bending

Signs of good sleep include taking less time to fall asleep and not waking up often or for long periods. And although the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS) recommend adults sleep at least seven hours a night,¹ over one-quarter of us fall short of this recommendation.² There are many factors contributing to this lack of sleep, and back pain is certainly one of them. 

When I had herniated my disc, it was the most sleep-deprived time of my life. I recall regularly walking around the block during the night, just to ease my back spasms enough to catch a few more hours of sleep. That was long before I knew the measures the Gokhale Method® now teaches to reduce such pain, accelerate healing, and prevent recurrence. For anyone in that situation, techniques like stretchlying and inner corset are no-brainers! 

But the most common—and most under-recognized—reason for our tossing and turning and sleep deprivation is less dramatic than a herniation, or even pulling a muscle. The numerous microaggressions that our bodies suffer during the day due to poor posture, predispose you to a nighttime beset by jangled nerves, tense muscles, and areas of inflammation. This is disruptive to both mind and body, especially in the hours when you want to rest and rejuvenate.

Poor use of our body during the day can unwittingly store up nighttime aches and agitation. Image by Andrea Placquadlo, 2017

Will the right mattress help me sleep?

In much of the world people sleep on the floor, often on just a throw or thin bedroll. In hot countries the floor is often the coolest place to be, and if your culture generally enjoys healthy posture and a low prevalence of back pain, lying on the floor can be perfectly comfortable. Most people in industrialized and postindustrial societies, however, have not preserved natural length, shape, and health in their spines, and therefore require more support and cushioning from their bed. 

A lengthened, supple spine can tolerate even an unforgiving surface, such as this log.

The most important thing to avoid is a sagging mattress or bed springs that let your spine fall into a compressive curve. As a general rule, the greater the number of springs/coils a mattress has, or the better quality the memory foam (some mattresses have both springs and a foam topper), the better the support you get for your weight and contours. However, I have known many people pay handsomely for mattresses that promise a lot but deliver little, so I recommend taking advantage of “try before you buy” deals.

I have also heard from many of our students over the years that their existing mattresses have, to their joy, become comfortable. In other words, as their posture has improved, more naturally aligned bones, relaxed muscles, and appropriately spaced discs and nerves, are happy at last. Their body is now comfortable, and their brain is no longer waking them to tell them something is hurting—insomnia resolved. One student reported that having learned the Gokhale Method she even said goodbye to a lifelong recurring nightmare!

There are many delicate and vital structures within the spine, as shown here in the neck. They require healthy alignment and length, rather than compression, to be happy (front view). Wikipedia

What is the best sleeping position?

In addition to healthy posture and moving as you are meant to during your daily activities, there is a lot you can do at night to arrange yourself well, encouraging muscle relaxation and improved circulation for healing. Comfortable sleep is sometimes the first place that you can break a pain cycle and start to mend. 

The Gokhale Method offers two main techniques for transforming your sleep: stretchlying on the back, and stretchlying on the side. These are taught in detail in our in-person Foundations course, and online Elements course. You can also learn all the steps involved from my book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, or DVD, Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution. You can get started with our free Gokhale® Moment video (below) for stretchlying on the back.  

No special equipment is required for stretchlying—just learn the principles and moves involved, and how to arrange your pillows accordingly.

One breakthrough for many people is to use a pillow under the knees when lying on their back. This accommodates a tight, shortened psoas muscle, rather than let it pull on the lumbar spine. Though this pulling sometimes goes unrecognized at night, it can result in a back so stiff the following morning, it can be hard to move or dress yourself. 

Placing a pillow under your knees when lying down accommodates tightness in the psoas and avoids pulling on the vertebrae and surrounding tissues to which it is attached.

Snoring and sleep apnea

Snoring elicits reactions ranging from hilarity to fury. It can be transitory, due to a cold, for example, but persistent snoring can be embarrassing for the snorer and disruptive for others. Snoring may also be a precursor to other breathing and health problems; if you snore, you might benefit from working with a health professional. 

From a postural viewpoint, some overly tight muscles, including the psoas and the erector spinae, will contribute to arching your lower back or pulling your head back. The resulting additional weight from your throat and tongue on your airways could give rise to mouth breathing, thus aggravating both snoring and sleep apnea. 

The gentle sloping arrangement of the pillows in stretchlying, combined with lengthening of the neck, helps to keep the airway clear and well aligned downward, reducing symptoms. This is helpful both when the condition is mild, and also when a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine is used. Our techniques can also be adapted with extra pillow elevation, and the side-lying position is of particular help with breathing difficulties.

Antique tomb sculpture shows how people positioned their pillows in earlier times—without sway in the back or neck. (Öhringen church, Germany.)

Best next action steps 

If you would like help with your sleeping positions, get started by booking a consultation, online or in person, with one of our teachers. Sweet dreams!

With the right help, we can all relax to sleep—like a baby!

References:

¹ Watson, Nathaniel F., M. Safwan Badr, Gregory Belenky, Donald L. Bliwise, Orfeu M. Buxton, Daniel Buysse, David F. Dinges, et al. 2015. “Recommended Amount of Sleep for a Healthy Adult: A Joint Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society.” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 11 (6). https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.4758.

² “QuickStats: Percentage* of Adults Aged ≥18 Years Who Sleep <7 Hours on Average in a 24-Hour Period,† by Sex and Age Group — National Health Interview Survey,§ United States, 2020.” 2022. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 71 (10): 393. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7110a6.‌

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The Gokhale Method® is designed to be, well, methodical. But although the process of learning healthy posture is mostly systematic and progressive, it is also usually punctuated by “aha moments”. These glimpses of intellectual, visual, and kinesthetic understanding of the body can arrive like the warm glow of returning to home ground, or they can be seismic shifts that change your life forever…

Having an aha moment makes most people’s posture journey exciting, and sometimes profound. This blog post shares some student experiences and reflections on their discoveries.

David Samuels got out of constant sciatic pain while taking Gokhale Foundations with teacher Amy Smith. For David, learning to bend well was a revelation. 

Aha! The moment when the mind relaxes…

With aha moments we are often talking about cognition that differs from the slow burn of incremental learning. It’s a flash of insight—somewhat like a lightbulb coming on. In “The Power of Now,” Eckhart Tolle’s bestselling book on meditation, he describes how his mind finally shifted out of a period of intensely stressed and anxious overthinking. His mind finally gave way one day to a state of peace, clarity, and insight.

