Choosing a Bed
Students often ask me if there is a particular mattress that is in line with the Gokhale Method. While I do have a few suggestions, the most important part of lying down is how you do it. Stretchlying on your back or side to put some extra length in your back is key to navigating beds with any extra firmness or softness. Elongating the spine will also help mitigate the distortions caused by twisting and moving around in your sleep. If you learn how to use your body well, you will develop the ability to sleep and be comfortable on most surfaces.
While I do not endorse any particular brand or product, there are certain things to look for when purchasing a new mattress. What you most want from a bed is support and comfort—some structural element from the mattress to help you maintain your stretch, and some degree of softness that will cushion your contours. If you have any inflammation, disc degeneration, nerve compression or back discomfort, we favor a medium firm, high spring count mattress with a small amount of topper. The research shows that this is the most satisfactory for back pain. Here is why:
Firmness
When stretchlying on the back, if a mattress is too soft there will be too much sagging where your body is heavier, namely your hips, which will cause a sway. A high spring count will provide a structured even surface for your body to retain a stretch throughout the night.
You can lay comfortably on any surface if you have good structure.
Softness
Especially in stretchlying on the side, you want enough give to accommodate the discrepancy between a narrow waist and wider hips in women, or between narrow hips and broad shoulders in men. Some beds come with a pillow top, or you can place a soft topper on your medium firm mattress.
If your bed does not accomodate your curves well,
you can use a small pillow or flannel sheet to support your waist,
thus preventing any distortion to your spine.
High Quality
When choosing your bed, make sure the quality is there. High quality beds usually have a higher spring count and keep their original shape for many years. In less expensive, lower quality beds, the springs may start to protrude and/or the mattress may begin to sag after a few months.
A firm foam mattress works well but some foams vary in quality depending on where in the original manufacturing block (cube) they were cut from. If the foam is too soft you will get a sagging effect. Be wary of beds that are overly conforming. These types of mattresses allow your whole body to sink and curve your shoulders forward when you are lying on your back.
You can lay comfortably on any surface if you have good structure.
Travel Beds
If you are traveling or camping, I would go for an airbed or a Thermarest® pad. Airbeds provide a bit less leverage for lengthening your back in stretchlying. But as you get more proficient at stretchlying techniques, you are less dependent on the amount of firmness in your sleep surface. Thermarest pads, with their self-inflating cells, are surprisingly comfortable considering how little space they can pack into.
The bottom line is that if you are in pain, choose a bed with more structure. Otherwise, with your stretchlying skill set, you will be perfectly comfortable sleeping through the night on most sleeping surfaces.
Best,
Esther
Hi EstherI think the type of
Hi Esther
I think the type of hammoock you sleep on is very important. I agree with Antonio that the Yucatan (or Mayan) string hammock is superior to most others. I purchased one from Seaside Hammocks in Florida and I am extremely happy with it. The people there are knowledgeable about what they sell.
When I think about the fact that close to a third of my life is spent sleeping I want to be comfortable. I am convinced that my circulation has improved by sleeping in a hammock. I used to experience occasional numbness in my arms while sleeping in a regular bed....this no longer happens.
About sleeping diagonally.....that is the way to do it. Once you get in you need to move around to find the "sweet spot". when you have found it you'll know it.
A nearly endless resource where any question can be answered is hammockforums.net. Great people there with answers to any question a person might have about hammocks.
I think I need a new mattress
Temperpedic mattresses
Temperpedic mattresses accommodate strong curves in side sleeping. They don't work as well for sleeping on the back - the heavier parts of you (torso, bottom) will sink in more causing postural distortion. If the torso sinks in extra, the shoulders end up protruding forward; if the bottom sinks in this can result in a sway.
I have also had students complain about the company's return policy - to return their mattress because the material had settled they had to demonstrate that the center point of the mattress had settled more than an inch; it was not enough that the depressions that each of them had formed off-center had sunk more than an inch!
It's very common for people
I'm wondering if you have any recommendations as to what to look for in a pillow. It's so common to wake up with a stiff, achy neck that sometimes leads to a headache. There are so many kinds of pillows out there, including some marketed as specifically beneficial for neck alignment. Given the variety of proportions (length of neck, width of shoulders, etc.) are there any criteria you recommend?
I'm not very particular about
I'm not very particular about pillows. We have very ordinary pillows at our studio purchased for $5-$10 that we use to teach stretchlying - students often ask what brand of pillow we use, thinking the pillow is what is making them feel so comfortable. I inform them that we have a motley collection of ver ordinary pillows and that I believe it's the stretchlying that's making them comfortable.
Having said that, I think a medium firm pillow that you can bunch up to conform to your head and neck contours is easiest to work with. If you're sleeping on your side, a small second pillow (or folded towel / blanket), is a good addition. I dislike cervical rolls and pillows except in cases of extreme cervical curves because they add curve to the neck, whereas I am trying to help people flatten / elongate their necks.