It’s early January. New Year’s resolutions have swung into action, and many of them involve improving our health. With the impetus of a fresh start, we throw ourselves into ditching poor habits and cultivating better ones. It’s no surprise that January sees the highest gym sign-ups and enrollments for dietary regimens! Other resolutions include getting more sleep, meditating, or learning a new skill—self-care for the mind as well as the body.
Most of us will have made a New Year’s resolution in at least one of these areas.
Posture—a missing pillar of health
One little-recognized yet equally important pillar of health is posture. At age 27, I had thought I was active, fit, and robust, yet found myself in excruciating back pain with a newborn baby to care for. Long story short, by changing my posture—the way I sat, stood, bent, walked, and even slept—I lost the pronounced sway in my back, recovered my natural J-spine, and have been pain free, active, and thriving ever since. There is more about what I learned from my teachers and developed into the Gokhale Method® in this recent blog.
An MRI scan revealed the cause of my sciatica and severe back pain—a large herniation at L5-S1.
Picture an active, pain-free future
Imagine a future with virtually no back pain, no need for joint replacement, an absence of repetitive strain injuries, and comfortable feet, neck, and shoulders. This was a reality for our ancestors. . .and there is nothing they had that we can’t regain! Our bodies are malleable, and we can learn to move naturally—in fact, healthy posture is written into our DNA. Sometimes the required changes feel strange, but there’s a sweet spot sensation to them, and they often feel strangely familiar. Gokhale Method teachers have a lot of experience in guiding students to make these changes efficiently and effectively. We’ve already guided tens of thousands of people out of back pain and musculoskeletal problems. No doubt some of them started that journey with a New Year’s resolution!
Gokhale Elements alumna Anne Murtagh from Ireland joined our two Alumni Days in Germany this fall. Here I am helping Anne to refine her glidewalking.
The key to manifesting good intentions
Life is busy, and self-care resolutions can be hard to keep. A posture resolution is different in an important regard. Yes, it does take some investment of time to learn, but following that it will save you time—you will be walking faster, sleeping more effectively, and saving time spent seeking care for aches and pains. Rather than being an additional undertaking or needing hours of sessions per week, changing your posture is more a matter of living daily life differently. And you are rewarded with all sorts of benefits, like improved appearance, a more positive outlook, and improved digestion, breathing, sexual function, and elimination. Out with the old posture that caused you tension, compression, and pain, and in with a new, more relaxed, efficient and effective way of being in your body.
Our students trust the Gokhale Method for valuable information and insights taught in logical steps. They also appreciate quality backup from whatever props, coaching, technology, alumni programs, and online community they need to succeed. Here is a what Gokhale alumnus Sachin Deshpande has to say:
It is not an overstatement that the Gokhale Method changed my life and reduced 99% of my body pains—back, foot, knee, elbow, and more. It takes a month or two to grok the concepts, and then real benefits begin. I would suggest both reading the book and taking the classes (which are quite affordable).
Sachin (pictured above) found the Gokhale Method through my self-help book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. This doubled as a textbook when he took the Foundations course. You can read Sachin's story here.
The past, the present, and looking to the future
Students sometimes remark on the historical data that is an essential ingredient of the Gokhale Method. We draw extensively on ancient and ancestral roots, referring to both science and cultural artifacts to learn posture wisdom from the past. We are also very much in the present, offering in-person courses around the world and embracing today’s online and wearable technology to deliver remote learning. As we travel forward into 2024, we very much hope you will be with us for a healthy, pain-free future.
The Roman god Janus gave his name to the month of January. He was the god of beginnings, transitions, time, doorways, gates, passages, and endings. He was often depicted facing both ways, to the past and to the future. Note his healthy head and neck posture! Image from Wikimedia
Best next action steps
If you are new to the Gokhale Method, get started by booking a consultation, online, or in person with one of our teachers. Or you can sign up here
for our special New Year Free Online Workshop Start 2024 Pain-Free with the Gokhale Method, Tuesday, January 9, 12 a.m.–1 p.m. (PST), to find out how the Gokhale Method can help you.
You can sign up below to join any one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops. . .
Comments
I totally agree with Sachin
I totally agree with Sachin about reading the book. And I would add, using the archives and archived Live Chats. I'm old school, so I like the actual book.
One of my long range goals this year is to align my left ilium so that when I squeeze my glute I can perform the illustration on page 179 in an effective, way-- not one that reinforces my misalignment, moves my body in the wrong direction and spotlights my disjointed body mechanics as it has done up to this point. The logic of the GM shows you just where your alignment needs improving.
I personally think the name, "Eight Steps to a Pain-free Back doesn't do the GM justice and could be misleading. I would re-title it, Eight Steps to a Pain Free Body. My back was the least of my problems and had I not heard Esther on the radio, I never would have thought to buy a back pain book.
The best thing about the GM is as long as you keep at it, even after several years, it's just as exciting to have "aha" moments on a daiy basis and "tectonic plate shifts" here and there to make whatever level of effort you choose to put into the GM well worth it.