Stress and anxiety are not intended to be a part of our learning process, but I think a similar mechanism sometimes plays out. Students are often very conscientious and expect to master a lot of  material in a short time—this expectation can overwhelm the mind. The mind loves to learn with firm foundations and linear, logical steps, but it can get overloaded. When it lets go, it can sometimes make connections spontaneously. Aha.

Nancy Sullivan was amazed to learn she could resolve her lifelong headaches herself with Gokhale Method teacher Aurelia Vaicekauskas.
 

Eminent violinist Kala Ramnath could scarcely believe her back pain had really gone after years of suffering.

Embracing change for the better

Heike Eschbach is a retired midwife and lives in Germany. She had suffered with back pain and sciatica for many years, and, while taking the Foundations course with Julie Johnson, was able to reduce her pain medication by two-thirds. 

Learning about the benefits of a J-spine, a well-positioned pelvis, and external rotation in her hips, have been just some of the posture principles that are bringing healthy changes to Heike’s body. For her, learning how to relax and read in comfort was a breakthrough—the realization that healthy posture holds the key to resolving her pain. Heike wrote to us:

The new movement patterns I’ve learned integrate wonderfully into my everyday life. I am now also noticing improvement in my cervical spine and shoulders. I'm very happy about that.

Aha moments can be profoundly relaxed and comfortable—it just takes know-how to get there. Heike is embodying numerous posture principles that arrange her spine and body well as she relaxes on the sofa to read.

Posture breakthroughs are a state of mind, as well as body

It is not surprising that the majority of our students are delighted to find solutions to physical issues, whether that be to address pain, improve appearance, or more generally for self-optimization and future-proofing. But they often find, at some point, that changing their posture also impacts the way they feel about themselves and the world around them.  

Below is a heartfelt account from a British student, Lavinia, from Milton Keynes, who wrote:

My whole life has been blighted by BIG bosoms! To the extent that I have become excessively round shouldered and as soon as I am in a new environment with people all around me, the shoulders come forward and my tortoise shell envelops me in order to hide those which I detest!

Well, I read the book, listened to Esther online, and attended a Foundations class. What bosoms? I’m so busy perfecting a lovely straight back I have forgotten all about them. Who cares anyway? My neighbour has noticed my back is so much straighter, things are changing for the better. I intend to keep up the good work. I feel like a new woman! 

Finding our natural uprightness and height in a relaxed and comfortable way not only gives us the space our spine and other structures crave, it often liberates our personality and self-confidence too. 

Professional cellist Katie Rietman discovered greater freedom through learning the Gokhale Method with Julie Johnson, both in her neck, and her confidence. 

Aha moments can turn students into teachers

Most Gokhale Method teachers can clearly recall their first aha moments too! Clare Chapman, a teacher in the UK, tells how she initially encountered the Gokhale Method through my book: 

One of my yoga students, who knew I was interested in solutions to back pain, lent me 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. As she handed me the book, to be honest, being a somewhat sceptical Brit, I thought this was probably just another “easy steps” self-help book that would promise the earth and fall far short. But within a few pages I was compelled to read more. 

The next few days and chapters brought repeated aha moments. My understanding of the body, back pain, and posture, shifted into a new paradigm. Within weeks I knew I wanted to learn more and teach these principles. My aha moments may have slowed down a bit, but are still happening 14 years on…

Self-help steps, principles that challenge the conventional wisdom on back pain, and hundreds of compelling illustrations, bring aha moments for many readers.

Best next action steps 

If you would like to discover your aha posture moments, get started by booking a 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…

Today, those of us in the U.S. celebrate our nationhood. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence announced colonial freedom from Great Britain; our history has included the winning of many more freedoms since. In various and sometimes contradictory ways, our society continues to defend much cherished freedoms, and also to aspire to new levels of freedom.

Abraham Lincoln is remembered for preserving the union of the U.S.. This 1864 photograph of Lincoln with his son, Tad, shows the upright posture characteristic of our ancestors. You can find it alongside many such examples in my book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back.

One freedom that everyone wishes for is to live and move free from aches and pains. I feel privileged that all day, every day, I get to support people in this basic endeavor. Our team of teachers is delighted to pass on to others how best to be in our bodies. We all want our bodies to be a source of true support, good health, and enjoyment for us, rather than a source of misery and a hindrance.

For too many of us, freedom in our body and delight in our physicality was left behind in childhood. We want to regain that pleasure! Image from Pexels

Your body is your primary instrument for existing in the world; it either supports or undermines each of your endeavors. Our intellectual, emotional, and physical selves can be severely challenged by musculoskeletal pain. A body that works well for us is more useful, more productive, gives us more scope to interact positively with others, and brings us more joy.

Enjoyable physical activity should be with us through all stages of life. Image from Pexels

Yet sadly there continue to be many ways in which our natural joyful physicality is undermined by our thinking, and the dominant paradigms around it. We are almost always born into this world highly functional, yet we get molded by misguided conventions and ill-conceived furniture into structures that systematically wear us down. A second whammy comes from not recognizing the red flags, and instead, normalizing them and lowering our expectations. Examples include “It’s normal to have disc degeneration by middle age”, or “We haven’t yet fully evolved to be upright”. The interventions we are offered to relieve pain symptoms, such as anti-inflammatory shots, while having a role to play, do not tackle the underlying causes of musculoskeletal pain, or offer solutions. We need freedom from this complex and catastrophic construction.

Poorly designed chairs such as these are a root cause of unhealthy posture and “ordinary” mechanical back pain. Learning to position our pelvis and spines well, in chairs that encourage healthy sitting, is an important part of the solution.

Could we use this Independence Day to awaken to the fact that we are actually very well designed? To realize that what is actually normal for us is to move and live mostly pain-free, and that our pain signals are an understandably unwelcome yet helpful nudge to move us in the right direction. To whatever extent you may need help in interpreting discomfort and understanding your particular posture puzzle, we are here to support you.

While the Gokhale Method® is sometimes thought to be about static posture, our method is equally about how to move well. Healthy posture is one frame in a motion picture. Collectively, these frames give you better balance, coordination, and flow. Everyday movements like bending and walking are a pleasure and are liberating, instead of being painful and restrictive..

Alumna Anissa Morgan tells the story of freeing herself from her “decade of darkness”. Anissa continues to enjoy improvement and to recommend the Gokhale Method.

