manual labor

Harvesting rye with scythes in early twentieth-century Lithuania. Original photograph Balys Buročas, 1923.

The Gokhale Method has improved my understanding of how posture correlates to our health and physicality. The method is based on healthy body architecture and has been informed by movement patterns from populations without back pain, those shared by our ancestors worldwide. This inspired me to take a look at my own forefathers in Lithuania, especially their posture while laboring in the fields. 

Memories of my youth
I was born and raised in urban Soviet Lithuania. Yet, we had a little plot of land outside the city in “kolektyviniai sodai” (collective gardens) and most of our weekends and summers were spent there. It was heaven to play in the fields, but there was always plenty of work.

My sister and I were often assigned weeding, watering, or harvesting to complete. It was definitely good exercise and a learning experience. I remember how proud I was when, one summer, my dad deemed me grown-up enough to show me how to cut grass with a scythe. It took a lot of coordination and control to swing the blade just so, to catch the grass low enough and to not drive the blade into the ground.

Harvesting rye with scythes in Juodėnai village, Lithuania. Original photograph Povilas Butkus, 1938.

In the summertime, we frequently visited with our relatives in the country. The grownups helped with harvesting and us kids followed them around and entertained ourselves with lighter tasks. My parents, aunts, and uncles all grew up on farms and were used to this type of work. I remember them teasing each other and laughing in the fields. Yet, it was hard work and they were all exhausted by the end of the day.

My own ancestors in Old Lithuania, like ancestral peoples everywhere, must have carried much body wisdom. Working the land shaped their bodies and their posture. Theirs wasn’t just a weekend task: it was a day-by-day, year-after-year way of life.

Photo treasures
Much more recently, I found a treasure trove of photos on E-paveldas. I immediately recognized the pristine body architecture and beautiful movements of the Lithuanian farmers. Here were women and men working with a clear J-shaped spine — which is found in highly functioning and musculoskeletally sound populations and is a cornerstone of the Gokhale Method. I was not surprised to see the J-spine show up in historical photos from Lithuania. How else could one exert oneself on a daily basis and remain productive and intact?

Before machinery, harvesting was a communal affair. Men did most of the chopping, plowing, and scything. Women raked and gathered, but also did heavier work when needed. Hay and grain harvesting was done with scythes. When harvesting grain, as in both photographs above, the cuttings were gathered and bundled into neat bunches and stacked in big piles in the fields. If harvesting hay, the cuttings were first spread out to dry and once dry, the hay was gathered and transported to the barns (below).

Young women from Didsodė village harvesting hay. Original photographer unknown, ca. 1940.

In the picture below, we see women hefting piles of dry hay to load up a horse cart.

Women loading harvested and dried hay onto a horse cart. Original photographer unknown, 1935.

Postural highlights
These old photographs give us a good view of people’s silhouettes. In contrast to modern-day postural tendencies in industrialized societies, there is no tucking of the pelvis. Behinds are very much behind. Shoulders are back and necks are lengthened. That’s J-spine, the same spinal shape we all had when we were little! 

This body architecture sets a foundation for inner corset engagement. Here, the obliques, transverse abdominis, rotatores, and multifidi muscles are all engaged. 

The inner corset muscles stabilize and decompress the spine so there is no wear and tear on spinal structures during exertion. This is how repetitively thrusting with pitchforks, lifting weights over the head, forcefully swinging scythes across the body, or reaching and pulling with rakes can be performed without hurting one’s back. Of course, the inner corset muscles get a huge workout! Meanwhile, they become stronger and in turn better support the spine.

Additionally, heavy arm and shoulder actions require correct shoulder placement. Notice that the farmers’ chests are open and wide, and shoulders are set further back. This shoulder location allows for better arm circulation, opens the chest cavity for better breathing, and prevents the upper spine from slumping. This position is key for efficient movement and protection from injury.

Bending well is essential to avoid back pain. You can see all the women hinging beautifully from their hips and keeping their backs flat while harvesting potatoes, doing laundry, and cooking. In spite of long hours bending, they did not hunch their shoulders, round their backs, or distort their spines.

Potato harvest in the Džiuginėnai fields. Original photograph Juzefas Perkovskis, 1940.

This healthy way of bending does no damage to the bones, discs or ligaments. Instead, it strengthens the muscles in the back (erectors and rhomboids) and provides the best stretch for the leg and hip muscles (external hip rotators and hamstrings).

