How Barbie and Other Dolls Can Give Us Postural and Personal Inspiration
Esther Gokhale
Date
This summer, with blockbuster success, Barbie is front and center! And yes, I did see the movie. I usually use dolls to talk about our physical characteristics, but their intended function is to teach emotional and social skills such as friendship, parenting, and play. Barbie the movie certainly emphasizes this aspect of the iconic doll in no subtle way!
This blog post looks to dolls for some postural lessons, and also some emotional ones. Research such as a 2017 New Zealand study shows that posture connects with both our physical and emotional stance, and in our company we have come to embrace the deep relationship between posture and emotional health. So, over to Barbie, Wonder Woman, and friends. . .
Barbie, right now, is the most famous doll in the world. What can she, and other dolls, teach us about posture? Barbie is posed here with her first clothing designer, Charlotte Johnson, in 1965. Image: Wikimedia
Barbie
Launched at the NYC American International Toy Fair in 1959, Barbie was a single female archetype, white, fashionable, and slender. Over the decades, Barbie has reflected changing times; not just in fashion, but, more importantly, in how women’s lives have changed, and in representing the diversity of our population. For all its flaws, I think the film celebrated this while acknowledging how far there is to go. . .
This second Black Barbie was introduced in 1980, but still had Caucasian features. Hispanic Barbies were also introduced that year. Authentically styled African-American dolls joined the range from 2009. Image: Wikimedia
It strikes me that Barbie has, over the years, maintained an upright, open stance with a healthy posterior shoulder position and a tall neck. Her posture is closer to that of the children who play with her than their parents’, as in our culture, by adulthood, we are likely to have adopted a slumped posture.
Young children instinctively sit and stack their spine in a healthy alignment. In later years, poor role models and time spent sitting on poor furniture usually result in a tucked pelvis and hunched posture that distends back ligaments and compresses discs and nerves. Images: Pixabay(left), Pixabay(right)
Antique dolls
Among the Gokhale Method teachers who have developed a fascination for dolls and their posture, Aurelia Vaicekauskas has taken this to a new level in making her own, based on antique designs. When she began 20 years ago, she used FIMO for the head, arms and legs, and cloth for the body, and then got into paper-mache. She explains:
This was well before I encountered the Gokhale Method®, so they all had their necks curved, and chins pointing out. Once I started with the Gokhale Method, the unfinished heads that at the time were sitting on the shelf started to bother me. So I got to chiseling at the “offending” curvy necks. That’s my new project, to see what I can do to make them more posturally healthy.
Since learning about healthy posture, our Gokhale Method Teacher in the Chicago area, Aurelia Vaicekauskas, has beenremodeling the dolls she makes. The older head (left) still has a more curved neck and raised chin. . .the larger, more recent one (right) has a taller, straighter neck, and its chin angles down. . . You can learn how to gently align and lengthen your neck here.
Aurelia notes that this antique Austrian doll from c.1850 has a typically tall, straight neck. (Image from The Complete Book of Doll Making and Collecting, by Catherine Christopher.)
A footballer doll by Schoenhut, 1915, U.S. These wooden dolls were the first in the world to have compressed spring metal joints and holes in their feet, which allowed them to be posed. Feet facing out rather than straight ahead was common until the second half of the twentieth century. (Image from The Complete Book of Doll Making and Collecting by Catherine Christopher.)
Baby Dolls
For many of us, girls especially, our first introduction to dolls is not the teen or adult doll, but a baby doll. Often, the characteristics of healthy posture which are so clear in infants, such as externally rotated legs, posterior shoulders, open chest, and a centrally balanced head, are particularly well observed.
“I just cannot take my eyes off her” Our Gokhale Method teacher in France and Israel, Michal Tal, was thrilled to find this little vintage doll at a flea market last year. It's from the 20s or 30s, and the arms and legs are attached with elastic. Its form and posture closely matches that of the baby below.
The styling of dolls often reflects natural baby proportions—like the relatively large head size and disproportionately small hands and feet—and exaggerates them. Capturing a figure’s essential characteristics and magnifying them is an important aspect of any doll's appeal, including when they are fantasy characters—or even aliens!
This 1972 friction-driven Ultraman Ace and motorcycle from Japan shows more typically modern, slumped posture. From Japanese Toys! Kokeshi to Kaiju, San Francisco Airport, Terminal 3, 2013–14.
Antique dolls generally reflect the healthier posture of bygone eras. By contrast, modern dolls, especially from the 1960s onwards, reflect the tucked pelvis, rounded upper back, and forward head carriage that we have gradually drifted into and which is now so predominant that it passes as normal for our species. Barbie is a welcome exception to this pattern.