The techniques and principles that restore our bodies’ freedom are taught in logical sequence and detail in our in-person Foundations course, one-day Pop-up course, our online Elements course, plus our Gokhale Exercise program. These offerings enable you to “move like you are meant to.”

Join us for a special online free workshop, Move Like You are Meant To, on Sunday July 7, 11 a.m. PST, where you can ask questions about how the Gokhale Method can help you to find and enjoy greater body freedom.

Best next action steps 

If you would like to find greater freedom in your posture and movement, get started by booking a 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…

In January and February this year I took the Gokhale Method Elements course, which consists of 18 brief (13 minute) but potent lessons. I would like to share my experience of the Gokhale Method with you in this blog post.

My goals were to find out how to sit, stand, and walk well, so that I don’t overstress the scoliotic parts of my back. I was also in search of more comfortable and beneficial sleeping positions. I felt I needed guidance to help me develop a better sense of my body posture and alignment. To be able to do a one-on-one course online made this possible for me. 

It was only when I saw the difference between my “Before” and “After” pictures that I realized just how much change it was possible to make to my posture in such a relatively short period. 

Learning to stand well has been transformational for me. You can see that I used to park my hips forward and sway back, pressuring on my lower spine and sending my neck forward—little wonder I was in so much pain. Though still a work in progress, I know how to align my weight better throughout my whole body.

I have always enjoyed exercise, movement, and body work, including hiking, Qigong, and yoga. I now have a healthy standing point from which to do all these activities.

When walking, for the first few steps I might omit to squeeze my glutes and check through the other things I know to do…but it is becoming more habitual so my muscle memory soon kicks in. Or I recall my favorite prompt of Esther’s, “if your glutes snooze, you lose.” 

The J-spine concept was entirely new to me. I had tucked my pelvis under (as you saw in the above “Before” photo) all my life as far as I can recall. Consequently, I believe, the place that hurts for me is around L5-S1 at the very bottom of my spine, so I have to be accurate to squeeze my glutes from a relaxed pelvic position and not to sway and compress my lower back trying to make it happen with the wrong muscles. A single follow-up lesson on this was really useful to help me relax my pelvis back even more.

A healthy L5-S1 angle (J-spine) permits the wedge-space disc there the space that it needs (a.). Learning the Gokhale Method finally enabled me to stop tucking my pelvis and sacrum, and damaging my L5-S1 disc (b.).

Due to my scoliosis I have to be extra careful about how I do things, and with poor bending form, I would always ache—or have a more acute disaster. Now I understand why. I use the hip-hinging technique as I’ve been taught (plus putting my hands on my hips) and I can bend comfortably—it amazes me! I don’t straighten my legs like some of the pictures we see, as I don’t have the hamstring length, but I can follow the principles involved. 

Since learning to hip-hinge I can bend without distorting my back and without pain. There are many principles to learn that contribute to healthy bending, which comes later in the course, but it has been well worth it.

Since 2005 I have been playing the harp, for which being in the right position is important. I pull the harp towards me more now, and when I bend, I bend at the hips, not rounding my back. When sitting with a backrest I have found using the Stretchsit® Cushion makes a good deal of difference to my comfort—I have one in the car, and in fact I’m sitting with one in this interview right now to reduce the pressure on my lower back.

The gentle traction you can get in your lumbar area by using a Stretchsit® Cushion reduces compression and asymmetry in your spine.  

Since a hysterectomy in 1995, I have lost bone density and three inches in height. I am working nightly with stretchlying to lengthen my spine and reduce my scoliosis. I am confident that stretchlying at night and using my inner corset to support my spine during the day will prevent any further height loss and increase in my scoliosis, as I have already seen such improvement in my posture. These two measures may well enable me to regain some of the height in my spine that I have lost.

In October I had an eye surgery, a partial cornea transplant, and to make sure that it stayed in place, for three days following the operation I had to keep my head still and remain on my back. I practiced stretchlying carefully leading up to the operation and found I could lie there all night comfortably; stretchlying is the best!

Come morning I have the option of switching to stretchlying on my side, which I also learned in the course. Again, I found a follow-up lesson on stretchlying on the side helpful as it involves a little more technical precision, especially with anteverting the pelvis, to work its magic.

For me the biggest help for my upper body was learning the shoulder roll…and I feel like my neck automatically gets into the right place after I’ve positioned my shoulders well. It also positions me better in sitting and standing, and helps me do more of the things I care deeply about.

One of those things is artwork, and I am now much more aware of my body while I’m doing it. For example, I’m standing straighter, and if I start to slouch—oops—I can feel it. 

I love the poetry of combining imagery and words in my artwork.

I’m also at the computer writing books, including a biography, children’s books, and poetry. As I spend a good deal of time sitting, it’s important to do it well. 

These are four of the numerous books I've published. I have illustrated the three books shown along the top here. Seven Meditations for Children I have recorded as an audiobook—see how the child is sitting with a nice straight back!

My husband had an eminent career in public health which took us all over the world. Rather than take a lucrative post as an Obstetrics and Gynecology trained MD, he chose instead to work for the poor and underserved of the world, becoming Founder-Director of the Center for Population and Family Health, 1975–86. He was then Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, 1986–2008, and honored while alive with the naming of the Allan Rosenfield Building and after his passing by the Tribute Wall I fundraised for. The first year of our marriage was spent in Nigeria, and we were in Thailand for six years. I must have seen a lot of examples of elegant posture in the rural areas of those countries, but back then I didn’t recognize how important it was.

Here is a photo of the Tribute Wall to my husband—there we are together, bottom left. My husband served in Korea as an Air Force doctor. You can see people headloading in Nigeria (left hand panel, photo top right).

I have six grandchildren, three boys and three girls, aged 12–23. When I’m with them I try to help them with their posture—they spend so much time hunched over. I guess it’s hard for children to envisage they are statistically likely to have back pain down the line, but at least I can sow the seeds for them to think about posture, and set as healthy an example as I can. I’m so glad that the Gokhale Method is there to help all generations—and especially the young—to rediscover their healthy posture heritage.

I’m known to my grandchildren as “the Nana who raps instead of naps!” Here is a rap I would like to share with you:

IT'S TIME WE VOW TO SPEAK RIGHT NOW
 

It's time we vow to speak right now

our vow to share a peace we dare

to live and keep and not let sleep

In mere intentions while old conventions

Toot horns of war. No more, no more,

We shout out loud, no more to shroud

Our depths of heart. It's time to start,

Yes, twenty-four seven, on Earth bring Heaven,

So one, two, three, it's you and me

To take a dive in what's alive,

Our YES to fate before too late

To emanate our LOVE not wait,

to one and all, the world enthrall

So they will see that all we be

One family! Yes all we be

One FAMILY!

