as it was termed. Getting closer to being able to walk straight again :-)
Yes that way of explaining about the body listening to your thoughts, was so interesting for me. I enjoy trying different approaches and trying to be open minded.
Thanks for the tip. I've been practicing seiza and I realized that you have to spread your feet outside. Now I can do it without any pain. Thanks again.
Thanks so much! This is an important posture in many cultural traditions. I'm teaching it to a Muslim gentleman who needs to practice it during prayer. Gradual development is very important! 🙏
Thanks so much I’ve been doing the wrong exercises until i saw this because my lag was broken now its good but i can’t sit on the floor so thanks so much I’ll do these exercises daily
The problem with skipping straigt to the stretching, is that you might miss the parts where he emphasizes that this is not a stretch, and that you should not stretch during this movement exercise.
Alfons, Thank you so much! you practice lot of yoga in your movements, amazing how it delivers the desired results. God bless to all that hard work you put in.
I'm at a loss. I've always found it effortless to sit on my heels+ rest my back and neck comfortably on the floor, as well as, to sit in a deep Asian squat to relax. Only a month and half after COVID hit, my already more sedentary lifestyle caught up with me: I sat on my bed mindlessly with me right knee bent at about 45° angle (lotus like, like always do), and when my thigh made contact with the bed, my kneecap shifted, popping laterally, as my knee got stuck. There was pain, swelling, and inflammation afterwards for weeks. When the pain subsided, I was able to figure out that I basically have a new-found flexion problem. There is nothing wrong with my knee physically, although, almost a year later in physical therapy, I was given the impression that my knee cap was misaligned (super tight T-band), and that I need to only concentrate on strengthening my quads. And I realize that my knee was never the culprit, that there is physically absolutely nothing wrong with it. But I do have enough painless back problems, and misalignment of the hips, causing tightness and pulling & soreness problems in the hip flexors, weak hamstrings and glutes: one hip is out to the side, with my pelvis tilting forward, meanwhile, on the right side, the pelvis is tilting back. I'm done with PT for the moment. *How do I floss my way back into better alignment? What do I strengthen and release along the way?*
i have trouble doing this with one leg and tried rolling the quad with a big foam roller and it was kinda painfull but made the position easy as pie after wards. (i twisted my knee a while ago)
I am a southeast asian guy and I was not really used to sitting seiza but it looked really cool to me so I practice literally everyday atleast for 1hr or half sitting seiza. And since I was doing this from my early teenage years as I grew up my leg and thigh bones adapted in that way so that it's easier and less painful for me to sit in that way. but still I would say sitting sieza on a concrete floor or any solid surface pains like hell. I can only sit seiza on my bed or on a comfy cushion.
Practicing this day 3, the advice that helped me is to place 2 or 3 firsts space between the knees and bring the big toes to together till they touch before getting into the stretch. Have to say that these 3 day's where to honest for my ego and I can maintain the position for 5 seconds before the pain kicks in after a year of practicing the deep squat. Should have trained both because they stretch the opposite muscles in the ankle.
Autofocus is like the badly learned movements of a human. It's provided for extreme situations and for people who have not learned to adjust their cameras, like a person who has not started Feldenkrais guidance. For an indoor scene with limited movement, you can manually guide a camera to the correct focus and it will stay there forever, relaxed. Rehearse your movement. Put a coin where the center of your body will be, another at each side of the scene. Adjust the light level so the lens is not at its widest aperture (smallest "f" number.) Move the camera away from the scenes at least as far as the scene is wide. Farther is better. Adjust the zoom so the camera is not at its widest angle to cover the scene. Narrower is better. If the light level is adequate, and the camera is not too close and the lens is not in widest angle mode, the lens should have adequate field of depth. Zoom in, focus on the center coin, then zoom out until the outer coins are in the frame.
I used to sit like this before with no problems, but one day I fell on my right knee and from that day I could no longer sit on it. Every time I try to do so It just get painful.
Pain can be an instantaneous warning or a learned response. Part will be from actual damage being done by movement. Part can be your body's memory of an event that hurt it or fear of injuring yourself. You can retrain your body in any case to minimize your pain while leaning your true range of movements.
Hi guy!! nice résume of the lesson " Heel under my pelvis" ! Very good advice and explanation ! Whaouuuu:) It should be great to do video : who to lenghenning the waist muscles in the different way to have more flexible hips. I thinks it heps to sit as japoness too.
