Heels together during siezas

Hi All, I'm 4 sessions/ 4 weeks into my work on the front split/hamstring stretch series and really enjoying it.

During my sieza stretches, particularly the squatted sieza, i'm finding it difficult to keep me heels together. I'm certain that letting them drift outward is shifting the stretch away from the tissues we want to emphasize. On the other hand when I actively try to keep the heels together it seems that his tightens up the whole ankle area and decreases the stretch effect too.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Are there any additional cues anyone found helpful? 

Is there any equipment / apparatus beyond a block anyone found helpful? 

Is this "normal" for a beginner and something that will address itself as the tissues respond to the program as it''s layed out?

Thanks much. 

Hi Ian,

This question has come up quite a bit, please have a browse through some of the relevant threads in the course forum

Keep the ankles together. If that means you can't get into quite the same ROM as you did, well, that's what you're stretching right?

Some people use a band to simplify this completely normal process

Right there with you Ian. I was just looking for an answer to the same question you posed. I just started today and noticed the same thing. As I sit back on my legs my heels separate over a fist wide.

The most important thing is to keep the ankles inline with the calf. What you don't want is the ankles dumping out to the side. 

Ian and Richard definitely post a video for us Coaches to take a better look at your form. 

For me this position is more of an exercise than just a stretch. It takes a ton of effort/work for me to muscle my heels together. I have no hope --for a while ---of moving on to the more involved positions of seiza! I just sit in regular (but difficult for me) seiza for all the the seiza progressions in the stretch session. Hope this is a good plan for now til my legs and ankles gets more stretched out. 

For me the first seiza (elevated, right ?) is the one that is the most difficult to keep heels together in.. (i am pulling strongly on a strap looped around my lower ankles the whole time).. the other seizas don't have the same degree of difficulty that way.. and i found that i can brace my heels a bit between my sitz bones to help

This stretch gets better over time. Ive been doing it for almost two years and I remember when I would sweat hard just doing it! 

Keep working at it.

I had the same problem the first time. So rather than struggling with trying to push my heels together with my hands, next time I too a stretching strap and tightly wrapped my heels/ankles together…  now I can focus on relaxing into the stretch and make it better. Works great. 

Here's another thread on the topic with some additional helpful advice from some moderators and coaches: