她教硅谷精英该如何坐

The Posture Guru of Silicon Valley
By AMY SCHOENFELDDecember 25, 2013
她教硅谷精英该如何坐
个人健康AMY SCHOENFELD2013年12月25日
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艾丝特·戈克雷向人们传授保持更健康体态的技巧。她说，她的办法能缓解人们挥之不去的背部疼痛。
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
[要查看本链接请先注册并登录] recently noted an anniversary of his aggregator news site with a Twitter post: “18 years of DRUDGE REPORT in February! And STILL sitting .”
最近，[要查看本链接请先注册并登录](Matt Drudge)发了条Twitter来记录他的整合新闻网站的周年纪念日：“2月份，我的德鲁奇报道(DRUDGE REPORT)18岁了！还稳坐钓鱼台呢。”
Mr. Drudge, 46, hasn’t just been sitting for two decades. Like so many workers chained to their technology, he has been hunched over desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets, and it’s all taken a toll on his body. He tries to limit the time he spends sitting to four or five hours a day, but sometimes he sits for up to 17 hours.
46岁的德鲁奇不仅仅是稳坐了20年。跟众多被科技束缚的职场人士一样，一直以来，他要猫着腰趴在台式电脑、笔记本电脑、智能手机和平板电脑前面，这让他的身体付出了代价。他想要把每天静坐的时间控制在四五个小时以内，可有时候，他一坐就是17个小时。
To ease his back, neck and [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], Mr. Drudge says he has learned how to adjust his posture. Whether he’s typing in the car, from the wooden folding chair in his Miami home office, or from a boardwalk bench at the beach on cloudy days, he makes sure to tilt the top of his pelvis forward, roll his shoulders back, elongate his spine and straighten his craned neck.
德鲁奇说，为了减轻后背、脖子和[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]，他渐渐学会了调整自己的坐姿。不管他是在车子里打字，坐在迈阿密公司总部的实木折叠椅上，还是在多云的日子里坐在海滩边木板人行道的长椅上，他都要确保自己的骨盆前倾，肩膀后仰，伸直脊骨，同时挺直脖子。
Mr. Drudge is one of thousands of people who have trained with Esther Gokhale, a posture guru in Silicon Valley. She believes that people suffer from pain and dysfunction because they have forgotten how to use their bodies. It’s not the act of sitting for long periods that causes us pain, she says, it’s the way we position ourselves.
有几千人得到了硅谷体态教练艾丝特·戈克雷(Esther Gokhale)的指点，德鲁奇是其中的一位。戈克雷认为，人们之所以会感到身体酸痛行动不便，都是因为他们忘记了该如何运用自己的身体。她说，并不是长期静坐导致身体疼痛，罪魁祸首是我们的身姿体态。
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戈克雷女士在她的培训课上。她是在自己深受背痛困扰后，渐渐找到了对付疼痛的窍门。
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Ms. Gokhale (pronounced go-CLAY) is not helping aching office workers with high-tech gadgets and medical therapies. Rather, she says she is reintroducing her clients to what she calls “primal posture” — a way of holding themselves that is shared by older babies and toddlers, and that she says was common among our ancestors before slouching became a way of life. It is also a posture that Ms. Gokhale observed during research she conducted in a dozen other countries, as well as in India, where she was raised.
戈克雷并没有使用高科技的器材和医学治疗来帮助身受疼痛折磨的白领。相反，据她说，她是让客户们重新认识所谓的“原始体态”——在稍大的婴儿和幼儿身上，你可以看到这种体态，而且她说，在懒散成为我们的生活方式前，在我们的祖先那里这种体态也十分常见。戈克雷曾在十几个国家进行过调研，其中包括她出生长大的印度，她发现那里的人们也依然保持着这种身姿。
For a method based not on technology but primarily on observations of people, it has been [要查看本链接请先注册并登录]: executives, board members and staff members at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies, including Google and Oracle; and heavy users of technology like Mr. Drudge.
戈克雷介绍的这种方法，其基础并非科技，而主要缘于对人们的观察，而它[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]：包括谷歌(Google)和甲骨文(Oracle)公司在内的一些硅谷大型公司中的高管、董事会成员和管理人员；以及像德鲁奇这样的科技重度依赖者。
“I need to do things that make sense and that I can see results from. Esther’s work is like that,” said Susan Wojcicki, 44, one of Google’s senior vice presidents, who has suffered from back and [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] that she attributes to doing too much work at her desk.
