Cannot get the heels to meet during Seiza

Hi guys, I have been constantly on my elevated, squat and curled Seiza for quite awhile now. Can never seem to get my heels to meet each other. I do see a little progress over time and was wondering if there are any other specific exercises to help with that, as I have had knee problems and ankle sprains from the sport of basketball and of cos am not that flexible.

I have been using a strap to assist.

Can you put your heels together if you lift your but, so it's not touching your heels?

I rest a yoga block on top of my heels and then sit down on to it.

Henry Skinner said:

Can you put your heels together if you lift your but, so it's not touching your heels?

I rest a yoga block on top of my heels and then sit down on to it.

Thanks Mark. I will give it a shot.

Thank you Henry, yes I can get them together if I lift them, will do so

I'm having so much trouble with this myself.  I usually use a block to keep my glutes elevated just enough to keep my heels together.  Does anybody know what the particular area the restriction is coming from?  Intuitively I would guess that it's still stiffness in the anterior of the ankle that's making the heels want to drift apart...

@Ashe Higgs also could be "tight" quads or coming from internal femoral/tibial torsion, ankle restriction (limited ankle eversion with plantar flexion), rigid first metatarsal...

Have the same issue.  Strap assist worked great.  Thanks for the suggestion!

I've been having this too, and was about to post a question about it. I can get my ankles together, but only if I use my quads to pull my legs together. But then my legs are too tight at the top and I don't get the full stretch on my ankles.

By "strap assist", you mean "tie your ankles together"?

5 hours ago, Samin Ishtiaq said:

I've been having this too, and was about to post a question about it. I can get my ankles together, but only if I use my quads to pull my legs together. But then my legs are too tight at the top and I don't get the full stretch on my ankles.

By "strap assist", you mean "tie your ankles together"?

Yes, tie your ankles together. I use a yoga block to keep my ankles touching then I rest a yoga block on top of my ankles anx rest my glutes atop it. As my quads, ankles and calves loosen up i'll lower the block to the point where it's not needed AND then even further along, I'll remove the yoga strap and only use my legs (as the models do in the video, sigh...)

You can also use a single ankle work, simply do a single leg seiza but before moving the butt on heel try to roll the heel inward a bit then use the hand on the heel to press the instep on the floor.

I am having trouble with this, too. My ankles go together fine and I can sit down on them fine but if I twist my ankles so that the sides of my heels actually meet, it feels very awkward and wrong. Are the actual heels (not just the ankles) really supposed to be together during the whole exercise?

Try doing it on a folded blanket, with your shins and ankle on the blanket and your feet off. Make the blanket(s) high enough so you can just get the heels together.

Just did my FSS today, and...

If you can't get butt to heels with heels together, is there any point in differentiating between squatted seiza and elevated seiza?

In other words should we just do two sets of seiza until we can get butt to heels, heels together comfortably and THEN progress to the seiza variations?

I think that would be a good approach.

Keep in mind elevated, is more directed at the ankle and squatted at the forefoot (though obviously both are stretched in both) so any tweaks between the two should be aimed in that direction.

1 hour ago, Cole Dano said:

I think that would be a good approach.

Keep in mind elevated, is more directed at the ankle and squatted at the forefoot (though obviously both are stretched in both) so any tweaks between the two should be aimed in that direction.

just my experience, but at my level, since I can't get butt to heels, heels together, by the time I elevate myself to where I can keep my heels together, I don't notice any difference in the stretch (though I am making noticeable progress in getting closer) so it seems like a reasonable way to scale.

That's fairly typical, use the variation that lets you 

- get heels closest together

- puts the most downward pressure at the ankle

3 hours ago, Cole Dano said:

That's fairly typical, use the variation that lets you 

- get heels closest together

- puts the most downward pressure at the ankle

Is it OK to use a strap to bring the feet together?  

yes