I’m starting to work on being able to rest in a “Third World Squat”, “Asian Squat”, “heels down squat”, “bodyweight squat”, “flat-footed squat”, “Cowboy Squat”, “Indian (“Injun”) Squat”, “Eastern Squat” or “Primal Squat” (it has other, even more politically incorrect names). And yeah, all those names are a real problem. We live in an age that is pretty much dominated by key-word searches, and if you have twenty-five names for something it becomes very awkward to collect information about it.
This is one of those “explaining water to a fish” things. We live in a world of chairs, stools and benches everywhere, of relatively clean (and insect-free) flooring that we, especially children, can sit on in a pinch. We’re never conscious of that fact because these things are never absent.
Until they are absent.
When I was backpacking for many years I usually carried an insulating, waterproof closed-cell foam pad to sit on, a cut-off piece of sleeping pad once affectionately known to backpackers as a “sit-upon” (better known these days as an “ass pad”), not so much for softness but to keep from very quickly losing body heat through my butt to the cold, damp ground (or sometimes hard, frozen ground or rocks), or the reverse, frying delicate parts of my anatomy on the sun-blasted oven-hot ground). It worked, and while I was glad to have it many times, it was a nuisance to keep track of and, more importantly, that silly foam seat always felt somehow wrong in the wilderness, as though I had brought a piece of a Barco-Lounger with me as a crutch.
After a trauma about a year and a half ago, while I was weakened, my injuries combined with a lifelong tendency toward an anterior pelvic tilt really asserted itself, and I had trouble standing up straight for the first time in my life. I found I was walking sort of stooped. I’m much better now, but the tendency comes from lifelong sitting, always in chairs, never folding the body further, so that the lower back never curves forward, the pelvis never tilts back.
Toddlers do the flat-footed squat without being taught, all of the apes do it, and most of the people in the world do it constantly from infancy and into very old age, never losing the flexibility. Even many countries that are starting to use chairs everywhere like we do still use squat toilets that require being able to do it at least daily. It seems obvious (like many things, IF you think about it) that it’s natural for our species to be able to rest in this position, but in the First World we lose the ability entirely early in life. We have to work hard to regain the flexibility, so we rarely even try to do it at all, and the full-down position that we see in toddlers, apes and the third world with shins and spine close to vertical comes to look entirely alien to us, as though their bodies must somehow be fundamentally different from ours in order to assume that position.
Put another way- how enabled, how independent and self-sufficient can you possibly be if you cannot get into a comfortable resting position short of lying down without the aid of a wooden or steel framework that is designed and built specifically for that purpose? We are handicapping ourselves with what has become an actual medical dependence on chairs and sofas. It’s just as though we had become dependent on any other medical appliance, or spent a lifetime choosing to use a wheelchair rather than walk even though our body was fine.
We once were able to “sit” and relax anywhere without props, without mechanical aid, without appliances that should be necessary only for the disabled, and without putting our rears or crotches on the ground (which is generally a bad idea in wild places for a few reasons). We could stop and relax anywhere balanced on our own footprints, and not end up walking around with muddy or wet rear ends.
We should be able to do this still.
I’m starting to consider this as a potential survival issue. Not just to conserve body heat (which gets sucked out of your body through your rear if you sit on anything cold and/or damp- remember that hypothermia is the leading killer in the outdoors) and avoid insects… there are actually far fewer relatively clean things I’d care to sit on available in the city than in the woods (at least without paying for the privilege). It seems that, if the skill can be mastered, it may have several unforeseen applications- like being able to easily work with things at ground level (especially fire and cooking), or to comfortably crouch unseen in the underbrush, still able to move quickly (RUN!) if required.
Actually, this also relates to my preference for sling packs. Once you’re comfortable with this as a resting position (okay, easier said than done) you can swing the sling pack around front, squat in place, and in addition to giving you access to the contents of the pack while you’re down there (without taking it off) the weight hanging in front helps to counter-balance you in the slot, unless it interferes with your knees. There’s a reason exercise squats are done with the arms extended out front, the trick in relaxing is not tipping over backward, so any weight in front that doesn’t interfere with folding your body and legs helps you relax.
At the very least I might be able to comfortably peruse and even skim selections off the lower shelves in bookstores without sitting on the floor.
This is all very recent thought for me, just the past couple of days, and frankly with my not-exactly-teenage body it remains to be seen whether I can make any progress, but from just a little experimentation my lower back and hips seem to feel better, like some tension I wasn’t even aware of is starting to go away..
— Robert the Wombat
UPDATE: It’s been almost a year now, and while I haven’t diligently worked at this, I have made progress. I can squat pretty comfortably with both feet flat for some time if I have even just a little heel-rise in my shoes… if not, I still end up keeping one heel or the other just slightly raised, maybe a quarter of an inch, but that’s almost gone now. I have been able to achieve this position for some time, but my real progress has been mostly in being able to relax in it. I used to have a LOT of muscle tension in full squat, making it quickly uncomfortable. Now I get down there and in the next few seconds muscles seem to reposition themselves according to their own long-lost memories to make it easier and more comfortable. In running shoes or others with just a little heel rise I can relax in the position for ten or fifteen minutes with no problem.
I’ve gotten used to doing some routine tasks at floor level this way, like scooping the cats’ litter boxes. I don’t often remember, but when I do it the ancient exercise of “touch your toes” (both hands to both feet standing, with the knees locked) seems to make squatting easier as well, and is itself something you can relax into.
Tip: For a long time I over-emphasized the role of ankle-joint flexibility, and under-emphasized the role of hip flexibility, and at least in the stages of initially getting comfortable in the position (for longer and longer periods) that’s mostly about being able to spread the knees apart while you’re down there… so work on that too, I think you’ll find it pays off.
I’m not a young man any more. If I can do it at all, you almost certainly can too, and probably a lot more easily.
— RtW