Movement, stability, and functional training play a key role in overall health and well-being. Good posture, core strength, and targeted exercises help prevent injuries and improve performance. Regular movement also supports mental health by boosting mood and cognitive function. Small, consistent changes in how the body moves can make a big difference, especially when it comes to easing back pain, improving joint stability, and reducing muscle imbalances.

Staying active isn’t just about fitness it’s essential for everyday life and long-term health. Simple exercises can support everything from posture to recovery after pregnancy. Online programs make it easier to learn proper movement techniques and build healthy habits at any fitness level. Making movement a daily priority can lead to more energy, fewer aches and pains, and a better quality of life.

Visit LYTyoga.com for expert-led yoga training, movement education, and wellness resources designed to help you move better and feel your best!

Highlights of the Podcast

00:01 - Introduction & Background

02:45 - Neuroplasticity & Movement Education

05:43 - Athletic Performance & Movement Deficiencies

08:30 - Posture, Core Strength & Injury Prevention

14:40 - Women's Health & Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

18:59 - Functional Training & Stability

28:38 - Movement as Medicine & Lifestyle Changes

36:18 - Posture and Technology Use

37:36 - Neural Loops and Misalignment

39:05 - Common Conditions from Muscle Imbalance

42:34 - Posture’s Role in Health

43:13 - Optimizing Health Through Movement

46:40 - Movement and Immunity

49:47 - Prioritizing Movement for Mental Health

50:28 - Importance of Self-Care for Moms

53:06 - Movement for Mental and Physical Health

01:03:25 - Functional Movement Over Traditional Workouts

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:01] All right. Well, I'm Dr. Chalmers. Welcome to Wellness Insights with Dr. Chalmers. I've got Lara Heimann on today, and we'll kind of go through kind of her new way of she's using yoga to help people get back where she needs to be. So, Lara, if you'll kind of run through kind of give us your background real quick, We'll get started.

Lara Heimann [00:00:19] Sure. Thanks for having me. I am a physical therapist and yoga teacher and movement educator going on three decades now. So I was a physical therapist and had graduated from grad school and started teaching yoga around the same time. And. And after a while I started noticing some just some gaps in the way that yoga was being taught and the way that I was working in the clinic During the day, I felt like I was wearing two different hats, hats, and was kind of trying to honor what I think a lot of people want to honor, which is kind of this idea that yoga is this practice that you don't mess around with, right? It's it's like it is. It's a format. I don't see a religion because it's not, but it can be approached in that same way. And I got my postgraduate degree in what's called neurodevelopmental training, which is really neuroplasticity, understanding that we can change the way we move, change the way we think everything, because our brain is plastic, meaning it's always capable of, of evolving. If we apply the right stimulus and I apply this with really involved stroke patients and neurological patients. And when I was doing that, I thought, well, they're improving so much with the work that we're doing, which is a lot of work on the ground, foundational things. It's called development, just like we all went through that develops your postural muscles, your deep core muscles so that you can you can better move with efficiency and then improve the movement coordination, meaning the firing of different muscles When you have those stabilizers working well. And we would see hemiplegia, patients improved dramatically. And I thought, well, if they are improving. What would it. What would it be like to take this to like, functional people that all have their own suboptimal habits? You know, because we live in a modern day society, we're not moving in our biggest in the movement capacity that we all have where the but our bodies are engineered to move in. And that's just the way it is. We're not in an agrarian society. So I started applying some of those principles into the yoga practice, and I did it first with myself. And I just felt and saw the difference in my own practice. I started doing this with my students. They were like, I'm not sure what you're doing, but man, I trust you. And then after a month, they're like, Why is why isn't everyone teaching this way? And a lot of it is just also including education in the in the process. Every class is an opportunity not only to rewire better movement that are breathing better posture so you have more energy, you have more vitality, you have a greater capacity to handle challenge, whether it's more load or more stress, physical or mental. But you also are learning about your body in the process. Most people have not been taught anything about their body. You know, there's trainers out there who are teaching movements with shoulders, who neglect the fact that the scapula is the most important joint of the, you know, part of the shoulder joint. So that eventually evolved into me creating a teacher training because I saw that teachers needed this information and they were the ones that were getting students to come to them. And then I, I started needing a place for those teachers to teach. So I opened a brick and mortar studio. I had that for ten years. Somewhere along the way, I was traveling, teaching international workshops and retreats, and people were wanting something online so they could practice with me more regularly. So I created an online platform and an online teacher training. And then those really, really, really exploded over Covid because I already have had them in place. And so that's where we are now. It's just an every the unique part of it is I created it's called the Lit Method, which really stands for Lara's yoga technique. But it's like an onomatopoeia, like you want to feel lit up in your life. Yeah. And your spirit. I think, you know, most people you ask like, what are your biggest complaints? It's like it's either stress, pain or lack of energy or all three. And really, if you learn to move better, you're going to all those are going to be eliminated.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:39] Yeah, there's a lot of things that we do. So I do a lot of neuro function. So the cross crawl on the ground, that type of thing is very, very, very powerful about getting things back. But it's hilarious to me. Like even with my NFL guys, like I'll have them do single leg step up. So seeing like squats and their knees just start wobbling. And I'm like, That's why you have dirty hips. And they're like, What are you talking about? It is like, because your structural function on this one side is all messed up. So it's hilarious to me how even our our high end pro athletes have a lot of movement disorders and it's kind of silly. But my my favorite one is we'll get 26 to 30 year old women in here who've had their first baby and they look healthy. They look, they're lean, they look healthy and the like. I hear myself now when I'm a lot when I laugh and I'm like, yeah, your pelvic floor is really, really weak. And they're like, They told me there was nothing we could do about that. And I'm like, sweetie, I'm so sorry. And I'm like, I'll walk you through how to fix it. It's it hurts me inside when when their doctors tell them that, that's just normal. That's a thing now. And I'm like, No, it's not.

