osteoporosis

In keeping with Claudia’s wishes we are not going to use any photographs of her in this blog post. We are always happy to respect our contributors' wishes for privacy. We are very grateful for Claudia’s generosity in sharing her personal posture journey, and are sure that you, our readers, will appreciate it too.

—Esther Gokhale

How I came to the Gokhale Method

I decided to take the course with Esther in person for a few reasons—firstly, I have received emails periodically about her offerings for some years and actually live close to Palo Alto where she is based. Secondly, I have been having some physical challenges recently. Lastly, my 93-year-old mother passed away in December and I felt that, after settling her estate, taking the Foundations course would make good use of some of what I received. I felt, “this is my gift from my mother.” It would make my mother happy to know this is what I’ve done…

Towards the end of my Foundation course, our garden burst forth with abundant, fragrant plumeria flowers. I brought some to Esther for my lesson and she remembered them very fondly as Champa, or frangipani flowers, from growing up in India. Image by Claudia

Improvements despite hip arthritis and osteoporosis 

A few years back I was walking with a friend and my toe somehow got caught in a brick-paved area—I don’t even remember falling, but found myself on the ground. I broke my humerus and radius. I knew I had osteoporosis, and guessed it had gotten worse—my doctor wanted to put me on medication for it, but the more I read the less I wanted to take that route—so I looked into other possibilities. 

If you are prone to tripping, the Gokhale Method Toe Tap exercise will strengthen your tibialis anterior, the shin muscle whose tendon lifts the front of your foot clear of the ground. 

I fell again a couple of years later and didn’t break anything, but I did say to my doctor how stiff my hips were feeling, despite being so active. He advised me to get an X-ray, which confirmed that I had severe hip arthritis. This surprised me as I am very active and used to run marathons—my doctor told me right away that I should get hip replacements. I thought, “I am going to explore every alternative route.” 

I have also been working on my osteoporosis since my first fall, in 2020. Every week I do Osteostrong®, using weight machines that are geared for building your bones, and take a high-quality calcium and strontium supplement. I think these measures, combined with the healthy posture I learned with the Gokhale Method aligning my bones well to respond to gravity on a daily basis, are producing significant results. I recently got my DEXA scan for the last year and my spine bone density improved by 10% and my hip bone density 20.5%, to which my doctor said “Wow!”. 

Early success motivated me to discover glidewalking

My Foundations one-on-one course was six weeks of learning a couple of new posture techniques each week, and working to incorporate these into my daily life. I worked really hard all week between lessons, practicing and rereading the book—I felt very motivated to be prepared for the next week’s lesson as I was having some immediate success. I often found it helpful to look in the mirror to check my posture learning, just to be sure of what I was doing—for example, to see that I was keeping my shoulders rolled back.

Our shoulders are naturally positioned in a posterior position that gives space for the joint, muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and nerves that populate the shoulder girdle. Shoulder rolls can gradually return hunched shoulders to this healthier arrangement. You can learn to shoulder roll with this free video.

Other new things, such as glidewalking, felt like there was almost too much much to think about when I first learned the techniques, but slowly, steadily, my body just adapted. It was wonderful how all the pieces of the glidewalking instruction came together for me.

I work two days a week and I go for a long walk on my lunch break. With this regular practice, I was able to incrementally regain the flow in my walk… I could just keep going, and I no longer had any of the tension in my hip muscles that had crept in. It was like I just floated along. My body relaxed into it and there was a beautiful, primal familiarity: This is how good I used to feel.

Our natural gait pattern is optimal for our entire structure. For Alumni seeking to deepen their experience of glidewalking, the online Advanced Glidewalking course is designed to do just that. The next course starts October 7. 

How the Gokhale Method helps me at my job

For years I had my own lettering design studio, and then eleven years ago I started working for Trader Joe’s as a signwriter, doing the handwritten chalk boards and pricing signs. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Trader Joe’s signs, here is a taste of my artwork. Image by Claudia

My Gokhale Method course helped me a lot, as we often ended up hunched over our work at flat tables. Esther gave me some suggestions which I try to pass on to the many younger people in their twenties working there who are getting back pain. For example, we have brought in some drawing boards to slant back like easels and enable us to work in a more upright posture at the tables.