Women hip-hinging while doing laundry. Original photograph Balys Buračas, 1923.

Hip-hinging while cooking in an open-air summer kitchen. Original photograph Stasys Vaitkus, 1937.

Another beautiful image (below) depicts three shepherd boys with their instruments. Notice that their lengthened leg and hip muscles in turn allow the spine to stack without slumping even when squatting on the ground. Their legs remain externally rotated, and their foot arches intact.

Village shepherds. Note the deep, healthy squat at left. Original photograph Stasys Vaitkus, 1938. 

In the last image (below), an older couple carries a yoke (naščiai) and baskets. What a clever way to carry a load! The yoke is placed close to the spine — the best place to bear weight, just like in weight lifting, while arms and hands are spared.

Marija and Augustas Šarkai on their way to harvest potatoes. Group Photograph/Bernardas Aleknavičius, 1971.

This couple encapsulates what we find across all ancestral populations:

1. Their feet are turned out and bean-shaped.

2. Their behinds are behind them.

3. Their ribcages are flush with the contours of the torsos, which means their lower backs are lengthened.

4. Their shoulders are set way back and their arms are externally rotated.

5. Their necks are long; their chins angle down.

Furthermore, this couple is not young anymore. I am sure they worked throughout their lives, yet they retain beautiful, erect posture.

Reflection
This was a brief glimpse of village life in Lithuania in the early twentieth century. The photographs of my ancestors laboring in the fields are brimming with body wisdom. This wisdom is a part of a common worldwide heritage that has been displaced by modern culture. Yet, it is still available to us through photographs, stories from elders, and posture work.

I felt inspired by the wisdom and proud of my Lithuanian heritage when looking at these pictures. I encourage you to do the same! Look through your own family photos, if you have them, or historical photography books. Let these images inspire you and reaffirm how well our bodies are designed, and how sturdy and strong they are when used well.

This famous bust of Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BC) exhibits a forward-protruded head. Original image courtesy Wikipedia user Philip Pikart under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

In my travels, I enjoy visiting museums. In a concentrated space and in a short few hours, I am able to travel back in time and over large distances, and compare people from different cultures. What a remarkable gift from the craftspeople of the past!  

Many museums have a well-developed Egyptian collection. The Egyptians’ expertise in preserving their dead as well as the dry Egyptian climate has yielded a bounty of specimens from the distant past. Egyptian artifacts are often spectacular and modern audiences are drawn to Egyptian mummies, pyramids, thrones, and temples. So we get to enjoy glimpses into ancient Egypt remarkably easily.

Most people from the past, as evidenced by ancient art and sculpture, had excellent posture and musculoskeletal health. The pharaohs and upper crust of ancient Egypt, however, stand out as exceptions. Sitting on their thrones or standing in special ceremonies, they almost always have tucked pelvises and forward-protruding heads. Nefertiti (as seen above) is an example of an Egyptian royal who has her head “parked” extremely forward. Correspondingly, examinations of the mummified remains of pharaohs report advanced arthritis in the joints — much like what we find in modern populations.
 

Renenutet (shown here) and her husband Runy were part of Egyptian nobility in the reign of Seti I (1294 - 1279 BC). They served in local temples. Notice her tucked pelvis and protruded head and shoulders that are similar to problematic modern posture.

This relief from the 18th dynasty (c. 1335 BC) shows a royal couple (possibly Akhenaten and Nefertiti) in a garden. Notice their posture shows similar distortions to those we see in modern times: tucked pelvis, locked knees, lack of abdominal tone, and forward-protruded head. Original image courtesy Andreas Praefcke on Wikipedia.

By contrast, carvings and sculptures of Egyptian laborers — carrying palanquins, rowing ceremonial boats, and doing other manual work — have beautiful and healthy posture. They model an anteverted pelvis, erect spine, and vertical neck similar to those seen in non-industrial cultures the world over.

This funerary offering bearer (c. 1980 BC) shows excellent posture: a J-spine with anteverted pelvis and elongated spine, and posterior shoulders.

This close-up of the funerary offering bearer above shows her feet pointed slightly outwards and the placement of her behind behind her.

The workers on this funeral boat show excellent posture as they transport coffins in Ancient Egypt (c. 1980 BC).

This ancient Egyptian worker exhibits a perfect hip-hinge with shoulders remaining back.

