stiff neck

Hi, I’m Emily Agnew, and excited to share my posture journey.

I first attended a weekend Gokhale Foundations course in 2016, to address a painfully stiff neck. I loved it. I also found it intense. To incorporate all I was learning about body mechanics, I had to concentrate so hard that I'd emerge from class feeling like my brain had overheated. On top of that, I was rather sore in unexpected places, from using my muscles in new ways. 

Long story short, I was happy knowing I was doing the right thing for my body. But I hardly had the bandwidth to notice any unexpected mood changes that might have been happening. This fall—eight years later—I had a notably different experience. I took the next step in my posture journey by completing the Alumni PostureTracker™ and Advanced Glidewalking courses. This time, I knew the basics, so I had much more attention available to notice the effect the work was having on how I felt. Wow! It has been dramatic. 

For one thing, I notice that my moods are better, but the change is even deeper than that. I feel more grounded. I experience an abiding sense of well-being. I see now that all this is the “affect effect” of graceful, open, and erect posture.

2016 2023

   
Before I began studying the Gokhale Method, my concept of erect posture was actually tipped forward. This created tension in my legs, lower back, and neck (left). As I’ve refined my tallstanding, I feel more balanced, tall, and relaxed. 

What’s more, these positive results have set in motion a virtuous spiral. To my amazement, this grounded, open state of well-being has become my “default setting,” and it is naturally self-correcting. The moment I compress, scrunch, squinch, or tighten up, my body says, “No thanks!” It wants that great open feeling, and it lets me know instantly if I’m doing anything to compromise that.

No doubt, pain is an effective “stick.” Pain motivates us, and many of us come to the Gokhale Method because we are in pain. Now I’m seeing how powerful carrots are, too. The “affect effect” functions as a carrot, to complement the “stick” of pain or discomfort. I can feel my posture progress speeding up as I become more and more aware of this seamless feedback loop between discomfort and positive feelings. Any pain acts as a guardrail, and the positive results motivate me to keep my eyes on the road. 

I’ve seen and felt this synergy at work in several areas recently, leading to spontaneous and wonderful changes in four areas of my life: 

1. A happy neck and back while reading and journaling

I’ve always been a bookworm. Unfortunately, even a short reading session would leave me feeling like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, with a tight neck and sore back. After completing these recent courses, my body said, “No more.” I fashioned a couch setup that allows me to stretchsit properly and I pile pillows on my lap to hold my heavy hardback novel. I can read pain-free. Most importantly, that feedback loop is working: my neck lets me know instantly if I’m hunching.

A small investment of effort in arranging my body well with cushions brings huge dividends of comfort for reading. 

I came up with a similar supportive setup for my office couch, where I sit when I want to write in my journal. I’ve struggled to maintain healthy posture while writing and would end up bent over like Quasimodo. Now I use supports to stretchsit, and once again, my neck and back give me continuous feedback so I can adjust as needed.  

2. Deeper peace and stillness in meditation

I’ve meditated for over 30 years. Sitting cross-legged on my zafu cushion, I’d fight to stay erect. My back would get tired and sore as I tried not to give in to the urge to bend forward. Once again, I’ve felt the “affect effect” at work. My newly aligned body flatly refused to give up that wonderful open feeling. That was the carrot, and the discomfort of forward scrunching was the stick. 

In this case, I simply added a support cushion on my zafu to ensure my pelvis stayed anteverted. Now, I can comfortably stacksit in that position for over an hour. This has transformed my meditation practice. I’m able to access a new level of depth, groundedness, and stillness. 

This Buddha statue lives in my office. I feel myself embodying its stillness and centeredness more and more as I relax into my increasingly grounded posture. 

3. More vitality and groundedness walking around the house

My partner and I each lived in Hawaii in the past, where it's a sign of respect to leave your shoes at the door. We don't wear shoes in the house. I had no idea how much this was affecting my walking until I submitted a pair of videos for our glidewalking class. In the first one, which got a thumbs up from teachers Esther and Doreen, I’m striding along outside in my hiking shoes. 

