Esther Gokhale is incredibly patient in helping people in pain unlearn decades of bad habits and move from bad posture to body awareness. She brings her students a wealth of knowledge from decades of close observation of walking, standing, sitting, and lifting patterns (in contemporary populations all over the globe, as well as in books and art that point to a more aligned past). She also offers graduates access to regular online training and a library of helpful resources. Gokhale training is not just for people in pain, but for anyone with questions and curiosity about human movement.
About this workshop
Bipedal gait is one of the defining characteristics of what it is to be human. For millennia we have hunted, gathered, cavorted, and crossed continents on two legs. And yet, in the last century or so, we’ve managed to walk our way into a tangle of pain and dysfunction that does not do our species proud.
The introductory courses of the Gokhale Method (Foundations, Pop-up, and Elements) train students in improved gait but cannot do justice to all the intricacies and multitude of moving parts involved in transporting our bodies from one place to another.
In this Advanced Glidewalking course we revisit the basics of healthy, natural walking, encouraging the glutes to play their part, the posterior chain of muscles in the feet and legs to power us forward, and the swing phase of every step to deeply relax and reset our system. In this course, we rely heavily on musical metaphors and selected tracks of music to cue our muscles (“sonification”), and cue our natural rhythm. We also glean wisdom from biomechanically-astute fellow humans, past and present, in how to do the quintessential human thing of walking. We will deep dive into the complex cascade of events that constitutes human locomotion, considering the major muscles' contributions to the whole, each phase of a stride, and the cadence of our movements.
Lesson 1 - Stability of torso
Lesson 2 - Glutes
Lesson 3 - Feet
Lesson 4 - Relaxation phase of gait
Lesson 5 - Emotion and gait
Lesson 6 - Review: Different priorities related to how much attention is available or which body parts need extra help
Join us for a fun and educational adventure in revisiting and refining glidewalking.