What are we observing here? What made the pharaohs suffer the same poor musculoskeletal health we do? Was it affluence? Was it a departure from a working-class lifestyle? Was it a sedentary lifestyle? Was it fashion? 

If you live in a large city, you almost certainly have access to a collection of Egyptian art. The next time you visit the collection, please tell us about your observations. Or take a few photos and post or send them to us so we can comment on them.

This is the third post in our multi-part series on floor-sitting. Read Part 1 on floor sitting and Part 2 on squatting!

It’s very common for women in Africa to sit with their legs outstretched. I’ve seen rows of women use this position to spin yarn, engage in idle chatter, sort items, and more. I’ve seen babies massaged by women using this position both in Burkina Faso and in the U.S. by a visiting Indian masseuse who does traditional baby massage in Surat, India. In Samiland I saw this position used to bake bread in a lavoo (a Sami structure very similar to a teepee).

The Sami, who I visited in July 2015 (see my post Sleeping on Birch Branches in Samiland), bake with outstretched legs in their traditional lavoos (teepees). This is my friend Fredrik’s family.

Sitting with legs outstretched is useful when you need an extended flattish lap and your hamstring flexibility allows it. The ground needs to be dry and clean to make this an inviting position. It’s a particularly useful position for childcare. In addition to the aforementioned baby massage, our team member Angela Häkkilä has observed Anatolian women using their outstretched legs as a cradle for babies and toddlers, who are rocked to sleep with a sideways motion of the legs and a gentle lullaby.

 
In this case, the Burkinabé woman at the left is leaning against a wall for extra comfort while carding wool. With her degree of hamstring and gluteus maximus flexibility, she’d be fine without a wall, too!

The problem
Many people don’t have the hamstring and gluteus maximus flexibility to sit on the floor with outstretched legs and not round the spine. Tight hamstrings and gluteal muscles cause the pelvis to tuck under, preventing upright and relaxed stacking. Over time this can lead to a rounded back, degenerated discs, and pain. 

The fix
Place something under the bottom to encourage the pelvis to antevert, and/or consider sitting against a wall, tree trunk, or other surface to counteract the tendency to round the spine. 

With the modification of adding a support under or behind you, you will not only have expanded your repertoire of healthy sitting positions and possible activities, you will also be elongating your hamstrings to better garden, clean, and hip-hinge in general.

Though this Orissa woman would probably be just fine sitting on the ground, her technique of elevating the seat is very helpful for people in modern societies.

 
This Burkinabé massage therapist is testing the temperature of the water she will use to massage a newborn baby. Note her outstretched legs, sitting stool, and seated hip-hinge, all of which support the baby, the action, and the massage therapist to be healthy.

If this way of sitting would be helpful in your life, or if you’d benefit from increased hamstring and gluteus maximus flexibility, we recommend beginning by sitting on a support that will help antevert your pelvis, or with your behind against a wall for support. Since it’s only an issue of muscle flexibility, it’s certainly possible to work up to sitting with your legs outstretched without other support.

A quote from one of my cherished Gokhale Method students captures the before of his posture-improving, pain-eliminating journey with me:

"I was a managing director at a telecommunications company supervising a lot of people, but there would be days when I’d put in my time lying on the floor in my office--to take pressure off my spine. At first colleagues would walk in and do a double-take, but gradually they become accustomed to my having to stretch out the floor while I worked. This had become my new normal."

Another quote offers a glimpse of the happy hereafter, in particular, the adventurous life this man has been leading since we concluded our regularly scheduled, one-on-one work together, in 2008. 

"My wife and I just came back from a trip to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos. All the climbing of the Inca ruins and the walking over the lava fields of the islands went so very smoothly I never had even one issue of back trouble. Believe me, I could not be happier."

The remarkable fellow is Mike King of San Ramon, California, and I was thrilled when he agreed to share his dramatic journey into and out of debilitating back pain.

What follows is Mike's "travelogue."