“我希望做言之有理、卓有成效的事情。而艾丝特的工作就是这样的，”44岁的苏珊·沃西基(Susan Wojcicki)说。她是谷歌的一位资深副总裁，曾受后背和[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]困扰，她认为这都是因为长期伏案工作造成的。
Ms. Gokhale is not the first to suggest that changing posture is the key to a healthy spine. Practitioners of the [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] and the creators of the [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] in Paris similarly help clients find more natural and comfortable ways to position themselves. Pilates and [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] can improve posture and bring awareness to it. A handful of companies, like Lumo BodyTech, now sell [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], offering smartphone users constant feedback about the way they hold their bodies.
在认为改变体态对健康脊椎至关重要这点上，戈克雷还有其他同道。[要查看本链接请先注册并登录](Alexander Technique)的执业人士和巴黎[要查看本链接请先注册并登录](Aplomb Institute)的创立者们也都在帮助客户寻找自己更自然、更舒适的身体姿态。普拉提和[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]可改善姿势，并让人们对身姿有所体察。而包括“鲁莫身体科技”(Lumo BodyTech)在内的多家公司正在销售[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]，让智能手机用户随时得到个人身体姿势的反馈。
Ms. Gokhale’s methods have not been tested scientifically, though a doctor at the [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] is planning on conducting clinical trials by the end of the year.
戈克雷女士的治疗手段并未接受科学测试，不过[要查看本链接请先注册并登录](Palo Alto Medical Foundation)的一位医生计划在今年年底前开始对此进行临床试验。
But Ms. Gokhale, who was trained as a biochemist at Princeton University and studied at Stanford’s medical school, has some influence among medical professionals, particularly in Silicon Valley. Over 100 have referred patients to her, and a similar number have taken her course, she says.
戈克雷曾在普林斯顿大学(Princeton University)受训成为生物化学家，也曾在斯坦福(Stanford)医学院深造，她在医疗界，尤其是硅谷有着一定的影响。她说，有超过100位硅谷的医生向她转介过病人，还有类似数目的医生上过她的体态矫正课程。
FOR many office workers in the United States, sitting at a desk all day goes hand in hand with back, neck and shoulder discomfort. Stress and poor positioning can bring on aches or exacerbate injuries among workers faced with heavy computing, constant travel and long meetings. Regardless of occupation or lifestyle, backaches affect most Americans — about 8 in 10 deal with the pain at some point in their lifetimes, according to Dr. Richard Deyo, a professor of family medicine at Oregon Health and Science University.
对于美国的很多白领来说，整天伏案工作往往会导致后背、脖子和肩膀的不适。对着电脑进行大量工作、频繁出差、连篇累牍的会议，会令员工压力倍增，错误的姿势也会让他们感到身体酸痛，甚至旧伤恶化。据俄勒冈健康与科学大学(Oregon Health and Science University)的家庭医学教授理查德·德约(Richard Deyo)博士说，大部分美国人——无论他们的职业或生活方式有何差异——都会在人生的某个阶段中身受背痛困扰。
The expenses are huge as well. By [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] that appeared in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the national cost of treating people with back and neck pain was $86 billion in 2005. And with back pain one of the top reasons for worker disability, missed work because of these aches may [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] close to $7 billion a year, according to one study.
而它带来的代价同样惊人。《美国医学会杂志》(The Journal of the American Medical Association)发表的[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]，在2005年，全美在治疗后背和颈部疼痛上就耗资860亿美元。还有一项研究显示，由于背痛是员工失去劳动能力的主要原因之一，这类疼痛导致的缺勤，可能会[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]近70亿美元的损失。
For the majority of people with back pain, the aches are short-lived and relief comes with rest and time, according to Dr. Deyo. But methods to help those with chronic pain are diverse. Using a standing desk at work has become a popular way to ease discomfort. Exercise, [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] and chiropractic have also been shown to reduce pain. Medical treatments like surgery and [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] continue to be important options, doctors say, even amid concerns that these [要查看本链接请先注册并登录].
