Do you like sitting on the floor to eat? Oh, wait! Have you ever experienced that meal? The above might sound absurd to some of you but earlier people did use to sit on the floor. It is not more than a decade ago when people preferred the floor. But with the passing time, people made various modifications to the lifestyle as a whole and created much more comfortable places to sit on.
Now it has become a habit and a sense of aristocracy to have a luxurious couch in every family’s living room. People go for the most expensive and the trendiest set of the couch in the store. You are probably sitting on one such right now.
With all such advancements, it is pretty natural for this generation to relax on sofas, beds, and chairs than on the floor. But to your surprise, the concept of “Old is Gold” fits well here. The ancient technique of sitting on the ground retains numerous benefits.
In some cultures, sitting on the floor is a tradition. Even in many religious places, you pray and perform the rituals on the floor. This is done because it is believed by the forefathers that sitting on the floor has undeniable and myriads benefits.
Benefits Of Sitting On The Floor
There are benefits of sitting on the floor which you will hardly find in any other way. Doing so will increase your potential in many forms.
1. Improves your Flexibility
Sitting on the floor helps in stretching several body muscles. The body doesn’t automatically stretch while you sit, it stretches when you bow down to sit or when you stand up from your sitting position. This is an instant technique for your stretching your muscles.
2. Natural Stability
Sitting on the floor does not provide you with any support on your back. Hence, your inner stability increases and makes your backbone strong.
3. Relaxed Hips
When you sit on a chair, the complete pressure of your upper body rests on your hips which ultimately causes your hips to suffer. Contrary to this, when you sit on the floor, the tension and the weight of your body gets equally distributed to the hips and your thighs. As a result, your hips will be a lot less sour if you sit on the floor for a long time as compared to sitting on a chair.
4. Boosts Activeness
As you sit or stand up, you stretch some important and unnoticed parts of your body. This eventually will increase your metabolism and it will lead to boost your energy level. You will feel energized and relaxed. Your mobility level will increase gradually.
Side Effects Of Sitting On The Floor
You must have heard your elders say, sitting too much is not good for your health. Yes, this is true. Every coin has two faces. Similarly, along with benefits, sitting on the floor has side effects too. Some of the side effects of sitting on the floor are as follows:
1. Unpleasant Postures
Even if you have an immense amount of natural stability, sitting on the floor for a longer period of time is capable enough to fetch you an unpleasant posture. Your spinal cord will not hold your body up straight that long.
2. Reduced blood circulation
While you sit on the floor, your lower part of the body is most stressed and hence results in reducing blood circulation. The weight of your entire body rests upon your hips till your toes. That is why sometimes, you don’t feel your legs and can’t move them easily. It takes a few minutes to get back to normal. Although, it is not hazardous to your health yet blockage in blood circulation is not a good practice.
3. Additional stress on joints
If you are suffering from any sort of joint pain, avoid sitting on the floor. It imposes extra pressure on the joints. Sitting on the floor will create more damage than benefits.
4. Issues with hips, knees, or ankles
People having any kind of issues especially with their hips, knees, or ankles, should not prefer sitting on the floor. Doing so would overstress your joints.
5. Difficulty in sitting or standing back up
This issue is quite common. If you are one of the people who have difficulty sitting down or standing back up, please avoid sitting on the floor. Get yourself a comfortable chair and sit on it in a relaxed manner.
Sitting Position On The Floor
There are several sitting positions on the floor. You can give a try to all of the following postures and then pick the one you like the most or the one with which you are the most comfortable.
1. Cross-Legged
Cross-legged is one of the most common postures of sitting on the floor. To sit on this position, all you have to do is
- Sit straight directly on the floor with your entire body weight on your hips.
- Slightly slant backwards and bend your knees.
- Overlap your legs folding them inwards and then placing one leg over the other.
- Then come back to the straight position and distribute the entire weight of your body evenly on the hips, thighs, and legs.
Cross-LeggedThere are huge benefits of sitting cross-legged. Try the posture as directed above and observe for yourself how you feel.
2. Kneel
Kneeling is common too. Kneeling imposes the weight directly on the knees. Therefore, to get a buffer for your knees, kneel on a mat or a thin cushion. Following are the steps to kneel
- Stand straight.
- Take one leg behind and keep the body’s weight on the front leg.
- Bend both the knees simultaneously.
- Place the back knee on the floor and shift the weight to it.
- Then take the front knee and place it together with the other knee.
- Keep your ankles flexed.
- If you wish, place your hip over your ankle to reduce the weight on the knees.
Kneel3. Bent Sit Position
The correct way to try this position is
- Sit on your hip
- Bend your knees
- Keep your knees apart
- Keep your back straight
Bent Sit Position4. Side Bent Sit Position
This posture is very much similar to the bent sit position. The only difference here is that you are required to bend towards the side. Keep the weight in the centre. If required, you can make use of your hands as a support.
Side Bent Sit Position5. Long Sit Position
A long sit position is a yoga position. For this follow the below-mentioned steps
- Sit on your hip.
- Keep your legs straight in front of you.
- You can flex or roll your ankle in this position.
- Sit straight with your weight on your hip.
- You can also keep your legs wide open. Simply keep your legs apart from one another.
Long Sit Position6. Squatting Position
To squat in the correct manner is essential, follow the steps mentioned below
- Stand straight
- Take your hips and feet apart
- Slowly lower your hips, just above the ground or floor
- Keep your chest and shoulder straight
- You can also slightly tilt forward for a more comfortable position.
Squatting PositionThese are some of the many positions of sitting on the ground. The recent lifestyle being a sedentary one, people should go for a healthy sitting position and from our part, by providing sufficient knowledge of the benefits of sitting on the floor we urge others to try and experience those benefits. So now it is your turn. Let others know what you have learned.
Also Read: How Can Sitting Too Much Can Affect Your Health