Lara Heimann [00:05:43] We're 40 year olds that go with knee pain, and the doctor says, Well, you are over 40, as if like, that's right, cancer. And then that just feeds into this cultural perception that we're just going to, you know.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:56] Decay and die.

Lara Heimann [00:05:57] Yeah, I went to your point with I've worked with professional athletes too, and they're always the ones that tremble the most because their deep stabilizers aren't being dialed into. If they're not if they don't get the right biomechanics and then they're really working, relying on these overlying muscles that are their big mover muscles, but they can't they can't stabilize at the bones in the same way. And so they you ask them to do these movements and they're just like shaking because they can't like, access those bigger mover muscles that they're used to.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:33] I have an NFL running back who kept on his hamstring and nobody could figure it out. And he went and saw everybody for his hamstring. So he came in and he's like, my hamstring, my hamstring. And I was like laid out. And when we started working, Glute made his glute meet on that side was completely shut off. And I was like, It's your glute me, not your hamstring. And when we started reactivating gloomy equipment and pulling his hamstring and and I'm like, How did you went to five other orthopedic doctors? How did nobody understand to look at the kinetic chain? But they know this is the type of thing like, we're not doing that. I see people all the time who have low back pain and I'm like, Bend over and touch your toes. And first of all, most of them can't get to their toes, but. The other thing is think is one hamstring tighter than the other one. They're like, yeah, this one's a lot tighter. That's where your back pains coming from. And you know, it's always from like, if you'll if you'll do these exercises, you'll be fine.

Lara Heimann [00:07:22] Yeah. And in yoga, like, what I saw is there was this kind of overindulgence and adoration for going to in range of motion. And most people aren't prepared to, like, be able to stabilize in that in range of motion and they're hanging in their joints and then they look for why they're like, they're weak. And it's like, whoa. So that was one thing I started immediately started cueing, is to like not go into like hinge forward at the hips, like teaching people a hip hinge. It's crazy. That has not been taught like in grade school. You know, to be able to, like you said, to go over. And so in yoga and in Vinyasa, you're doing that over and over again. Will these people who are keeping their legs straight and then just folding over from their back, they just continue to pull at the top of the proximal hamstring and that is actual an injury known as yoga, but it's proximal hamstring tendon osis. And it's people call it yoga, but it's like because nobody's teaching you how to do it in a more sound way. Activate your use your glutes with it. Keep a neutral spine and your hamstrings are going to join the force of production and be able to manage that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:30] It's funny because the amount of people who are not strong enough to bend over and then lift their body back up with their erector spidey muscles because they just don't do this is about 60% of the patients, I say. And so I'm like, I'll have to be like, okay, I want you to hold on to the table and I want you to just get used to lifting your own body weight up and down. And then once you get once you get that done, then we can take your hands off the table and bend over and lift your entire body weight. And it's you know, it is funny to me how one of the things that's irritating and I'll get to that for a second is the amount of people I see who come in and they're like, Yeah, my doctor gave me these exercises, is supposed to help my core. And I'm like, okay. And then I have like planks as their first exercise and like, you're nowhere near being able to do a plank, you know, like, this is a level five exercise. You can't even lay down right leg. No.