In bygone eras people would commonly use a slanted surface or easel for writing, drawing, and painting, rather than hunching over. This drawing is from an 1893 technical journal. Image from Wikimedia Commons

For my hips, the hardest thing is sitting for too long and not moving. Esther encouraged me to take movement breaks to stretch out my psoas and hip muscles, so I get up and find things that need doing around the store. I do have a Gokhale™Pain-Free Chair at home, and I wish I had one at work because I love it. The seat angle of this chair situates my hips perfectly and then I can put my behind behind and let the nubs in the back hold my spine just right. It makes my hips and spine very happy!

This video explains how and why the design of the Gokhale® Pain-Free Chair makes it uniquely comfortable—and therapeutic.

I also pay particular attention to my shoulders and my chin when at work. When I first started with Esther, she told me that I walked around with my chin way up, so I have learned to lengthen the back of my neck and keep my chin down now.

Building on my Foundations course

I finished my Foundations course at the end of June. But there were still some things around hip-hinging that needed gelling for me. So I went back August 1st, and am so glad I got the extra help I needed with my hips. Due to my severe hip arthritis Esther realized that I needed to start with a smaller range of motion and plenty of support, so she came up with ideas like me leaning on a table or wall to bend, and was constantly offering alternatives that enabled me to get a feel for where I was heading. 

One of the details Esther noticed was that I held my lower belly in all the time. All my life I had thought that was important; now I know to practice relaxing that area to allow for the alignment I need at the hips. 

Bending deeply happens most easily with the thighs out of the way (externally rotated and wide) and the lower belly relaxed.

Another thing that I needed to experience was the way that kidney bean shaping the feet enabled the rest of the leg to open up and externally rotate, which again changes things in the hip joint. We did that over and over so eventually I got to feel and manifest that difference. I now know so many aspects of  natural posture that will improve my joint health. 

Our foot’s natural kidney-bean shape and outward angle helps to support healthy hip joint architecture.

Healthy posture and what the future holds

I definitely feel I can go further in changing my posture. I have signed up for the Online University—I often do the daily program, and then there is so much more I can access in the video library. I sometimes find there’s something lands that I didn’t get the first time around. At the very least, I’m inspired by the daily reminder email. 

Each day your Gokhale Exercise email tells you what’s on, and gives you a visual reminder of the daily Posture Principle. 

I still regularly refer to Esther’s book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, which has so many layers of interesting information that I’m aware I haven’t yet fully absorbed. I am only at the tip of the iceberg with this beautiful Gokhale Method, but it has already been life-changing. This really is life-long inspiration and learning! 

Best next action steps 

If you would like to start or reboot your healthy posture journey, book a consultation, online or in person, with one of our teachers. 

You can sign up below to join any one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops…

If you are prone to tripping, the Gokhale Method Toe Tap exercise will strengthen your tibialis anterior, the shin muscle whose tendon lifts the front of your foot clear of the ground.

The Question 

Can I get Gokhale-fit in 9 weeks (for a long overseas trip) via the online Gokhale Elements course?

The Dream

The trip of a lifetime is looming: 3 months in France in Spring 2023—something I’ve dreamed of for a long time. As a 67-year-old Australian, this means a lot of dreaming and a lot of planning! We’re not walking the Camino, though there’ll be lots of walking…it's more about an immersion in beauty and daily life in French towns and countryside. 

We're off in search of lush French beauty to top up our more arid and windswept Australian variety—and hopefully shine a light on an elusive French ancestor trail. Freepik

The Reality

Excitement’s building, home-front preparations are ratcheting up, French lessons take on more urgency…but I’ve been aware for a while of anxiety about how my body will cope. In particular I worry about the nitty gritty of travel: hoicking heavy suitcases into cars and taxis and onto airline scales, up and down stairwells and elevators, the sitting for hours…and hours and hours (around 24 each way) in uncomfortable airport lounges and aeroplanes—and the unfamiliar beds, tiny crowded footpaths, ankle-testing cobblestones, showers in baths—and all that walking. 

Osteoporosis

I’ve travelled lots, and well off the beaten track—but for the first time I’m aware that my body isn’t as young as it used to be and I wonder how I’ll cope with it all this time around. I’m generally healthy but have inherited thyroid and bone density issues. My current osteoporosis DEXA-scan score is -3 in the worst area—gradually drifting downward over the years despite regular daily exercise of various sorts, a very good diet, and various trials of medication. My back issues have been slowly increasing. Six-monthly injections were the only intervention producing slightly increased bone density but I had to switch medications due to side effects. 