德约博士说，大部分人背痛并不会持续太久，只要假以时日休息得宜，疼痛就可以得到缓解。但用来帮助治疗慢性疼痛的方法则多种多样。在工作时使用站立式办公桌，近来日益成为缓解疼痛的热门作法。锻炼、[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]、[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]和脊椎按摩都被证明可减缓疼痛。医生们说，手术和注射[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]这类医疗手段仍然是重要的选项，尽管有人担心这类方法有[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]之嫌。
Dr. Haleh Agdassi, a rehabilitation doctor with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California, sees back and neck pain so frequently among heavy users of computers that she calls it the “Silicon Valley syndrome.” She encourages clients to try a mix of nonsurgical strategies, but finds it frustrating that treatments for such a common problem are only modestly effective.
加州帕洛·奥尔图医疗基金会的康复科医生哈尔琳·艾格达西(Haleh Agdassi)说，电脑重度使用者特别容易发生后背和脖子痛，她因此将这些症状统称为“硅谷综合症”。她鼓励患者们尝试各种非手术疗法，不过在治疗这种常见的病情时，各类疗法往往收效甚微，她也因此很郁闷。
“There’s no magic bullet out there for back pain,” she says. “That can be overwhelming for patients. It’s an anxious, vulnerable crowd — they’re looking for solutions.”
“对于背痛，你找不到什么灵丹妙药，”她说：“而病人们听到这个消息将大感沮丧。这类病人往往很焦虑、很脆弱——他们想要寻找解救自己的办法。”
Ms. Gokhale, 52, can relate to the anxiety of searching for an answer. She previously dealt with pain in her lower back, first as a college student practicing yoga, then as a young mother with [要查看本链接请先注册并登录]. She eventually had surgery for a herniated disk, but it failed, she said.
52岁的戈克雷女士可以体会到病人们迫切寻找解药的心情。她也曾有过腰痛的毛病，先是在读大学时，当时她在练习瑜珈，接着是在初为人母、患上了[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]的时候。她说，她最终接受了腰椎盘突出手术，但手术失败了。
When doctors suggested she try a second time, Ms. Gokhale began a search for other answers. Many of her own clients come to her similarly exasperated, she said.
医生建议她再做个手术，戈克雷下决心寻找其他解决之道。她说，她的很多客户同样是带着满腔愤懑，转而投奔她这里。
Mr. Drudge read Ms. Gokhale’s book, “8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back,” before training with her in person. “I needed her touch, her observations and her humanity,” he said.
德鲁奇在读了戈克雷的著作《八个步骤，让你背部酸痛不再》(8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back)之后，开始接受她的私人训练。“我需要她的触觉、她的观察力和她的人性关怀，”他说。
Donna Dubinsky, co-founder and former chief executive of Palm, worked with Ms. Gokhale two years ago after trying chiropractic, cortisone shots and physical therapy to minimize the pain of herniated disks in her back.
多娜·杜宾斯基(Donna Dubinsky)是Palm掌上电脑公司的联合创始人、前任首席执行官，为了尽可能减轻椎间盘突出带来的疼痛，她曾经试过脊椎按摩、可的松注射和理疗，两年前开始接受戈克雷的帮助。
“All of these other things were about symptom relief. The question for me became: what could I do to address the root cause?” said Ms. Dubinsky, 57, who now stands during many meetings to practice Ms. Gokhale’s posture lessons. “Not that it’s a miracle cure, but of all the things I’ve tried, what Esther taught me was the most effective,” she added.
“其他这些办法都治标不治本。而我的问题是，怎样才能从根子上治好腰痛？”57岁的杜宾斯基这样说。现在参加很多会议时她都一直站着，好练习戈克雷的体态课。“它同样不能奇迹般地治愈我的毛病，但试了这么多种办法，还是艾丝特教我的法子最管用。”
IN [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], offered in her Palo Alto, Calif., [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] and in cities across the country, students relearn how to sit, stand, sleep and walk. While some clients take private classes, many enroll in group workshops with eight to 10 people who meet for six 90-minute sessions. While the students are often strangers, the classes are casual and intimate: most clients wear yoga clothes or sweat pants, and they giggle awkwardly as Ms. Gokhale adjusts their bodies.
