I want to set a scene for you:
You have guests over for dinner and you have limited seating. Its a family gathering so there is an assortment of children ranging in age from 2-11,
A thought that never really comes up is to set up a blanket and have kids eat on the floor.
They're kids!!! They can sit on the ground...
Well, what if I told you that we should throw out proper etiquette and have everyone sit on the floor!!!
And not just for meals but, we should try to do a lot more on the floor.
I want you to hang with me for just a few minutes...
Humans have been around for millions of years and for a good majority of the time sitting on the ground was pretty common. More than that, getting up from sitting on the ground was a birthright. It turns out sitting on the ground is still important.
A recent study demonstrated that an excellent predictor of your overall mortality was the ease in which you can get up from a seated position without using your arms.
The image here illustrates how to perform this task... take a second and see how you fare.
No, seriously I want you to try it right now.
How was that?
Since when did getting up off the ground become a marker of health and longevity?
It all started with the chair. Believe it or not, the chair is a pretty recent invention that began to shape our modern behavior. What we have come to understand about modern human physiology is that it’s “use it or lose it.” When it comes to being on the floor comfortably, it is a clear issue of losing it.
Think about how much time we spend on the ground learning to overcome gravity as babies and children.
Our entire physical structures relate to managing to get up and down off the ground.
Children 12-19 months have been well documented getting up off of the ground over 100 times a day!
If you aren’t sitting on the ground yet, the best place to start is…to sit on the floor. You’ll probably find that in the evening after dinner is the easiest time to do a little ground sitting.