Exactly ! You are long time student - of course you know already ! :-)) We can lengthen the waist muscles with eating McDonalds, but I think is the wrong direction (front to back instead of up to down) ;-)
sir why doesn't the knee rotate while he is trying to sit in the seiza position could you please explain ? for me too when I try to sit the back of knee hurts a lot and I don't have any problems with my meniscus but why do I experience a great deal of pain when I try to sit in this posture ??? no stiff calves too .
My only problem is within my ankles! I can't keep my feet flat like that, it strains and burns where the bottom of my leg meets my foot, on the joints on the top of my feet.
In my case, it's very extreme. The pain is very intense when I try that and the heels stay very far from my but. I'm trying, but I feel no progress :( And I used to try that before when I was a kid, I played taiko (japanese drums) and we used to stay at the deixa position. But even when I was a kid, I was not able to that
I have a medical condition with my knees. I only know the term in german, sadly, it's called "Drehfehler ab dem Knie abwärts". My attempt on translating it would be "rotational problem from the knee downwards", and yeah I get that that's not an exact description of the underlying problem. But I've seen quite some foot-doctors for that reason and I just tried sitting like in the Seiza for 10 minutes in various positions and I cannot do it. My muscle strains hurt and it feels like my legs are stretched too long. It's quite painful and I could not sit like this for more than 10 seconds.
look up my video "towards japanese sitting". Do not kneel. Do not sit like this. Do approximations. Every journey starts with the first step, don't try to skip the steps, work towards the goal. Give yourself 3-6 months time to reach the goal of kneeling and sitting. Be consistent and respectful. There's many other videos with a similar topic, for example "Help with Sciatica, Achilles pain, stiff calves and feet". If this doesn't work, try something else. Never move into pain, never strain, do not hurt yourself. There's no benefit in hurting yourself.
Ah the old cramp in the calf ! Not easy to control. Some recommend drinking more water, some recommend more magnesium. I think it's movement related, some mis-management from the brain activating flexors and extensors at the same time or something. When I was 17 I had a lot of calf cramps easily, I learned to feel them coming, the onset, before they hit, and either change position or consciously controlled myself and stopped the muscle activation all together. Some of my clients reported they learned to do the same - feel early onset and dodge. What's your take on this?
Feldenkrais with Alfons i read and try to remember to flex my ankles depending how we are able to flex your feet back to knees then outward as cramp decreases or as able to depending on the type of cramp. They can be very painful.
Feels like my knee catches when I try to bend it sometimes, like it won't bend all the way and I'm scared to bend it or sit. Any tips? I was in a bad car accident and have metal rods in my legs but all imaging comes back perfectly fine and everything's in place
It’s impossible to say without working with you in person. But in general I would recommend sensible strengthening with knees-over-toes mini-squats (see my video Hopping For Seniors, several few minutes mini workouts spread out over the day) and start with my Getting Better Day By Day series. Day 6, 7, 8 is on the belly and explores gentle knee bending, integrated in full body movements.
Brilliant! And added bonus after practicing these movements, when I turned over and rested on my back....bliss☺☺☺Thank you. You really are a great teacher. Do you offer teacher training courses? Do you know of any Feldenkrais-yoga teacher training courses? I practice and teach yoga and LOVE how Feldenkrais makes my body feel💖
😇 😅 thank you ! I know right? Feldenkrais makes me feel that way too ! At the moment I don't offer teacher training courses - but Erifily, a fellow Feldenkrais practitioner and Yoga teacher, gives a lot of workshops all over Europe, check out her YT channel: th-cam.com/users/atomyogavideos
Thanks Alfons for great video!!! by the way I just bought your book and looking forward to start reading it! A little question what do you think about yoga?
i had the same. my problem was very very low vitamin D level. check your vitamin D level first. muskoskeletal pills for a week. and stretching for a month.
Hello! I cant sit on my heel 4 months after acl reconstruction with patellar tendon. When i try to sit on my heels i feel pain in the lateral part of the knee. I have a feeling like my bones are touching. Is it possible for me to get to sit on my heels again? Thank you!
what about having pain on the knee bone touching hard floor, i have no issue being on that position, what exercises i should do to condition the knee bones?
