The Gokhale Method and Tibetan Chi Gung – what is the correct view on spine alignment?

Terrence-Monroe: Brannon <thequietcenter@gmail.com>	Sat, Oct 2, 4:09 AM (7 days ago)		Reply
to David

David, when we start the tucking exercise, and then continue that tuck for exercises 1-4, I’ve heard you state 2 things:1. that children do not exhibit excessive (lower) spinal curvature2. that most people have too much spinal curvature
Before making any statements, I will ask:- does simply doing Tai Chi Gung to the best of your ability eventually align the spine from top to bottom?
My objections to the 2 points you often state are based on experience in something called The Gokhale Method and her studies of indigenous people and babies. She fixed her back pain and many other people by encourage more lordotic arch and more of a straight spine in the cervical and thoracic regions.
Starting with a baby, she has numerous slides showing arch in a baby’s lower spine like this:

Next, moving on to indigenous cultures, the second I heard you say “most people have too much curvature in the lower spine”, the following picture from The Gokhale Method came to mind:

As you can see, the tribesmen on the right have extreme lower back arch. And if you go to Africa or many other “uncivilized” places you see the same thing. Or if you look at old greek statues the same thing.
The final thing has to do with spinal tucking. I enjoy “Exercise 0” quite a bit: I enjoy drawing up energy from the Earth to the Life Gate and then cycling it back down to the earth as I rhythmically breathe. And it is interesting that the relationship of inhale and exhale to spinal tucking is the exact opposite of what a male would do at the point of ejaculation: a male ejaculating would forcefully tuck his spine and exhale simultaneously.But anyway, in the 2nd set of pictures on this page you can see a group of people whose spines are tucked but who may be headed to severe back issues later:
The Gokhale Method | Gokhale Method Institute

But now I come back to my main question: as long as you keep doing this practice, you will develop an inner knowing about how to align the spine, correct?
– Terrence

David Responds

davidpaul108@yahoo.com	Sat, Oct 2, 7:06 AM (7 days ago)		Reply
to me

Hi,
Interesting information. There will always be a conflicting point of view from an expert somewhere.
The goal is to have as much life force as possible flowing through the spine.
Test it for yourself, go with what is best for you.
And I’ll go with what I’ve found to be true as well.
D