chair

In this blog post I am excited to introduce a wedge for stacksitting to our students and readers. It’s possible to experience and take pleasure in sitting as you work at your desk, eat at your table, or play an instrument. If this is not the case for you, the Gokhale Wedge could make it so.

Upright sitting is necessary for many activities. The people shown above are sitting well with ease; most people in our culture no longer know how to do this.  

How a suitable wedge can transform your sitting

Does your back get tired and tense from trying to sit upright? To sit upright without tension in your back muscles, and without slumping to let tired muscles rest, your pelvis needs to be anteverted (tipped forward). A lot of people assume that tipping the pelvis forward will result in a sway, but are pleasantly surprised to find that this isn’t the case. Using a wedge enables you to tip your pelvis forward and find the natural position for your sacrum which allows an angled L5-S1 disc space that is a better fit for the wedge-shaped L5-S1 disc. From this base your vertebrae can stack vertically, giving you a healthy J-spine. Now your back muscles can relax, and your nerves, discs, muscles, and circulation can function well.

The pelvis is the foundation for the upper body. With the pelvis well positioned, the upper body can be upright and relaxed (a). With the pelvis poorly positioned, the upper body is either relaxed but slumped (b), or upright but tense (c).

A well-designed wedge helps you to rediscover sitting comfort. It helps create healthy muscle memory for standing and walking too.

Designing posture-friendly products

In general, we have chosen to be somewhat slow to market with products. We set a high bar for effectiveness and quality of design and manufacture, and don’t want to add to the glut of products that end up in landfill. 

But creating a wedge has been on my to do list for several years. One reason is that people often arrive at our courses having bought available wedges that don’t actually antevert the pelvis—and sometimes do the opposite in tucking the pelvis. 

In the past I hired professional designers to address this problem, but was not satisfied with the outcome. So until now we taught students how to make their own wedges by folding towels and blankets. However, we recognized that this isn’t always easy to get right, and rolled fabric does not keep its shape when transferred from place to place. 

A rolled towel or blanket can make a suitable wedge for stacksitting but it loses its shape easily if moved and takes frequent remodeling.

Determined to provide our students with a truly good wedge, we recently set about trialing a number of prototypes and getting extensive feedback from students and teachers. The result is a unique, simple design which finally ticks all the boxes.

The Gokhale Wedge took some time to get right.

What makes the Gokhale Wedge different

Most wedges are not informed by the J-spine philosophy that is at the core of the Gokhale Method®. Though commercial wedges are trying to respond to the discomfort that most people feel when sitting, and the observation that many seat pans slant backwards, they don’t go far enough in helping the pelvis antevert and supporting a J-spine. 

The majority of wedges on the market have an even, shallow slope, and are made of soft foam. Soft foam allows the sitz-bones to sink into the wedge, further reducing the angle of a slope which is already insufficient to help tip the pelvis. 

An example of a widely available, evenly-sloped shallow wedge. 

Gokhale Method teacher Julie Johnson shows how a soft, shallow wedge allows users to sit in a tucked pelvic position—not what you want, and not how Julie likes to sit!

The design of the Gokhale Wedge

The Gokhale Wedge is made from a durable foam that offers both sturdy support and enough cushioning to be comfortable for longer periods. We tested materials such as buckwheat and discovered them to be too hard for most people’s comfort. Topping the buckwheat with foam still left a loose filling that needed remodeling with each use.

The Gokhale™Pain-Free Chair, which has a steep drop built into the front edge of the seat pan, encourages the pelvis to tip for stacksitting, and was one of the inspirations for our wedge. 

Our wedge is able to accommodate all shapes and sizes and works well on a variety of surfaces. It also accommodates changes in your L5-S1 angle as you progress on your posture journey. One side is slightly steeper than the other, allowing you to choose which slope you prefer. Its cover is washable and durable, so it stays looking elegant.

Top view

Base view
The Gokhale Wedge is distinct from the triangular wedges on the market.

Backing up the Gokhale Wedge with education

No matter how well-designed, a posture product is best supported by training. This is true of all of our products, but perhaps especially so for our wedge because stacksitting is a big departure from most people’s sitting form. You can learn about stacksitting in our in-person Foundations course, one-day Pop-up course, our online Elements course, plus our Gokhale Exercise program. These offerings, along with our DVD Secrets to Pain-Free Sitting, all teach the skills that enable you to integrate your wedge optimally into daily life. 

You can also integrate using the wedge with our wearable PostureTracker™, which has settings that can track the degree of your L5-S1 angle, and the stack of your spine. Consider the Gokhale Wedge a part of your toolkit as you improve your posture and musculoskeletal health. 