Wonder Woman
One of our regular 1-2-3 Move participants, Anita Medal, is a longtime fan and collector of Wonder Woman, and has generously shared her passion with us.
These dolls are just a small part of Anita’s Wonder Woman collection. It is interesting that some are modeled to have a more muscular, athletic appearance than others. Muscular contours, like the plumpness of babies, are much easier to replicate in modern plastics rather than wood.
1-2-3 Move participant Anita Medal showing us her original 1942 Wonder Woman doll.
Anita explains the personal inspiration and support she found in Wonder Woman in this interview. She points out that this was three years before she started her 1-2-3 Move sessions and was able to make her posture healthier:
Anita admires Wonder Woman’s qualities:
She fights for goodness, she fights for justice, but also she is wise like Athena—she has intelligence. She has physical strength, which I think is important. She’s swift, like Mercury, she’s compassionate and caring. She's honest, but also, she is beautiful. I think beauty is important. She is the best that she can be.
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. . .
Fiona’s Journey out of Back Ache, via French Byways, to Gokhale Teacher Training
Excerpts from a diary by Fiona Nichols
Date
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.
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.
Lesson 2. Shoulder roll
Very helpful to see the shoulder anatomy slide for visualising this busy space—and importance of allowing everything adequate room. This visual stuff is very helpful to me.
Lesson 3. Stretchsitting
V good to have Esther's fine-tuning on this—hadn't realised how much I put my head down throughout the whole movement. Good to see the videos Esther sent since our session: hair pull, stretchsitting, placement of the Stretchsit® Cushion…all these components helping refine the movement.
Lesson 6. Kidney bean shaped feet
Body changes: Back feeling better both day and night (tho still wake most days with some degree of lumbar stiffness—not every day, significantly less stiff than pre-Gokhale). Back much better when sitting—not feeling the need to bend knees and put feet up. Back generally feeling both more stable & more flexible (still uncomfortable bending to put things in low drawers/bottom of fridge, etc.—but less so). Whole body feels lighter/more breezy (great sensation!), shoulders and chest feel broader and more upright (some clothes already tighter across front of shoulders). I have more energy, get more done, gut working more efficiently, less likely to wake up to wee at night, sleeping much more soundly, outlook brighter…progress, hooray!
Lesson 8. Inner corset and tall-standing review
Note to me:Purpose of inner corset: to brace the spine against damage, particularly when lifting, carrying, running/jumping etc. Reserve strongest inner corset action for the most potentially disc-damaging movements.
Body changes:Doing Tai Chi today, noticed all movements felt much easier, lighter—body felt more flexible and fluid—great feeling.
My Elements Handbook 'inner corset' pictures showed me how engaging key trunk muscles lengthens and protects my spine.
Lesson 9. Gluteus medius strengthening (1st of 4 glidewalking lessons)
Body changes: Woke this morning with a spine that felt 'loose'/flexible—such a dramatic change from waking tight, clenched and stiff. More of this please!
Lesson 10. Glidewalking
Note to me: The cross-country skiing analogy helps me a LOT in getting movements right—a gliding, tangential pushing-off from outward-pointing foot, then other outward-pointing foot, back knee straight but not locked, front leg bent, body slightly forward, head in alignment with back. PostureTracker™ on ‘piston walking’ setting helpful.
The PostureTracker™ setting ‘piston walking’ can be used to check for healthy back leg straightening (a.), and alert users to hyperextension (b.) in walking.
Lesson 12. Glidewalking with front knee bent
Body: The light and fluid feelings remain. Sleeping more deeply, waking feeling more flexible??… we shall see. Background headache I've had for 6–12 months, especially when bending forward, seems to have gone!
Lesson 13. Stretchlying on the side
Note to me: This one's been a challenge for me—wish Esther was here, to put hands-on and tweak the bits I’m not sure of. I think the main issue is I’m still arching my back…but angling the laptop screen for an 'aerial view' of the body, when lying on the floor, can help show the full body posture. Sometimes I get it right and sleep through the night…gradually finding what works for me.
Note to me: Keep rolling shoulders back into position as arms are heavy, and if not in healthy position their weight can pull thoracic spine out of alignment. We're nearly finished—16 sessions so far! Reassuring to be plugged into Alumni offerings and opportunities for Q&As, etc. Gokhale Method by now so integrated into everyday movements that I’m confident they’ll all continue.
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!
The phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” is thought to originate from an ancient African proverb.
As I have grown into being a parent, uncle, and beyond, I have realized that this quote extends to any age. I have directly experienced this with my own posture journey—my own family “village” has helped me and others dear to me find a near pain-free life through the Gokhale Method®.