Lara Heimann [00:09:20] Right. And that's where that's where, like learning the basics of leg physics. So levers and physics and ground reaction force and, you know, plank is all this gravitational force on your whole entire core and spine. And yeah, start off on the ground where you have a lot more support and feedback for that center of mass and work on those deeper muscles that are going to be able to hold, like you said, the erector spine. If if all the low back pain people actually learned how to work these. Well done. You know, the spinal doctors, the pain doctors would be out of business. And there's there's a lot of research that has shown that low back pain is is so not only is it preventable, but then it's treatable. But yeah, doctors are not always wanting to to go down that path and have you learn it because they they rely on not all doctors. My dad was an orthopedic surgeon and he was very good. He was like, I don't operate on the spine unless it's absolutely necessary because we all know, like the whole like rule of fours or something, you know, 20, 25%, there's no change. 25%. There's an improvement 25 or something like that. 25% are way worse. And, you know, and then I don't know what the other 20, but it's like the rule of threes. Yeah. You're not like your chances of getting better are so small.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:10:43] But the problem I have with surgery is everyone's like, Well, if it doesn't work, I'll just get surgery. And I'm like, I don't think you have the proper view of what happens with surgery. Like it's you're not a you're not a machine. It's not like, we'll just go replace it should be fine. Like the amount of people that I've seen who've been damaged worse from their surgeries is about like I think I think the numbers are pretty close, about 30%. So when we get people in, we treat a lot of herniated desks and people come in, they're like, no, like I yeah, I've talked about I heard about this will make the pain go make me better. The decompression is great and I make it is I make you have two options. I can fix you for a little bit. Or I can or you can fix yourself forever. Mike Which one of these two do you want? And they're like, What do you mean? And I'm like, We're going to have to do the decompression. If it's really bad. We might have to do injection corticosteroids called spasms down. Once the pain starts going away, I will teach you how to move. I will teach you how to strengthen the musculature. I will teach you how this whole thing works. And if you maintain the exercises, you will not have back pain anymore and the like. Even though I have a herniated disk, like, yeah, like everybody has 32 discs. This is. Are they active?

Lara Heimann [00:11:47] Yeah. Yeah. And that's also for anybody that's listening like it's information that you get when you go get a scan but do not get attached to that like you are that is this your destiny or whatever. I mean, again, as you mentioned, many people who have no pain, no symptoms at all have a herniated disk like this is the disk are very they they are very. Abel But they do move around and they're moving around based on the forces that are placed on them. So remove those forces, rebalance and your disc going to be fine. They're really happy to get to go back into their more optimal position.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:24] Yeah, I tell you, all the time of my herniated disk happened for one reason only forces put in the spine. The spine is too weak to handle. The spine fails. So if we don't want herniated disk, strengthen the spine and you'll be fine. And it's worthless. Like so I have to do these forever to make. Well, just as long as you want to move.

Lara Heimann [00:12:40] Right. But brush your teeth every day. Are you going to do that for the rest of your life? Yes.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:12:45] Yeah.

Lara Heimann [00:12:46] That's the that's the thing is and that's I think again and really good message is like a quick fix is not a quick fix. It's like it's like. Or is that how you want to live from one quick fix to the next? It's like, how about a lifestyle change that is going to not only improve you today, but in the future you as well. And that should be something that we should be excited about that we can like again, with the neuroplasticity in the movement and everything, we can improve, we can improve even with time, but that is there's a dedication that's needed and that's. Part of our tenacity and part of our discipline, we should think of discipline as a good word. Just like your discipline to go to bed at a certain time and drink enough water and brush your teeth, like disciplined enough to do these things that are going to keep you healthy and motivated, energized.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:13:37] You know, it's also funny is like the education piece is bad because the amount of people who think that their core is where their belly is. And I'm like, No, no, your core is your pelvis, like everything that attaches to your pelvis, you know, because I've been doing sit ups and my back still hurts. Like, have you been doing anything for your hamstrings? And they're like, No. Yes, you got to the pelvis is the hinge point. So you've got to make sure that everything around the pelvis is good. And that's probably the biggest misnomer. And I've got, you know, medical doctor, orthopedic guy. I have lots of guys who don't and women who don't recognize that the core is actually the pelvis. And so they'll be doing crunches and stuff like that. So it's I don't know what's going on. But the other problem is that this is just, I think, a funny thing. When you do a whole lot of crunches, it just pitches the pelvis backwards and opens up that lumbar curve. So if you don't do the hamstrings, if you don't do the deadlifts, if you don't do that, good morning. If you don't do these things, you're going to get out of balance front to back and sort of create its own problem in and of itself, even if that wasn't the problem to begin with. So, you know, getting proper education is.

