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In my experience it is simply a traditional and formal way of sitting at floor level. Other than the social aspects of it (everyone is considered to be of equal height when sitting in seiza) it has no special benefits - although it should be noted that it is a position that is both stable when seated and easy to rise from while keeping your balance ...

From my experience, sitting in seiza confers a couple of advantages in other, related, areas. First, I don't know if you have to do this, but when people from the dojo I train at go to test, we end up sitting in seiza for long periods (~30 mins per period). It is seen as disrespectful (though not uncommon) to not sit in seiza, so practicing is a good idea ...

To talk about seiza we need to look on this from the historical and cultural point of view. Seiza was used and is still used by oriental people as a form of sitting as we use chairs. Why that position was chosen well we would have to dig deep in to the tradition. The main thing is that this is just a form of sitting. The traditional martial arts are using ...

I agree with almost everyone so far, except for the one that affirms that it is purely etiquette and nothing more. Almost everything above is true, except that one thing was ignored. A very important aspect of Aikido, inherited from, amongst others, Shinto is Mokuso. Mokuso is the initial 'meditation' before and after each training session. Although the ...

No, sitting in seiza is just etiquette and nothing more. It has no other practical value whatsoever. If you have not been practising since you were a child, you will always find it painful and difficult for long period of time. The only tiny benefit is that your legs are out of the way in case some falls towards you. If you practices suwariwaza, then you ...