Could Sitting Be Your Back Pain Solution?

This blog post title may surprise you, given the current trend to blame sitting for our back pain and other ills. You may be familiar with the claim that “sitting is the new smoking.” While an excessively sedentary lifestyle is indeed a factor in many health problems, when it comes to spinal health, the reality is far more nuanced than the simple notion that "sitting is bad; moving is good."

The data confirm this. Research shows that people doing manual labor have worse musculoskeletal problems than those who sit. And a study that measured body movement in the Hadza tribespeople of Tanzania, who have far fewer musculoskeletal problems than we do in the US, found that they spend an average of nine hours a day sitting, just as we do. Clearly, something more complex is going on.

I recently had the pleasure of unpacking the sitting conundrum with Lizzie Lasater on her yoga and wellness YouTube channel. Lizzie is interested in contemporary movement science and yoga insights, and was intrigued to hear the Gokhale Method® take on sitting.

Most people are surprised to learn that, according to Indian tradition, the purpose of practicing a variety of yoga asanas (postures) is to condition the body for comfortable upright sitting in pranayama (breathing exercises) and meditation. The word āsana in Sanskrit (आसन) means “to sit” or “to be seated.” 

Yoga includes a variety of seated postures to meet your needs, running the gamut from finding ease with cushions to pretzel-legged challenges. Gokhale® Yoga is guided by Gokhale Method principles of healthy posture. This avoids common misconceptions and injuries, while enjoying all of yoga’s benefits.

Gokhale Method Teacher Lang Liu explores healthy seated poses for all abilities in our Gokhale® Active online program. Lang is also offering a special Gokhale Yoga retreat.

Our podcast focused on the fundamentals of healthy sitting the way most of us do it most of the time—in chairs. The principles learned in chair-sitting have therapeutic value that applies to other activities.

The best place to start when sitting in a chair is to learn to use the backrest to restore length in your spine. I call this stretchsitting, referring to the gentle traction it imparts. This can work for you in the hours you drive, fly, use a keyboard, or watch a movie. Instead of sitting being something that further squishes your discs and nerves, you can offload compression, restore height, and boost circulation and repair all around the spine.

Unlike using costly, time-consuming, and potentially risky equipment such as inversion tables or gymnastic straps to hang from, stretchsitting is simple and accessible to all. It is free—and it is priceless!

Lizzie was intrigued to see and feel for herself just how stretchsitting works. I was able to coach her on our Zoom call, just as I would if she were a student taking our online Gokhale® Elements course. (Although our Elements students learn within an integrated program with additional preparatory and follow-up materials for each lesson.) If you would like to see how she did, or follow along for yourself,  enjoy the clip below.

In this video clip I teach Lizzie the benefits of stretchsitting, and to avoid some common mistakes. She’s an excellent model!

In this interview, I guided Lizzie through stretchsitting using the everyday items she had on hand, such as cushions and blankets. In addition to learning how to fashion posture props from household items, our Elements students benefit from receiving a purpose-designed Stretchsit® Cushion. Learning our stretchsitting technique often gives people the first welcome relief they experience from their back pain.

Coming with three adjustable fastener straps, our Stretchsit® Cushion is convenient, elegant, and fits your car seat and most other chairs perfectly.

Lizzie summed up her experience in the position:

It feels so familiar and so right. So good. So what I'm feeling, Esther, is a sense that my ribs are caught, but it feels as though my pelvis is dangling below a little bit…I'm super comfortable. I could meditate.

You can watch the full interview, Is Sitting Aging You? here.

Best next step

Join one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops using the sign-up below—and learn more about how the Gokhale Method can help you to sit, stand, and move pain-free.