However, in my second video, Esther and Doreen were puzzled by my apparent backsliding. Then it hit them: I was walking around on our polished wood floor, wearing socks. You can see how much more tentatively I’m moving, not being able to push off against the floor:  

My improvised indoor traction solution? Swim shoes. Again, I was amazed by the effect this had on me. Not only was I not slipping any more: I felt different in myself. I felt more energetic, more confident, and more grounded—another example of the “affect effect” of good posture and body use. My outside walking feels confident and strong too.

 
In the Advanced Glidewalking classes, I learned how to activate my feet to grip the floor and push back. As soon as I switched from wearing socks to swim shoes, I could push back without my feet sliding out from under me.

4. More stillness and presence working with clients

With my refreshed and upgraded understanding of what it means to “keep my behind behind,” I adjusted my office chair seat upwards so I could comfortably stacksit with my knees lower than my hips. I have a Gokhale® Pain-Free Chair, so this was easy to achieve with its waterfall front and built-in grip. 

I’m much more comfortable sitting for an hour at a time with Zoom clients. To my surprise, I’m also more present. It’s similar to the feeling I described above when I meditate: a greater sense of groundedness, stillness, and openness. This, for me, is the “affect effect” of sitting well. When I’m moving, the groundedness is there too, but with added energy and vitality.

I can now sit comfortably at the computer for extended periods, typing emails and articles or working with clients on Zoom.

The “affect effect” as a learning tool

I had an epiphany in the Advanced Glidewalking class this fall. I realized that affect and effect—that is, in this instance, my mood and my posture—are a two-way street. Each powerfully influences the other. I’ve always known that better, open posture makes me feel lighter, happier, and more energetic. Even so, as I’ve continued my posture journey, I’ve been amazed how much better I feel. 

However, I hadn’t realized until now how much I could influence my posture by exposing myself to positive affects—that is, to images, music, and role models that inspire good posture. For example, we walked to different music each week in class, and everyone in the class could sense the varying effects on our walking of each style and tempo. 

I also found myself absorbing in a whole new way the beautiful images Esther shared of women carrying baskets on their heads or bending to pick things up. It was as if I could experience their posture just by seeing it. Then I realized I’ve had posture models in my past. The most spectacular one was the  principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony, Ray Still, my oboe professor in graduate school. 

Distinguished oboist Ray Still (1920–2014). I was fortunate to study with him when he was performing in the Chicago Symphony, which is considered one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Image from Wikipedia

Mr. Still inspired me as a musician, with his intensely expressive sound and style ranging from lyrical to electric. He demonstrated for me how to invoke a grounded, erect, open posture by sitting with my feet quite far apart, then positioning myself so I could slowly, smoothly stand up and sit back down—all while playing. I was struggling with a lot of anxiety at the time, and this postural intervention had a dramatic effect on my affect. I became a different, more confident person.

I didn’t have the understanding or the practices then that my Gokhale study has given me, so I didn’t know how to generalize this “affect effect” into the rest of my life. But experiences like the one with Mr. Still launched me on my posture journey, showing me how powerfully my posture and my mood influenced each other. I’m grateful that my journey is still unfolding. 

Best next action steps

If you are new to the Gokhale Method, or are resuming your posture journey after a little while, book a consultation, online, or in person with one of our teachers, who will be happy to help.

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

Do you suffer from neck tension, muscle knots, or tingling in your fingers? Do you get frequent headaches?

Or maybe your neck is fine most of the time, but seizes up periodically, leaving you unable to function normally in your job, family life, and recreational activities.

A soft cervical collar is a common prescription to alleviate neck pain. It can give welcome support in the short term, but doesn’t help to strengthen your neck or get to the source of the problem. Wikimedia Commons

Most neck pain involves compression. 