Best next action steps for newcomers

If you would like insight on your posture, consider scheduling an Initial Consultation, online, or in person.

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

Earlier in the history of our company, we didn’t intend to create any posture products and thought education alone would be sufficient. We still stand by our philosophy that education is the most important ingredient in restoring primal posture.  

Posture braces, seat cushions, and shirts are not able to take the place of hands-on coaching to establish posture ideals or healthy ways of getting to those ideals. The Gokhale Method trains people on the look and feel of healthy posture; now you can choose aids wisely to support you.

Posture devices as seen above usually induce people to switch from one bad posture (slumping) to another (arching). Most people believe they need to "sit up straight." In fact, arched posture can do as much harm as slumping does. Hands-on training by a Gokhale Method teacher can teach you truly healthy posture; following that, a reminder system, whether like the one above or a simple alarm that goes off periodically, will induce you to reset yourself in a healthy way.  

There’s no magic cushion, or brace, or buzzing device that will give someone perfect posture without hands-on coaching. But over the years, our students' input and feedback taught us to see that there is significant value to be had from certain types of posture aids.

We still teach the use of a towel as a great stretchsitting device, but before we developed the Stretchsit Cushion, we frequently received feedback about how people found it difficult—or impossible—to use a towel on their wooden chair, their plastic outdoor furniture, or their slippery office chair. They hated trying to use rubber bands and bungee cords and clothes pegs, and having to refold or readjust the towel to be the right size.

The towel method works for some seats, but many students found it frustrating to set up or adjust.

We kept hearing, “Can’t you just make something I can throw on a chair easily?” So we listened.

Having the Stretchsit Cushion in your car means you spend significantly less time setting up and adjusting your cushions, and it can't slip out of place!

Developing and manufacturing a product was new for me and for the company, so it took a few tries to get to where we are today. I learned a lot about persistence.

Our first round of the Stretchsit Cushion, V1, had oval rubber nubs. Pro: very sticky! Con: the stitches tore through the rubber from the shear forces of stretchsitting—people stuck too well! It’s better that the compression forces went to the nubs rather than the discs in people’s back, but our customers were naturally disappointed when their cushions failed.

This was V1 of the Stretchsit Cushion.

Instead of endlessly replacing products, we moved on to a tougher, textured nub that is stuffed with foam to be more durable.

The Stretchsit cushion's nubs are now made from a strong, textured material that will provide friction without ripping.

A lot of nubs to help a lot of spinal discs!

Additionally we switched to stronger, more color-fast fabric so cushions in cars or sunlit rooms don't get sun-bleached. We also used a more durable foam for the body of the cushion - one that is malleable enough to accommodate many spine shapes, but strong enough to stand up to wear and tear over time without deteriorating.

The front panel of the cushion created by a seamstress using a sewing machine.

It took us several rounds of production to get to the great cushion we have today. We were determined to not compromise on the quality of the materials or the function of the product. When we first started designing the cushion, we didn’t know all the factors we would have to take into account to reach a really high standard. Now we are proud that our cushion receives very few complaints and an awful lot of praise!

The Stretchsit cushion is available from a teacher near you, our website, or Amazon.

FAQs

Q: Where can I purchase a Stretchsit Cushion?

A: If you are taking a Gokhale Method class, we recommend purchasing one directly from your teacher. Otherwise, you can buy them from our website or from Amazon.com. You can save on bundles of 2 or 3 cushions, available only through our website.

Q: Why is there such firm / soft foam in the cushion? Wouldn’t a softer / harder cushion be more comfortable?

A: There are research studies showing that medium-firm mattresses provide people with the most comfort and support. We’ve discovered this to be true for our stretchsit cushion as well. On one hand, we wanted it to be supportive; on the other, we wanted it to be comfortable and conform to a variety of body shapes. We played with the hardness of the foam and of the nubs, and after many iterations have come to a harmonious place, similar to a medium-firm mattress.

Each nub is stuffed with foam of an appropriate density so it will protrude from the cushion without being uncomfortable against the back.

Q: Why isn’t the Stretchsit Cushion cheaper, when I can find $25 foam cushions at stores like Bed Bath & Beyond?

A: We find our Stretchsit Cushion is actually less expensive than high-end lumbar supports or memory foam pads, but yes, there are cheaper foam cushions on the market. Many of these cheap options deteriorate quickly, and aren’t dense enough to provide significant support (although they will soften a hard or rough surface, if that is all that is desired).

In the Gokhale Method philosophy, lumbar supports do not solve, and may exacerbate, the problem of compression by causing a sway in the lumbar spine (lumbar supports are designed to encourage the S-shaped spinal ideal that we teach away from). What’s needed is a thoracic support that offers friction, which isn't possible with a simplistic single block of molded foam and a fabric cover.