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. . .

As we transition from the winter months into spring, many of us will search in our wardrobe for lighter weight clothing and perhaps some lighter colors. One thing we often overlook when it comes to choosing clothing is how it affects our posture—including whether it risks giving us back pain, or helps to resolve it.

In this blog post I would like to consider two main posture criteria when choosing pants: 

1. Do the pants allow healthy pelvic anteversion, or do they tuck your pelvis?
2. Do the pants allow healthy bending from the hips?

Tight-fitting jeans and pants may restrict the hips and tuck the pelvis. Pixabay

Do your pants allow for a healthy pelvic position, or tuck your pelvis?

Tucking the pelvis has been perpetuated by the fashion industry for over a century. Since the 1920s many modern clothes have been designed and modeled to reflect this fashionable pose, which has now become common in our culture. Unfortunately a tucked pelvis:

• Compresses your L5-S1 disc and nerves
• Compresses your pelvic organs
• Distorts your hip joints
• Rounds your upper body forward and/or sways your back

This French fashion magazine cover from the 1920s shows the new “relaxed” posture which translates as tucking the pelvis and slumping.

How fashion pants are cut to tuck

In the case of jeans and fitted pants, cutting them with less fabric in the rear means that the gluteal muscles don’t have enough room to settle naturally behind and the pelvis is forced into a tuck. With the glutes more underneath than behind (they are called your “behind” for good reason!), these muscles are mechanically disadvantaged. They will consequently work less well to propel you forward in walking, which causes a loss of muscle mass and a weaker, flatter butt. As clothing manufacturers then produce pants to fit this shape, the cycle is perpetuated.

Dress pants are usually designed to hang best on a tucked or retroverted pelvis, albeit less severely tucked than with tight jeans. They are usually tailored with a horizontal waistband. In the Gokhale Method® we teach that a naturally well-positioned pelvis is anteverted, which is best matched by a waistband that angles down slightly in the front, and a cut that is roomy behind.

Children, our ancestors, and people in traditional societies such as these Ubong tribesmen from Borneo, have the pelvic anteversion that is natural for our species—and report remarkably low levels of back pain. 

A tucked pelvis (a) compresses the front of the lower lumbar discs, and stretches the muscles and ligaments of the back. An anteverted pelvis (b) angles down at the front allowing the lower back to stack straight. This requires a healthy angle at the L5-S1 junction at the base of the spine.
Tilting the pelvis forward without a healthy L5-S1 (c) sways the back and compresses the back of the lumbar discs.

Choose pants that are designed to allow movement

In general, activewear such as pants for yoga, climbing, hiking, and horse riding will be better cut than fashion wear and allow for anteversion of the pelvis. Horse riding pants often have a generous amount of fabric in the seat as this sport generally encourages a high level of activity in the glutes and includes healthy instruction on pelvic position.

Two of Esther’s favorite pants are horse riding pants, manufactured by Horze. They are ideal for Gokhale Exercise sessions. (1-2-3 Move, Freedom in Clothing, September ‘22.)

Unfortunately, even clothing designed for exercise can reflect the same unhealthy form that dominates the fashion industry. Don’t assume that just because a pair of pants or leggings are sold for fitness and made from stretchy fabric that they won’t nudge you into a tuck.

We find many of our students have been misguidedly coached to maintain a tucked pelvis, especially in weight training and certain ab exercises. These students, eager to remain active but desiring to lose poor posture habits, respond especially enthusiastically to the cues we teach in our in-person Foundations course, one-day Pop-up course, and our online Elements course, and are able to maintain good posture habits in our Gokhale Exercise program.

Exercises done with a tucked pelvis and rounded back will reinforce poor postural habits and can damage the spinal discs and ligaments. Pexels

Do your pants pass the hip-hinge test?

Whenever you try a new pair of pants, give them the “hip-hinge test”. Hip-hinging is the way that you instinctively bent as a young child, and it is the way your ancestors bent. It continues to be used by people living in traditional societies around the world. Hip-hinging describes a forward bend that happens at the hips as the pelvis rotates on the thigh bones while the back remains straight, as opposed to a bend that happens in the spine and rounds the back. 

This painter is tucking his pelvis and rounding his back to bend. Pexels

This woman’s clothing allows her to externally rotate her legs, rotate her pelvis on her thigh bones, and keep her back straight. Drawing by Van Gogh, The Carrot Puller, 1885. Arctic

The major benefits of hip-hinging are that it preserves the spinal discs and nerves, mobilizes and lubricates the hip joint, and preserves natural hamstring length. By contrast, rounding the back damages the spinal discs, nerves, and ligaments, allows the hips to stiffen, and permits the hamstrings to adjust to a short resting length. 

In my field research and teaching, I see a strong correlation between those who bend well and those who live pain free well into old age, while those who round their backs often experience pain no matter how young they are. I’ve found that traditional and ancestral clothing tends to be looser to allow the freedom of movement needed to hip-hinge. 

These traditional hand embroidered Yao pants from the highlands of Thailand have a gusset in the center, allowing plenty of room for bending and stretching. (Alumni Live Chat, February ‘22.)

The hip-hinge test has two criteria—you want freedom of movement, plus you don’t want your intergluteal cleft (otherwise known as butt crack!) to be exposed.

It’s easy to spot when pants don’t allow enough room for bending and encourage the pelvis to tuck! Flikr

Having discovered the benefits of hip-hinging, many students find they no longer want to settle for restrictive pants or jeans. They usually consider getting rid of these items a good trade-off for the pain relief and increased function that comes with this change.

Are some brands better than others for healthy posture

It’s our company’s goal that one day unhealthily cut pants will not be viable in the marketplace—but we will need a few more years to get there! In the meantime, when you do find a really good fit, you might want to consider buying additional pairs to future-proof yourself against the vagaries of fashion. 

I generally steer clear of recommending brands because their styling can change. Also, what fits one person well may not work for another. That said, please comment below if you have a favorite brand or style that you have found to be posture-friendly.

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. . .

The healthy posture and positive change that antique images can bring to modern people are potentially transformational. In Part 1 of this series we looked at how learning from old photographs can benefit our upper body posture and in Part 2 the lower body.