戈克雷女士在她加州帕洛·奥尔图的[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]以及全美各个城市[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]，在课上，学员们重新学习如何坐、立、睡、行。有些客户上私教课，不过也有很多人参加的是由8到10人组成的团体工作坊，整个课程分为六次，每次90分钟。尽管学员们常常素不相识，但课程的气氛却是随意亲密的：大部分人穿着瑜伽服或运动衣，当戈克雷女士上前调整他们的身体时常常会带着窘意笑起来。
Ms. Gokhale says that most Americans tend to be relaxed and slumped (think of a C-shaped spine), or arched up and tense (an S shape), the stand-up-straight style of posture that some parents demand of their children. She helps her students return their bodies to the stance that she says nature intended: upright and relaxed (a tall J spine).
戈克雷说，绝大多数美国人的体态要么是放松且懈怠的（他们的脊椎类似C型），要么是紧张而弯曲的（类似S型），要么则像一些家长要求子女的那样，站起来是笔直的。她要帮助学生们将身体回归到自然的姿势：直立且放松（脊椎是长长的J型）。
With the care of a kindergarten teacher, Ms. Gokhale adjusts clients’ bodies from bottom to top. She helps clients relax the front of the pelvis downward, so the belt line slants forward and the butt angles back, so “your behind is behind you, not under you” (a contrast to the neutral pelvis recommended in Pilates and some physical therapy).
戈克雷带着幼儿园老师的细心，从头到脚调整学员的身体。她帮助客户将骨盆前端放松地前倾，这样腰线随之前推、屁股后翘，这样“你的屁股就在你后面，而不是在你下面了”（这跟普拉提和其他理疗推荐的骨盆中位体态有矛盾）。
Ms. Gokhale guides students’ rib cages that sway too far back, so they are flush with the stomach. She takes their hunched shoulders, rolls them up and brings them gently back and down. And she helps students release tension in their necks by re-centering their heads over their spines and pulling upward slightly at the hairline on the neck. The result is an elongated and well-stacked spine that many students say they can maintain comfortably because their muscles are not strained.
戈克雷还会引导学员将胸腔往后推，这样它就能跟胃部平齐。她握住他们蜷缩的肩膀，反复按摩，将肩膀轻柔地往下拉展。她还通过让学员们将头重新移至脊椎中央位置，并轻抬耳后的发际线，来缓解他们脖子处的紧张感。结果就是学员们的脊椎得以延伸，姿态得到良好调整，很多学员说，因为肌肉不会感到紧张，所以这种体态可以舒适地保持下去。
Ray Bingham, 67, the presiding director of Oracle’s board, was referred to Ms. Gokhale last fall for his [要查看本链接请先注册并登录]. Mr. Bingham says he has found relief after using her methods and he diligently practices his newfound ways of sitting, walking and standing. “This is not an approach like physical therapy with a beginning and an end; this is a new way of being from now on,” Mr. Bingham said.
67岁的雷·宾汉姆(Ray Bingham)是甲骨文公司董事会首席董事，去年秋天，患[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]的他经人介绍，认识了戈克雷。宾汉姆说，在使用了她的方法后他感觉轻松了不少，现在勤奋地练习新学到的坐、行、立姿势。“理疗是种有始也有终的疗法，它不一样，它是一种全新的存在方式，”宾汉姆说。
Ms. Gokhale encourages people to take the class with co-workers and family members, so that students can help remind each other to adjust their bodies. But even those who work alone find ways to remember their posture.
戈克雷鼓励大家和同事、家人一起上课，这样人们就可以彼此提醒，调整好自己的姿势。可就算一个人练习，同样有办法将体态要点牢记在心。
After doing a group workshop with Ms. Gokhale this year, Mr. Drudge says many things now remind him to make adjustments — seeing others with poor posture at Starbucks or the gym, passing by his reflection in a window, or sitting down in a chair to work.
今年，德鲁奇在参加了戈克雷组织的一次集体工作坊后说，现在有很多事物都能提醒他调整姿势——看到星巴克或健身房里有什么人姿势不正确，经过窗边时看到自己的影响，或者坐在椅子上工作时。
“But I don’t beat myself up about it. When I’m aware of my posture, I fix it,” Mr. Drudge said. “And eventually, I think, it becomes who you are.”
“不过我并不会走火入魔。一旦意识到体态时，我就改正，”德鲁奇说：“我想，最终，它会刻入你的身体中。”