Lara Heimann [00:14:40] Important and control of the pelvis because. Another big thing that people need and we educate them on this in the beginning is the difference of movement in the pelvis versus movement in the hip. If you are just substituting and compensating, allowing the pelvis just to tip any any which way without stabilizing it, it's the hamstrings that actually provide that along with the glutes, the stability of the pelvis as you move in the hips. So sometimes people think of the glutes. Yeah, they're huge movers. They're great for extending the hip, but they're huge stabilizers in the pelvis and that's necessary when we're we're producing forces with the limbs to be able to stabilize the. That's the whole I mean the core mostly its biggest job is to stabilize against movement. It doesn't mean it doesn't move, but it's to stabilize and transmit that energy of movement through the body. And so when people are tipping in the pelvis. No good most of the time.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:15:39] Well, it's also funny because, like I talked to specifically women about this is the the the forces that that blow out women's knees from non traumatic impact. And it's one of those things where like I told them like look if you look at not all of them that a large percentage of the non traumatic like so for people who watch when someone's running and they cut and then he blows out and nobody touches them. That's that's what we're talking about but a lot of those are within a week of menstrual cycle. So what ends up happening is the pelvis puffs up with blood separates a little bit, and then when they're done with their cycle, it comes back together, but it doesn't come back together and mesh properly. And so now the pelvis is out of balance, the femurs are the cue angle is pitched a little bit more. Increased pressure on the knee blows the knee out. So getting your pelvis square and clean and getting it right where it needs to be is hyper important for knee injuries and knees.

Lara Heimann [00:16:33] And this victim's always.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:16:35] Always.

Lara Heimann [00:16:36] Always the victims. And it's usually above and sometimes below and sometimes both. And yeah. Meaning like pelvis, hip or ankle. But they're never it's never like the knee is the problem. It's just. It's just the unfortunate killing of the messenger.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:16:52] Well, it's funny. I'm glad you brought the ankles the every single time. Like we have somebody who messes an ankle up, rolls an ankle, you know? And so now, now they're hobbling, right? And they're like and I'm like, You've got to come get you. You've got to really focus on your pelvis when you're hobbling. And they're like, Why? My ankle hurts my pelvis and like, your gait is messed up. So every time you take a step, you're now putting the wrong forces into your pelvis. If it was weak to begin with, which 90% the time it is, you're going to have more hip and knee issues from your ankle. And the worst thing in the world and all the orthopedic people are going to be cringing when I say this, when people get in boots, you've decided to screw up your at your pelvis because you've got two inches on one side that's not recognized on the other one. So now one leg is two inches longer or an inch longer than the other side and it's going to screw up your pelvis pretty much every time. So I've never seen it not mess up a pelvis. So, you know, and again, like you said, it translates because the ankle translates to the knee, to the hip, to the low mid spine, all of it. So yeah, so getting that, getting that gait back to going again is super duper critical. So one of the things that I try to get people to do, it's my favorite exercise for lower extremity that most people can do is we build them up two single leg step ups. So what ends up happening is that, you know, for those who are not saying so, the knees high. So it's more the parallels here, but closer to your heel and then you stand all the way up on that one leg so that you get all the stabilization function from the knee. They have the ankle in the low spine and you get that actual functional move into the ilium or the hips themselves on the outside. And so you get all of that motion going back into it and it starts to really, really change coordination, posture, all that stuff for the vast majority people we've had do it. And so it's one of my favorite things to give women who are trying to get pregnant is like, if you'll get your pelvis square now, it'll make the pregnancy a whole lot easier to deal with and the birthing a whole lot better too. So that's a big one that we start. Is there anything, anything specific that you like, your favorite little techniques to get people started?