Here we are going to focus on what antique portraits can teach us about small bends. The historical paintings for this post come from collections associated with Leland and Jane Stanford, famous for their business acumen, political influence, railroad building, and later, philanthropy as founders of Stanford University in California. 

Leland Stanford c. 1870. His open chest and posterior shoulder position are typical of the fine posture of his day. Wikipedia

How much do small bends really matter? After all, it is the deeper bends, perhaps with lifting involved, that pose a bigger threat to our spine. Here are three reasons to pay attention to small bends:

1. The start of a bend usually sets its trajectory. If you have a problematic start to your bend, it will likely continue that way.
2. Small bends are done more often. Any systematic error in your form can therefore create a significant amount of cumulative damage. They also present more opportunities for training in healthy posture habits.
3. Some people’s backs “go out” even with small bends.

Living on the Stanford campus for decades, I was a frequent visitor and admirer of many of the artefacts in the Cantor Arts Center (formally Stanford University Museum). Many of its artefacts represent the human story from foreign lands and ancient periods of history. But within the museum there is also a collection documenting the lives of the Stanford family, which represents a homegrown heritage that teaches us much of what we need to know about healthy posture. 

Let’s start with a painting of the Stanford family at leisure, celebrating the 10th birthday of Leland Stanford Jr. . .  

“Palo Alto Spring” by Thomas Hill, 1879, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Kiddle

A girl playing croquet bends forward slightly (detail, right foreground). Kiddle

The girl playing croquet is an example of a small bend done pretty well. Notice how she angles forward almost exclusively at her hips, rather than at her waist, and also maintains an elegantly elongated spine. By angling forward at the hip joint, where the pelvis pivots around the top of the thigh bones, her hip joints get to enjoy the rotational movement they are designed for. Her spine follows her pelvis, with her back muscles and inner corset both gently working to keep her entire torso as one piece. 

When the pelvis and torso remain aligned, bending brings beneficial work for the hips,
 deep abdominal muscles, and back muscles (fig a.). 

This is a much healthier way to bend (fig a.) than fixing the pelvis in a tucked position and then rounding the spine to bend forward (fig b.). Rounding loads the discs, compressing them anteriorly and causing them to bulge posteriorly. With frequent repetition the microaggressions of even small bends take their toll on the discs. Rounding also overstretches the spinal ligaments, allowing for increasingly hunched posture. Even a small bend done in this way may be perceived by the brain as a threat and send the muscles into spasm, trying to prevent movement and protect against such misuse and damage. 

Rounding the back to bend squeezes the disc contents back, where they may bulge and impinge on the nerve roots  (fig b.).  

In the painting “The Last Spike” by Thomas Hill (below), you can see a small bend employed in a kneeling position. The two figures kneeling on either side of Stanford could be tucked and rounded, but instead, they are hinging at the hip joint and keeping their backs straight. The woman to their right, leaning on her parasol, also angles forward in a mild hip-hinge.

A late 19th century painting shows Stanford, one of the owners of the Central Pacific Railroad, standing ready to hammer the golden and ceremonial “Last Spike” into the ground at Promontory Summit, Utah, in May 1869. Wikimedia

Small bends can be as subtle as a nod or tiny inclination forward. In the foreground of a different painting below, also entitled “The Last Spike,” the onlooker on the left rounds his upper back as he looks downward. I suspect that his desire or need to show deference, also suggested by his removal of his cap, has overridden the prevailing bending posture of the day. Societal expectations around status and hierarchy are responsible for substantial postural degradation throughout history. More about that in a future blog post.

An alternative composition of “The Last Spike,” showing a less healthy type of small bend. historyisnowmagazine.com

This small degree of rounding is what many people do numerous times in a day to pick things up—perhaps to grab our car keys from a table or move things from the counter to the sink. Any forward movement with the upper back and head will often result in counter-tension in the lower back and/or pelvis to hold you there. Rather than compromise our backs, it is far healthier to keep our necks tall and bend at the hip joint. 

If you would like to practise this important contribution to your back health, join me for a “small bends” Gokhale Exercise class on Friday, November 12 at 9:45 a.m. (Pacific Time). If you have not yet subscribed to the 1-2-3 Move program, sign up now for your 7-day Gokhale Exercise Free Trial.

1-2-3 Move happens daily with Esther or guest teachers at 9:45 a.m. 
Gokhale Fitness with Eric runs Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from 7–7:25 a.m.
(Pacific Time), and Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays from 3–3:25 p.m. (Pacific Time)
Gokhale Moving Meditation with Roberta is Mondays at 2 p.m. and with Kathleen is Wednesdays at 12 p.m. (Pacific Time)

Harvesting rye with scythes in early twentieth-century Lithuania. Original photograph Balys Buročas, 1923.

The Gokhale Method has improved my understanding of how posture correlates to our health and physicality. The method is based on healthy body architecture and has been informed by movement patterns from populations without back pain, those shared by our ancestors worldwide. This inspired me to take a look at my own forefathers in Lithuania, especially their posture while laboring in the fields. 

Memories of my youth
I was born and raised in urban Soviet Lithuania. Yet, we had a little plot of land outside the city in “kolektyviniai sodai” (collective gardens) and most of our weekends and summers were spent there. It was heaven to play in the fields, but there was always plenty of work.

My sister and I were often assigned weeding, watering, or harvesting to complete. It was definitely good exercise and a learning experience. I remember how proud I was when, one summer, my dad deemed me grown-up enough to show me how to cut grass with a scythe. It took a lot of coordination and control to swing the blade just so, to catch the grass low enough and to not drive the blade into the ground.

Harvesting rye with scythes in Juodėnai village, Lithuania. Original photograph Povilas Butkus, 1938.

In the summertime, we frequently visited with our relatives in the country. The grownups helped with harvesting and us kids followed them around and entertained ourselves with lighter tasks. My parents, aunts, and uncles all grew up on farms and were used to this type of work. I remember them teasing each other and laughing in the fields. Yet, it was hard work and they were all exhausted by the end of the day.

My own ancestors in Old Lithuania, like ancestral peoples everywhere, must have carried much body wisdom. Working the land shaped their bodies and their posture. Theirs wasn’t just a weekend task: it was a day-by-day, year-after-year way of life.