A typical lumbar support cushion may exacerbate a sway and doesn't support a J-spine.

To provide function and comfort at the standard we hold ourselves to requires a higher level of sophistication, which we’re very happy to have reached in the Stretchsit Cushion. The production process for our cushion is rather intricate, and to make small high-friction nubs of appropriately strong material requires the individual nubs to be worked by someone using a sewing machine rather than industrial sewing. This, and the quality of our materials, is what dictates the price of our cushion. We receive numerous reports on how much benefit people get out of their cushions, so we consider that although it can seem expensive at first, when the cushion is considered as an investment in the health of your spinal discs, nerves, and vertebrae, it is really a steal!

Q: Should I buy your cushion and use it with my current chair or buy the Gokhale Pain Free Chair?

A: You will need the cushion for your carseat and in chairs that you have no control of. We sell a bundle of three cushions because people frequently want one for the car, one for their work chair, and one for their computer chair at home.

If you are in the market for a chair, the Gokhale Pain Free chair is a marvelous investment. It has a 10 year warranty on parts (here too we did not skimp on quality or function), and will support you in stretchsitting (it has a built-in stretchsit cushion) as well as in stacksitting (it has a built-in wedge). It has other helpful features like a “mushroom top” seat to facilitate external rotation of the legs, and no armrests so you can come in close to your work surface (if your shoulders are properly rolled open, you will not miss the arm rests). No other chair has these features.

The Gokhale Method Pain-Free Chair has a built-in Stretchsit Cushion and a built-in wedge with additional nubs in the seat for greater traction.

That said, if you are financially pressed, we recommend economizing by buying the Stretchsit Cushion and using a folded blanket for stacksitting. These inexpensive additions to your chair allow you to achieve healthy posture; the drawback is that it won’t look as elegant and you will need to adjust your implements periodically.

Watch our videos for guidance on using your Stretchsit Cushion:

Thoreau had three chairs

American philosopher-poet Henry David Thoreau wrote in the "Visitors" chapter of Walden, his 1854 account of his life in a cabin he built on the edge of Walden Pond, near Concord Massachusetts:

"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."

I'm a fan of Thoreau, and I favor simplicity. And although I have more than three chairs in my house, I have just one type of chair that has become "go-to seating" for most solitary and social activities--not just for me, but for family members, friends, and co-workers. The chair is the Gokhale Pain-Free™ Chair, and I designed it myself.

Pain-free sitting, at home and at work

If you were to stop by my house today you would find five Pain-Free™ Chairs arranged around our dining room table--a table that has served my family well, not just at mealtimes, but throughout days and nights as a communal work station/library/coffee shop. To some extent I credit this comfortable arrangement for regularly enticing my two daughters home from nearby college and grad school; they continue to be drawn to this familiar setting, in part because it's such a comfortable place to sit. And if you were to pop into our nearby Gokhale Method Institute office you would see that every member of my staff sits in this very same type of chair, not because it's required or because they feel obliged, but because this is their preference. Before the Gokhale Pain-Free™ Chair came to market, our office was furnished with relatively high-end task chairs (Herman Miller and Soma Ergonomics, among others). But when given the option to stay with the chair they had or to switch, everyone opted for the Pain-Free™ Chair.

Keeping it simple

"Simplicity is the law of nature for men as well as for flowers" is something else Thoreau wrote, and I subscribe to this philosophy. Tipping my hat to Thoreau, I would add that simplicity is also the law for chairs--or at least one of the laws. Too many chairs feature gratuitous, even counter-productive, features. It's not so much that--as Goldilocks observed--the chairs are "too hard" or "too soft," it's that many oblige sitters to tuck the pelvis into a retroverted position, a position that leads to tense low-back muscles, slumping, and--over time--problems with spinal discs, hamstrings, and even the pelvic organs. Such repercussions can of course cause discomfort or pain.

Like Goldilocks, I sought a chair that was "just right."

Simplicity was also a guiding principle when I set out to design my chair, in part because when the Pain-Free™ Chair was just a gleam in my eye I interviewed a chair repairman who came to our office to repair the same chair twice; it was one of the relatively high-end task chairs with perhaps one too many features.

Steering clear of bells and whistles

In search of a "just right" chair

One valuable insight shared by the repairman was that he saw a direct link between chairs with a lot of features and chairs with a lot of dysfunction. This was especially true of chairs that recline via levers and were owned and operated by men. Men like to recline more than women, he observed, and while men apparently like to employ all available bells and whistles, they don't necessarily read operational instructions first! Reclining is of course a legitimate position (and in fact I'm beginning to think about designing a high-backed chair with headrest that reclines), but the desire to lean back becomes more urgent when a person is uncomfortable. If a task chair is designed to enable upright sitting and really support a person, then there's no need to recline.

