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User Reviews about 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back - Neck - Shoulder - Hip - Knee - and Foot (Remember When It Didn't Hurt)

Thank you Esther!, July 30, 2010
By Patricia E. Parry (Summerland, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot (Remember When It Didn't Hurt) (Paperback)
I must agree with all the other commenters (we can't all be wrong!)....this is a simple, solid approach that is truly making a difference in my life. Esther's book has become a kind of body-bible for me, I refer to it constantly and am incorporating the techniques into every facet of my movement. Coming from a sway back, bad posture and mis-alignment over the course of my life, this is like waking up my body and giving it new life. Especially when I am 'stretch-sitting' I can feel new energy in my lower back.

I will also add that past misalignment - pronated foot etc has lead to a recent bout with chondromalacia (misaligned kneecap) and Esther's glide-walking technique in conjunction with orthotics in my shoe, and some wonderful naturopathic treatment is clearing this up completely. Am I grateful? you bet!

Let me also highly recommend Esther's free online internet class - she is simply a joy, very giving of her knowledge, kind and patient. I am very happy to highly recommend this wonderful book. ....Patricia -- Thank you Esther!

When I read of this book in a recent magazine, I immediately thought of my cousin and her chronic back pain. She refuses to have surgery as an alternative for her back pain, and this book sounded like a good approach to a no-nonsense approach to back pain. So I sent it to her as a gift, which earned me "cousin points," and she reports that she's trying the steps and is actually finding some relief. A miracle? Maybe not, but for the price of a paperback, some much needed relief! -- helping my cousin's back!

This is a beautiful book! I design and deliver training for a living, and am very impressed with the clear and methodical layout of the book. It is filled with clear techniques and valuable information. In addition, the photos are just stunning. They really inspire me to improve my posture. I took the class with Esther and while the techniques are simple, they are not easy. It's a challenge to change the way we move and hold our bodies. However, with persistence, I am starting to see and feel a real difference. Recently a friend told me that I have great posture! -- A beautiful, thorough and helpful book and method

I don't have back pain, but Esther Gokhale's 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back has been transformative for me. And the photos alone turn the book into a work of art ~ worth getting for that alone.

The first time I 'read' Esther Gokhale's book, I just looked at all the pictures, one by one, from the back forwards and from the front through to the end ~ and learned a huge amount about posture and stretching compressed spine & neck vertebrae in the process. Then I started at the beginning, reading the text and hearing about the discoveries Esther Gokhale has made during the years she has spent photographing, describing, analysing, modeling and teaching good posture.

You know what I like best? That you don't have to create special extra time in your life for the Gokhale Method ~ you just incorporate it every time you sit down, stand up, stretch, pick something up, reach for something in a closet, lie down, go to sleep... I've got a long way to go, but even the small amount I've implemented so far has had a profound effect on my posture and on how I feel about myself. Just after I first read through the Gokhale book, an air attendant said to me spontaneously, "Wow, you walk like royalty!" and a friend said "Of course you always look tall, but now you are somehow standing tall in a whole different way..."

Thanks Esther Gokhale for sharing so articulately and artistically what you've learned! -- Stretching your posture!

Many of us have chronic body pain of some type or other. I had alway assumed this was normal and just part of living (stress), growing older (more stress), and being in a sedentary occupation. This book challenged these assumptions in my life and presented clear and compelling evidence that just because body muscular-skeletal dysfunction in our culture are common, doesn't mean it's normal. We have, as a culture, forgotten how to use our bodies in our everyday lives. This book has posture concepts that I have never seen anywhere else such as kidney bean shaped feet, J shaped spine (not S shaped), anteverted pelvis, that are clearly illustrated by photos of people in modern traditional cultures, photos of people in western cultures a hundred years ago, and our own pre-school age children. Reading this book is an awakening to how far our culture has strayed and provides hope that we can return to using our bodies in the way they were designed to be so that we can feel better, look better, and live better. -- This book will change your life