Photo treasures
Much more recently, I found a treasure trove of photos on E-paveldas. I immediately recognized the pristine body architecture and beautiful movements of the Lithuanian farmers. Here were women and men working with a clear J-shaped spine — which is found in highly functioning and musculoskeletally sound populations and is a cornerstone of the Gokhale Method. I was not surprised to see the J-spine show up in historical photos from Lithuania. How else could one exert oneself on a daily basis and remain productive and intact?

Before machinery, harvesting was a communal affair. Men did most of the chopping, plowing, and scything. Women raked and gathered, but also did heavier work when needed. Hay and grain harvesting was done with scythes. When harvesting grain, as in both photographs above, the cuttings were gathered and bundled into neat bunches and stacked in big piles in the fields. If harvesting hay, the cuttings were first spread out to dry and once dry, the hay was gathered and transported to the barns (below).

Young women from Didsodė village harvesting hay. Original photographer unknown, ca. 1940.

In the picture below, we see women hefting piles of dry hay to load up a horse cart.

Women loading harvested and dried hay onto a horse cart. Original photographer unknown, 1935.

Postural highlights
These old photographs give us a good view of people’s silhouettes. In contrast to modern-day postural tendencies in industrialized societies, there is no tucking of the pelvis. Behinds are very much behind. Shoulders are back and necks are lengthened. That’s J-spine, the same spinal shape we all had when we were little! 

This body architecture sets a foundation for inner corset engagement. Here, the obliques, transverse abdominis, rotatores, and multifidi muscles are all engaged. 

The inner corset muscles stabilize and decompress the spine so there is no wear and tear on spinal structures during exertion. This is how repetitively thrusting with pitchforks, lifting weights over the head, forcefully swinging scythes across the body, or reaching and pulling with rakes can be performed without hurting one’s back. Of course, the inner corset muscles get a huge workout! Meanwhile, they become stronger and in turn better support the spine.

Additionally, heavy arm and shoulder actions require correct shoulder placement. Notice that the farmers’ chests are open and wide, and shoulders are set further back. This shoulder location allows for better arm circulation, opens the chest cavity for better breathing, and prevents the upper spine from slumping. This position is key for efficient movement and protection from injury.

Bending well is essential to avoid back pain. You can see all the women hinging beautifully from their hips and keeping their backs flat while harvesting potatoes, doing laundry, and cooking. In spite of long hours bending, they did not hunch their shoulders, round their backs, or distort their spines.

Potato harvest in the Džiuginėnai fields. Original photograph Juzefas Perkovskis, 1940.

This healthy way of bending does no damage to the bones, discs or ligaments. Instead, it strengthens the muscles in the back (erectors and rhomboids) and provides the best stretch for the leg and hip muscles (external hip rotators and hamstrings).

Women hip-hinging while doing laundry. Original photograph Balys Buračas, 1923.

Hip-hinging while cooking in an open-air summer kitchen. Original photograph Stasys Vaitkus, 1937.

Another beautiful image (below) depicts three shepherd boys with their instruments. Notice that their lengthened leg and hip muscles in turn allow the spine to stack without slumping even when squatting on the ground. Their legs remain externally rotated, and their foot arches intact.

Village shepherds. Note the deep, healthy squat at left. Original photograph Stasys Vaitkus, 1938. 

In the last image (below), an older couple carries a yoke (naščiai) and baskets. What a clever way to carry a load! The yoke is placed close to the spine — the best place to bear weight, just like in weight lifting, while arms and hands are spared.

Marija and Augustas Šarkai on their way to harvest potatoes. Group Photograph/Bernardas Aleknavičius, 1971.

This couple encapsulates what we find across all ancestral populations:

1. Their feet are turned out and bean-shaped.

2. Their behinds are behind them.

3. Their ribcages are flush with the contours of the torsos, which means their lower backs are lengthened.

4. Their shoulders are set way back and their arms are externally rotated.

5. Their necks are long; their chins angle down.

Furthermore, this couple is not young anymore. I am sure they worked throughout their lives, yet they retain beautiful, erect posture.

Reflection
This was a brief glimpse of village life in Lithuania in the early twentieth century. The photographs of my ancestors laboring in the fields are brimming with body wisdom. This wisdom is a part of a common worldwide heritage that has been displaced by modern culture. Yet, it is still available to us through photographs, stories from elders, and posture work.

I felt inspired by the wisdom and proud of my Lithuanian heritage when looking at these pictures. I encourage you to do the same! Look through your own family photos, if you have them, or historical photography books. Let these images inspire you and reaffirm how well our bodies are designed, and how sturdy and strong they are when used well.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has just issued new Clinical Guidelines for the non-invasive treatment of non-radicular lower back pain (pain that does not radiate from and is not caused by damage to the spinal nerve root).

Since the last guidelines were issued in 2007, the ACP has dramatically revised the medical solutions commonly offered for back pain. Many interventions that were once routinely administered to back pain patients, having proven to be ineffective or counterproductive for back pain, are no longer part of the guidelines for doctors. Surgery, cortisone and nerve blocking injections, X-rays, and MRIs are all discouraged in back pain cases where they used to be a part of standard care.

A lot of the what used to be standard of care for back pain is no longer recommended.

The new guidelines issued last month also discourage the use of pain medications as a treatment for back pain. The recommendation is based on extensive data showing that pain meds (whether over-the-counter, prescription NSAIDs, or opioids) are ineffective in back pain treatment. Strong painkillers may help to mask symptoms, but do little to actually treat the cause of pain. As painkiller addiction has become a serious large scale problem, it is commendable that the ACP has taken this bold move to discourage the overuse of a common but ineffective and potentially harmful intervention.

The new ACP guidelines discourage the use of pain medication to treat back pain.

What is sadly missing in the guidelines is an enthusiastic endorsement of any intervention. Physicians and patients are advised to try non-drug therapies, but this is followed by the lukewarm statement “physicians should select therapies that have the fewest harms and costs, since there were no clear comparative advantages for most treatments compared to one another.”

In 2017 mainstream medical practice, there is still no satisfactory understanding of the root causes of back pain, nor robust treatment to eliminate it. I dream of a future when randomized controlled trials (RTCs) validate what Gokhale Method students and teachers experience, and what our recently collected data and the data on healthoutcome.org suggest. Imagine if the Gokhale Method became part of standard protocol for back pain! Here are some key ways that would play out:

1. The ACP guidelines correctly recommend that people resume “normal everyday activities” as early as possible. This would take on a whole new meaning! Often, people develop their aches and pains from the ways they slump-sit, round-bend, jerk-walk and so forth. How could sending such a person back to their “normal” everyday activities constitute a sensible measure? The Gokhale Method would help these people transform their slump-sitting and arch-sitting into stretchsitting and stacksitting. They would learn to hiphinge not round-bend, and glidewalk not jerk-walk. Previously injurious everyday movements become comfortable and therapeutic. Now life becomes a gym and a playground, and the recommendation to do "normal" activity makes eminent sense to the back pain sufferer.