Osteoporosis features strongly in my extended family, and I’d seen my own wonderful mum gradually defeated by increasing back aches and its psychological impact, and by inadequate healing and gradual decline after falling, despite her exceptional commitment (well into her 80s) to preventative and post-op exercise and diet.

My lumbar spine DEXA scan showed a high risk of fracture due to low bone density.

I could see—and feel—myself heading in the same direction, albeit 30 years behind her. An increasingly common ache in my back, low energy, increasing need for afternoon naps (something I’d thought was for people much older than me), difficulty sleeping comfortably at night due to back stiffness, and needing to sit with my knees up, whenever decent, to feel comfortable. I’d given up on household and garden jobs requiring back work. My mood and outlook were affected. 

Feedback from previous Gokhale Method course participants 

Someone I knew had had a remarkable and quick turnaround from severe, crippling, intractable back pain following a Gokhale Method Foundations Course in Sydney, with teacher Michelle Ball in 2017. Her back issue was disc protrusion, not osteoporosis, but like me she’d tried everything recommended to her by conventional medicine and a range of alternative approaches, without success. However, almost immediately on starting the 6-lesson Foundations Course she felt improvement—and since then has had no further back issues. She says, 

It saved my life. I have zero pain today and the best posture! Esther is my hero! 

Myriam Glorieux, Australia, 2023.

On the Gokhale Method website I’d also read Sheila Terry’s blog: How Correct Posture and a Holistic Approach Helped My Osteoporosis, written after a deep immersion in Gokhale Method training and practice. I was inspired. I dithered for a while because of the expense and the time commitment, neither of which I could manage easily in the lead-up to going away for so long. But I knew the increasing ache in my back—and the movements it was beginning to restrict—would impact a lot on our time away and all the trip preparations. 

Osteoporosis is a thinning of the bone and a reduction in its density. The Gokhale Method considers that healthy posture may well be key to the skeleton weight-bearing correctly and maintaining bone density. Image from Wikimedia Commons

My Online Initial Consultation 

I had an Online Initial Consultation with Esther Gokhale. She felt that based on the posture photos and medical reports I’d sent, and from what she could see of my movements and posture on Zoom, I had problem areas which if not addressed would likely get worse—but if addressed would improve. I dithered again, but in the end decided my health and my quality of life (and the lives of those around me) were worth the investment in time and money.

The Gokhale Elements Course 

By this stage our trip was only 9 weeks away. Travelling to do the in-person Foundations Course was out of the question given time limitations, but I could do the online Elements course from home on a schedule that fitted me. I also decided to buy the Gokhale PostureTracker™, thinking that without a hands-on teacher who could physically check my posture, it’d be the next best thing. Wearing its two sensors told me (via an app) when my spine was or wasn’t in proper alignment. It’s been well worth the outlay—it was so reassuring to have the figure on the screen show green whenever my posture was in correct alignment, or turn to other colours if my body drifted away from this. It can be set to beep or buzz if you can’t watch the screen. PostureTracker™ can help with almost every position.

The Elements course is 18 sessions, each 13 minutes long. I knew my learning style and that to absorb things well (and make the most of my financial and time investment) I’d need several days between each lesson to do the required pre-reading/video-watching/lesson prep, and then the practise/fine-tuning afterwards. By spacing things this way (I chose Tuesday and Friday mornings at 7.30am my time) I could factor everything into daily life. The helpful Customer Support staff were able to lock in all lessons at times that fitted well for me. This way I’d finish the 18 sessions the day before we flew to France. Pretty good motivation I thought. 

The Elements course covers the key components required for re-establishing the basis of natural, healthy human posture with regard to standing, sitting, bending, walking, and lying. The 18 online classes teach Gokhale Method techniques such as the rib anchor, shoulder roll, and stretchsitting, and many more, in detail and tailored to each person.

The short, free Gokhale Moments videos can get you started with key techniques like rib anchor, shoulder roll, and stretchsitting.