In modern cultures, the head often drifts forward as we slouch and crane our necks towards our computer screens. The weight of the head, (typically 11 lb. or 5 kg—think bowling ball), then requires the muscles at the back of the neck to contract strongly to keep the head up. This contraction compresses the relatively delicate tissues in the area. Not a recipe for a healthy, happy neck. If you have forward head carriage but are symptom-free so far, keep reading for tips that will prevent future problems with the discs, nerves, blood vessels, and bones in your neck.

In our culture slumped desk work posture and a degree of forward head carriage is common. Pexels

Restoring the natural length and position of your neck

Young children, ancestral populations, and people living in traditional societies around the world preserve a natural head carriage that stacks the neck well as part of a healthy J-spine. This allows the head to be balanced with only appropriate muscular effort, and the neck to be tall and free from compression. 

As young children we instinctively align our neck well over our body. Pexels

Restoring mobility in your neck

Perhaps you have experienced increased stiffness and reduced mobility in your neck over the years? Or unpleasant gritty sounds when you turn your head? Beware of exercises that include extreme flexion, extension, or head circles. These movements, taken to the end of your range of motion, can damage your discs and pinch your cervical nerves. If they are a part of your exercise regimen, consider reducing their range. 

There are many delicate and vital structures within the neck, so we first want to align it well. (front view). Wikipedia

In our experience it is best to focus on restoring the neck to a healthy baseline length and shape that centers your head well on your spine. The video below shows you how to proceed:

This gentle movement will help you to find a safe, natural trajectory to get started on gliding your head up and back.

If you have areas of long-standing rigidity or curvature in your neck, it is likely linked to your postural distortions elsewhere in your body, for example thoracic rigidity or a tucked pelvis. 

Expect this to take more time and training to change, for which you will be rewarded with additional benefits including comfort, improved circulation, and increased energy.

Finding your neck strength 

While many of the neck’s structures are delicate, they can also be strong. The deep muscles that are intended to support the neck and keep it tall tend not to get used very much in modern industrial culture and are often weak. Besides doing strengthening exercises, as is common in conventional approaches to neck problems, learning to carry weight on the head is extremely valuable. 

People in traditional societies preserve a taller, straighter neck, and more functional head posture. (Odisha, India)

Cultures that headload suffer much less neck pain than we do and can teach us much about how, where, and why to headload. Not only do these people have excellent neck health, but they also have excellent posture throughout their bodies, and move with elegance and efficiency. Students in our classes begin with light weights to sense the axis along which they need to stack their bones. Over time, the weight can be increased to further strengthen the longus colli, inner corset, and other muscles. 

The small extra weight of the Gokhale™Head Cushion enables students not only to strengthen the deep neck muscles and lengthen the neck, but also to better orient their entire skeleton. 

My book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back has many images of people throughout the world headloading. Healthy head carriage, as opposed to forward head carriage, is an important starting point for this activity. It is not possible to carry significant weight without both the healthy neck alignment and strength to avoid compressive forces.

A well-aligned head and neck is both highly functional—and elegant. 

Because about one in three adults are affected by neck pain every year¹, we introduce techniques for the neck early on in our in-person Foundations course (Lesson 1 of 6), in our one-day Pop-up course, and our online Elements course (Lesson 4 of 18). Here students learn in detail the gentle techniques that gradually return the neck towards the length and pain-free position we all enjoyed as infants. Whatever your age, your neck is something you can learn to once again stack in your favor.

References: 

1. Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), “Neck Pain: Overview,” InformedHealth.org, last modified February 14, 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK338120/.

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. . .

This is our fourth blog post in the series where we put popular home exercises under scrutiny to examine how they stack up—or not—against the principles of healthy posture. In this post we are looking at head rotations/circling, an exercise that is often suggested to ease stiffness and mobilize the neck.

Neck pain—causes and solutions

Although not often considered in physical fitness and exercise regimens, the neck frequently becomes a problematic area for people in our culture. At that point, we look to mobilizing, stretching, and strengthening exercises to alleviate pain and stiffness.   