Lara Heimann [00:18:59] There's so many. Well, I start a lot of people in the ground and just get them to feel the difference between, like to being the pelvis and stabilizing the pelvis, like into some kind of bridge and then elevated bridge. I love whether it's putting the feet on blocks or even getting on the wall. But usually in classes we don't get to the wall. We just might get on blocks and then getting up into bridge and being able to tip one side of the pelvis at a time is feel. First of all, it feels incredible because a lot of times when people are habitually like tilted forward, say, and enter, it'll think of people like splaying in their ribs and tilting everything around their sacrum. All that connective tissue gets very, you know, gets very grumpy and restricted. And when you move one side of the pelvis down at a time with the hips elevated, it just kind of pulls on that in this way. That's delightful. That's like, this is the freedom I'm supposed to feel. But it also lights up the glutes in the way that we want them to, which is to stabilize, allow the movement to happen, but stabilize dynamically within that. So I love doing that and feel it. And and that is really tricky for a lot of people. And like you, I love doing one legged balance of any kind. I love that. I just taught a class today and we do a lot of things from the ground and up, so we might be like in a side bridge, pop up and then turn load one leg. So aside bridge, you can have a right hand down or right forearm down and your right side of the pelvis is down. And we do some lifts controlled up and down. So the also the rhythm of things. I want people to use the ground and also control the return to the ground. And then we pop up on a hand and step that top leg, which would be the left leg, load it and rise to stand. So that's very much like your step up because we're going from way low. And the goal really is to utilize this ground reaction force, which is free energy for all of us. And if you're not familiar, ground reaction force is just like when you press down into the floor or the ground, you receive an equal energy coming back up through the body, which is called free energy. So when you use that, like you're saying, in the step up, you push down and you activate that whole chain all the way up into the pelvis. It's gorgeous and beautiful. Many people, the reason they're feeling like not as energized and eventually even could get some imbalances, maybe discomfort and even injury is because they're they're hanging a lot more like letting gravity have more of an impact. So can we use the ground and then use gravity is like our our weights as like strengthen her so then you can add more demand with weights in your hands or all that. But so we do a lot of this. Brown from the ground up. And that is for that's wonderful for joints. I mean, get anybody who is strong but not, you know, mobile enough. And that's a really it's very baleful. Very clumsy. Yeah. Would it be able to get up off the ground easily, readily and without the use of our hands, if possible? And that is great for longevity. We know that. But it's also very symbolic. It means that we're mobile enough in the joints that really need to be mobile, those synovial joints of the hips and knees, the ankles were strong enough in the dynamic core. And then we can we can feel more energized and more agile. And that agility is also super important as we age because that means like, like I was I was walking up stairs yesterday at my son's game. I was carrying all these donuts that was bringing the whole team. And I looked over at him to watch him as he was making a shot and there is a bleachers step and it was much higher than I had anticipated. I literally just felt like I had it didn't hurt at all. And I'm not saying like I'm perfect, but I know that even in those moments as unexpected perturbation, which is like something knocks your balance. The images as a graceful kind of like up. And then I came back up and I was like, fine. And those are things we want. We want our body to be responsive in us. Well, when we do have like anything in life, that knocks us off balance.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:23:11] Yeah. So one of the things we'll do after we get to the point where we're doing like the single legs is I'll put them on a baseball or a foam blocks of their, their, their balances to stabilize now. So, so that'll work. And then one of the other things when we try to make it really fancy is I'll give them like 5 pound weights to make while you're doing your stand, your step up. Once you stick that weight in that arm all the way out to the side and they're like, It's funny because like when you first tell people to throw, that doesn't sound too hard, too much like.

Lara Heimann [00:23:37] When 1 to 5 pounds, no big deal. And then it's like it is so challenging.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:23:41] It's a lot because it's like because I tell them like, what are we doing? Like, every time you lift your right arm, your left, left low back has to stabilize you. Otherwise you'd fall over and they go, and they start doing it like, man, that is, I can feel that a lot. And I'm like, that was just, you know, three, five, whatever the number is, it wasn't that much weight. So do you understand how, like when you're when you're leaning over and you're grabbing something or when you turn around the car and you get something, you lift it up? These rotate here how that's now damaging your body. And they're like, yeah, that's, that's, that's the thing. So like, those are, those are some of my favorite things to do for I love to watch these people, like when those things happen because as you watch them do that, they're just like, my gosh, they finally get it. And it's that's that's fun.

