back stretcher

In keeping with Laura’s wishes her student photographs are not featured in this blog post. We are always happy to respect our contributors' wishes for privacy. We are very grateful for Laura’s generosity in sharing her personal posture journey, and are sure that you, our readers, will appreciate it too.
—Esther Gokhale

I’ve had significant back issues for a long time. I’ve had X-rays over the years, and they show some degenerative spinal discs, scoliosis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, stenosis—quite a list!

I went down both the alternative and conventional routes…I saw chiropractors, acupuncturists, and other practitioners, and I’ve had quite a lot of physical therapy over the years. I’ve done their exercises, got lumbar support cushions thinking they were good for me (they are not), cervical pillows to sleep on, a back stretcher that was supposed to decompress the spine, and, over time as things got worse, I started to wear a back brace. 

Just going around the block for a 15–20 minute walk I would have to take breaks and just pray that I could make it home. I thought, well, I’m in my 70s—I’m just going to have to live with this.

I Am, painting by Laura Goldman Weinberg 
This is among the many colorful images I created for one of my books, I AM ONE: Attributes of the I AM.

Finding the Gokhale Method—it’s what friends do for each other!

Five months ago I had a friend come to visit who gave me some things to put in the fridge. I said, “I can’t bend to go down to the lower shelf.” She asked me what was going on, and I told her, to which she said, “Have you heard of the Gokhale Method®?” She told me all about it and how she and a friend had been so helped by it, and they had told another friend who initially didn’t do it—but who told a friend who then got helped, and so that friend ended up doing it too! That had me intrigued. The approach sounded very different from anything I was familiar with… 

I then spoke to another person who I discovered had also done the Gokhale Method! I decided I needed to be a bit more open-minded and started reading and watching the many free videos available online at the website. At first, I learned to do the rib anchor, and the different ways that Esther teaches to sit well. The first time I did that in my dining room chair as I sat to eat, I felt a tremendous difference. I realized immediately I should look into this more seriously. I got Esther’s book 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, her DVDs Secrets to Pain-Free Sitting and Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution, and started implementing as much as I could in my life. Things started to improve.

Light, painting by Laura Goldman Weinberg

Personal guidance on my Gokhale Method journey

I realized I had my own individual issues, and would benefit from a personal consultation with Esther. She pointed out immediately that it was important that I address things in a certain order, otherwise I could possibly hurt myself implementing things (like anteverting my pelvis) before my body was well-prepared. 

When I showed her my back, she pinpointed the vertebrae—to the exact spot—where she saw a significant issue—she was right on. Nobody else had done that. I then took a wonderful one-on-one online Gokhale® Elements course with teacher Kathleen O’Donohue. The Gokhale Elements course is extremely interactive and perfect for online learning. 

Even though sitting had been almost an immediate fix for me, tackling my worst problem—bending—made it very clear to me that you do best by putting in the work in the proper order. I’d had grabber sticks in every room in the house since I could not pick anything up from the floor. Laundry day was a nightmare! Once I got to the latter part of the course and had all the prerequisites in place to learn hip-hinging safely, bending became my favorite exercise!

Life in Full Blossom, painting by Laura Goldman Weinberg

Life gets back to being better!

Daily life is so much easier now—and so much more enjoyable. Arriving back home from my local Whole Foods store I frequently had to lie down to soothe back pain gotten from bending to the lower shelves and products. I now don’t have that pain; I just get on with putting my groceries away. I walk an hour every morning—no back issues. Every week my life is getting better, and I’m about to turn 73.

I am an author and an artist, and my newfound comfort in my body makes these activities so much more pleasurable. I work on a covered ping-pong table, often at quite a large scale—I have even used a shower curtain and a king-size sheet as my “canvas,” so I don’t bend down, but bend over while using my inner corset.

Blast of Colors, recent painting by Laura Goldman Weinberg (November 2024). You can see more of my work on my website.

My healing trajectory

I still have a tiny twinge at the “origin” point on my spine, and, while it is nothing compared to what I had, my intention for the future is to get rid of that. I also experienced a brief flare up of back spasm at the beginning of December, but to my delight it completely went away in a couple of days after careful attention to my rib anchor and inner corset. Given my back pain history this “wobble” in my healing trajectory is very mild, and the direction of travel remains onward and upward. I responded really well early on in the course, and there’s no reason to suppose I won’t continue to improve so long as I respect my body’s architecture and continue to support its healing. Now that I am doing my part, it seems likely that any intervention by my chiropractor can take me even further and stay put longer than previously. I couldn’t be more pleased with my much improved experience of life, as I expressed in the poem below.

New Life Within Life

Life is full of opposites
But with the Gokhale Method
We find what truly fits

Walking, standing, sitting, lying
Even with bending
I'm no longer crying

I pray others find relief from pain
As I'm filled with gratitude
For the new life I've gained

Laura Goldman Weinberg
Copyright 2024

Special New Year, New You free online workshops for newcomers

I encourage newcomers to enjoy Esther’s special, free, One Year Older, Ten Years Younger Gokhale Method beginner workshop, on Saturday, January 4, 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. (PST). Esther will be teaching two techniques not normally taught in free workshops, to help you look—and feel—younger! Find out more, and sign up here. 

Due to anticipated demand, time-limited replays, and a repeat workshop on Sunday, January 12, 7:30 a.m.–8:30 a.m. (PST), are also offered, for which you can sign up here.

Best next action steps 

If you would like help coming home to a more youthful posture, get started by booking a Gokhale® Consultation, online or in person, with one of our teachers.

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