"Esther, I never thought I would be able to be doing something like this. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

The "back story" to my back story

"I'm 75 now, and if I look at the kinds of things I did in my life that contributed to what turned out to be debilitating back pain, it includes putting myself through college by working in a truck service station, working on very large and very heavy tires, using pneumatic wrenches to take them off and put them on. It was physically awkward and very taxing work. I also played football in high school and college and was involved in several car accidents. These were among the contributing factors. "The first signs of trouble appeared in 1974. Especially when I did yard work or any other manual labor I would be very achey; I would really feel it. But it wasn't a big deal back then, because I could get through these episodes by popping anti-inflammatories and easing up on the manual labor. The pain wasn't yet chronic. "But by the late 1980s my back problems intensified. The pain would last longer, and it would be more restrictive in terms of what I could do. For example: I’ve always been someone who’s been in the gym; I enjoyed working out, and I ran. But when back pain began to catch up with me, I had to quit running and cut back on working out. My life began to change."

From bad back to worse

"In the 1990s I was doing a lot of international business travel, which meant frequent long flights and hotels with strange beds. This was at a time when I was becoming severely physically limited--when not only  was something like yard work out of the question, but walking had become a chore. "Yet another issue was pain-related sleep deprivation, which of course exacerbates the difficulties of any challenging situation. And when my back problem became chronic--when I saw how much of my lifestyle I was having to let go--I became terribly discouraged. Feeling uncomfortable after a workout is one thing, but when disabling pain comes at you all at once it's pretty hard to take. So, out of desperation, in June 1998, I saw my first neurosurgeon."

The diagnosis

"Long story short, the neurosurgeon ran a number of tests and did a number of scans and diagnosed extensive sciatica due primarily to damaged L4 and L5 discs impinging upon nerves radiating out from my spinal cord. And his recommendation was surgery on my lumbar spine.

Contrast the herniated lumbar disc impinging upon the spinal nerve, at bottom, with the healthy disc, at top.

"By this time I was in serious pain and walking with a cane, and in desperation I agreed to have surgery--a laminectomy and a discectomy, which basically involve the carving out of some bone to get to the damaged discs that were protruding out and pressing in on spinal nerve roots."

Two surgeries: the good--and the bad & ugly

The bad

"When I came out of the first surgery--even after a longer than normal period of recovery--it became apparent that I was in worse shape than when I went in. It's not like I was looking for a miracle, but I was expecting some relief because the neurosurgeon had painted a rosy scenario of a positive outcome. Instead, the surgery was a failure."

The ugly

"At one post-op visit my wife, who was extremely concerned, explained to the neurosurgeon that I was feeling discouraged because I was still in terrible pain and still so debilitated. And the neurosurgeon turned to her and said, 'Well, that explains why he's not getting better. He's not getting better, because of his attitude.' "Jan looked at him and said, 'No. He's discouraged because the surgery didn’t work, and you’re not taking responsibility for it.'

"In desperation, I agreed to have surgery."

"So we quickly moved on, but of course by that time the damage had been done."

The good

"Nine months later, in April 1999, I had a second back surgery, basically to clean up the results of the first failed surgery. And though I came out of that with the usual post-back surgery kinds of issues, I felt sufficiently well to travel on business to Hungary just one month later. And I got eight good years out of that second procedure, because it was done well and because I was very careful about what I did and got better at reading the warning signs. Once again, I was able to travel, work out in the gym, enjoy my life. So that second surgery turned out to be a really good thing--for a while."

Back surgery number 3?

"In late 2006, early 2007, my back pain returned, but this time I now had foot drop, a condition that can occur when herniated spinal discs in the lower back impinge on spinal nerve roots. Because foot drop made it hard for me to walk and keep my balance, it prompted a visit to a third neurosurgeon, who--as he showed me X-rays and MRIs--identified a number of discs causing my problems, specifically: L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1. But when he said, 'You're looking at major spinal fusion,' I said to myself, 'I’m not going to have a third back surgery. I'm not going to put my body through this. I've got to find another way."

"Adriaen Brouwer's 'The Back Operation,' 1636, captures only some of the pain of surgical interventions."

Identifying with the man from la Mancha

An impossible dream?

"To say I became preoccupied with a need to feel better is an understatement, because when you're in pain and desperate for relief, you will find all sorts of people who claim they can heal you. For me, the experience was like going through a smorgasbord line, trying countless alternatives, none of which worked and some of which actually hurt me. And I began to view my quest as a sort of impossible dream to find a way to take care of my problem, without submitting to spinal fusion.  "I’m not a student of Cervantes, but as I got deeper into my quest the classic tale of Don Quixote began to resonate. As you no doubt know, the story centers on an idealistic but confused man's wanderings to do good works.  An indomitable inner will and extraordinary determination propelled him on his journey, despite real and imagined obstacles he encountered at every turn. And it occurred to me that people who suffer from debilitating back pain follow a similar path. While perhaps not as delusional as Don Quixote, we’re forever searching the Internet, gathering the latest information on surgical and nonsurgical approaches; we’re able to recite the definition of chronic pain; we try heat and then we try cold; we try pain blockers, anti-inflammatories, and muscle-spasm medications. We visit neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, chiropractors, naturopaths, homeopaths--every imaginable alternative practitioner.  We seek second opinions and third opinions, and then, because we're still hurting, we seek more.

