Hello, Esther!
I discovered you on the Wise Tradiitons podcast of the Weston A Price Foundation and bought your book and a Stretchsitting cushion. I only just started, and I'm getting great results just from Stretchsitting and Stretchlying on my back and side, in fact better results from the yoga that I've been trying for a while (Bikram's and more). I have no real back issues except tension and occasional soreness. I just want to have a healthy back and avoid problems. I'm wondering if I should do yoga at all. It doesn't really seem like an ancestral thing, and many of the poses don't seem natural and even seem grotesque. Now that I'm a little familiar with your Method, I'm concerned especially about the backbends and the twistings of the spine...all of the poses that bend and twist the spine. I'm open to advice about whether to do yoga at all, and I'd also like to know how to determine which poses to avoid. Is there a list of approved and disapproved poses? Thanks so much!
3 years 7 months ago
04/03/2015 - 6:23am
Hi Kenneth,
So glad you are getting great results already!
I happen to be a yoga teacher as well as a Gokhale Method teacher, so I do have some insights about yoga.
I think that there is nothing wrong with being selective about the yoga poses you are doing. Not everyone could or should do every pose. I think digesting the Gokhale Method thoroughly helps you to be selective about what poses you choose and also how you do the pose. Healthy yoga practice often asks us to examine our limitations and honor them. Some spinal bending, twisting, and back bending is healthy. Too much is dangerous for most of us, and contra-indicated for some of us. A rare few can do whatever they want without negative consequence. So no, there isn't one approved list. You might consider signing up for the Foundations Course in order to get more tips for evaluating healthy exercise form (yoga included).
Cecily
5 years 5 months ago
05/24/2019 - 10:27am
Thanks, Cecily! Well, then, I think I will do only the gentlest back-bending and avoid things like the camel and the rabbit and especially the forward folds that would put stress on L5-S1, which apparently shouldn't be bent in that direction. Fig.1-6 on page 35 of Esther's book and other things in the book helped me decide on the folds. For the twists, I will only do the moderate ones, gently. After learning the Gokhale method, I have the intuition that only the moderate poses of yoga are right for me and safe and the rest don't seem needful or helpful. I'm glad I found the method and am not investing as much time, effort, and risk in yoga like I was starting to do. :-)
I also saw in the preface of the book that Esther's back problems all began with a yoga pose.