The Lost Human Posture:
Why the Deep Squat Matters for Healthy Aging (Part 1)

In much of Asia, the deep squat is an ordinary resting posture. People wait for trains, chat with friends, play cards, stretch their backs, or work close to the ground with their feet fully planted and torso upright. In the United States, most people lose this natural ability by adolescence. Chairs, cars, and soft couches replace floor-level movement, and the body gradually adapts to sitting at ninety degrees. We assume this loss happens because of aging. In reality, it begins decades earlier through disuse.

Children can almost always settle into a comfortable flat-footed squat. By high school, many cannot do it without falling backward or lifting the heels. The change is subtle: tight ankles from supportive shoes, shortened hip flexors from sitting, weakened foot muscles, and a sense of balance trained to function only at chair height. This decline rarely reverses on its own. Movement we do not use slowly fades, and by the time people reach their fifties or seventies, the limitation feels like nature rather than habit.

For older Americans, restoring this posture is not about athletic performance. It is a path back toward natural movement patterns that support independence. Rising from a low position, gardening, playing with grandchildren, or picking up something heavy from the floor all depend on coordinated ankles, hips, knees, and spine. A deep squat trains the entire chain of movement at once rather than isolating muscles. It invites the body to move the way it was designed to move, not the way furniture encourages it to move.

The benefits go beyond mobility. The squat lengthens the spine and opens the hips instead of compressing them. With the torso upright and the hips folded naturally, breathing often shifts downward and becomes calmer. In many Asian cultures, it is also linked to digestion because the pelvic floor relaxes more fully and the colon aligns more naturally in this position. None of this requires perfect depth. Even partial squatting begins restoring lost range.

For readers of Taijiquan and Qigong, the posture reflects familiar principles. The feet rest flat on the ground rather than balancing on tense toes. The spine stays long without stiffening. The body relaxes downward, with weight supported through the center of the foot. The Chinese term "song" (鬆) describes this quality well. It is not collapsed, nor forced stretching. It is a release of unnecessary tension that allows the structure to support itself.

Many Western practitioners assume their daily activities keep them mobile. Yet someone might discover, perhaps as early as age forty or later at age sixty, that they can no longer reach the floor comfortably without bracing the back or rising with help. The surprise can be a healthy wake-up call. The squat shows us not how old we are, but how much natural movement we have preserved.

This is not about recreating the exact position of villagers resting beside a rice field in China. It is about reclaiming a human posture that connects us to the ground and keeps us confident moving through life. Depth is not the goal. Function is. The journey toward that function begins wherever the body is today.

Part 2 will explore practical ways to restore the deep squat safely, especially for older adults or those with past injuries. See Part 2 here.