Bending is a healthy everyday activity if and only if one has good form.

The recommendation to do exercise, yoga, and other augmented activity would become a more robust recommendation. With Gokhale Method principles integrated into exercise and yoga, there’s less risk of injury and more leveraged benefits to be had.

Yoga done wth good form bestows many benefits; yoga done with poor form can result in injury.

2. Some medical interventions, that went through cycles of being over-used and then booted out, may well have a new role and relevance when used to supplement a robust postural re-education program. Medical science will continue to improve in determining which interventions work in which circumstances. Pain meds, spinal injections, and even surgery have more of a place as palliative or auxiliary measures if they facilitate new learning which gets to the root cause of the problem. They provide a window of opportunity to learn new posture ways without acute pain and symptoms getting in the way of being able to concentrate and function.

Coupled with posture training, a lot of medical interventions for back pain acquire a new role and relevance.

For example, if someone gets spinal surgery but then goes back to their old habits, their pain is likely to come back, and the surgery may be deemed ineffective. But if instead they use the temporary pain relief from surgery to learn new habits from the Gokhale Method, their pain is less likely to return. In that case, the surgery will have been part of a more integrated and ultimately successful approach.

Similarly a more circumspect use of pain meds could facilitate learning new posture ways, getting to the root of pain, and, in turn, eliminating the need for pain meds.

The Gokhale Method doesn’t just combine well with wise medicine, exercise or therapeutic interventions, it can redefine them. For that reason we’re looking forward to being adopted into standard care guidelines one day—wouldn’t that be lovely?

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.

Round-backed bending is ubiquitous in modern urban culture. It damages the back. Recognizing this, many health advocates recommend bending at the knees. Done to excess or with poor form, this damages the hips, knees, ankles, and feet.

Surprisingly, poor bending form abounds even in fitness and wellness classes.

An insistence on touching the toes can be counterproductive and result in damage

People sometimes equate being able to touch the toes with flexibility. An imprecise  and insistent pursuit of this kind of “flexibility” causes disc damage, hyper-extended spinal ligaments, and a lot of pain. Let’s examine do’s and don’t’s in bending more closely.

DO

1. Come close in to your tasks and don’t bend if you don’t need to.
    

   
   If you can accomplish your task without bending, don’t bend.

   
    
2. Be sure your legs are externally rotated so there’s room for your pelvis when you bend.
   If your thigh bones (femurs) are in the way of the pelvis settling between the legs in a forward bend, there’s no healthy workaround for bending. Widening your stance can help some, but a healthy bend needs external leg rotation no matter where your legs are positioned. 
    

   
   
   This Burkina baby has his legs externally rotated, making room for his pelvis and substantial belly!
    

3. Maintain the shape of your back when bending
   The spine carries precious cargo - like all the nerves and nerve roots that exit between the vertebrae - and these are threatened by major distortions of the spine.
   
   In activities other than bending, some movement around a healthy baseline is healthy and desirable. Such movement stimulates circulation and helps maintain healthy spinal tissues.  
   
   For bending, I recommend strictly maintaining the baseline shape of the spine. Distorting the spine when bending loads the discs and can cause damage. It also sets a risky pattern for bends that involve weight-bearing. I recommend pure hip-hinging for all bends, whether in daily life or exercise. With practice, good form, and strengthened inner corset muscles, you will be able to move into sustained bending and lifting weights.  
    

   
   Women in the marketplace in village Orissa demonstrating excellent hip-hinging form.

   
    
4. Maintain (or increase) the length of your spine when bending
   You don’t want to load your discs when bending. This happens when rounding or swaying the back, or from additional muscle engagement while maintaining your baseline spinal shape. Using the inner corset (go here for a free download of Chapter 5 from 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back) while bending is excellent insurance against loading the discs unwittingly. 
    
5. Practice bending with a teacher and with mirrors
   If you are accustomed to tucking your pelvis, it can be a real challenge to find the correct movement in the hips.  Practice bending in front of a mirror, or, better yet, with a Gokhale Method teacher, so you get the feel of healthy hip rotation with a straight back.  
    

   
   Working with a teacher helps set a healthy hip-hinging pattern

   
   
   Start off with small bends - pay attention when you are at the sink or making your bed. Keep your feet and knees pointed out 10-15 degrees, have your knees soft and only bend at the hips as far as you can before you start to round.  At that point, enjoy the gentle stretch in your hamstrings and external hip rotators. Bend your knees if you want to go any further. For more complete hip-hinging instructions and images, refer to Chapter 7 of  8 Steps to a Pain Free Back or Back Pain: The Primal Posture Solution (DVD).

DON’T

1. Don’t Round the Lower Back. 
   The most common mistake in bending is to round the back, either distributing curvature throughout the spine or concentrating most of it in one spot. If your pattern of bending includes rounding the lower back, this is a particularly risky mistake. Being at the bottom of the heap, the lumbar discs are already particularly vulnerable to wear and tear, bulging, herniation, and sequestration. Rounding the lower back while bending puts additional strain on them. The amount of loading is high because our upper bodies are heavy (especially our heads) and the lever arm is long (Torque = weight X distance.)
    
   You may know people who bent to tie their shoelaces or perform some other seemingly innocuous task on the ground, and then couldn’t straighten back up. Those people were probably rounding their lower backs, possibly with the additional danger of a twist added in. The brain reacts to the threat / damage by seizing up muscles in the area. Ouch! In my classes I go so far as to say that people who bend well will probably never have a back problem, while people who bend poorly almost certainly will. It's very important to get bending right!
    

   
   Hugh Jackman rounding his back while bending

   
    
2. Don’t Round the Upper Back. 
   Rounding the upper back is problematic for an entirely different reason. The discs in the upper back don’t generally herniate or get severely damaged. This is partly  because the rib attachments to the thoracic vertebrae help fortify that portion of the spine. The problem that results from repeatedly rounding the upper back while bending is that the spinal ligaments gets distended. 
   