Each Elements student has a private log-in User Dashboard on the Gokhale website, containing all their student records, submitted photos, PostureTracker™ data (if used), Student Notes etc. At the end of each Elements lesson, I did 5–10 mins of practice to lock in what I’d learnt, then logged into the Dashboard to write a brief summary, for my own benefit, of my key learning or queries—plus comments about body changes I was noticing. 

These notes were also a way to send progress reports and questions to Esther (who, as my teacher, was notified every time I posted). Sometimes she answered these online and sometimes during lessons.

Click here for excerpts from my Elements course Student Notes:

 A New Reality? (…am hoping so!) 

It was almost spooky how quickly my body responded to these subtle changes. Esther talks about body parts (once Gokhaled) “coming home to where they belong”—and that’s how it feels. I’m taller, straighter, firmer, stronger, and I’m walking, standing, sitting, and bending better. I’m more energetic, powering along pathways on daily walks (glidewalking is amazing!), and feel back in sync with my body. 

I finished the Elements course the day before we flew to France. My body felt so much stronger and I can see it in the “After” photos. 

I’ve had to remove the books under my desktop computer screen because the angle of my chin (and line of sight) has shifted slightly downwards without my being conscious of it, to a more comfortable position. Maybe this has something to do with the disappearance of the background headache I’ve had for the past year or so. 

I’m gradually sleeping better (i.e. more comfortably), with stretchlying on the side still to be fully mastered. The increasing discomfort I’d had for many months prior to the course has disappeared. My head is clear and I’ve got my mojo back. I feel more positive. Significant and wonderful changes. 

Of course, having France on the horizon no doubt helped (!), but it couldn’t account for the physical changes, or the confidence I felt about managing upcoming travel challenges. I skipped off into the French “coucher de soleil” (sunset) feeling ready for just about anything.

Bridge at Cirque de Navacelles, near Montpellier, southern France.

I felt Gokhale-fit—and sailed through pretty much everything on our trip. We’ve just arrived home after a wonderful three months: stunning landscapes, beauty-reservoirs full to overflowing, layers of history, French lessons given full workout, replete with delicious food, shoes worn thin, walking muscles well and truly toned. What a country! 

The Seine river, in the heart of Paris.

This curious little fish-chef artwork kept appearing (in different poses) on walls all over Paris— generally without text—but on this one was the German word “zeitenwende,” which translates as “turning point.” It seems to fit, so I’m taking it as a sign for my posture journey:)

Gratitude

I’m very grateful to Esther and her team for what she’s created and made available in the Gokhale Method. It’s extraordinary stuff. At times it feels too good to be true…and yet it is. Such subtle changes, yet such profound impact. All delivered in such an engaging, very human, immensely skilful and positive way. This gift is life-changing.   

PS: The Gokhale Method in Australia

As we were flying into Australia, I saw on the Gokhale website that Tegan Kahn (one of Australia’s 2 Gokhale teachers) was running a Foundations Course in Canberra that weekend. It was a hands-on opportunity (too timely to miss) for tweaking my still problematic stretchlying on the side. 

I detoured and spent 2 days with Tegan, who took me through all 6 Foundations lessons—with extra attention to stretchlying on the side. She was impressed by my “Gokhale-fit posture” and only small refinements were generally needed, but with stretchlying on the side some extra input and hands-on clarified the changes I needed to make. These are progressively becoming part of my “muscle memory” and a side-lying posture that works for me. Thank you, Tegan!

Tegan refined my stretchlying on the side position (I'd been overdoing most of the steps) and it felt great. The tricky bit is being able to repeat it at home… bit by bit training my muscle memory.

My results from practising the Gokhale Method keep growing. After my Foundations Course I was able to nestle my pelvis even deeper and align my upper back and neck straighter in hip-hinging.

Teacher Training—possibly in Australia!

I’d been wondering while away if I could apply to do Gokhale Teacher Training—as a way to deepen my own understanding and help others (including family members) out of long-term back pain.

And…a golden opportunity has come up. Esther is considering coming to Australia to run a teacher training course in early 2024! This would make the teacher-training process so much more accessible and affordable for those of us in the Australasia region. A minimum of 4–6 teacher trainees are needed. The Gokhale Method team is already in the process of contacting all Gokhale Alumni in Australia, India, Singapore and New Zealand, and inviting anyone interested to contact them for information. I’ve put my hand up and have nearly completed the application process.

