What are the opening hours?

Monday 8am - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 5pm Friday 8am - 5pm Saturday 8am - 5pm

Gokhale Method

Home
United States
Palo Alto, CA
Gokhale Method

The Gokhale Method® teaches healthy posture and movement, so you can live your life free from back pain. Move like you are meant to. https://gokhalemethod.com/

The Gokhale Method works to realign and restore the spine to its natural shape, bringing you back to a pain-free life. Using healthy posture and everyday movements, like sitting, standing, sleeping, walking, and bending, you will strengthen your muscles, protect your spine, nourish your joints, and prevent injuries

07/25/2025

Everyday tasks like putting away groceries, gathering ingredients for dinner, or loading a dishwasher are perfect opportunities to practice healthy bending or what we call hip-hinging in the Gokhale Method. When done incorrectly, bending over a sink or to load a dishwasher can lead to rounding of the upper back, increasing pressure on spinal discs, nerves, and surrounding tissues.

In contrast, bending at the hips with a straight back and aligned neck like Julie demonstrates in the second photo offers key benefits:

✓ Protects spinal discs from compression
✓ Prevents overstretching spinal ligaments
✓ Keeps the knees safe
✓ Encourages full range of motion in the hip joints

Ready to move through your day with less pain and more ease? Learn how to hip-hinge and more with the Gokhale Method. Join any of our Free Workshops or connect with a teacher today!

07/24/2025

🙏 We’re grateful and proud to share that 86% of our students reported improvement after taking our course!

This is based on a pre- and post-course survey where students reported how much back pain was limiting their daily life. After learning the Gokhale Method, the vast majority experienced meaningful relief whether it meant sitting more comfortably, walking without pain, or simply getting through the day with greater ease.

These results confirm what we’ve seen for years: when you learn to move and sit the way your body was designed to, real healing happens.

And there's more; the Gokhale Method is currently undergoing a clinical trial at Stanford, further validating its effectiveness through rigorous scientific study.

✨ If back pain is holding you back, now’s the time to explore a proven, natural path forward.
👉 Join a Free Workshop to get started.
📘 Or explore our online and in-person courses to make lasting change.

07/22/2025

Hunching compresses the spinal discs, leading to degeneration and a host of related problems. From a Gokhale Method perspective, this collapse of posture so common in modern life distorts the natural, elongated shape of the spine. When you slump forward, it shifts pressure unevenly across the vertebrae and discs, much like pressing down on one side of a s’more; the filling (your spinal discs) gets squeezed out. Over time, this can lead to disc wear, bulging, and even herniation.

By contrast, restoring your spine to its natural J-shape—tall, well-stacked, and relaxed helps decompress the discs, allowing them to stay healthy and resilient.

We teach the first thing you need to know to start making this change in our Free Workshops. Learn more by attending!

https://gokhalemethod.com/map/free_workshops?online=1

07/21/2025

Have you subscribed to our free Positive Stance newsletter yet?

Now’s the perfect time to join thousands who are already transforming their posture and well-being, one email at a time.

When you sign up, you’ll receive:
✨ Insightful blog posts that challenge common posture myths
📅 Updates on upcoming events and classes
🎉 Inspiring success stories from our global community
🎥 A Gokhale Moment—a short, practical video tip you can try right away

Plus, as a thank you, you’ll get Esther Gokhale’s FREE eBook:
“3 Surprising Reasons You Have Back Pain And How to Solve Them Permanently”

Sign up now and take the first step toward a healthier, more aligned you. 👉 https://bit.ly/4kTS3ZM

07/20/2025

JoAnne Moody joined a recent Gokhale Method refresher course led by Esther Gokhale and found new hope for long-standing challenges she’s had since childhood: walking, weak ankles, stair climbing, and especially balance.

She wrote in her Google Review:
“The most valuable lessons focused on my long-standing challenges... Esther guided us through practical exercises, both indoors and outside on sidewalks and steps, providing personalized feedback throughout.”

After trying many approaches over the years, JoAnne says:
“This course felt different. I truly believe the Gokhale techniques can help me.”

JoAnne, your post is very inspiring! Thank you for sharing your experience. We can’t wait to see you in 1-2-3 Move (one of our classes in our Gokhale Active Program) with balance and poise 😊

07/19/2025

So what’s really happening when you tuck your pelvis?

If you’ve been taught to tuck your pelvis, especially by a respected teacher or within a specific practice, it’s understandable to trust the intention. However, the Gokhale Method encourages returning to a more natural pelvic position, where the “tail” gently points back rather than being tucked under. Even if tucking has a purpose in certain contexts, it's important to restore a healthier baseline in your everyday posture.

Sustained pelvic tucking places pressure on the front of the lumbar discs, particularly the wedge-shaped L5-S1 disc. Over time, this can cause the disc to bulge or even herniate toward the spinal nerve roots, potentially leading to pain or dysfunction.

This diagram of the lower vertebrae, discs, and sacrum illustrates how tucking the pelvis and pulling your “tail” under can stress the lower discs and compromise the nerves behind them.

👉 Curious to learn more? Join a free Gokhale Method workshop to discover how natural posture can help you move, sit, and stand with ease, without tucking.

