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!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #16 The VERY BEST Paleo Exercise!

The Asian Squat!  So called because it is still used frequently in Asia, as well as in most of the undeveloped world, is the single best thing you can do for your flexibility, and the health of your BACK!

It seems like not a big deal, but just as we have ruined the health of our feet by overuse of shoes, and never letting our feet develop and function as they were designed to do… so also have we ruined the natural function and health of our backs, legs, and calves by overusing chairs.

This really is the single most important “exercise” you can do for your bodily health, and it’s not really an EXERCISE at all- it is a form of resting… at least it will be once you master it, by doing it on a regular basis.

The way I do it, is when I do my Perfectly Paleo Exercises in the early morning; between sets of pushups, or straight legged sit-ups, or whatever else I am doing- I squat down, barefooted as I am as I exercise, and just hold it.  I rest my hands on my thighs, and just relax into this health promoting and flexibility enhancing squat position.

Now, I’ve been doing this for years, but I remember when I started I could not do it at all!  I rose up on my toes like most Westerners, and my center of balance was way off towards the front, rather than centered over my flattened feet… you just need to practice, as in most things!  If you can’t do it at all, stand in a doorframe, and go as low as you can into a squat, supporting yourself with your hands on the sides of the frame.  Or else put a board under your heels.  There are lots of ways to work into it, but the important thing is to work into it. It really won’t take that long; maybe a couple of weeks of daily practice- and the benefits are incredible!  When you are in the Asian Squat, you are stretching your whole lower body, and simultaneously rejuvenating your spine and lower back in the most natural manner possible!

You know how a cat stretches, when it gets up from lying down? Stretching its back, and extending it’s legs out in front?  Well, this is the Human version- squatting down to the lowest position, with flat feet!

It seems like a small thing, this full on, Asian Squat… but it is not.

Just this one thing, when you master it, will do more for the health of your entire body and spine than any chiropractor ever could!

Not to say anything against chiropractors, of which there are many fine ones, but doing things for yourself, by yourself, is better than anything that can be done for you.   This is just a fact of life, and carries over into any and all endeavors- we are our own best doctors!

He's got the flexibility down!

And teachers, and counselors, and cooks, and gardeners, and determiners of our own lives!!

Self reliance is the best medicine, and the best advice EVER.

So, get down into an Asian squat.  Relax into it, feel the stretch, even rock back and forth a bit to relish it… Now, you are your own chiropractor!!

And so does he- he has to! (Not recommended!!!)

 J