Seiza training - use of bands to keep heels together ok?

For the past 20 days or so, I've been using my 20 minute daily meditation session as an opportunity to practice sitting in seiza, with mixed results. Seems I've not been putting my feet in a similar position ever, so I'm extremely stiff and realise this is probably going to be a six to twelve month effort before I start seeing any real progress.

I've been sitting down using a pillow to offload a bit of my bodyweight from the ankles. But after starting the front split series, I noticed the insistence in the videos that heels also be kept together.  Turns out this is something I've definitely not been doing thus far. And trying to keep the heels together by myself would have me barely sitting in Seiza at all, the moment I put any weight on the ankles the heels would slowly start to separate.

So today, I tried using an elastic band to force my heels together, and I managed to sit for 20 minutes with heels together, in what felt like a relatively correct position. I attach a couple of photos of how it looked post meditation, i.e. 20 minutes in. (Apologies for the dirty feet and floor!)

So finally to my question: Is it acceptable using rubber bands like this to practice the position? Is it cheating, or bad for form/technique? Does it negate part of muscle training and conditioning?

Your input is appreciated.

That's fine. I also think it's a good idea to put a folded blanket under the shins to take up some of the air gap as I think it helps get the stretch more in the ankle rather than fore foot.

45 minutes ago, Cole Dano said:

it's a good idea to put a folded blanket under the shins to take up some of the air gap as I think it helps get the stretch more in the ankle rather than fore foot.

The stretch is supposed to be in the ankle?!  I'm only feeling it in the fore foot. So once you eliminate the air gap it sorts this out?

Is it the ankle that's preventing the fore foot to touch the ground?

thanks Cole!

Yes and in your situation the forefoot gets a disproportionate part of the load, so getting that bit of height under the shins can help take the overload out and allow you to concentrate on the ankle.

Now once the air gap is reasonably small, things change since the forefoot is now longer getting the same stretch, which is why the knees lifted version is done. 

On 2 July 2016 at 10:50 AM, Daniel Lehnberg said:

For the past 20 days or so, I've been using my 20 minute daily meditation session as an opportunity to practice sitting in seiza, with mixed results. Seems I've not been putting my feet in a similar position ever, so I'm extremely stiff and realise this is probably going to be a six to twelve month effort before I start seeing any real progress.

I've been sitting down using a pillow to offload a bit of my bodyweight from the ankles. But after starting the front split series, I noticed the insistence in the videos that heels also be kept together.  Turns out this is something I've definitely not been doing thus far. And trying to keep the heels together by myself would have me barely sitting in Seiza at all, the moment I put any weight on the ankles the heels would slowly start to separate.

So today, I tried using an elastic band to force my heels together, and I managed to sit for 20 minutes with heels together, in what felt like a relatively correct position. I attach a couple of photos of how it looked post meditation, i.e. 20 minutes in. (Apologies for the dirty feet and floor!)

So finally to my question: Is it acceptable using rubber bands like this to practice the position? Is it cheating, or bad for form/technique? Does it negate part of muscle training and conditioning?

Your input is appreciated.

Great idea Daniel. I have a similar issue. Did it properly for the first time this week and found I had to keep shifting about to take weight off my feet when they kept trying to spread. I'll give these ideas a go

Update a week later, and I have some questions that would be great to get your input on @Cole Dano:

1. Was it something like this that you meant by placing a folded blanket under the shin? Does it look ok?
2. I can sit quite comfortably without a pillow like this, however, my heels separate slightly. Is the space between them ok? Or is it better to prop up with a pillow and focus on keeping the heels closer together and only later remove the pillow?
3. I'm feeling it a lot in my thighs, and also in my knees, feels like muscles are being "pulled". The feeling in the knees is like stretching, but it's also not a sharp pain either, just feels like pressure is being put on them. Is this healthy/safe, and normal? Or something I should be worried about.

After each 20 minute sitting, I'm carefully rocking back and forth to loosen everything up again, and sit in curled seiza for a while. Just want to be sure I'm not doing damage here and that I got a proper technique.

Thanks for your help!

Hey Daniel -

Yes that is exactly the idea. I think I*d keep the pillow, but maybe substitute another folded blanket, the reason being that then you can gradually fold the blanket less and less until you don't need it any longer.

The problem I see without the blanket it that your left foot is distorting too much and the stretch is going into the wrong place. Good alignment is important here.

The idea is to get in a position that will really let you put the pressure on the ankles so the can begin to open, so taking out some of the forefoot and some of the quads will allow you to focus on the key point of this particular stretch. 

Of course you will also need to keep working those quads, and that gets hit nicely later in the series.