If you live in our region of the world and are inspired to train in Australia to become a Gokhale Method Teacher, please contact [email protected]. I hope to see you there!

Hunching over or rounding the upper back is often regarded as a hereditary characteristic. I frequently hear people say, “my back is stooped just like my mother, and her mother had it too.” 

Is a hunched back Nature or Nurture?

I agree that hunching is certainly a family trait—but it is largely a learned one, not inherited. 

We mostly learn our posture from our parents and family members. As we grow up, the role models around us in wider society also hold sway. Unfortunately, in our culture, these are usually pretty poor examples to follow. Our relationship to healthy posture has steadily been eroded over the past one hundred years, as I explain in my book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back.

Healthy, open posture, as shown here, was typical in Western societies until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Print donated by the Mendocino County Museum to the Gokhale Method Institute’s collection).

While it is true that some people have a greater genetic predisposition to these distortions, e.g., they may have slack ligaments which easily allow them to occur, these changes generally only manifest when a particular area of the body is subjected to sustained and inappropriate loading. When a person retains or relearns healthy posture, genetic predispositions have little opportunity for expression and for distortions to take hold.   

This mother in Burkina Faso positions her head, neck, shoulders, and arms in a way that is harmonious with retaining an upright and mostly flat upper back. Her child is also experiencing healthy posture—his arms and shoulders posterior, his chest open.

This well-meaning mother is unfortunately encouraging her daughter to round her back as she exercises. Pexels

Why does the upper back hunch?

In some respects, developing a rounded back is not dissimilar from developing bunions—both distortions are the body’s adaptation to a lack of support in the right place, and consequent overloading somewhere else. 

Bunions can form when the joint at the base of the big toe repeatedly takes weight that should be in the heel bone. This can be due to wearing a pointed or high-heeled shoe, or simply from habitually standing with weight through the forefoot rather than the heel. 

The upper back rounds when it is made to carry and counterbalance the weight of a forward hanging head, neck, shoulders, and arms. In healthy posture the upper body is supported by a more vertical J-shape alignment of the spine and the deep postural muscles, or “inner corset.” This prevents the spine from collapsing into an S-shape, C-shape, or I-shape. You can read more about spine shape here.

Sir Charles Walker, a British member of Parliament, being interviewed. A tucked pelvis will often result in a rounded upper back and forward head carriage. Channel 4 News (UK)

How to improve rounded, head forward posture

One of the best steps towards finding your J-spine alignment is to realign your head over your body. To develop the deep cervical muscles which counter excessive neck curves, I recommend using the Gokhale™ Head Cushion, which was specifically designed for this therapeutic purpose. It mimics the beneficial effects of head loading, but with a safe amount of weight for people in a society unpracticed in carrying on the head. 

People who carry weight on their head push up against it using their deep neck muscles (longus colli) and inner corset. Their central axis remains tall, with no rounding of the upper spine.

Caution: If you have any neck pain, or suspicion of herniation or other degeneration in the neck, do not do this exercise.

Headloading is a rarely taught but highly effective means of lengthening, strengthening, and aligning the neck, and freeing the upper back.

Upright and open posture is your birthright

By not hunching you can:

• Maintain your full height
• Retain a more youthful appearance
• Avoid muscular pain and tension, especially in the back and neck
• Avoid nerve pain, impingements, and poor circulation in the shoulders and arms
• Encourage the “inner corset” muscles to support and protect the spine
• Avoid compression and degeneration in the spine, including bone, discs, and nerves 
• Reduce your risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis in the spine as the bones receive
  the healthy stress they are designed for
• Enjoy healthier breathing and digestion

Hunching is not an inevitable part of aging

Often people start to notice they are hunching in middle or older age, maybe because it has become more pronounced. Hunching usually starts as a postural habit much earlier in life, yet goes largely unnoticed if there is little stiffness or pain in the area—and it is not yet linked negatively to associations with the aging process. In many traditional cultures people preserve an upright posture well into old age.

A lifetime of seated work does not make hunching inevitable, as the upright posture of this Ecuadorian backstrap loom weaver shows.

