Sentences that start with the phrase “A guru once told me…” are, more often than not, eye-roll-inducing. But recently, while resting in malasana, or a deep squat, in an East London yoga class, I was struck by the second half of the instructor’s sentence: “A guru once told me that the problem with the West is they don’t squat.”
Whenever I read a statement like this, my BS detector fires up.
I did a bit of judo and they made us get up without support. At first it was very difficult but after a bit it was pretty easy. I encourage you to try it, it’s a good skill to have. (besides adding 3 years on your life, allegedly?)
Anecdotes are about as reliable as gurus, but anecdotally I find that there’s bad squatting and good squatting. e.g. keeping knees and feet pointed out as in Sumo, is much easier on my knees than keeping knees and feet pointed forward as in Shotokan.
TaeKwonDo as a kid is why I still have that sort of stretching abilities in my forties. Even my kids can’t stretch like I can, which is funny because they have been doing more judo at this point than I did TaeKwonDo!
I’ve always assumed that I’m flexible in my 40s because of swimming in HS and college. Now I wonder if it has more to do with the tumbling classes my mother forced us to take until we were 5
The secret to extending your flexibility for getting up and down as a lazy person is a low platform western bed or a Japanese bed. It makes getting up and down a part of your routine.
Also overall for foot flexibility and knees health barefoot walking and barefoot shoes make a huge difference. I use a treadmill barefoot a few times a week, and barefoot shoes when I can.