Australia

Since the pandemic we are delighted to have resumed teacher training and welcomed 12 new teachers to the Gokhale Method community in Europe and the U.S. We are also steadily growing our roots in the Southern Hemisphere. Below, Australia-based Teacher Tegan Kahn shares the story of how and why she decided to train.

One New Year’s Day many years ago, I made a resolution to “have better posture.” This was back before I had kids; when I had time and energy to devote to grand plans! But, like most New Year’s Resolutions, it fizzled out pretty quickly. For several days, I reminded myself every hour to sit up straight and pull my shoulders back. But because I didn’t know how to be tall and regal without holding myself stiffly, my efforts just made me more uncomfortable and tired than remaining in my perpetual slouch.

Me on New Year’s Day twenty years ago at age 16. Slouching was my default. I felt it was impossible to maintain “good” posture for more than a few minutes at a time. 

Me slouching at 22. Another beautiful dress spoilt by poor posture!

I used to experience all kinds of pain and dysfunction in my body: lower back pain, upper back strain, jaw tightness, shin splints, IT band tenderness, tight hamstrings, lactic acid buildup, and dodgy knees, to name a few. Even gentle massage on some parts of my body, such as the backs of my upper arms and lower legs, caused me to leap off the table. 

Despite attempting to stand up straight for this “before” photo, by the time I took the Gokhale Foundations Course in 2016 I was starting to develop a dowager’s hump (at the ripe old age of 28). I wonder what my posture would be like now had I continued on this trajectory.

One day when I was having my twice-weekly massage for typing-related forearm tendonitis (a repetitive strain injury covered by workers’ compensation), my massage therapist told me I had little crunchy crystals of lymphatic fluid along the lower left border of my rib cage. I had known for a long time that my lymphatic system was sluggish, but so slow-flowing that the fluid had crystallised was a bit of a wake-up call! 

That discovery led me to tumble down the YouTube rabbit hole of lymph and fascia research, where I stumbled upon Esther Gokhale’s TEDxStanford talk. It is hard to overstate how great an impact that six-minute video has had on my life. The slide Esther presented showing a J-shaped spine next to an S-shaped spine blew my mind. I had studied anatomy at university during my biology degrees but it had never occurred to me that my textbooks might have been based on incorrect assumptions. 

The illustration that immediately convinced me of the sound logic behind the Gokhale Method. If you’d like to learn more about it, consider reading our blog  What Shape Is Your Spine?

The logic of Esther’s presentation was so arresting I felt a bit dumbfounded (and a touch indignant) that I had never heard this information before. I set about reading and watching anything Gokhale Method-related that I could get my hands on. I was extremely fortunate that the original, and only Gokhale Method Teacher in Australia at that time, Michelle Ball, was offering a Gokhale Foundations Course in my home city of Canberra a mere three months after I watched the TEDx talk. I felt like the stars were aligning. 

I was already convinced by the theory and evidence basis of the Gokhale Method, but I was yet to see first-hand the ramifications of implementing it. My mum, who had been left with daily pain following a serious car accident before I was born, attended the Foundations Course with me. When she turned to me at the end of the first lesson and said, “this is the longest I've sat without pain in 30 years,” I was doubly sure that this was something I wanted to be involved with in a big way. In fact, Michelle may recall that even on that first day of the Course I was already asking her what the steps were for becoming a qualified Gokhale Method Teacher.

At that time, I was also struggling to find motivation to return to my job as a science writer for a university following my maternity leave—while my work had a worthwhile indirect impact, I was having trouble justifying being away from my little son to do work that wasn’t directly and palpably making a difference to people. Perhaps it was the sleep deprivation, or the deep well of support from my mum, that led to me booking the three of us (myself, mum, and my by-then-14-month-old) on flights to San Francisco to begin the week-long intensive training with Esther, the start of the qualifying process. Looking back, it seems kind of a crazy undertaking, but I’m glad I did it, as I’ve rarely been more sure of wanting to do something.

I feel extremely grateful to have gained the know-how to help preserve my kids’ naturally healthy posture. Although, with their J-spines still mostly intact, they are more often good posture role models for me than the other way around! 

Training with Esther was bliss. I was so fortunate to be in company with the beyond lovely Kathleen O’Donohue and Tiffany Mann, my fellow trainees. Every day we explored a wide variety of subjects relating to teaching the method and then practised our new skills on a willing Foundations Course cohort. I just loved the depth and nuance that’s involved in rolling someone’s shoulders to just the right position for them (and of course seeing the change in their facial expression when they realised it was now easy and comfortable to maintain healthy shoulder architecture!). Esther’s knowledge and expertise were awe-inspiring, and it was a jam-packed journey. One day we toured the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, analysing the posture of the sculptures; the next day she ordered in some Chinese food for our lunch (and when she ordered over the phone in fluent Chinese, I thought: “of course Esther speaks Chinese—what can’t she do?”)

Myself (second from left), Esther (second from right), and my fellow teacher trainees Tiffany Mann (right), and Kathleen O’Donohue after practising our hip-hinging while picking kale in Esther’s garden.

When I returned to Canberra with my head full of knowledge, I leapt straight into my case studies (my husband was the first and patiently continues to be my guinea pig all these years later), and was proud to become a fully-fledged Gokhale Method Teacher once my peers and Esther had reviewed the videos of my teaching and given their valuable advice and support. My enjoyment of teaching hasn’t lost its lustre. I love interacting with people from all walks of life, adapting my teaching style and my hands-on help to their particular bodies and personalities. I love seeing them smiling in their “after” pictures (hardly anyone smiles in the “before” pics!), and am always on a high when someone tells me how the techniques have improved their lives, in little and big ways. Although I have passed through the initial uncertainty of my early teaching experiences (it can be hard to believe what you’re doing will produce astounding results when all the health information around you is based on an entirely different paradigm of healthy human spinal shapes), I still sometimes feel the need to “pinch myself” when a student makes a particularly marked transformation in their posture and pain levels. 

I feel very privileged to be able to pass on this life-changing wisdom, and Michelle and I are excited to get this work to as many people who need us as we can. Some of our wonderful students have expressed interest in becoming Gokhale Method Teachers, too, and Esther is planning to come all the way to Australia to train them if there is enough interest. We wait to welcome them with open arms to work collaboratively on our mission to make back pain rare around the globe.

If you or someone you know are interested in hearing more about Gokhale Method teacher training with Esther Gokhale in Australia, please reach out to [email protected]. 

Best next action steps 

If you are new to the Gokhale Method, get started by booking a consultation, online, or in person with one of our teachers to find out how the Gokhale Method can help you.

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

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!