The rationale for my chair

Even among high-priced chairs design flaws are common. The challenge, as I saw it, was to design a simple chair that transforms sitting into a healthful activity that actually feels good.

Gokhale Pain-Free™ Chair

Above all, I wanted to create a chair that promotes the natural stacking of the vertebrae without muscle strain, a chair that would enable two healthy ways of sitting--stretchsitting and stacksitting, techniques demonstrated in the video, below, and more thoroughly explored in the Gokhale Method Foundations course, my book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, and the DVD Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution. Again, the goal was to keep it simple and incorporate only those elements that absolutely matter:

• Traction on the seatback
• Seatpan with a downward slope
• Adjustable seat height
• Elimination of armrests
• Highest quality materials

The Gokhale Pain-Free™ Chair

My chair, with its respectful-of-the-human-skeleton design, offers a healthful–even therapeutic–alternative for people committed to good posture who want to simply sit without pain. And these are the features that make a difference:

Traction on the seatback

Stretchsit® nubs

Whether people have an upright and tense “S” spine (swayed), a relaxed and slumped “C” spine (rounded), or a compressed “I” spine (collapsed), stretchsitting is an easy way to regain some natural length. For this technique to work, people need a “grippy” support to meet the midback. Located higher than a lumbar support, but lower than the shoulder blades, soft Stretchsit® nubs built into the backrest of the Pain-Free™ Chair enables sitters to "hitch up" the spine and gently stretch the back. This, in turn, decompresses spinal nerves and discs, which not only feels good, but allows stressed-out discs to rehydrate and absorb nutrients from surrounding tissues and renew the process of self-repair. Also, because the seatback stops short of the shoulder blades, it's easy to roll open the shoulders for a relaxed position that promotes healthy circulation in the arms and better breathing.

Seatpan with a downward slope

It's not good to sit the same way all day. Whereas stretchsitting allows for a sustained stretch and is well-suited to relatively passive tasks, stacksitting is generally more versatile because it enables us to reach for what we need and move around. Because we derive different benefits from stretchsitting and stacksitting, and because each lends itself to different tasks, I designed the seatpan of the Pain-Free™ Chair to enable both types of  sitting and make it easy for people to move back and forth.

The seatpan promotes healthy stacking

While the back of the seatpan is flat, the front half, which features "grippy" rubberized patches, slopes downward. This design anteverts the pelvis, tipping it slightly forward to allow the vertebrae to stack easily and naturally and enable the back muscles to completely relax. Again, healthy stacking promotes healthy breathing, which in turn provides a gentle and revitalizing spinal massage. The flat half of the seatpan, which allows for sitting back in the chair and stretchsitting, prevents the combination of anteversion and stretchsitting, which together would introduce sway in the lower back. The seat cushion made of top-quality memory foam is reallycomfy. I designed this so that when people with underdeveloped glutes (something quite common in our culture) take a seat, they will not be the least bit aware of the hard board beneath the cushion--even if they stay seated all day.

Adjustable seat height

In Thoreau’s time people had sufficiently flexible hamstrings to sit comfortably and with naturally stacked spine on chairs of any height. Because people today tend to have less flexible hamstrings, a hydraulic lift helps. My own preferences is to raise the seat a little higher when I'm stacksitting, because this facilitates the downward sloping of my thighs and healthy anteversion of my pelvis. I lower the height of the seat when I stretchsit. Take a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mJWP8fWbyg

Elimination of armrests

Why did I opt not to include armrests when I designed the Pain-Free™ Chair? Too often, armrests prevent people from moving in close to their work surface. When we sit upright and relaxed with our shoulders rolled back and well hung, we can move our arms freely, without straining.

Highest quality materials

Thoreau's Cabin

It's no exaggeration to say that chair is as well constructed as it is designed. I chose each part--steel, wheels, hydraulic lift, memory foam, and GREENGUARD-certified fabric--for its top-notch quality and durability...which brings me back to the spirit of Walden and the philosophy of Thoreau: “There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest."When I sit in the chair I'm proud to have designed and now share with others, I think I know what Thoreau meant.

Photo Credits: Henry David Thoreau, 1861: Wikimedia Commons The Three Bears: Arthur Rackham, Wikimedia Commons Goldilocks: Swift's Premium Soap Products, 1916, Public Domain Gokhale Pain-Free™ Chair (and details of the chair): © Gokhale Method Pain-Free™ Chair Tutorial: © Gokhale Method Drawing of Thoreau's cabin from the title page of the first edition of Walden: Sophia Thoreau, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons