Whether you have just discovered the Gokhale Method®, or know my book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back from front to back, I'm thrilled to share with you what’s new in the upcoming second edition, and why it’s an exciting step forward in our mission to end back pain.
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If you are suffering from back pain, the most likely reason for it is hiding in plain sight. Like most people, including your medical and complementary health professionals (!), you are just not trained to see it. The root cause of most musculoskeletal problems, whether it be lower back pain, a frozen shoulder, neck pain, plantar fasciitis, or a knee issue, can usually be detected in your posture and your resulting movement patterns.
I’ve been doing therapeutic bodywork and massage for 25 years. One of my clients, who owns the garage that services my car, had trouble with his hip—I did what I could to help. About a month later he came back, and was walking much better. I asked him what had happened—and he told me he had taken some Gokhale Method® classes. Intrigued, I ordered Esther Gokhale’s book.
Our teachers often field questions about tucking the pelvis for Tai Chi and Qigong. It is frequently perceived that Tai Chi recommends tucking the pelvis as part of a baseline stance, purportedly to facilitate “the Qi to flow unimpeded.” It’s a central tenet in Gokhale Method® philosophy that the baseline pelvic position be anteverted, and that tucking the pelvis is a “wrong turn” Western society took about a century ago (think flapper posture). So students who encounter a seemingly exactly opposite guideline or model in Tai Chi are understandably confused.
Tomorrow will be the Fourth of July, or Independence Day in the US. It is the national day when US citizens celebrate the 1776 Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Today I invite you to travel back in time with me to look at a well-known work of art that commemorates that historic event.
Esther:
Dance has been a part of my life from a very early age. Due to my Dutch mother’s love of all things Indian, I was taken for Kathak lessons at age 3(!) and then Bharata Natyam classes for many years. Later I developed a passion for various forms of South American, Caribbean, and Congolese dance. When I created the Gokhale Method 1-2-3 Move online program back in 2020, it was natural for me to weave into it the traditional dance moves I knew—plus some I discovered in the process!
In May I spent two weeks in Mumbai, on the west coast of India. To a newcomer it can be overwhelming, being a megacity of over 12 million people; I hold a deeply personal connection and affection for this place where I grew up.
I was in Mumbai on holiday, but I didn’t break my habit of over three decades of taking some candid photos and videos of what I observed around me. Nothing newsworthy or touristic—just snatches of daily life here and there. Whereas seeing healthy posture has become rare in the US, it is still an everyday encounter in India, and that has inspired me to record it and share.
Some things in life want to be “just right.”. There is a popular fairytale about the importance of this—the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The most well-known version features a young girl with golden hair who wanders into the woods and finds a house with no one home. It belongs to Papa, Mama, and Baby bear. The story goes that Goldilocks
I came upon the Gokhale Method® very much by chance. Years ago I worked with a pianist named Sheila Page who was trained in a technique which was founded by the American music teacher Dorothy Taubman. Taubman observed people with high levels of playing ability, found out what they did so well, codified it into a method and taught it. At a Taubman workshop I heard of Peter Egoscue, who had devised a therapeutic exercise program; I worked from his book when I hurt in places, and had some improvement with that. Doing further research for pain relief, I then encountered Esther Gokhale’s name. Not too long after, my son and I drove together to attend a one-day Immersion course Esther was teaching in Boulder, Colorado.