Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I would like to honor two people who profoundly influenced the development of the Gokhale Method®.

Thanksgiving is a time to acknowledge those who lit your way. Image: Unsplash

Noëlle Perez-Christiaens (1925–2019) was my most important influence on this path, and my gateway to inputs from the eminent yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014), the French anatomist André Dalmas (1910–1999), and their numerous discoveries. Noëlle was a beautician by background, who developed an avid interest in yoga. This passion took her to India and B.K.S. Iyengar, where she had the good fortune to be one of Iyengar’s early students at a time when he had as few as four pupils gathered together in his living room for lessons. Later, Noëlle also had access to Iyengar’s medical yoga clinic. 

Noëlle studying with Iyengar in his home.

Noëlle was a witness to Iyengar’s process and absorbed numerous lessons from him that got passed down to her students. Many of these have found their way into the Gokhale Method:

   1. Copying the body mechanics of functional people 

With great insight, Iyengar told his students to “Walk behind the women in the Indian marketplace, and when your shadow looks like theirs you will have learned something.” The idea of mimicking the movement patterns of people in nonindustrial cultures fueled many of Noëlle’s discoveries and was a key part of my training. This kind of anthropological-visual mimicry makes its way into just about every class, article, and offering of the Gokhale Method. Based on our scientific understanding of the human visual cortex being very large and developed (this is reflected in the folk wisdom of “a picture is worth a 1,000 words”), our offerings rarely miss an opportunity to use photographs, video clips, or artwork to amplify the movement principles being taught. 

A young woman walks through a marketplace, casting her distinctive shadow. Odisha, India.

2. Using props and innovating 

Iyengar was the first yogi I know of to improvise using simple household props to better aid his students to achieve the shapes and poses he taught. He did this reluctantly because Indian culture values following tradition far more than improvisation (this has changed in recent years). But when his foreign students could not do what he wanted them to do, no matter how much he cajoled, exhorted, and ridiculed them (it’s a well-known joke that BKS stands for “bite, kick, shout”), he resorted to using blocks, ropes, towels, chairs, and whatnot to help the right things happen. In the West, we would regard his inventiveness as part of his genius, but he did these things almost apologetically. 

Iyengar Yoga can use extensive props, as in this version of Vasisthasana, or side plank pose. (Senior Iyengar Yogi, Eyal Shifroni). Image: Wikimedia

Noëlle was similarly inventive and improvisational. I remember being very impressed when, during a private session in Portugal where I was her translator, she gathered up some fallen blossoms and clumped them together to form makeshift metatarsal arch supports. Using props and tools to help students learn better/quicker/deeper plays a big role in the Gokhale Method. Thanks to modern tech, our learning aids include wearables ( SpineTracker™ and PostureTracker™), but we have also developed simpler props like rollers, cushions, wedges, and chairs.

Gokhale Method teacher Clare Chapman helps a student to find healthy vertical alignment with a tall neck by using the Gokhale® Head Cushion. 

3. The need for traction in the spine 

Iyengar’s studio ended up having ropes and swings all over the place. My father, who suffered from sciatic pain, and who was introduced to Iyengar’s studio by my mother, was invariably sent to hang upside down from one of the yoga swings at the start of his lessons. Iyengar also used edges, surfaces, ropes, or plain old hands and feet to get students’ spines to relinquish some of their unhealthy compression. Noëlle’s genius was to incorporate these techniques into everyday life activities, for example, sleeping. 

In the Gokhale Method, almost every student’s journey begins with traction. The two low-hanging juicy fruit techniques of stretchsitting and stretchlying are perfect starting points on any student’s journey. To facilitate stretchsitting, I invented the Stretchsit® Cushion and the Gokhale® Pain-Free Chair. Stretchlying doesn’t require props other than household pillows. By beginning with these two techniques, students often get relief from compression-related pain as early as Day 1, are better prepared to learn other techniques, and avoid flare-ups along the way. 

Gokhale Method teacher Sabina Blumauer guides a student preparing to stretchsit against a backrest with a Stretchsit® Cushion.

Though Iyengar and Noëlle were both opposed to systematizing and formalizing any of their teachings, I have discovered that for beginner students with back pain, it’s critical to precede any reshaping of the spine with gentle, sustained traction; otherwise one risks herniating a disc, pinching a spinal nerve, or triggering back spasms. 

4. Modern Westerners need support to sit

An Indian in a traditional household eats all their meals sitting cross-legged unaided on the floor. It works if you grew up with it. It doesn’t work for people who grew up sitting at dining tables and using raised toilets. I’ve discussed the anatomic and developmental reasons for this elsewhere but Iyengar approached the problem empirically. When he saw his Western students struggling to sit upright, he came up with blocks on the floor and blanket-wedges on chairs. These simple solutions worked. 