Exercise Ideas: 1) Place a towel in between your knees and the hard floor, start with thick, go thinner every day 2) Practice gratefulness, self-care and self-preservation 3) Shift your pelvis 1mm to the right (side-bending chest), then to the left, in slow motion, which will roll your legs and thus place the pressure on different points on your in-steps and knees, alternating between relief and pressure, yet the movements are so small they are hardly visible from the outside and you can sync them with your breathing so you can focus on other things 4) ownership of learning and of your body: develop (invent, test, improve) your own ideas. Always keep in mind 2)
Hello ! Can you help me with my problem. I can sit in seiza in yoga mat but I can't sit on the floor it's like my foot bones are crashing to the floor it's so paining and also my feet become numb after I sit for only some time . And also ca n you describe the proper way of sitting without grabbing anything and getting up from this position. Thanks 😊
what about squatting? that hurts my legs and knees... i have to do it to garden cuz if i sit on the ground i'll get covered in ticks. i can only do it for short periods and boy it wears me the hell out and kills my knees
I can’t offer a quick solution, especially not in just a short comment. But if you have the determination a lesson plan could look like this: you might start with the shoulder circle videos, then follow through with the crawling videos I’m doing these weeks, and then go back to the four point lessons, which will improve your squatting.
Why does my back of legs go into cramps.and why does my front of my leg mules are so tight. It's so bad my legs calves go in cramps and feet arch cramp
Without a hands-on instructor. you can't just jump into any lesson randomly. Try mastering the lessons that cover laying, sitting, standing erect (not straight) and standing up from a chair and the the floor before any that cover exaggerated strong joint movements, which these are.
I can sit with my butt touching my heels. The issue I have is the pain in my feet and shin so I can't maintain the position. I found this video because I'm looking for stretches and exercises to be able to sit in this position comfortably. BTW, I'm also working on doing the full/deep squat.
I have the exact same problem but worse. I also cant lay my legs flat with my ass to the wall. Been going to Physio for nearly 4 years, still cant. Some people just cant gain flexibility without surgery it seems.
Oh ! U have 38 videos to watch😃. Hi , I am Annalina Bobby. I am from India. I am 94kgs. I have put on weight after my cesarian and another surgery on my abdomen. I'm not weight consious🤣🤣🤣which I suppose to have. All I need is to learn seiza position, that is Japanese sitting to do my kneeling prayer. I sit and pray for at least 20 to 25 mins. That is the time I suffer with pain. Should I loose weight to sit in seiza position?please reply☺
maybe start with my video "Lunge master class". Also in my video series "Getting better day by day" and "hip joints" I have some knee stuff. I have currently 3 videos for the knees explicitly. For losing weight I heard Dr. John McDougall (here on TH-cam) is supposedly great. Good luck!
Question. Must we be bending and holding our ankles/legs/feet all the time. It is tiring and tiring is not good in Feldenkrais, right? Can we guide our ankle/legs/knees a bit then let them do the movements without my hands?
Hi Wei Ha, the constraints are a cool tool to find movement in places where otherwise it would be hard, or even awkward, or maybe even impossible to instruct to find movement. In this way it can be learned to distribute movement according to their respective structures. Or to answer your question with an image: We can use a ruler (or ruled paper) to write characters in a straight line, but at some point we don't need the rulers anymore. Does this make sense?
I did that in 2 months thru 5 days solah. Yet when my gout attacked for 2 weeks, it will be back of not able to sit on my heel again. Now redo it for 2 months, currently in my 2nd week. 🤭🤭😝
What if you have a little knee pain towards outside of the knee? I have trouble bending it too like the video of your viewer. Will this activity help heal it or aggravate it more?
My guess is aggravate. Try the beginning of my video "Towards japanese sitting", or better even, work through my video series "Getting Better Day By Day" first. If you can find a good massage therapist for your knee that might help too.
It’s too painful I can’t sit🥲💔 I had a surgery acl + both meniscus with fiber tape internal brace but I can’t sit like this🙂💔please help me out of it??its 3 month + running after surgery ??
The exercises in this video will not be suitable for you. Start with my “Getting better day by day series”, and also look into the easiest strengthening exercises from the TH-cam channel TheKneesovertoesguy. NEVER WORK INTO PAIN. I wish you all the best!
@@ImprovingAbility is it okey in 3month of time or I have some serious problems?because I only have pain when I sit in the floor and bend my knee?otherwise it’s feel normal?
maybe meniscus damaged
Maybe, but he didn't say, and he didn't have a diagnosis from his doctor. Let's assume his menisci are ok. There's many people who have good menisci but are just too inflexible to sit on their heels, maybe because they didn't try for a decade or more, or because they sit on chairs 14+ hours a day etc. However, if the menisci are broken, then the movement sequence in this video should be used with great caution. There's other, more suitable exercises. Gentle reminder: Don't compromise your health. Take good care of yourself. Don't hurt yourself.
