Seiza - ouch!

[Chopstix]

The top parts of both of my feet (the part touching the floor) and my ankles hurt while doing seiza. Is that common? Am I doing it wrong? FYI, my calves are quite muscular. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated. Arigato!

[Chopstix]

Oh I'd like to add that the pain is so much more noticeable than before (when I was doing aikido) because there are no tatami mats in kendo dojo. :(

[Chopstix]

I've read the other threads on painful seiza - but mine seems unique.

[JSchmidt]

Same I had when I started..your ankles/feet will adapt and the pain will go away (in time)

[Khabbi]

well there are some steps to take

ask your sensei in aikido and kendo if your sitting in seiza right , the feet should be under your cabooz , like a V , tuching , not crossing ,

after that its just practice , do it at home , front of the tv , use pillows or somthing

and if it still hurts like a mother , you could ask if you could sit in a difrent position , some sit in the lotus position because they cant sitt in seiza

Ask your sensei =)

[Neil Gendzwill]

Butch up, you're not unique.

[Dan Shea]

Butch up, you're not unique.
Neil, you're reminding me of the gunny.

"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake ladies!!!"

:)

I'll second his notion. Sit in seiza at home, at work, whenever the chance presents itself and it time you will be able to sit in seiza all day long.

[tango]

yup. i'll reiterate... it's bad at first, but you can get accustomed to it..

there are some times when it still gets painful for me.. i just sit there til my whole lower body goes numb.. then, when it gets time to stand up, i might have to fall over to the side and then straighten out my legs and THEN try to stand up.. (usually happens at the end of class).. haha.

[Chopstix]

Thanks fellas for your comments! :)

[Hattori Hanzo]

You know also what I have found it is -How- you sit down to if you go on both knees and then come back....it hurts more...instead of one knee and then the other.

[JimB]

For me I found that I had not stretched the muscles around my shins and ankles before and after gradually doing this sitting in seiza was much less painful.

[Arnold Strong]

For the last month or so, seiza was just an uncomfortable position, but on Friday, we did major warmups, which included hundreds of haya suburi. We basically stopped every 60 or so as the sensei gave instructions to those having trouble. And then continued again. After that, the seiza position hurt. I knew it hurt because of lack of oxygen running throuhg my legs, but it was awkward for me as I rested my butt about an inch off my foot(big enough gap so I had feeling in my legs, but small enough so no one would notice). I tried to empty my mind during mukuso, but that didn't work. When it came time to Rei, I was probably the fastest to have my head hit the floor and the slowest coming up. And then the announcements of the day still had to be done and at that point I was ready to fall over. When everything was done and I got up, instant relief. I gotta sit in seiza more often.

[Hattori Hanzo]

Once it was posted to practice your waza while in Seiza, it helps alot because instead of focusing on your legs you are focusing on your swing, also posted on this board as well is try watching TV in seiza.

[tweetyness]

do your knees also get stiff after sitting in seiza? i had to slowly unbend my knees after learning how to put bogu on and again after learning how to tie it up after practice.

[Deco]

When your starting in kendo seiza can be realy painfull, but it stay confortble with time. But if your felling something is wrong look at this web site, it shows with pictures the corect seiza.


http://www.mushinkankendo.com/lesson_one.html

Cheers

Deco

[aikanaro]

First it was painful, but for me it worked to relax (just so that I'm not trying to lift my weight, not "folding" or bending the back forward or backward), and center your feet, coxis and head, also it hurts much less if you don't try to keep straight by putting tension in the stomach, this tends to stiffen everything else... but most of all, be in seiza as much as you can... :) on the long run, it is a very comfortable position, even for everyday use...

[HennaSaru]

i studied Sumi-e (ink painting) in Japan for a year and we had to sit seiza fro 2-3 hours a day. every day. you get used to it. and eventually... get a callous on the top of your foot. if you sit too long your feet WILL got to sleep. be careful getting up. a kewl "obaasan" trick that my host mom taught me was to reach behind and give your big toe a tug as you stand up. quickly and kinda covertly. it'll get the blood flowing to your feet.