Geeta Iyengar, Iyengar’s eldest daughter, sitting on an improvised wedge of folded blankets. Image: thepracticeroom.in

I tried to come up with a more elegant and universal solution for years. It was, ironically, easier to build a wedge into the chair I designed than to come up with a free-standing wedge. The chair was designed a decade ago; the wedge only came into being this year. 

The Gokhale® Wedge offers a portable and elegant way to enable relaxed, upright sitting.

5. Using the breath to lengthen the torso

Pranayama is a branch of yoga that teaches numerous breathing techniques to address a variety of physical and mental states. Iyengar considered it an advanced practice and beginners were not introduced to pranayama techniques until they were well-advanced in their hatha yoga (asana/yoga pose) practice.

Pranayama, as taught by Iyengar, and here by his eldest daughter, Geeta, is a complex and deep practice. Dr Geeta Iyengar - How to Sit in Pranayama

Noelle brought the key technique of using the breath to lengthen the back into the basics of her Aplomb® teachings, using it both as a way of relaxing muscles and testing alignment. I have found this technique invaluable in myself and for teaching. 

When the pelvis has healthy anteversion, the spine can stack well and be upright without tension. The relaxation of the erector spinae muscles allows the spine to lengthen with each breath. This breathing motion is highly therapeutic, improving circulation, mobility, and healing throughout the torso. 

Many of our teachers have backgrounds in yoga and other traditions that include instruction in breathing. Our teacher community is in active discussion about how to bring additional insights about breathing into our offerings, using our signature filters of simplicity, science, history, and anthropology.

6. Never give up on a student 

Iyengar was dogged in helping students make changes. He and Noëlle were extremely skilled in making seemingly magical things happen for pupils. They both used a carrot and stick approach; I prefer only carrots, but carry a similar, deep-seated conviction that a whole lot is possible with the right approach, techniques, language, and inspiration.

I'm immensely grateful for the teachings of Noëlle Perez and B.K.S. Iyengar at the beginning of my journey—they helped me leave my crippling back pain behind, and they inspired and shaped the Gokhale Method. There’s still a long journey ahead towards wider accessibility, more evidence-based research, and mainstream acceptance, but thanks to the head start provided by Noëlle’s and Iyengar’s contributions, I believe we are within reach of a solution for a problem that plagues far too many of us in the modern world. 

Best next action steps for newcomers

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There are so many things in my life that I feel thankful for, and Thanksgiving gives an opportunity to reflect on these feelings of gratitude. For our newsletter I wanted to share the deep gratitude I have for my personal journey out of back pain, and for how that journey continues as a growing ability to support and empower others in this direction. 

When I came to write this blog post, I quickly realized that this is a daunting task! The truth is that so many people have played invaluable parts, both great and small, in helping me to create the Gokhale Method® that it’s impossible to pay tribute to everyone in a short piece of writing. So I decided there will be other posts of gratitude, including to my teachers, to the people around the globe on whom this work is based, and to our team of dedicated teachers and staff. But on this National Day of Thanksgiving, I’d like to focus on things related to living and working in the US.

The settling of people from all over the world in North and South America has brought innovation and enthusiasm for new ideas. This is Sebastian Münster’s Map of the New World, published in 1540. Wikipedia

The US has a uniquely multifaceted heritage

I feel grateful to live in the salad bowl that is the US. At its best, the US benefits from embracing ideas and traditions from all over the world. It has a track record of weaving together influences that enhance the richness of life and result in vibrant, new, and exciting ways of solving problems. 

One of the ways in which the Gokhale Method® is quintessentially American is that it draws on healthy inputs from different cultures, theories, technologies, and more. We actively search out kinesthetic traditions of people all over the world, past and present, and learn from the best of what works. Since so many people visit and settle in the US, studying other movement and bodywork traditions becomes especially accessible, whether we are looking at massage, dance, or gardening.

Nirmala, a baby masseur from India visiting friends in California, prepares to massage a baby on her lap.

Gokhale Method alumna Joan Baez dancing in her kitchen with her friend Jesus Morales (better known as Chuy), who hails from Mexico. He has typically excellent form—his behind stays behind, his back is upright, and his shoulders remain back.

American “can do” can help to solve back pain 

Americans have some qualities in common with teenagers—a boldness to experiment and reinvent ourselves, and a willingness to put ourselves out there without necessarily having the training or experience to get the job done. A can-do mentality with readiness to learn along the way doesn’t guarantee success (according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 35% of new businesses survive for 10 years), but the businesses that do survive often couldn’t have gotten off the ground at all through more conventional progression and do provide valuable services and products to society. 

