Squeeze in some Squatting

First published in ‘Tai Chi Chuan and Oriental Arts’ magazine Spring 2014

Over the years I have had the pleasure of meeting and teaching many different people from all sorts of walks of life. From teenagers to 90 year olds, from gymnasts and ballet dancers to boxers and fitness trainers, from businessmen to placid yogis, from couch potatoes to triathletes, you name it; they have probably been to some of my classes. One of the greatest things about being a teacher is coming into contact with a wide variety of people; I am always fascinated how us humans vividly exhibit similar patterns in how we move, think and learn despite myriad superficial differences. A lot of these patterns are actually pretty useless but usually they are so engrained that we no longer realise that we continue to employ them – if we did then we probably wouldn’t.

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes – Sherlock Holmes

One of the main things I have observed along the way is that from a relatively young age we gradually lose our body-awareness, proprioception and sense-perception and this is matched usually by diminished mobility, integrated strength and stability in the general body structure. This is especially evident in the lower half of the body: the feet, legs and hips and lower back. Moreover, this is mirrored and exacerbated by an increasing dominance of discursive mental activity unrelated to what is actually happening within and around us in the here and now, in the real world, in real time, over the visceral, down to earth world of present-moment sensory awareness. It’s like we slowly suffer from a kind of ever increasing disassociation from the physical world and this supplements a gross imbalance between the physical and mental threads that twine together to form our experience of life.

In this sense then we tend to become incredibly top-heavy as we leave childhood. Unless this imbalance is addressed from the off then it is very difficult to facilitate optimum health and fitness and our more standard, less perceptive attempts to do so are significantly counter-productive. The question of ‘how’ doesn’t usually come into the equation; the quality of the movement/exercise we engage in and whether it requires the relaxed, focused awareness necessary to address these kind of imbalances, is rarely a consideration. For generally when most of us exercise, it is most often inspired by an aesthetic bid to simply change the way we look from the outside or achieve an unrealistic fixed idea that we think will make us happy somehow rather than a conscious present moment re-orientation towards integration and balance.

For me the Internal Arts are absolutely genius systems in this sense because they immediately addresses this imbalance right from the start and from this most sensible of premises proceed to offer great benefits of all kinds (too numerous to mention). However, developing the receptive, perceptive observational mindset can be quite tricky for most people. In fact it’s usually the thing that many people find the most difficult. Training something very simple is a good place to start as it gives our big, interfering brains a chance to calm down and get with the programme in hand. So in this article I’m going to talk about and encourage you to try the superb practise of squatting.

Almost all of us sit down far too much. Humans originally evolved to be hunter-gatherers primed to be steadily on the move all day with our plethora of senses finely honed to be highly receptive. Staying firmly grounded in the present moment rather than drifting off into some revelry about the past or future was then, as it is now, vital not only for survival but for healthy, happy and successful living in the most basic and satisfying way.

Lack of movement in day-to-day life has seriously negative health implications; if we can simply do more walking each day then we can placate that hunter-gather part of ourselves and begin to invest some of our excessive mental energy. Even better, if we can improve our perception and functioning of the much neglected foundational, lower halves of our bodies then this will greatly enhance our overall health and mobility.

Back in the early 2000s when I first went to train in Beijing one of the many things that amazed me was just how often people would rest by squatting flat-footed on the ground rather than sitting on a chair. Everyone would do it, from little children right up to the eldest of the elderly. It seemed that the majority of people could demonstrate this excellent, basic mobility. Often after training we would eat our lunch in the park and all just simply squat down in a circle around a very low table. This was noticeably excellent for my lower body and I love training while I’m resting (and resting while I”m training). At this point in time most of the toilets in China consisted of a simple hole or small trench rather than a western toilet, and so a simple ablution would require careful, mindful squatting and balance in order for it to be successful. It was a great motivating factor for myself and other westerners to master the art of squatting rather rapidly. Fortunately, a few years before this one of my teachers taught me how to squat properly. Despite being quite young and what I thought was very flexible (I could happily do the splits for example) to begin with I found it very difficult to do and certainly couldn’t maintain the position for very long. It really perplexed me to find such a simple thing so difficult. Yet with simple daily practice it rapidly became easier as my joints and spine became pliable. It really helped with my training and to this day I really enjoy squatting on a very regular basis and often much to the amusement of people around me.

Being able to squat successfully requires and facilitates excellent hip, ankle and spinal mobility, stability and leg strength. It also promotes healthy digestive, elimination and sexual functions. It is worth remembering that in reality squatting is simply a basic and fundamental human movement rather than an ‘exercise’ to torture ourselves with. Again for me it brings to mind our ancient hunter-gatherer friends squatting round a fire. Many of us in the west, even and especially youngsters, cannot carry out a full flat footed squat but if we could learn to do it well and regularly it would do us the world of good.

It’s not something that people normally think of when they want to ‘get fit’ but what better place to start than learning how to lower your body down and then lift yourself up from the ground? Learn to walk before you run, learn to stand before you walk and learn to squat before you stand, that’s what I say.

Ideally I would spend a few lessons working in person with someone on their squatting and offer quite a range of tactile cues and corrections to help cultivate the right approach and feel. Nonetheless here is a rough guide to how it is done but it’s much better if you mainly just experiment intelligently with it for yourself. As long as you pay relaxed attention to what you are doing you will be able to discover how you body actually moves in its current state and go from there. Just practice slowly and sensibly. What we want to do is a flat footed squat as opposed to a heels up or ‘Western’ squat where we rest on the balls of the feet. The flat footed squat comprises a highly beneficial closed kinetic chain of movement whereas the heels up version does not, is invariably much easier but places more stress on the knees and is less productive in the long run.

There are a few basic variations on how we can go about it so to begin with I suggest starting with a stance of approximately shoulder width apart and with your feet turned a little outwards at the same angle. We can vary the width of our stance all the way from a narrow gait i.e. feet together to a wider double shoulder width stance. It’s nothing to get caught up about; each variation simply offers slightly different emphasis. I suggest that once you establish the basic way of doing it that I outline here you vary how you do it from time to time and investigate the differences for yourself. Simply practice, observe and learn from your own experience without judgement

From our shoulder width stance then, we want to slowly but carefully soften and lower the hips down and back using our connection through the legs to the ground to support the upper body. It is just natural for the upper body to move forwards a little in order to balance the movement of the hips so do not try to force yourself to be straight. It should be as if you are slowly squashing a large balloon down with your buttocks and backs of your legs. The imaginary ballon helps you to find the feeling of your own support from underneath; for neither do we want to stick our backside right out nor force our tail bone under. Instead we have to aim for a constant delicate balance of the middle way between the two extremes. Over time as your mobility improves the amount you lean will probably lessen naturally. Gradually keep sitting down and see how low you can go.

As you sit down relax your hips and with your knees soft try to keep your feet flat on the ground i.e. don’t lift your heels. Find out if you can also relax your feet. Ensure that your knees track the line of your feet; many of us will find that our knees want to collapse inwards and this is usually due to restrictions in the hips. You can use your elbows to push the knees out, holding your hands together for support. Keep working on it and slowly but surely things will improve. Again, it is just natural if you feel certain parts of your body are restricted and uncomfortable. For example, it is very common to sense that your calves and hip flexors are  tight. All these observations offer an excellent starting point for great improvement.

If you can only go down a little way without lifting your heels and/or knees collapsing inwards, perhaps you can just comfortably manage a half-squat, then try holding onto something fairly solid (e.g. the kitchen sink, a radiator etc) for support. If you try it a few times in succession, a few times every day then you should find that slowly but surely your comfortable range of movement will improve until you can sit all the way down into your heels so that your backside is almost on the floor. This may take some time. Just be patient and persevere and you’ll get there. I have students well into their 80s who can squat really well and are in great condition through training.

Lots of us will find this exercise quite a challenge and perhaps not want to do it because of this. If you find it difficult because your knees roll in or your legs struggle to support your torso for example, then this is more of an indication of the current state of your body than anything else and highlights even more of an incentive to practise and improve. It is best not to judge before experience so just relax and keep trying it out every now and again. A good tip is to hold onto something for support as you go, the edge of the kitchen sink for example. Almost everyone, if they pay attention and persevere, will be able to glean lots of benefit from regular practise. So instead of slumping into your favourite armchair, try squatting for a bit instead. If you are fairly happy squatting anyway, experiment and see if you can watch your favourite TV show whilst maintaining this position. Often I eat my meals squatting in the garden and it is very satisfying. When I slowly get up again I feel my hips and spine are more fluidly mobile and more alive than before. Happy squatting!