In traditional cultures the neck remains upright and long. It is capable of carrying the weight of the head and additional loads without injury.

The Gokhale Method point of view is that most of our neck problems arise from poor posture. The head and neck tend to drift forward and downward, causing the muscles at the back of the neck to tighten. We then lift our chins up so we can look out ahead of us. The resulting compression becomes a pain in the neck—or a headache—that we can do without. So how can we best avoid or remedy this?

Shortened, tight muscles at the back of the neck (left) are a common cause of neck pain and tension headaches. Positioning the head and neck correctly eases this compression (right).

Remedies to avoid

Tight, short muscles may well have compressed your cervical (neck) vertebrae, and perhaps caused bone spurs or bulging discs. Be especially careful to avoid exercises which take your head into circling movements. These call for extreme flexion (forward), extension (backward) and lateral bends (side), any of which could pinch your nerves and discs. By circling through these movements in rapid succession, the risk is heightened. Performing head rotations (twists) is also commonly advocated, but if done with poor alignment, head twists can also compress tissues in the neck. 

The cervical spine has seven vertebrae which support the skull. Wikipedia

There are many delicate and vital structures within the neck, including nerves, discs, and arteries (front view). Wikipedia

The right approach

You want the principles of Primal Posture™ to guide your head back where it belongs. Appropriate support from the longus colli and other deep muscles of the neck will give the cervical spine the support it needs to align well. This will encourage your outer neck muscles to relax their grip and be gently stretched. Circulation in the area will also get a boost. 

The longus colli muscles attach to the front of the cervical spine. When they contract (shown in red), they cause the neck to straighten and, therefore, lengthen.

If your neck is inflamed, it will benefit from steady, well-aligned exercise that can help to calm things down. The video clip below shows you a healthy way to lengthen tight muscles on either side of your neck. These movements do not overload your cervical discs, crunch your vertebrae, or impinge your nerves. Note that the exercise includes working at various angles to address different fibers within the same muscle.

A healthy exercise for the neck

This healthy neck stretch is from a recent 1-2-3 Move class for our Alumni.

Your checklist for this exercise is:

• Perch on the front of your chair as shown.
• Elongate your neck. Learn how to do this here.
• Reach one arm across to your opposite ear and pull upward.
• Roll open the opposite shoulder and pull that downward, leaning over sideways as you hold the rim of the chair seat. Learn how to roll your shoulders open here.
• Don’t sway. Use your rib anchor. Learn how to use your rib anchor here.
• Listen to some good music! It takes 20–30 seconds for muscles to relax.
• Stretch different muscle fibers—slowly turn your head toward your armpit.

Healthy musculature allows the neck to stack in a tall, more vertical position with the head over the body, not forward.

Address the root cause of your neck pain

People usually think of their neck and any pain there as a separate issue from what is going on in their backs. From the point of view of a posture teacher, a distortion in any part of the spine will have an effect on all other parts of the spine. 

For example, people sitting or standing at a computer with their heads stuck forward may try to address neck pain locally. But the root of the problem is often in the pelvis. If the pelvis is tucked (i.e., with an imaginary tail between the legs), the spine will be curved over into a C shape. You can read more about spine shape here. In this situation, any local effort to draw the neck back is going to be hard to sustain, tense, and ultimately counterproductive. But by positioning the pelvis well, the neck will have the opportunity to stack well. At this point, local work on the neck is able to provide not only symptomatic relief but can also return your cervical spine closer to its primal, healthy structure.

A C-shaped back stresses the lumbar (lower back) discs and is also bad news for the neck.

Join me for a special new one-hour FREE Online Workshop, Posture Remedies for Text Neck,  November 12, 11 a.m. (Pacific Time), and learn helpful suggestions on how to improve the architecture and health of your neck. 

If you would like an expert one-on-one assessment of your posture, including  your neck alignment, you can arrange an Online Initial Consultation or take an in-person Initial Consultation if you have a Gokhale Method Teacher near you.