2024-01-10

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The adult class was well-attended tonight, so we took a picture. Is that a scary looking bunch of miscreants or what? 😉 Notice how the students on the right side of the picture don’t appear to be sitting nearly as comfortably as those to my left? We talked about that after class (while sitting in seiza of course). 😈

Sitting seiza (正座) is one of the bits of Japanese culture we frequently see in martial arts classes. Seiza translates as “correct sitting” and, has been the “polite” way of sitting on the floor in Japan since the beginning of the Edo period. It’s used less frequently in modern Japan than in previous generations, but it’s still seen when the situation calls for sitting on the floor “politely.”

But there’s more: It’s also an effective hip and ankle stretch. Since karate requires good hip and ankle flexibility, sitting seiza is a “two-fer” - an effective hip/ankle stretch that incorporates a bit of Japanese culture. In my classes, we sit seiza at the beginning and end of class. Then, while stretching, we alternate between sitting seiza and sitting kiza while doing other stretches … that’s it.

Yes, sitting seiza is bad for your knees, but sitting in chairs is bad for your back. At the end of the day, it’s all about balance. If a student has a genuine health concern that makes sitting seiza harmful, they’re excused, and we try to find something different to achieve the same result.

To be fair, sitting seiza for extended periods is uncomfortable, but what constitutes an “extended period” is a question of experience. I can’t sit seiza for hours, but I can get through most situations where it’s expected of me.