Looking beautiful and feeling comfortable in your body are welcome perks of primal posture. Yet, our current cultural obsession with being slender can initially inhibit people from wanting to antevert their pelvis. Many students, typically accustomed to tucking their pelvises, are worried that pelvic anteversion will cause their stomachs to stick out. In our experience, it’s actually a retroverted (tucked) pelvis that shortens the abdomen, making it feel and look bunched up.

The model on the left, above, is tucking her pelvis, and her stomach is more pronounced.
 

The “spare tire” that results often leads people to chronically “suck in” their bellies. Not only can this feel uncomfortable, it creates needless tension and doesn’t give a wonderful aesthetic result either.

When the back is lengthened and the pelvis is properly tipped forward, the abdomen has more room to flatten. Using your inner corset is a healthy way to channel any desire to look extra slender.

Here, I am recruiting my inner corset, which is composed of the deep abdominal and back muscles. This contraction makes my torso narrower and taller.
 

By repeatedly using your inner corset, both as needed and as an exercise, your deep abdominal muscle tone will improve. You won’t be tempted to hold your stomach in, and your organs will be able to function without undue stress. If you match your healthy posture habits with healthy eating habits, your abdomen will be slim and your clothes will hang gracefully.

This belly dancer lengthens and protects her spine by engaging her inner corset. This protective mechanism makes dancing, which can involve some spinal distortion, into a great workout.
 

Here at the Gokhale Method Institute, we are celebrating fashion this fall. We encourage you to discover the clothes in your closet that will flaunt your healthy structure and flatter your J-spine!

Cheers,
Esther

IN THE NEWS


CBS-5 News - Focus On Posture May Ease Nagging Injuries
Chicago Tribune - Straighten up, sloucher
It's Rainmaking Time! - Life With A Pain-Free Back
Paleo Diet News - 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back Review

I had an unusual experience buying clothes a few months ago. We had just moved to Fiji and I wanted to get a nice set of local Fijian clothing. When I tried them on, they seemed not to fit well, even though the saleswoman insisted that they were the right size. "But look," I told her, "It's all scrunched up in the back!" "That's because you're not standing straight," she said. I checked and, sure enough, I had a sway. I corrected it and voila, perfect fit!

      -Rahel Berman in Suva, Fiji

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