This elderly man in Indonesia has retained posterior shoulders and a wide, relatively flat upper back. Unsplash

This elderly farmer from the Yogyakarta region of Indonesia has preserved an open chest and shoulders that rest back. Unsplash

At whatever age you notice rounding in your back, it is important not to see it as inevitably leading to an extreme kyphosis (severe outward curvature) in the upper spine. Sometimes students come to us in dismay, perhaps shocked to have recently seen themselves so hunched in a particular photograph or video. Rather than despair, use this highly pertinent data as a springboard and incentive to return toward the healthy alignment you had as a young child. 

A young girl washes eggs for market near Falls Creek, Pennsylvania, 1940. She inclines slightly forward and lengthens the back of her neck to attend to the task. Her shoulders remain posterior, her chest open—no rounding over! Pinterest

How to mobilize a stiff upper back

In most situations using a suitable roller is my favorite way of mobilizing the upper back. It can ease stiffness in the vertebral joints, soften tight muscles, and improve circulation to the area. To ensure you get all of these up sides and none of the potential downsides from roller work, there are some important guidelines to follow:

• Use a roller that is the right size, density, texture, is non-slip, and robust. The Gokhale™ Roller meets these criteria.
• Rolling needs to be done with a safe technique and healthy postural form, not threaten injury to your back or neck.
• New freedom in the upper back must be balanced with healthy posture to improve muscular tone and alignment. This prevents newly acquired “give” in the area from resulting in further rounding.

Caution: If you have osteopenia or osteoporosis, or suspicion of herniation or other degeneration in your spine, do not do this exercise.

The Gokhale™ Roller has been specifically designed to help you on your posture journey towards a happy, hunch-free back.

How the Gokhale Method resolves hunched posture

Posture education often starts when people analyze their online or in-person Initial Consultation photographs with a teacher. Gokhale Method® teachers have a lot of experience in reassuring people who have a kyphosis (rounded upper back), explaining the mechanisms that got them hunched, and the logical steps they can take to turn this unwanted trajectory around. The Initial Consultation starts the process of students fine tuning their ability to read posture. It can be a revelation. 

Initial education in Gokhale Method techniques and the resulting changes can be rapid. Most students soon realize how amenable to change the arrangement of the skeleton and soft tissue can be. Changes to rounded posture are not only possible, but almost guaranteed as students progress through our in-person Foundations or Pop-up course, or online Elements course.

In the case of bony rigidity that has been in place for decades, we work to get improvement around fixed areas, and to prevent it from getting worse. With persistence and patience, a surprising degree of bony changes can take place over time. As with all body tissue, bone constantly renews itself in response to the way it is arranged and used.

Felicia Grimke, aged 32, was a very hunched and pain-plagued office worker.

Now a Gokhale Method alumna, Felicia continues to enjoy working on healthy posture and is virtually pain-free for the first time in many decades.

Many of our students have generously shared the story of their journey out of hunching and pain. Do be inspired by Felicia Grimke’s recent post on overcoming hunching, How the Gokhale Method Solved my Neck Pain and Transformed my Life, and sign up for one of our free online workshops below. 

Susan (left) enjoying time with her grandchild and family. 
Susan sent us this photo, commenting, “but check out the C-shaped spine—wow!”

I am a 70-year-old woman. As a young woman I was tall (5’10"), slender, and active as I would ever be raising my six children. 

For the most part, my body and I had a good relationship, but, over time and with the demands of my life, something problematic happened. My body began talking to me: my knee, psoas, sacrum, and lower back hurt, and I also suffered a loss of balance. I mainly saw a chiropractor but also physical therapists, massage therapists, and acupuncturists…the list is long. When you want to function and feel halfway decent, you try everything.

By the time I was 60, I had three fractures in my spine and a diagnosis of osteoporosis. For 10 years I worked hard to control the osteoporosis and did well rebuilding my bones, but even so, I am now 5’6", four inches shorter than I was. Perhaps it is vain to wish every day for the return of my stature, but to stand tall and straight has been a preoccupation. I tried to hide my posture under my clothes, but of course that doesn’t really work! 

Learning to stacksit gave Susan a much-improved position for her piano and organ playing.

In my thirties I started teaching piano and became a church organist. Recently, because of the pandemic, our church music has had to be prerecorded. On Sundays, when the recordings were broadcast, I saw myself seated at the organ and was astonished to see how small and bent over I was. This was not the way I had imagined myself looking. It was horrifying. I knew something had to change.

