Nature’s Sitting Posture

Chairs are not part of human biology. They’re a relatively recent invention — a few hundred years old in widespread use, and even more recent in the sense of sitting in them all day.

For thousands of years before chairs, humans sat in the deep squat. Meals, conversations, ceremonies, births, and deaths all happened in this position. Children grew up squatting naturally.

The modern world removed the deep squat from daily life. And with it, we lost mobility in the hips, ankles, and knees that our ancestors had without trying.