I don’t have an MBA, and I started the Gokhale Method 30 years ago with no idea of how to launch a business, manage staff, or use an Excel spreadsheet. Many mistakes happened along the way, and yet our small raft of a company became seaworthy, is still afloat, and continues to set sail in new waters to bring relief to an increasing number of people. 

We have evolved a highly efficient and effective solution to back pain and other debilitating musculoskeletal problems—15,000 people have taken our courses to date, and over 250,000 copies of 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back have sold. There’s much more to be done, though—back pain remains the number one cause of disability globally, and 80% of people in the US alone are expected to experience a significant back problem during their lives. The Gokhale Method mission “to make back pain rare” continues. 

Each statistic represents a personal story of pain, disability, and often financial stress. www.thegoodbody.com

Innovation is recognized and valued in the US 

I’ve been promoting the J-spine paradigm for over three decades now. (You can read more about spine shape here.) It’s a radical departure from conventional wisdom’s S-spine paradigm, but based on compelling arguments and a growing body of evidence, the Gokhale Method has been welcomed into physician training courses, retreats, and conferences, and will now be the subject of a randomized control trial (RCT) at a major university. This level of openness and acceptance of disruptive approaches is more common in the US than in many other societies. 

Americans love new ideas—even when they’re old ideas!

Back in the 1990s I was studying posture in Portugal, because the average posture in southern Europe was still notably healthier than in the US. While I was carrying my baby on my back, using an African wrap, concerned people who saw me would give well-meaning advice on how to carry a baby properly. Of course, this came from their best intentions to help me take care of my baby, but still, back in the US, I found people around me much more amenable to incorporating such techniques. Here I encounter people wanting to learn this traditional skill I had originally learned from an African friend. 

I am carrying my youngest daughter on my back. This way of carrying infants encourages healthy posture in both mother and child. 

Philanthropy and support

For most of my time in the US I have lived in the Bay area, which happens to have one of the highest densities of philanthropic donors in the US. Innumerable students from the Bay Area and elsewhere in the US over the years have stepped up in a variety of ways to offer support to our organization by way of legal advice, mentorship, business strategy, and funding for research. In 2020 we managed to raise enough money in donations for the randomized control trial (RCT) that is happening in a major university next year, from students who wanted to see the benefits they received from this work extended to a wider public.

Of course it’s natural to have the largest following, and therefore the largest number of supporters, locally. In fact, in spite of the distances, people from all over the globe have stepped up to offer a variety of kinds of support—back pain is truly a global problem.

Our company continues to receive much “behind the scenes” help. Often these supporters stepped up without me asking. A number of people eminent in their field, including musician, artist, and activist Joan Baez, have been extremely generous with their endorsement of our method. We have also received donations—of antique photographs and artifacts showing healthy posture—to the Gokhale Method Institute’s collection. People have come forward and offered us accommodation and venues. There is truly no way that our organization could have reached its current level without all this help.

It especially touches my heart when students are courageous and willing to share their story, be that by talking to others, writing a blog post, or giving a testimonial. This is never an expectation, but another gift for which I am truly thankful as it inspires others to have realistic hope that they too can learn the Gokhale Method and live without pain.

Many of our students generously share their stories. Here is Sheila Bond, who was featured in our most recent blog post.

Americans are at the frontier of wearable tech 

Over the last seven years, we’ve developed ground-breaking wearables, including our user-friendly PostureTracker™. No door was ever closed to us for lack of formal training in technology or tech enterprise. We learned as we went along and persisted through to the finish line and now have a unique and sophisticated tool to assist our students in transforming their posture education into posture habits. PostureTracker is now available as an add-on to our in-person Foundations and Pop-up courses, our online Elements course, as well our in-person and online Alumni offerings. Our next deep-dive online Alumni PostureTracker Course starts on January 11 next year.

This clip from our Secrets to Pain-Free Sitting DVD shows students using our PostureTracker wearable.

Being positive is cool in the US

Positive reinforcement as a teaching style, as well as a tenet of company culture, is a data-supported choice that has been widely embraced in the US. I was raised with some degree of the Calvinistic notion that a little negativity is a necessary part of being real. And my own posture training included spurs like, “How can you stand to be so ugly?” (To many of us this will be surprising, but as part of “old school” pedagogy, it’s nowhere near caning school children, which used to be a common practice). So I’m grateful I got to see that authentic positive reinforcement works, works really well, and leaves no scars behind.  