Annoying body pains were affecting my fun in life
In my late thirties, a stream of inflammatory pains permeated my body, including back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, and—worst of all—plantar fasciitis in my foot. While these weren't absolutely crippling pains, they were painful enough to keep me from enjoying life as I gave up my favorite hobbies—tennis, golf, and playing the piano.
I visited numerous renowned doctors in California. They genuinely tried to help, but nothing resolved my pain. So I began searching for other solutions.
Finding Esther’s book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back
In particular, what caught my attention was how traditional and tribal communities across the globe do not have the level of musculoskeletal pain that we are seeing in modern society. The book explained how their cultures have preserved our natural blueprint for healthy posture over the centuries, while industrialized societies have lost it.
This made a lot of sense to me, because as an American with Indian heritage, I used to visit India a lot and noticed that many traditional communities there do not have body pains as modern cultures do. There were people in their sixties and seventies doing manual labor regularly without pain.
As an Indian-American, I visited India often as a child, so I could relate immediately to the images like this one in Esther’s book that showed people with traditional posture performing physically challenging tasks with relative ease.
I then took the Gokhale Method Foundations Course. It took me a couple of months to meaningfully understand the core concepts. And then I felt significant pain relief for the first time in a long time and knew I was onto something. I began playing sports and music again! I was so happy.
The Gokhale Method Foundations Course helped me stand, walk, sleep, and sit comfortably. Before the course (left)) I would sit with my pelvis tucked, back rounded, shoulders forward, and my neck compressed at the back. During the course I began to change this, learning to antevert my pelvis and stack my spine.
Helping each other out posture-wise
I shared my Gokhale Method story pretty regularly with family and friends. My family—perhaps knowing that I am a rather talkative person—would give me the “ol’ eye roll” when I talked too much about Gokhale posture!
That said, many of my family members nevertheless found the Gokhale principles intriguing. For example, my wife spent much of her childhood in India—and also learned the Bharata Natyam Indian dancing which Esther draws from—all of which gave her good posture and a relatively pain-free life. Equally importantly, it gave her a keen eye for good and bad posture. So she was able to provide excellent feedback to me as I kept trying to improve my posture with the Gokhale Method principles I was learning.
However, my sister Annissa grew up in America, and began experiencing hip and other arm pains as an adult, which was hard for her as she is a keen athlete. She realized that her posture might be the root cause. She learned the Gokhale Method with Esther’s younger daughter, Monisha, and started feeling meaningful relief. She is now a regular participant in Online Alumni Classes, which help her to keep healthy posture on her radar and continue refining it.
My sister Annissa (shown here with her PostureTracker) likes to use her Alumni membership most days—it makes checking in on and refining healthy posture comparatively effortless—and fun!
The next-gen
Interestingly, as my daughter Saya became a teenager, my wife noticed that her posture began to deteriorate. We were concerned that our daughter’s posture would worsen further when she went to college, leading sooner or later to inevitable pain and discomfort. Trying to offer advice and corrections to our daughter just caused a lot of frustration for both of them.
When our daughter turned 16, we suggested that she learn the Gokhale Method before going to college. For her it was perfect to take the online Elements course. The fact that it was 18 compact 13-minute Zoom sessions worked perfectly for her busy high school life. Her posture markedly improved with Gokhale Method TeacherKathleen O’Donohue.
We were so encouraged that we also asked our 15 year old niece Riya to take the course. She did the Elements course as well, and her posture improved too!
Bringing different generations together with the Gokhale PostureTracker
In the last year, my daughter, sister, and I were really intrigued by the PostureTracker™ wearable, which gives real-time feedback on your posture by displaying the feedback from two highly accurate sensors on an app. My daughter and I did the first online Alumni PostureTracker class during the summer before my daughter headed to college.
My daughter Saya is a young Gokhale Alumna, and has taken her PostureTracker with her to college. She has real-time feedback on her posture wherever she wants it.
We then bought the PostureTracker (which comes with one-to-one tech assistance) for my sister Annissa’s birthday. She loves it and uses it most days, including in her Alumni Classes. When we all get together, we often have fun correcting each other’s posture and also talking about our PostureTracker experiences.
The village beyond my family
Beyond my family, my “village” extends to the Gokhale Alumni community too. I have truly enjoyed and benefited from the collective curiosity and wisdom of the 1-2-3 Move classes. The teaching and follow-up questions and answers have been so helpful and insightful. I will never forget Gokhale Alumna Mary Walsh’s saying, “Good things come to those who ‘bean-shape’ [their feet],” which really captivated me and continues to help me in my own posture journey.
Here we are on the 1-2-3 Move class sometime in the COVID winter of 2020–21. The online community we forged back then has continued to thrive and be a great resource for everyone on their healthy posture journey. There is a 7-day free trial open to the public.
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. . .