These people all have open chests and relaxed, posterior shoulders. Young children, our ancestors, 
and diverse populations in nonindustrialized areas of the world today share this healthy posture. 

In spite of the deterioration, I maintained hope of improvement. When I came across Esther Gokhale for the second time in a year, I paid attention. I was inspired by her TEDx talk, interviews, and website. There was wisdom and a depth of insight there that I had not seen before, and a pursuit of positive change that matched my own. There was something compelling in the testimonies of the Gokhale Method alumni, and Esther’s research into ancestral and primal postures. It all rang true and had evidence to back it up. I had to try the Gokhale Method.

For all my efforts and the various things I had tried, nothing up to that point had worked for me. I was afraid that Esther’s approach was not going to work either. I told myself I would give it a year. I started working with Esther and gave her my trust and commitment. I learned my new body awareness methodically through the 18 concise lessons of the Elements online program. At times I worried I would be disappointed again, but Esther’s expectation of a good outcome—combined with her integrity and tenacity—kept me moving forward. 

Susan used to tuck her pelvis and collapse her spine (left). Having learned to antevert her pelvis and 
use her inner corset (right), she now stands tall, regaining length in her torso.

An important step for me was understanding the difference between a tucked pelvis and an anteverted pelvis, and that I could make it happen in my own body. Doing the “inner corset” also made visible changes. I wasn’t bent over from fatigue by the end of the day. I was so grateful. I could be upright again, and I felt back to being myself. Previous to the Elements course, my body had become something to fear; it has now become something I take pleasure in.

So many things have gotten better. I had a tight psoas for decades, which caused pain in my groin. I don’t feel that anymore. Before if I fell asleep on my back, I would wake myself up snoring or run out of breath. That has gone. It had also been difficult to breath when walking; now all of my breathing is much better. Over the winter I have been enjoying barefoot walks along the beach, applying what I have learned about my feet. This attention is paying off and my feet are changing. A small bunion is reducing and the big toe is coming home (Esther said it probably would) while the other toes are relaxing straighter.

Cultivating kidney bean-shaped feet with strong arches helps take pressure off the delicate structures of the forefoot. Susan notices her bunion is reducing and her toes are starting to straighten.

The daily class on the 1-2-3 Move program is very important for me to maintain ongoing improvements—and it keeps me motivated. The online community helps me celebrate and practice what I have gained. I’m inspired by Esther’s beautiful visuals of healthy body alignment and architecture. 

Occasional anatomy snippets woven into the 1-2-3 Move classes 
help participants to understand their own body architecture.

Additionally, the Q&A session following each 13-minute class makes it easy to ask questions. Just last week someone asked a question about the role of rectus abdominis (the six-pack ab muscles) and a huge light shone for me; I realized how these muscles can tuck the pelvis and/or round me forward. Now I let that sort of tension go—and I can stand straighter! I’ve learned how to use my “inner corset” muscles, drawing my deeper abs in and upward like I’m going into ice-cold water. I regularly go quarry swimming, so I know exactly what that feels like!

This entire journey of finding out how my body works has been transformative for me. Best of all, the Gokhale Method has shown me how I can once again live my life upright and pain free. What a gift! 

Sheila enjoying carrying her granddaughter.

I am a small-boned, postmenopausal woman with osteoporosis. I first showed signs of osteopenia (the precursor to osteoporosis) 10 years ago and agreed with my physician to take a Western medicine called Boniva. After a year of nasty side effects, I discontinued the medicine and decided to try to pursue other options.

I researched and experimented and eventually found a routine comprised of nutritional supplements, weight-bearing exercises with a trainer twice a week, and walking as much as possible. This routine seemed to help a little but was complicated by an undiagnosed fissure in my L5/S1 lumbar disc. At the time, I was in chronic pain and in constant fear of having a back spasm with each weight-bearing exercise. I did my best, but the gusto I needed to push through these exercises soon evaporated.

Osteoporosis is a thinning of the bone and a reduction in its density. Good posture 
may well be key to the skeleton weight-bearing correctly and maintaining bone density. Wikimedia Commons

In 2015 a DEXA scan (bone density test) indicated I was at a score of -2.5 and officially in the osteoporosis category. I decided that I was just not doing enough. I saw an Ayurvedic doctor and upped my game by taking Ayurvedic herbs to improve bone density as well as spending several months at an Ayurvedic treatment center in India. 