KA, I teach form of somatic education with a direct lineage to Feldenkrais. A client came to me with knee pain and DID have a torn meniscus. After her first hands-on session, her knee pain was completely gone. She went home with self care moves to help her brain continue to neurologically lay down new pathways between her body and brain so she could move freely. Just FYI, we actually focused on tension in her torso, I never "worked on" her knee.
Alfons' moves here are great! Play with them and sense how they are all connected to your body, not just the legs.
Thank you Alfons for your work! I have clients who are subscribers to your channel and they love you too!
@@ImprovingAbility I can't sit like that because am not flexible.
@@trainerkristinPDX what was the result of that treatment? was the patient still restricted in any way ? how about seiza and resting squat-position?
@@mariaklaudia4710 same.
I only feel this pain in one of my lower legs. I have had this problem for years. I tried squatting, but it only made it worse. When doing the first leg movement, the pain is literally relieved! Thank you, sir. ❤
Why am I only discovering this channel now?!?! Today is a lucky day for me 😊😊😊
this video is the absolute best on TH-cam on learning how to sit in seiza !!!!!!!!!!!! World Please Share for all Martial Art learners !!!!!!!
exactly! how can I insert the Michael Scott (The Office) THANK YOU meme ?
Feldenkrais with Alfons
Teleki nesis iiii
Alphons, your sense of humor gives me a big smile sometimes.
Thanks the nest idea with the heels clarified a mistake I was making. Now it is much more comfortable, good explanation, very detailed.
Amazing! I will continue to do this every day going forward as I immediately noticed a marked improvement. Thank you so much.
How is it going so far ?
I couldn't understand you a month ago. I put you aside and come back today and fully get it. Thank you for your explanation
Very useful. Thank you. This has eased quite a bit of pressure on my lower legs and knees. I never considered the rotation.
I haven't tried this yet but am a great enthusiast for your videos which totally change how I feel. It doesn't matter which one I choose (usually one of the length I have time for) it always transforms how my whole body feels, and my mind too. I've watched many of them many times and always watch new ones with great interest. I'm 67 years old and have never been able to sit in seiza even with years of yoga. I always thought I never would but now I'm intrigued to try this. I can see that encouraging this rotation of the lower leg can only be beneficial even if I don't ever sit in seiza fully. I tell many people about your videos. Thank you Alfons!
Thank you Alice, good to know ! I guess it will take some time and dedication to reach a full seiza sitting position, but the way to get there is graceful :-)
Amazing!!! This teacher knows what he is talking about!!! Many thanks.
haha yeah, thanks ! :-)
HE IS A GENIUS ;)
I did karate at Malthes' age, and we used to jump up from kneeling, to stand. I'm trying to learn again how, but I noticed I could no longer even sit in kneeling without having this same problem. And now, after this video, I can do it, with a few clunks and clanks and a bit of grinding and slow careful movements I landed it finally. Thanks!
Thank u so much for this video. U have explained it so well. I still suffer to sit like this when I pray. I hope ur video will help me. Thank u.☺
Has it helped you?
This is an issue I have come across in my meditation practice while sitting in the Seiza position.
I am grateful that there is something I can do to ameliorate the discomfort I feel at times while meditating.
Thank you, Alfons.
Alfons: "The body will adjust to your ideas and your thinking". Just let that sink in deeply and everything (including your old aches and pains) suddenly becomes blindingly obvious. Thank you Alfons your videos and willingness to share your experience and insights. They have become an intergral part of my recovery from a "catastrophic medical event" as it was termed.
Getting closer to being able to walk straight again :-)
Yes that way of explaining about the body listening to your thoughts, was so interesting for me. I enjoy trying different approaches and trying to be open minded.
Thanks for the tip. I've been practicing seiza and I realized that you have to spread your feet outside. Now I can do it without any pain. Thanks again.
Thanks dear for sharing your beautiful thoughts. Extremely helpful. Great video.
First video I found that spoke about lower leg rotation. Thanks so much!
Best video explaining how to learn how to sit in seiza, *by far*.
Thank you :)
Thanks for watching and commenting, very much appreciated ! I wish you good progress daily :-)
Thanks so much!
This is an important posture in many cultural traditions.
