Posture and Weight Loss

Over the years, Gokhale Method Foundations course alumni have often reported that they lost weight. Occurring too frequently to be coincidence, these testimonials have spurred me to thinking about the weight loss – posture connection. Here are some possible mechanisms:

1. After restoring their primal posture, students are out of pain, feel better, and indulge in the natural human impulse to move and go back to an active life. 

Try it: 

• There are myriad ways to get moving again: learn the samba, start weight training, or join a hiking group.

Beach workout in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

2. Students learn to use their muscles and spare their joints. This ramps up their metabolisms.

Try it: 

• The next time you're driving on a bumpy road, taking a jog, or jumping over a puddle, engage your inner corset. These muscles, which are the abdominal muscles closest to your spine, protect your spinal discs and nerves from damage while making you sleeker and taller.

A good time to engage your inner corset muscles is when jumping

• Adopt glidewalking by using your glutes to propel you forward and lend control for a soft landing. This prevents pounding down on delicate knee and ankle joints.

3. Students learn to recruit larger muscles for challenging tasks rather than stressing smaller muscles. This increases muscle mass, raising the basal metabolic rate and encouraging fat loss. 

Try it:

• When carrying loads, use the muscles in your upper arms rather than your forearm.
• While glidewalking, recruit your gluteus muscles to push you forward rather than relying on your quadriceps to pull you forward.

Excellent use of the glutes in glidewalking (Salvador, Brazil)

4. With the emphasis on using deeper abdominal muscles to protect the spinal discs and nerves, students develop stronger abs. I suspect that this may help with eliciting an appropriate feeling of fullness with meals. Also, the sleek feeling that goes with the inner corset may induce a healthy spiral in approving one’s appearance.

Try it: 

• Instead of damaging crunches, try the plank pose: assume a push-up position and hold for 30-60 seconds.

If you have any weight loss stories to report, please write to us.

Cheers to a healthier you,
Esther

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.