Kneeling With No Problem

If you watch little kids play, you’ll notice: A. they love being on the ground and B. they are very comfortable kneeling. Somewhere along the road to adulthood, our love of sans furniture, and our ease in kneeling, goes by the wayside. 

Perhaps you think this is just a natural trajectory, and we simply get taller and tighter with each passing year, so by the time we’re twenty-something, kneeling hurts. I’d like to state for the record that, unless there is a legitimate injury or ailment, this is hogwash. 

Kneeling hurts because we don’t do it enough. Use it or lose it, folks! When it comes to kneeling, two areas need to stay sufficiently limber and tension-free, the knees and the ankles. 

Many millions of people kneel everyday for prayer. It is perfectly commonplace to see 90year olds kneeling for 15minutes or more – proof age is no excuse. Most of these people also go barefoot often as most shoes “dump” our weight forward, causing tension in the front body. They also have a floor culture. (*We can go barefoot often, and create a floor culture for ourselves, too!)

Put kneeling into your daily repertoire. Build it into your life. If you are unable to fully kneel now, start by doing a high kneeling position, where your shins are on the floor but your femur bones remaining vertical. This will gently stretch the ankle area. Then incrementally, bring the hips towards the feet. Once the hips make contact with the feet, the question becomes: how long can you sustain it? 10seconds is a good start. Try working up to a 3minute hold. 

Why should we care? Why make kneeling a goal? 1. because we want the biggest comfort zone possible for ourselves. 2. because it aids in circulation. 3. because it helps our ankles and knees be less vulnerable to injury. 4. because it strengthens the arches of our feet. 5. because the body is designed to do it.

While it may seem insignificant when there are sofas and chairs everywhere we go (seemingly), trust me when I tell you, kneeling does a body good. Let’s not opt out. It might take years, but with regular practice, there will come a day when you return to the way you were as a child – kneeling with no problem! 🤗