I'm teaching it to a Muslim gentleman who needs to practice it during prayer.
Gradual development is very important!
🙏
Thanks so much I’ve been doing the wrong exercises until i saw this because my lag was broken now its good but i can’t sit on the floor so thanks so much I’ll do these exercises daily
Awsome video. i have no intention on perfecting japanese sitting but for my training purposes it was so helpful
Within 2 mins, I loved ur video because of the images n the way you explain. Great job. Tks 😃👍
Thank you very much for this video! Words cannot express my gratitude!
Skip straight to stretching: @6:18
Baby girl, thank you, sometimes i just want them to get to the point, no explanation. Im to old and aint got the time.
You are amazing 💖💖
You have a ig love ?
It looks like he is doing seggs-
The problem with skipping straigt to the stretching, is that you might miss the parts where he emphasizes that this is not a stretch, and that you should not stretch during this movement exercise.
This is the best video I've seen! Thanks... I'll be practicing the techniques!
Thank you! And you’re welcome to try and look around my other videos too, many are made to follow-along 😄
Alfons, Thank you so much! you practice lot of yoga in your movements, amazing how it delivers the desired results. God bless to all that hard work you put in.
I'm at a loss. I've always found it effortless to sit on my heels+ rest my back and neck comfortably on the floor, as well as, to sit in a deep Asian squat to relax. Only a month and half after COVID hit, my already more sedentary lifestyle caught up with me: I sat on my bed mindlessly with me right knee bent at about 45° angle (lotus like, like always do), and when my thigh made contact with the bed, my kneecap shifted, popping laterally, as my knee got stuck. There was pain, swelling, and inflammation afterwards for weeks. When the pain subsided, I was able to figure out that I basically have a new-found flexion problem. There is nothing wrong with my knee physically, although, almost a year later in physical therapy, I was given the impression that my knee cap was misaligned (super tight T-band), and that I need to only concentrate on strengthening my quads. And I realize that my knee was never the culprit, that there is physically absolutely nothing wrong with it. But I do have enough painless back problems, and misalignment of the hips, causing tightness and pulling & soreness problems in the hip flexors, weak hamstrings and glutes: one hip is out to the side, with my pelvis tilting forward, meanwhile, on the right side, the pelvis is tilting back. I'm done with PT for the moment. *How do I floss my way back into better alignment? What do I strengthen and release along the way?*
Wow. So helpful. I had no idea of rotation movement of knees. Thanks Alfons. Ronald
i have trouble doing this with one leg and tried rolling the quad with a big foam roller and it was kinda painfull but made the position easy as pie after wards. (i twisted my knee a while ago)
I am a southeast asian guy and I was not really used to sitting seiza but it looked really cool to me so I practice literally everyday atleast for 1hr or half sitting seiza. And since I was doing this from my early teenage years as I grew up my leg and thigh bones adapted in that way so that it's easier and less painful for me to sit in that way. but still I would say sitting sieza on a concrete floor or any solid surface pains like hell. I can only sit seiza on my bed or on a comfy cushion.
Thanks for saying this, I thought I was the only one who could only handle it on a soft cushion.
Thanks for explaining the bones and how they rotate! The truth is so liberating.
It's amazing how little attention we pay to what our bodies can do, and how much we pay to what we believe we can't do.
My pain is in my ankles and feet, they cannot lay flat like you are doing. How do you increase ankle flexibility?
Hugo same my ankle don’t bend they are so stiff
search youtube for alfons feldenkrais ankles. his happy healthy feet videos will also help.
Practicing this day 3, the advice that helped me is to place 2 or 3 firsts space between the knees and bring the big toes to together till they touch before getting into the stretch. Have to say that these 3 day's where to honest for my ego and I can maintain the position for 5 seconds before the pain kicks in after a year of practicing the deep squat. Should have trained both because they stretch the opposite muscles in the ankle.
Very well demonstrated. 😊
Thank you so much for this video. Real body awareness accelerates so much; performance, mindfulness, stress relief, etc.
Autofocus is like the badly learned movements of a human. It's provided for extreme situations and for people who have not learned to adjust their cameras, like a person who has not started Feldenkrais guidance.
For an indoor scene with limited movement, you can manually guide a camera to the correct focus and it will stay there forever, relaxed.
Rehearse your movement. Put a coin where the center of your body will be, another at each side of the scene.
Adjust the light level so the lens is not at its widest aperture (smallest "f" number.)
