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Six Tips for Springtime Gardening

Esther Gokhale
April, 2015
Spring brings renewal. All around us the earth is alive with the sounds and smells of new life. As the weather grows more inviting, your yard and garden may be calling. For many people, gardening and outdoor work are favorite pastimes, yet the fear of back pain can be inhibiting. Let the Gokhale Method help you to thrive alongside your plants! When planting flowers and digging in the dirt, use hip hinging to save your knees and lower back. Maintain your spinal shape as you bend from the hips. Take a wider stance to reach the ground more easily. When you feel your hamstrings pulling, bend your knees to keep from tucking. Check to see that your knees track over your feet and that your shoulders remain back for good blood flow to your arms and hands. Try resting one elbow or forearm on your thigh as the other hand performs your gardening tasks to reduce the demand on the muscles in your back. Read more
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anteverted pelvis
Gardening
b squat
hiphinging
hip-hinge
inner corset
Glidewalking

The Posture-Power Connection

Gokhale Method teachers facilitate their students’ self-empowerment
Esther Gokhale
March, 2015
There are few things as disempowering as a broken back. By "broken back" I mean to include painfully herniated disks, significant stenosis, as well as severe muscle tension and other less sustained spinal phenomena that constitute "non-specifc back pain" - and nonetheless hurt like heck. I remember this state clearly, and have some journal entries to fill gaps in my memory - "...maybe I'm paying too much attention to my back. Maybe it's in my head..." 28 years ago, I felt like a broken straw. Read more
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teachers
teaching
Gokhale Method teachers
teacher training

Better Posture, Better Sleep

Taking a healthful mid-day nap - it can happen any place at any time if you are able to improvise. Burkina Faso.
Esther Gokhale
February, 2015
I’ve had lying on my mind lately. I mean flat out, horizontal, no holds barred, delicious, snooze-inducing lying down. It’s not talked about much in the debate whether we should sit, stand, or treadmill our way to better lives. But I say, hey, lying is where it’s at when you are tired, when you need a break, when you need a rest. My son Nathan knows this quite well. When he Skypes with us, he is usually in his bed, covers pulled up high, computer set on the covers. He works lying, surfs lying, thinks about algorithms lying down. Read more
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laying down
comfortable sleep
sleep
nap
napping
stretchlying

Fredrik's Journey to a Pain-Free Back

Fredrik Prost, traditional Sami handicraftsman
Esther Gokhale
January, 2015
Fredrik Prost’s journey in posture is a poignant one. Restoring one’s natural architecture is a return home for anyone - a return to one’s personal past, ancestral past, and genetic past. For Fredrik, it’s additionally a return to his living Sami relatives and those alive in his memory. The Sami are an indigenous group of reindeer herders living in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Fredrik is a traditional Sami handicraftsman working with reindeer antler, metal, and wood. Being of a younger generation and between a traditional lifestyle and a modern one, his working posture included hunching over his work. As a result he had developed upper back pain for which conservative treatment failed to give him relief. He discovered my book, and the pictures and philosophy resonated for him - I was describing things he had seen with his own eyes. Read more
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Sami
Fredrik
primal posture

Put Your Best Self Forward

Melissa White, second violinist in the Harlem String Quartet, uses tallstanding while performing on the national public radio program, "From the Top".
Esther Gokhale
December, 2014
Do you have an important event coming up? Appearing calm and collected can be challenging at such times, especially if we are feeling anxious or nervous. Let the Gokhale Method help you glide into your next presentation, interview, or social gathering with ease and confidence. Recent studies show that maintaining an elongated spine with your shoulders rolled back allows more testosterone to flow through your body, which might be just the boost you need to not only appear, but also feel and be unfettered and focused. Read more
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breathing
deep breathing
tread lightly
stand tall
self confidence
self esteem

Posture Tips to "Stand" a Holiday Party

On the left, Brian has parked his pelvis forward, which places excessive pressure on the delicate structures in the front of his feet--over time, this may result in bunions or other foot conditions. On the right, his pelvis is properly positioned posteriorly and his spine stacks well over his heels.
Esther Gokhale
November, 2014
The holiday season has arrived, and with it, the formidable holiday party. If, like most people, your back starts aching after an hour (or less!) at the hors d'ouevres table, consider this advice for your next yuletide function: 1. Put your weight over your heels. When we balance the weight of our bodies towards our toes, it can disturb the alignment of our weight-bearing joints. The dense and sturdy heel bone is much better equipped to bear weight than the delicate bones of the forefoot. Read more
Tags: 
tucked pelvic
bunions
soft knees
shoulder roll
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