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Sunday, August 23, 2015

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe podcast #110 Adjust and heal your OWN BACK!

pjsc 110  Adjust and heal your own back
Your Back after adopting the Back Bridge!  Snake motivation is optional...

What is the most precious part of your body?  Well, it would have to be your brain, right, since without that you cease to BE!  And right after that brain, which you can keep healthy by eating a high fat, low carb diet, getting good, ample sleep, avoiding stress, and keeping active in your exercise habits- comes your SPINE!

Without your spine and the spinal cord, the communications from your brain to anywhere else in your body is CUT.  Luckily, we have a whole, protective suit of armor for our spine in our large groups of back muscles.  Unfortunately, the back muscles seem to be the most ignored in training and care, probably just because they aren’t immediately obvious when we look in a mirror or see ourselves in a photograph.

Your back and spine should be a primary focus of each exercise session!  I always end my morning Perfectly Paleo exercise session with a back bridge.  Nothing “adjusts” and centers your back and spine like this one exercise, while at the same time strengthening your neck, back, even your legs and toes!  At the same time, it is stretching your back in a backwards stretch that is the healthiest stretch you can do, and the most beneficial, since it counteracts every other move we make in modern life, from being hunched over a desk or the wheel of a car, to picking things up off of the ground.

Watch a cat stretch when it gets up, and you will see just how important stretching is to an animal, instinctively- and it should be just as important to us!

Lay flat on your back, and just stretch out your limbs first- right arm and right leg, as far as you can; then left arm and left leg, then right arm, left leg, and left arm, right leg!

Beginning of the back bridge
Doesn’t that feel great?

Now, the back bridge.  If you can’t do it right away, don’t worry- just do it half-way, and gradually work into it over time- there is no rush, and each time you try you are doing great things for your body!


On your back, pull both feet up next to your butt, flat on the floor.  Put both hands to your sides, and push up with your back, assisting a little with your hands if you need to, but mainly using your legs and back.

At first, just raise the back, leaving the head on the floor, resting on the back of your head and neck while your back arches up and then down.This is a great start, but there is one more step to take:

Slowly push up onto the crown of your head, supporting your whole body on your head and your feet, arching back until your nose (eventually) almost touches the floor!

Start out on your neck and the back of your head, but gradually, over time, gradually push your head back, and arch your back higher.  Then HOLD!
You can see this exercise has been used for a LONG TIME!

A couple of minutes is wonderful, and literally will do more for you than any other single exercise I can think of!  It adjusts your spine perfectly, and will reverse and prevent any back injury and pain, and automatically corrects your posture perfectly.  The flushing of the brain with blood is a real tonic, and is more headache preventative than anything else in this world.

Oh, I do mine (as I do all of my morning exercises) on a padded yoga mat; I suggest you get one as well, they’re cheap.  If not, at least put a folded towel down to cushion your head...

Just take it gradually, and over a space of a few weeks or months, you will
feel progressively amazing- this is a BRIDGE TO HEALTH!