Move the camera away from the scenes at least as far as the scene is wide. Farther is better. Adjust the zoom so the camera is not at its widest angle to cover the scene. Narrower is better.
If the light level is adequate, and the camera is not too close and the lens is not in widest angle mode, the lens should have adequate field of depth. Zoom in, focus on the center coin, then zoom out until the outer coins are in the frame.
Thank you! Best video on this topic!
Ahh this video helped me understand a lot more, thank you so much
Great guidance/instruction AND you make me laugh. Thanks!.
This is the best video. Thank you so much
Great video, extremely well explained!! Thanks!!
Will try ur method.... Thanks for the information 🙏
Thank you Sir. Greetings from Kosovo. Nice work.
A wonderful video and explanation
I can do this because ever since I was a kid, i’d always sit like this
Great,highlights the 10 yr old mangled tendon in the other foot from 4 metre fall when a garbage scaffold collapsed
Lol I like how you mentioned musashi, beacuse I want to learn this beacuse of him xD
This is awesome. Thank you for posting
Sir please make video on sit and rise test
This is great information.
I used to sit like this before with no problems, but one day I fell on my right knee and from that day I could no longer sit on it. Every time I try to do so It just get painful.
Pain can be an instantaneous warning or a learned response. Part will be from actual damage being done by movement. Part can be your body's memory of an event that hurt it or fear of injuring yourself. You can retrain your body in any case to minimize your pain while leaning your true range of movements.
I found this video interesting. Goals... Thank you.
A lot of people don't realised how helpful it's by sitting on ur ankles
Thank you for great ideas
thanks a lot
Im 64 and cant do the seiza at all☹Knees are so painful when I try to do this posture. I will do these exercises and see if it helps. Thank you.
Ah thank you so much i just started learning karate do and this is really helpful
holy cow!! this is amazing!!!
it is ! :-)
Hi guy!! nice résume of the lesson " Heel under my pelvis" ! Very good advice and explanation ! Whaouuuu:) It should be great to do video : who to lenghenning the waist muscles in the different way to have more flexible hips. I thinks it heps to sit as japoness too.
Exactly ! You are long time student - of course you know already ! :-)) We can lengthen the waist muscles with eating McDonalds, but I think is the wrong direction (front to back instead of up to down) ;-)
sir why doesn't the knee rotate while he is trying to sit in the seiza position could you please explain ? for me too when I try to sit the back of knee hurts a lot and I don't have any problems with my meniscus but why do I experience a great deal of pain when I try to sit in this posture ??? no stiff calves too .
My only problem is within my ankles! I can't keep my feet flat like that, it strains and burns where the bottom of my leg meets my foot, on the joints on the top of my feet.
i have both problems but yeah i get severe ankle sprains that never fully heal and now I can't do that either
In my case, it's very extreme. The pain is very intense when I try that and the heels stay very far from my but. I'm trying, but I feel no progress :(
And I used to try that before when I was a kid, I played taiko (japanese drums) and we used to stay at the deixa position. But even when I was a kid, I was not able to that
Excellent
Thanks sir
I am hopeful that
I will be able to
Sit in this position
Thank you for this video. Can this pose limit the circulation in the legs?
Yes, not generally speaking but it definitely can… here discomfortable is a warning signal
This is great! Thank you :)
my kids always twist their toes in when they sit like that. also sometimes cross the feet while doing it
I have a medical condition with my knees. I only know the term in german, sadly, it's called "Drehfehler ab dem Knie abwärts". My attempt on translating it would be "rotational problem from the knee downwards", and yeah I get that that's not an exact description of the underlying problem. But I've seen quite some foot-doctors for that reason and I just tried sitting like in the Seiza for 10 minutes in various positions and I cannot do it. My muscle strains hurt and it feels like my legs are stretched too long. It's quite painful and I could not sit like this for more than 10 seconds.
I can't even kneel without pain. It feels like I am kneeling on my shin.
look up my video "towards japanese sitting". Do not kneel. Do not sit like this. Do approximations. Every journey starts with the first step, don't try to skip the steps, work towards the goal. Give yourself 3-6 months time to reach the goal of kneeling and sitting. Be consistent and respectful. There's many other videos with a similar topic, for example "Help with Sciatica, Achilles pain, stiff calves and feet". If this doesn't work, try something else. Never move into pain, never strain, do not hurt yourself. There's no benefit in hurting yourself.
