Gokhale Method

Postural awareness technique

The Gokhale Method or Primal Posture method is a postural awareness technique developed by acupuncturist and yoga instructor Esther Gokhale.<ref name="Khaleeli 2015"> ,

 A simple cure for back pain: grow up in the Ecuadorian mountains Full text, 
 The Guardian, 
  
 June 10, 2015,

</ref> The method proposes that certain patterns exist in the way people in pre-modern and less industrialized societies move and adopt posture. Gokhale claims that these patterns, which she calls primal posture, can be learned through practice. The method became popular in the beginning of the 2010s among professionals in the Silicon Valley, where Gokhale is located.<ref name="Schoenfeld 2013"> ,

 Soothing Back Pain by Learning How to Sit Again Full text, 
 The New York Times, 
  
 May 11, 2013,

</ref><ref name="Kriegman 2014"> ,

 The Gokhale Method Full text, 
 Santa Barbara Independent, 
  
 May 13, 2014,

</ref>

History

Esther Gokhale teaching at the Ancestral Health Symposium in 2013.

Gokhale started searching for a method to cope with her own back pain,<ref name="Kriegman 2014" /> including sciatica and spinal disc herniation which began with her first pregnancy.<ref name="Doucleff 2015"> ,

 Lost Posture: Why Some Indigenous Cultures May Not Have Back Pain Full text, 
 NPR, 
  
 June 8, 2015,

</ref>

She based the method on training in the Feldenkrais Method and from a French organization for postural awareness called the Aplomb Institute.<ref name="Schoenfeld 2013" /><ref name="Wallace 2013" /> Gokhale also spent ten years observing and photographing people's posture in less industrialized societies.<ref name="Wallace 2013"> ,

 Exercises to tackle bad posture can avert back surgery Full text, 
 Financial Times, 
  
 December 16, 2013,

</ref><ref name="Doucleff 2015" /><ref name="Vaswani 2017"> ,

 Sit up smart Full text, 
 Bangalore Mirror, 
 Bennett, Coleman and Co, 
 January 23, 2017,

</ref> Gokhale started teaching in a studio at Palo Alto, California.<ref name="Doucleff 2015" />

Features

The result of Esther Gokhale's observations was an eight-step method that emphasizes a posture with a J-shaped spine as the ideal form, created through repositioning the pelvis.<ref name="Schoenfeld 2013" /><ref name="Doucleff 2015" /> The method emphasizes training posture through everyday activities, rather than exercise,<ref name="Kriegman 2014" /> and involves as much unlearning

former habits of poor posture as learning new habits of good posture. Postural training involves the shoulders, neck, back, hips and knees,<ref name="Vaswani 2017" /><ref name="Sen 2017">

Sen, Sohini,

 Bad posture is not just about having a hunched back Full text, 
 Live Mint, 
 HT Media, 
 February 6, 2017, 
  
  
 Accessed on: February 11, 2017.

</ref> and incorporates yoga and dance.<ref name="Ben 2017">,

 Good moves for a better back, 
 Palo Alto Weekly, 
 
 
 pp. 21–2,
 
 
 
 
 Full text,</ref><ref name="Gokhale 2013">, 
  
 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot. online version, 
  
 Pendo Press, 
  
  
  
 ISBN 978-0-9793036-8-5,</ref> Moreover, the method aims to elongate the spine and lessen the burden on the lower back.<ref name="Browne 2017">

Rethinking the Right Way to Sit(link). Men's Journal.

December 4, 2013.

</ref>

Esther Gokhale demonstrates posture.

The method consists of consecutive steps, with instructions on how to sit, stand, lie down, bend over, walk, and lift heavy objects.<ref name="Cooks 2017"></ref><ref>

Back Problems: 5 Common Causes and Prevention Tips(link). WebMD.

</ref> Gokhale uses kinesthetic, visual and intellectual teaching methods in her classes.<ref name="Ben 2017" /><ref></ref> Claiming legitimacy from medical literature and anatomical arguments,<ref name="Ben 2017" /> Gokhale has made statements that certain medical conditions such as RSI (Repetitive strain injury) are strongly related to posture and can be solved by improving posture.<ref>,

 Shoulder Posture Contributes to Syndromes Involving Multiple Meridians, 
 California Journal of Oriental Medicine, 
 
 Vol. 20(Issue: 1),
 
 
 
 
 
 Full text,</ref> She has also spoken out against the widespread notion that "sitting is the new smoking", stating that "we are much better designed than that".<ref>

Esther Gokhale: Primal Posture For Wellness(link). Wellness Force.

</ref><ref name="Cohn 2010"> Cohn, Meredith,

 When it comes to back pain, don't believe the myths Full text, 
 Baltimore Sun, 
  
 June 10, 2010, 
  
  
 Accessed on: April 22, 2017.

</ref>

Gokhale has published a book and a DVD about the method.<ref name="Bell"> Bell, Misha. Back Pain: Is Your Yoga Practice Hurting You?(link). Yogi Times.

Accessed April 21, 2017.

</ref> She has stated in interviews that her ultimate aim of teaching the Gokhale Method is to make the method widespread and thereby change what she describes as a culture of posture,<ref>

Esther Gokhale: Primal Posture For Wellness(link). Wellness Force.

</ref> saying that parents and teachers' examples affect children's posture.<ref name="Hobelsberger 2013"> Hobelsberger, Bernhard,

 Eine Frage Der Haltung Full text, 
 Donna, 
  
 March 1, 2013, 
  
  
 Accessed on: April 21, 2017.

</ref>

Reception and analysis

The method quickly caught on in the Bay Area, as she has been described as the "posture guru of Silicon Valley".<ref name="Doucleff 2015" /> Apart from the United States, the method has been taught in the United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands.<ref name="Wallace 2013" />

However, one of the main assumptions of the Gokhale Method, that people in less industrialized societies have less back pain,<ref name="Doucleff 2015" /> is not supported by mainstream science. "Low back pain occurs in similar proportions in all cultures, interferes with quality of life and work performance, and is the most common reason for medical consultations."<ref name="Duthey 2004"> </ref> For example, arthritis of the spine was common in pre-contact Native American populations.<ref name=English2015> English, Taunya,

 Can we break our slouching habit by reclaiming our 'primal posture'? Full text, 
 Newsworks, 
  
 August 13, 2015, 
  
  
 Accessed on: August 29, 2017.

</ref> As of  2015,[[Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements from ]] the Gokhale method had not yet been scientifically studied.<ref name="Schoenfeld 2013" />

See also

• Alexander technique
• Feldenkrais Method

External links

• Official website Gokhale Method

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