"Don Quixote's indomitable spirit inspired me."

"I put a lot of miles on my car and paid a lot of fees, in search of a solution, but my quest was really wearing on me because I was beginning to believe there wasn’tan answer. And as the prospect of fusion surgery loomed ever larger, and as I could see life as I once knew it slipping away from me, I grew more concerned.  Until one night, I plucked up a copy of Costco's magazine."

A serendipitous discovery

"Deep inside the magazine, I found a small article linking posture to back pain. It was very brief, with almost no detail, but after I read it I thought, 'Hey, this something I haven’t tried!' Of course I was more than a little skeptical that the approach developed by Esther Gokhale, with its focus on posture, could have a significant effect on my back pain, but I was determined to check it out. So I gave Esther's office a call and signed up for a 1-hour free session."

"It was just incredibly serendipitous how I came to discover the Gokhale Method.”

"Later, when I got to know Esther, I asked, 'Was Costco selling your book?' It wasn’t. The story just kind of appeared, and the fact that I would find it -- and jump on it -- was just incredibly serendipitous."

What's posture going to do for me?

"By the time I met Esther I was walking with a cane and getting through the day on a heavy-duty dose of Vicodin; I was not in good shape. So when my wife and I attended the one-hour introductory session, my mindset was: 'This is kind of weird. What's posture going to do for me?' But when the session concluded and a man in the back of the room stood up and said, 'I just have to tell you something, Esther. I’m a neurosurgeon, and you’ve done more for a number of my patients than I could ever do with surgery,' I thought, 'Bingo, this is what I needed to hear.' "On the spot I signed up for the Gokhale Method Foundations course, opting for six private sessions with Esther. And I bought a copy of her book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. The amazing thing—and even I have trouble believing this--was that  I literally could feel a positive change after each session. At our first meeting, I learned how to sit. Now that may seem like a very simple thing to do. (I know I certainly thought it was,  because I’d been sitting for a lot of years and it never occurred to me that I should be doing this any differently.) But it soon became apparent that I had a lot to learn, and that I was going to have to do some serious reprogramming of old habits. And for six weeks I worked really hard, learning and practicing Esther's techniques.

"As I progressed through the six classes, Esther helped me understand the big picture of her program. One of the nice aspects of the Gokhale Method, I should add, is that it’s not something you need to go back and re-enroll in every month--or even every six months (although for a while, I greatly benefited from quarterly 'tune-ups'). Instead, you learn techniques that you can easily practice in the course of your daily life."

Reclaiming my life

"I finished the course in 2008, so it’s been five years. And at age 75  I’m enjoying life and doing everything I want to do. One thing I hugely enjoy is being out and about with my camera, finding things to photograph, and--since working with Esther--I’ve done wonderfully well when I travel. My wife and I are just back from China; last year we hiked around Machu Picchu and the Galapagos; the year before we explored southern Africa--and next year I'm returning to Africa. We’ve seen so many amazing things and I’m grateful to the Gokhale Method for helping me regain the mobility I need to do all this--I'm grateful to Esther and her method for enabling me to (quite literally) reclaim my life.

"Freedom from back pain means freedom to travel. Here I am in Tiananmen Square."

"I feel lucky to have visited the Cape of Good Hope and lucky to feel well enough to explore more of Africa next year."

Photo Credits: Mike King, Machu Picchu, 2012:  Jan King Herniated lumbar discs: Wikimedia Commons Surgeon: Wikimedia Commons"The Back Operation," Adriaen Brouwer: Wikimedia Commons "Don Quixote," Honoré Daumier: Wikipedia "Getting Back to Our Roots": Screen shot from The Costco Connection Esther Gokhale and Mike King from Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution video: gokhalemethod.com Mike King, Beijing: Jan King  Mike King, Cape Point Lighthouse, near the Cape of Good Hope: Jan King