Wonderful. Is there something one might do when they get a cramp in the calf...doing this exercise? Thank you so much.
Ah the old cramp in the calf ! Not easy to control. Some recommend drinking more water, some recommend more magnesium. I think it's movement related, some mis-management from the brain activating flexors and extensors at the same time or something. When I was 17 I had a lot of calf cramps easily, I learned to feel them coming, the onset, before they hit, and either change position or consciously controlled myself and stopped the muscle activation all together. Some of my clients reported they learned to do the same - feel early onset and dodge. What's your take on this?
Feldenkrais with Alfons i read and try to remember to flex my ankles depending how we are able to flex your feet back to knees then outward as cramp decreases or as able to depending on the type of cramp.
They can be very painful.
It’s usually quads and hip flexor problems
Feels like my knee catches when I try to bend it sometimes, like it won't bend all the way and I'm scared to bend it or sit. Any tips? I was in a bad car accident and have metal rods in my legs but all imaging comes back perfectly fine and everything's in place
It’s impossible to say without working with you in person. But in general I would recommend sensible strengthening with knees-over-toes mini-squats (see my video Hopping For Seniors, several few minutes mini workouts spread out over the day) and start with my Getting Better Day By Day series. Day 6, 7, 8 is on the belly and explores gentle knee bending, integrated in full body movements.
Brilliant! And added bonus after practicing these movements, when I turned over and rested on my back....bliss☺☺☺Thank you. You really are a great teacher. Do you offer teacher training courses? Do you know of any Feldenkrais-yoga teacher training courses? I practice and teach yoga and LOVE how Feldenkrais makes my body feel💖
😇 😅 thank you ! I know right? Feldenkrais makes me feel that way too ! At the moment I don't offer teacher training courses - but Erifily, a fellow Feldenkrais practitioner and Yoga teacher, gives a lot of workshops all over Europe, check out her YT channel: th-cam.com/users/atomyogavideos
+Feldenkrais with Alfons 🤗 thank you. Shall check out her channel. Much thanks
wharever exercise i try but only for temporary...cannot cure it.. any suggestion for the knee pain like this?
Thanks Alfons for great video!!! by the way I just bought your book and looking forward to start reading it! A little question what do you think about yoga?
Thank you for your comment and support ! :-) hm… it's seems like there are many people who enjoy yoga (whatever is meant by that term?)
A 2 1/2 yr old plantar fasciitis barking. 33 M ladder climb 2am in a nuclear job. Led me to this.
i had the same. my problem was very very low vitamin D level. check your vitamin D level first. muskoskeletal pills for a week. and stretching for a month.
Hello! I cant sit on my heel 4 months after acl reconstruction with patellar tendon. When i try to sit on my heels i feel pain in the lateral part of the knee. I have a feeling like my bones are touching. Is it possible for me to get to sit on my heels again? Thank you!
13:51 i love how nonchalantly you said ass🤣
what about having pain on the knee bone touching hard floor, i have no issue being on that position, what exercises i should do to condition the knee bones?
Exercise Ideas: 1) Place a towel in between your knees and the hard floor, start with thick, go thinner every day
2) Practice gratefulness, self-care and self-preservation
3) Shift your pelvis 1mm to the right (side-bending chest), then to the left, in slow motion, which will roll your legs and thus place the pressure on different points on your in-steps and knees, alternating between relief and pressure, yet the movements are so small they are hardly visible from the outside and you can sync them with your breathing so you can focus on other things
4) ownership of learning and of your body: develop (invent, test, improve) your own ideas. Always keep in mind 2)
Hello ! Can you help me with my problem. I can sit in seiza in yoga mat but I can't sit on the floor it's like my foot bones are crashing to the floor it's so paining and also my feet become numb after I sit for only some time . And also ca n you describe the proper way of sitting without grabbing anything and getting up from this position. Thanks 😊
Did you already try my video “Towards Japanese Sitting”? th-cam.com/video/ToC27aRAORk/w-d-xo.html
what about squatting? that hurts my legs and knees... i have to do it to garden cuz if i sit on the ground i'll get covered in ticks. i can only do it for short periods and boy it wears me the hell out and kills my knees
I can’t offer a quick solution, especially not in just a short comment. But if you have the determination a lesson plan could look like this: you might start with the shoulder circle videos, then follow through with the crawling videos I’m doing these weeks, and then go back to the four point lessons, which will improve your squatting.