I believe a positive approach is especially important in the field of posture because posture has historically been laced with negative reinforcement, ridicule, and even racism. Posture is a very personal matter for most people, so it is important that people feel safe, embraced, and encouraged as they go about their journey of improving themselves. It is an integral part of our teacher training that a positive stance is woven into our teaching, our touch, and our vision, and I feel grateful for my 45+ years in the US for supporting this. 

Julie and I celebrate with our most recently trained teachers—this time in Germany! (Left to right: Michal, Ines, Julie, Me, and Johanna.)

If you would like guidance on any aspect of your posture and spine shape, consider scheduling an Initial Consultation, online or in person, with a Gokhale Method teacher.

If you would like to find out more about how the Gokhale Method can help support you, sign up to join one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops. . .

Feeling that Thanksgiving exercise motivation? Learn how to work out smarter, not just harder, today and every day! Image courtesy Andrea Piacquadio on Unsplash.

Ah, Thanksgiving. For many of us, it’s a time for gratitude and connection. It’s also a time when many people’s minds turn to exercise to offset the rich and abundant food on the menu. How can we make that extra push, enjoy it, and not injure ourselves in the process? Due to the pandemic, more and more of us are working out at home, without our usual exercise partners or in-person access to recreational facilities. Now’s the perfect time to learn to work out smarter, rather than harder.

Exercising harder and longer on top of poor structural alignment is like continuing to drive a car with a mechanical problem. Better to address the root of the problem so nothing slows you down long-term. Image courtesy Pixabay on Pexels.

#1: Fix your posture
Fixing your posture helps you work relevant muscles more efficiently. It also prevents unnecessary wear and tear. When people want to get more exercise, they often simply increase the time spent or the intensity of their exercise. Sometimes they drive themselves to exercise more because of an injury. But if they don’t address systematic posture problems while exercising, they may in fact exacerbate their injury. The analogy that comes to mind is driving a car with a crooked axle. If the car begins to have problems, the solution is not to drive extra or drive faster; you need to fix the axle. Fixing your posture can do wonders for getting more out of your exercise time.

If our daily activities are done with good posture, they can dovetail with exercise. Image courtesy Mark Timberlake on Unsplash.

#2: Use your daily-life activities as the main dish in your regimen
We’re all busier than ever, so it makes sense that it’s challenging to shoehorn separate exercise time into our schedules. A way around this is to use the activities you do every day, around the home and/or office, as the central piece of your exercise regime. Much like this recent Medium piece in which a Japanese writer shares the central role walking plays in keeping Japanese people fit without dedicated gym time, using our bodies wisely as we go about our day means that exercise is built into everything we do. Think of it as clever, efficient multitasking for the body.

To really encourage healthy habits to stick, it helps to do them in community — whether that’s friends, family, or fellow participants, or a combination. Image courtesy Andrea Piacquadio on Unsplash.

#3: Include friends and family if you're going to dedicate time for a workout
Working out smarter can also happen by incorporating the community aspect of exercise. It’s simply smarter to double up your exercise time with social time by exercising with friends, family, or online classmates. Working out with others is wonderful for both habit retention and our mental well-being. On this very strange Thanksgiving, where we can’t be together in the usual ways, having a ready-made vehicle for time spent together safely is another purpose that exercise can serve. Everyone within a family has their individual exercise needs that are valid and more important than ever to satisfy, so be sure to pick something with variety that is accessible to everyone.

We aren’t machines, but humans born of rich traditions, who need things like art, music, dance, and culture to thrive. Exercise that incorporates such enrichments satisfies multiple needs simultaneously. Image courtesy Omotayo Tajudeen on Unsplash.

#4: Include art, music, dance, and culture
You only have but so many hours in the day, and art, music, dance, and culture are universal human needs that must be met somehow. Especially in COVID times, when we cannot attend live, in-person performances, go out dancing in groups, or easily visit museums, incorporating art, music, dance, and culture into our exercise helps fill our primal human need for creative input and enlivens our spirits. And our spirits can use every boost they can get these days!

Every journey begins with a single step. Why not start yours today? Image courtesy Bruno Nascimiento on Unsplash.

Get going on the good foot, starting today
With the live, daily Gokhale Exercise program, we have arrived at just this combination of ingredients. Starting out with figuring out how to meet my own needs, I realized the audience has roughly the same needs for a textured, multi-layered, upbeat offering. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’re offering 3 free days of access to our vibrant and ever-growing Gokhale Exercise program, beginning today. Feel free to invite your friends and family to join you in a safe way this Thanksgiving weekend.