Hip/back issues and floor sitting

[Dailuaine]

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice on opening up my hips and sitting in a relaxed position on the floor. I'm a tight-hipped westerner currently living and studying in Nepal and have no chairs in sight. I'm sure developing a comfortable habit of sitting without chairs will be good for me if I can avoid ruining my body in the process. 

My issue is that at my current level of flexibility sitting on the floor with a good pelvic position puts just a bit too much strain on my right hip, I end up irritating the anterior of the joint and losing a bit of ROM in that side for a few days till the inflammation goes down. Relaxing the position slightly results in my lower back being in a bad position and I end up with back pain. 

So currently, being forced to sit on the floor for a few hours every day, despite sitting on a various heights of cushions and changing positions regularly, I'm juggling pain between those two places and feeling like it's counter-productive rather than helping my mobility. 

I realise there's no quick fix for these things, but I'd really like to put all training efforts into gaining some ROM and relaxation around the hips. Can anyone offer any advice on how to approach this?

[Pat (pogo69)]

It sounds like you'd have your time most well spent with Kit's "How to Sit for Meditation" program.  You'll also find plenty of hip opening goodness in "Mastering the Squat", but if you're anything like me - which is as you describe - it would be best to start at the very beginning.

I should be taking this advice, also.

 

[Kit_L]

And, in the meantime, use a cushion under your hips when you sit: anything that raises the hips will do (I have used a brick for this, on one occasion). I talk about why in the video.

Once you have worked your way through the expensive program linked to above ($2!), please report back.

[Dailuaine]

Thanks for the advice both. I've been practicing the "How to Sit for Meditation" series daily for the last week. It has certainly helped with ease during an extended sit. I think it has also help me identify my primary problem area - the inner thigh, particularly the top part towards the origin of the muscles.

Most of the stretches in the series seem like they will be valuable to me, but the one I'm particularly restricted in is the tailor pose - both in terms of pelvic tilt and being able to get the knees down. It's also the position I feel like I've made least progress in (most of these stretches I've been working on in some capacity for the last couple of years). 

Kit - you mention in the video that the primary culprit in being unable to tilt the pelvis forward into an appropriate position while sitting is the piriformis. I'd heard you say this before and just assumed that this was also the case for me. Upon more careful observation of what's going on in my body during this series I feel like it might be the inner thigh/groin area preventing me from rolling my pelvis forward. Is it possible that being particularly restricted in that area could also affect that "rolling the pelvis forward" movement?

In terms of improving the tailor pose I feel like I may need something a bit stronger for that area. Could something with more resistance be good to try here? Maybe daily horse stance work, or an "active" tailor pose with weights on the knees?

[Pat (pogo69)]

Great to hear you're making progress, @Dailuaine!

I can't help with your specific issue, but I just thought to point you towards the "cheat sheet" in the following link:

It's a concise list of pointers for each of the movements, that you can use once you're sufficiently familiar with them.

[Kit_L]

On 8/26/2017 at 3:43 AM, Dailuaine said:

Is it possible that being particularly restricted in that area could also affect that "rolling the pelvis forward" movement?

Yes, most definitely. A quick way to test this is to put your legs into the Burmese position, shown on the video, and see if you can get your knees down to, or closer to, the ground that way, when the feet are closer together (because the critical adductors are not stretched as far). If you can, then adductors are playing their part too. When you sit in the tailor pose, feel the muscles with your thumbs; most likely it will only be one. Work on this with your thumbs, rolling across it—firmly, then very firmly, and retry knee depth.

As well, when sitting, put a folded hand towel or similar under the knees: they can then settle lower down, in time. If they are suspended in space, the muscles tighten to protect.