Why does my back of legs go into cramps.and why does my front of my leg mules are so tight. It's so bad my legs calves go in cramps and feet arch cramp
Thanks.✌️
I can’t sit on my heels like this I feel immediate immense pain behind my knees
I have the same problem... It's horrible! And there is like 5cm between my butt and my feet...
Without a hands-on instructor. you can't just jump into any lesson randomly. Try mastering the lessons that cover laying, sitting, standing erect (not straight) and standing up from a chair and the the floor before any that cover exaggerated strong joint movements, which these are.
Same problem here I have a gap of almost 8 inches. When I try to sit
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i got no issues with my knees, but my calf muscles, ancles and top of my feet hurt like hell.
I can sit with my butt touching my heels. The issue I have is the pain in my feet and shin so I can't maintain the position.
I found this video because I'm looking for stretches and exercises to be able to sit in this position comfortably.
BTW, I'm also working on doing the full/deep squat.
Hi K, It's May 2022. How's your progress. Are you able to japanese sit? Asian squat?
I have the exact same problem but worse. I also cant lay my legs flat with my ass to the wall. Been going to Physio for nearly 4 years, still cant. Some people just cant gain flexibility without surgery it seems.
Terrific video thank you. What sort of roller is it? Can you get them online?
They are Feldenkrais rollers, soft, I got them online from Marek in Poland "Profisystem". They are the best
Do you mean that we'll adgust the knee joint?
Oh ! U have 38 videos to watch😃. Hi , I am Annalina Bobby. I am from India. I am 94kgs. I have put on weight after my cesarian and another surgery on my abdomen. I'm not weight consious🤣🤣🤣which I suppose to have. All I need is to learn seiza position, that is Japanese sitting to do my kneeling prayer. I sit and pray for at least 20 to 25 mins. That is the time I suffer with pain. Should I loose weight to sit in seiza position?please reply☺
maybe start with my video "Lunge master class". Also in my video series "Getting better day by day" and "hip joints" I have some knee stuff. I have currently 3 videos for the knees explicitly. For losing weight I heard Dr. John McDougall (here on TH-cam) is supposedly great. Good luck!
Question. Must we be bending and holding our ankles/legs/feet all the time. It is tiring and tiring is not good in Feldenkrais, right? Can we guide our ankle/legs/knees a bit then let them do the movements without my hands?
Hi Wei Ha, the constraints are a cool tool to find movement in places where otherwise it would be hard, or even awkward, or maybe even impossible to instruct to find movement. In this way it can be learned to distribute movement according to their respective structures. Or to answer your question with an image: We can use a ruler (or ruled paper) to write characters in a straight line, but at some point we don't need the rulers anymore. Does this make sense?
@@ImprovingAbility yes makes sense
I did that in 2 months thru 5 days solah.
Yet when my gout attacked for 2 weeks, it will be back of not able to sit on my heel again.
Now redo it for 2 months, currently in my 2nd week. 🤭🤭😝
How long does it take and should I do it everyday
If I sat like that I imagine my knees would explode
Be careful, do it slowly, do less, work in approximations. It's not important to touch, it's important to direct.
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Hi sir I can not sit on my heel I will try thanks
What if you have a little knee pain towards outside of the knee? I have trouble bending it too like the video of your viewer. Will this activity help heal it or aggravate it more?
My guess is aggravate. Try the beginning of my video "Towards japanese sitting", or better even, work through my video series "Getting Better Day By Day" first. If you can find a good massage therapist for your knee that might help too.
It’s too painful I can’t sit🥲💔 I had a surgery acl + both meniscus with fiber tape internal brace but I can’t sit like this🙂💔please help me out of it??its 3 month + running after surgery ??
The exercises in this video will not be suitable for you. Start with my “Getting better day by day series”, and also look into the easiest strengthening exercises from the TH-cam channel TheKneesovertoesguy. NEVER WORK INTO PAIN. I wish you all the best!
@@ImprovingAbility is it okey in 3month of time or I have some serious problems?because I only have pain when I sit in the floor and bend my knee?otherwise it’s feel normal?
You need to discuss with your therapist/doctor in person. Here on YT everything is DIY
i tried it too .. the gap is like 20cm before my knees are killing me
I have knee pain, back pain, I want to do this ? How to do this 🙏
start with my “Getting better day by day” videos here on TH-cam. 9 lessons.
Interesting, now I understand how 80+ year old ladies in Japan can sit like that, while Westerners, even young ones, often have trouble.