As I look back, I see my life at that time was not going the way I wanted it to; my attention was constantly drawn to my back pain, and now, osteoporosis. But I remained hopeful that what I was doing would do the trick. In 2016 I had a partial discectomy to correct the fissured disc in L5/S1. Although I was able to get the disc repaired, the back pain continued. That year I was limited in the weight-bearing exercises I could do. 

CT scans showing the annular fissure at Sheila’s L5/S1 intervertebral disc. 
When a disc’s tough outer casing tears, some of the disc filling (nucleus pulposus) 
is squeezed out, often toward sensitive nerve roots.

Two years went by and in 2018, my next DEXA scan indicated my numbers had worsened to -3.1. Now there was no option for me but Western medicine to avoid fractures. I did what was needed and took a onetime infusion of a medicine called Reclast (Zoledronic Acid). The recommendation from the doctor was to continue with annual doses for 3-5 years to see results. However, I stopped after one year due to jaw pain, which is a known possible side effect.

In 2019 my life took a positive turn. I read a book by Esther Gokhale called 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back and immediately sensed that I had found the solution to my back problems. I took the Gokhale Method® Foundations Course in June 2019 and put this newfound knowledge into practice. The Gokhale Method turned everything around for me by correcting my bad posture, which almost entirely resolved the back pain. I did the exercises at the back of the book religiously and attended every online workshop. I could now sit, stand, bend, walk and actively exercise without fear of pain or spasm. I have continued to thrive ever since with NO BACK PAIN.

During the last year and a half, I have continued practicing the Gokhale Method and now attend the Gokhale Exercise offerings 7 days per week. The daily programs frequently include dancing, bobbing, jogging, jiggling, shaking, and light-impact movements.  I also practiced Qi Gong, a martial arts type exercise, 3 times per week. I have continued taking the same supplements that I had prior to 2018: RAW Calcium and Cissus quadrangularis (an Indian Ayurvedic herb that I have taken for 6 years).

A moment from our 1-2-3 Move session, November 19th 2020. The theme was 
“Jiggling and Jumping.” Movements that cultivate a strong core and protect your back can be fun!

On November 30, 2020 I once again went for a DEXA scan of my spine, hips, and femur. The next day I was filled with anxiety about what my results would show. I was afraid that my bone density might have plummeted and that I would now be in serious danger of a fracture. I had already planned on resuming Western meds and had even decided on which one would be the best choice for me in the long term.

When I opened my DEXA scan results I was shocked. My lumbar  spine T-scores indicated that I had improved from -3.1 in 2018 to -2.7 in 2020. Compared to the previous exam, the BMD (Bone Mineral Density) had increased 6.1% within the spine and increased 4.9% within the femurs. This increase in spinal and femoral density was statistically significant.

On Dec 10, 2020 I went for a follow-up visit with my rheumatologist to review the lab results and get some perspective on the DEXA scan. He said that my bone density improvement was extraordinary. The Reclast infusion I had completed 2 years prior (one time only) was expected to only preserve my bone density at -3.1.  There was a tiny chance of a 1% improvement, but a 6.1% improvement was not an expected result. He remarked that this kind of positive change is extremely rare. He kept saying, “Keep doing what you are doing, because it is working and for now there is no need to return to Western meds.” At that point I told him about the Gokhale Method and showed him 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back.

Exercise with weights, when done with healthy postural form, 
will help increase bone density and strength. 
Gokhale Method teacher Eric Fernandez shows how on the Gokhale Fitness Program.

Other than the Reclast infusion in 2018, the only additions I have made to my routine are the Gokhale Method daily techniques, the Gokhale Exercise program including 1-2-3 Move with Esther, and Qi Gong.  I have been dealing with this bone density issue for about 10 years now and have tried a large number of different approaches—this is the first time I have had any kind of an improvement in my bone density.

I want to emphasize that I am a strong believer in Western medicine. I will certainly use it again if my bone density decreases. In the meantime, I will continue with my Gokhale Method routine and get tested again in a year to see if the improvement lasts.

For now, my expectations are GREAT!