Sign up here: https://gokhalemethod.com/map/free_workshops?online=1

07/18/2025

At the Gokhale Method®, we teach a wide range of movements from dance to exercise to meditative forms, always grounded in healthy, natural posture. In doing so, we often challenge modern conventions, including some widely accepted cues in traditional practices like Tai Chi and Qigong.

One common example? The instruction is to tuck the pelvis.

While often well-intended, this cue can lead people away from healthy alignment.

Why do people tuck their pelvis?

- They may misinterpret original East Asian teachings.
- They may be trying to compensate for an overarched lower back (swayback, lordosis) by flattening it.

But what actually happens when you tuck your pelvis?

A swayed, tense lower back (left) is often incorrectly “fixed” by tucking the pelvis and rounding the spine (center). True correction comes not from a local fix, but from realigning the entire skeleton, as we teach in our in-person Foundations Course, one-day Immersion, our online Elements Course, and in Gokhale Active classes.

Want to dive deeper into how we bridge traditional movement practices with healthy posture? Read more in our new blog post, “Tai Chi, Qigong, and Tucking the Pelvis.”

https://gokhalemethod.com/blog/tai_chi_qigong_and_tucking_the_pelvis

07/17/2025

In our new blog post, we explore a common point of confusion for posture students and movement enthusiasts: Should the pelvis be tucked in practices like Tai Chi and Qigong?

Our Gokhale Method® teachers, Kathleen, Roberta, and Julie, bring unique insight to this topic as experienced instructors of both Tai Chi and Qigong, as well as Gokhale Moving Meditation. In our Gokhale Active program, the Moving Meditation classes (held on Mondays and Wednesdays) combine the flowing, meditative movements of Tai Chi and Qigong with the principles of healthy, ancestral posture.

One recurring question our teachers hear is whether tucking the pelvis helps “the Qi to flow unimpeded,” as is often stated in martial arts and Qigong traditions. This can seem at odds with the Gokhale Method® view that the pelvis should naturally tip forward; a position we see as historically sound and healthier for the body.

In this post, we look at both perspectives and show how our teachers thoughtfully bring them together in their classes. Curious how posture fits into these movement traditions? Read more in our new blog post, “Tai Chi, Qigong, and Tucking the Pelvis.”

https://gokhalemethod.com/blog/tai_chi_qigong_and_tucking_the_pelvis

07/16/2025

If you caught our last post, we showed a common way many people sit cross-legged, often leading to slumping and a tucked pelvis.

Here’s the Gokhale Method fix.

To sit more comfortably and healthfully on the floor:
🪑 Use a wedge, pillow, or folded blanket under your hips
⬆️ Let your hips be higher than your knees
🔄 This helps your pelvis tip forward naturally (antevert), supporting an upright and relaxed spine

A simple prop under your sitz bones can make all the difference. Or try our Gokhale Wedge!

Do you use anything to help you sit more comfortably on the floor?
Tell us what works for you in the comments! 👇

❤️ Like this post if you’ve felt the difference good posture makes
🔔 Follow us so you don’t miss more Gokhale Method tips

07/15/2025

Do you sit cross-legged like this?

This common position may feel comfy at first, but it often leads to:
🔹 A tucked pelvis
🔹 Slumped shoulders
🔹 A relaxed, collapsed torso
🔹 A head that juts forward

If you didn’t grow up sitting this way, your body might not be built for it, and it can quietly take a toll on your posture over time.

Do you catch yourself sitting like this? Or have you found a better way to sit cross-legged? Share your experience in the comments 👇

👍 Liking and commenting help tell the algorithm you want to see more posts like this, including our next one, where we’ll share how to improve this posture, Gokhale Method style.

👉 Hit follow so you don’t miss it!

07/14/2025

Learn how to move like you are meant to!

Our team is passionate about helping you feel at home in your body again. Why? Because many of us have been there! We know firsthand how limiting and exhausting back pain can be. But we also know the way out. Many of our teachers, along with thousands of students, have overcome back pain for good, and we want you to be next.

Our workshops are live, interactive, and practical. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and learn your very first technique to get started on your path to lasting relief.

Get ready to begin your journey toward a pain-free, more empowered life as we explore the principles of the Gokhale Method together.

Here are the free in-person and online workshops coming up in the last few weeks of July. Sign up now!

https://gokhalemethod.com/map/free_workshops

07/13/2025

The Gokhale Method Foundations Course is a 6-lesson, in-person program designed to help you improve your posture and live pain-free naturally!

👣 Each 90-minute lesson is thoughtfully designed to be easy to absorb even in a small group setting and is tailored to your unique needs.
🧑‍🏫 With hands-on guidance and real-time feedback from our certified teachers, you’ll feel supported and confident every step of the way.
📆 Choose a schedule that fits your life, whether that’s an immersive weekend or weekly classes.

It’s a format that makes learning feel personal, practical, and immediately useful. Just ask our students like Kathryn, who finished the course feeling empowered and ready to move through life with ease. 💬💪

We’d love for you to experience the Gokhale Method difference.

📩 For more info or to sign up, message us or email info@gokhalemethod.com. Let’s get you started!

Address

Palo Alto, CA

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm
Saturday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18447770440

Website

https://gokhalemethod.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Gokhale Method posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Gokhale Method: