Intro & Summary:
In this episode you’ll learn how our guest, Esther Gokhale “The Posture Guru”, has healed her own back pain and the pain that thousands of others were dealing with, at every age. Her remarkable method is foundational to good health, proper posture, and pain-free living.

The video for this episode will be out in November or December 2019. Check out our social for those updates: Instagram @foundationofwellness_podcast, @marisa_moon_ , or Facebook: The Foundation of Wellness Podcast

Esther Gokhale (Go-clay) has been involved in integrative therapies all her life. She studied biochemistry at Harvard and Princeton and, later, acupuncture at the San Francisco School of Oriental Medicine. After experiencing crippling back pain during her first pregnancy and unsuccessful back surgery, Gokhale began her lifelong crusade to vanquish back pain. She developed the Gokhale Method, a unique, systematic approach to help people find their bodies’ way back to pain-free living. She is the author of the book “8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back”, and The New York Times featured Esther in an article giving her the title, “The Posture Guru of Silicon Valley”

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Disclaimer: Consult with your doctor or functional medicine practitioner before trying any of the remedies or dietary interventions mentioned in this episode. This information and recording is for informational and educational purposes only.

Topics of Discussion:
- Esther’s struggle with herniated discs, debilitating back pain, and surgery
- Techniques that inspired her: Aplomb (France), Alexander Technique, Weston Price
- Her Book: 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back has gone global
- the book has over 1,100 images, graphics, and photo guides
- Esther’s unique upbringing in India that piqued her interest in primitive posture
- Weston A Price’s Book: Nutrition & Physical Degeneration
- Traditional people have a certain wisdom about posture and movement that’s missing in modern culture
- What’s wrong with our idea of good posture today
- Poor posture starts Day 1 as an infant returns from the hospital
- Babies learn posture from car seats and umbrella strollers
- tucked pelvis (sitting on their “tails”)
- rounded, hunched back
- this posture makes our back in a C-shape, squishing spinal discs
- Herniated Discs and Bulging Discs
- Esther’s back pain MRI
- L5 - S1 is the lowest joint in the spine, second most frequent herniated disc
- The biofeedback “Spine-tracker wearable” device Esther’s team invented.
- See, in real time, how her spine can be an “S” shape (injury/pain), to a “J” shape (straight, tilting at the pelvis like a hockey stick)
- We arch our backs in sports, yoga, gymnastics, for sex appeal
- What is the Gokhale method?
- a method that takes people from where they are to the architecture they were designed to have with their posture
- it gets your there quickly and effectively
- musculoskeletal aches and pains disappear
- digestion can improve
- Esther walks us through the first step of the method: Stretch Sitting
- Try the “Stretch Sit Cushion” for traction and ease of implementation while sitting
- Stretch Sitting is all some people need for pain reversal
- See videos at gokhalemethod.com or on Youtube Gokhale Method “Gokhale Moment Wedge” video
- Traditional or Primitive people have a natural rear tilt and stronger glutes which natural leaves the “behind” lifted and back
- Today we tighten abs too much and tuck the pelvis under
- Imagine you have a tail, you want it behind you not tucked between your legs
- How should you carry your child?
- pelvis well-positioned with “tail” back, and behind back
- support the back straight with parent’s forearm
- legs externally rotated, not turned in (adult shoulders are not slouched)
- Esther’s 1-Day pop-up course is on tour now (with wearable spine-reader): https://gokhalemethod.com/upcoming_special_offerings_with_esther
- Reach out to Marisa to do a Chicago session with Esther & Marisa: Facebook “Marisa Moon Wellness” or Instagram @Marisa_Moon_
- What if you’re Hypermobile or have Ligamentous Laxity?
- Should we bend from the knees, hips, or waist?
- “Hip Hinge” - the ancestral way, a nuanced and advanced technique that comes after elongating the spine
- Step 1: Elongate spine first with stretch sitting and stretch lying
- The print book is made high quality with Lay-flat binding
- Great for the whole family

Resources:
- Esther’s Tour Dates & Upcoming Specials: https://gokhalemethod.com/upcoming_special_offerings_with_esther
- Esther’s Website, Book, & Videos at gokhalemethod.com
- Gokhale's book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back
- Youtube Gokhale Method: https://www.youtube.com/user/GokhaleMethod
- “Gokhale Moment Wedge” video: https://youtu.be/x-48PhLcLqU
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GokhaleMethod

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Intro/Exit Music  - "Ukulele Whistle" by Scott Holmes