    

   
   Avoid rounding your back and letting your shoulders come forward while bending

   
   
   Ligaments are like band-aids that go from bone to bone and whose function is primarily structural support. They are a backup system for our muscular support. In situations when there is more challenge and distortion than our muscles are strong enough to handle, or when muscles don’t have time to fire, such as in a jolting accident or jump, then the ligaments keep our joints safe. 
   
   Ligaments are supposed to have some degree of stiffness. Ligaments aren’t an elastic kind of tissue.  Once stretched too far, they are permanently distended, and no longer serve their role as the backup system to support the spine. Extreme forward bends that come from the back and not the hips cultivate ligamentous laxity more than muscular flexibility. It is counterproductive and results in losing important structural insurance. This is what we see happening in the backs, hips, and knees of athletes and yogis who push too far in poorly executed forward bends as well as other distortions.  
   
   Charlotte Bell, an Iyengar yoga teacher and author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life, had a hip replacement in 2015. She warns us “I know a number of serious practitioners who are now in their 50s—including myself—who regret having overstretched our joints back in the day. All too many longtime practitioners now own artificial joints to replace the ones they overused.” 
    
3. Don’t bend with your legs internally rotated and/or tail tucked 
   When the legs are internally rotated (toes and knees pointed inwards), the head of the femur grinds inappropriately against the hip socket (acetabulum), wearing down the cartilage and causing arthritic change.
   
   In 2013, Lady Gaga canceled her “Born this Way” tour due to chronic pain from a severe cartilage tear in her hip. Lady Gaga is known for being health conscious and a yoga enthusiast. Though dancing in high heels night after night certainly puts wear and tear on the body, a yoga practice should support, not exacerbate the problem. “My injury was actually a lot worse than just a labral tear,” she told reporters. “...The surgeon told me that if I had done another show I might have needed a full hip replacement. It took over two years after my surgery to be able to correct my alignment and continue working.”
    

   
   Lady Gaga internally rotating her legs while standing
   
   
   Lady Gaga bends forward in the yoga pose with toes pointed in and a tucked pelvis.

   
   
   These pictures of Lady Gaga show that a) she has a tendency to internally rotate her legs while standing and b) she bends forward in the yoga pose with toes pointed in and a tucked pelvis.  This puts stress on the hip joint, pushes the ball of the femur into the cartilage of the hip socket, and can overstretch the ligaments of her spine, sacroiliac joint, hip, knee, and foot.  
    
4. Don’t push beyond your range of motion in the hips 
   If you run into resistance in your hip joints when bending, don’t force past it. Dr. Chris Woollam, a Toronto sports medicine physician, says he started seeing “an inordinate number of hip problems” among women aged 30 to 50 who were practicing yoga. “Maybe these extreme ranges of motion were causing the joint to get jammed and some to wear,” Woollam says. “If you start wearing a joint down, then it becomes arthritic. So you’re seeing these little patches of arthritis in an otherwise normal hip that seems to be related to these extremes of motion or impingement or both.”
   
   I suspect that some of the hip problems that get chalked up to extreme range of motion, are actually due to alignment problems. Most yoga classes, Pilates training, and gym routines teach students to stand with parallel feet. By Gokhale Method standards, this constitutes internal leg rotation. Indigenous people have their feet facing outward in the range of 5-15 degrees, and their legs are correspondingly externally rotated. It is our opinion that instructions to have parallel feet contribute to stress and arthritic changes in the hip joints, especially when combined with forward bends and other hip motions.
    

How well do you stack up when bending in your daily life and when exercising? How far along are you in your hip-hinging journey?

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

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We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.

One shoulder at a time — a little forward,
a little up, a lot back, and totally relax.

The holidays are upon us and ‘tis the season for cooking, cleaning and entertaining. You may find yourself especially reliant upon your body as you enjoy the added festivities. We want to help keep you safe and healthy with some seasonal posture tips!

Shoulder positioning

Whether you are baking dozens of cookies or wrapping bundles of presents, your shoulders may feel uncomfortable if neglected. Firstly, assess your surroundings. Whatever your task, ensure that it is within comfortable reach. For example, if you are cooking, get close enough to your countertop so you can easily manage all of your ingredients. Or, if you are working while seated, find a suitable height for your chair and/or table. From here, do a shoulder roll. One shoulder at a time — a little forward, a little up, a lot back, and totally relax. Ideally you can still reach what you need without pulling the shoulders out of this position. This will alleviate tension or pulling between your shoulder blades, which over time would tax your rhomboid muscles. And, with the shoulders back and down, you will encourage healthy circulation to your arms and hands to keep up your stamina.

Notice how the baby's knees are bent in a wide stance to
allow his pelvis to settle comfortably between his legs.

Hip-Hinging

Decorating, cooking and preparing for house guests all require a lot of bending. Bending well by hip-hinging is a must to keep your back healthy. Always allow the legs to rotate open to make room for the pelvis. You want to make room for the pelvis to rotate, drop and nest between the legs.

For shallow bends, you will likely not need to bend your knees very much if at all while standing. If you are seated, the legs usually don’t have to be very far apart. As you bend forward, nothing else along your spine and torso moves. Your shoulders want to stay back, your neck remains elongated, and your ribs stay in place.

For deeper bends, the knees will probably need to bend more generously depending on your hamstring flexibility. If you are gathering things from the floor, you may want to take a wider stance as well, especially if those hamstrings are pulling your pelvis into a tucked position rather than the optimal tipped or anteverted position. Deep seated bends will likely feel better when the legs are opened as well.

This man uses his inner corset to lift a box.
Notice that his arms are still close to his
torso and his body is squared toward
the object.

Lifting with your Inner Corset

Heavy or bulky items require a great reliance upon your Inner Corset. While maintaining your hip-hinging form, add your Inner Corset AND bend your knees more generously when lifting heavy items. Often resting an elbow or two on your thigh can provide more leverage as well. And, always stay close to whatever you are handling—things feel heavier the further they are from your center.

Hopefully you can square your body toward any object you are handling. Sometimes, however (especially in decorating or cleaning those hard to reach spots) you may find your self in a slightly twisted, distorted, otherwise compromised position. During these times, it is especially vital to use your Inner Corset for extra protection. Creating more length allows room for the spine to handle bits of distortion. And, gathering your muscles up and in will stabilize your spine and prevent unnecessary compression.

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.

Wishing everyone a warm holiday season!
Esther