Lara Heimann [00:24:28] The other thing I love about that and we do a lot of that type of thing, lateral movement, love, lateral movement. We don't get enough of that in our everyday lives. This side lunges, skater, hops like curtsy, all those things. But like we also have some classes where we add one, two, 3 pounds, which isn't. I see this is building some muscular endurance, but what it's really doing is it's building heightened proprioception and that proprioception is your a body's ability, as you know, it's your body's ability to know where it is in space. And so when you have that arm out there, it is activating. But it's also it's like waking up the brain body connection to that area in a in like a, you know, like a like a blow a said cocaine blast. No, like a black firework blast. And that's what you want. And I call it like soaking that neuroplasticity. It's with all these kinds of different feedback. So I think what we're definitely known for is we have a lot of creative movement patterns, very challenging. And it's and the goal is not just to be creative for the sake of creative, but it's to really your brain loves the novelty. So yeah, you give it, you give the weights, you know, you put the weight out there. It's like all of a sudden your attention is heightened because it's different. It's yes, it's challenging physically, but it's also challenging that the brain, the neural pathways to those muscles. And that's so it's like it's like a quick talk about a quick fix. It's a quick transportation into that place you want where there's a lot more of that responsiveness in the muscles.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:26:07] Yeah, yeah. There's there's a bunch of stuff that I like. So I use I do a lot of dementia work I like. I like with my niche of dementia. We have phenomenal results with it because like as a neuro guy, dementia is not. The right SAT. It's not that hard to get huge change with, you know, you fix their diabetes, you pull them off their statin drugs to restore, you know, all the neurochemicals in the brain. Then you have them do exercise. And this is the biggest piece. And I'm like, I need you start doing these exercises. We start with Cross Crawl. We go back through all the narrow regenerative function. And it's funny because like some of the things I have them do and you alluded to this earlier, is I give them a like a depression like self-assessment, depression test. And then as we go through a couple of weeks into it, I give them the same test and they always come back with less depression. And people come in, they ask me, I don't think I don't I don't think I've worked with a single person whose their family didn't come back and ask me, you know, why we're doing depression tests and why they're getting better. And I'm like, Well, this is how your brain was actually designed to combat depression. So lots of, like you said, lots of proprioception to the cerebellum fires. That frontal lobe, frontal lobe suppresses temporal function. And now we don't have the depression. So there's a job like the neurology on this is just very, very, very, very, very old. Like we have so much research on this. This is why exercise is so good for you, because the research on the brain function is just we see it over and over and over and over how many times you do the research. It comes like the same issue. So with the same example. So like that is that's my favorite stuff.

Lara Heimann [00:27:36] I know it's and it's really cool because it's like we all know if we take a 15 minute walk, we feel better like this that we don't have to have research on. But we actually do. But it's just again, it's we're wired for movement. We are bodies of energy and when we're stagnant, it's our physical being is stagnant, our mental being is stagnant. And if you're more prone to depression or anything like that, it's the every unit answer. Pretty much everything is move more. Yeah, you really like it. It's just people and it has to become a habit. So for those of you that are like, Well, I feel like I need to move more, but I just don't have the motivation or I'm too tired or I'm too busy. It's like, this is priority number one and just start small and become because that's part of the neurology too, is you want to build these positive feedback loops like I'm sure you don't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with it. Like, I can't imagine not having movement as a part of my day. A big

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:28:38] Yeah.

Lara Heimann [00:28:39] And it's because it's so wired in there now, like it was wired in at birth. Think about kids. They want to know. They want to move all the time. They want to go to playground. They wanted to do.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:28:48] We don't let them move that We wonder why they have. A.D.D..

Lara Heimann [00:28:51] Yeah, right, exactly. Then they then they're like forces that at a desk for hours on end try and pay attention. Nobody no one at any age can sit at a desk for more than 45 minutes and really expect good, you know, active brain function, which is not made for that. We need. Yeah, we need to refresh button and movement is the best way to do that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:29:14] You know, it's funny because they did a research study and they took a bunch of these really bad A.D.D. kids and like they're like, everyone's like, We need to medicate and we need Medicare. And they're like, I have another idea. And so they took them in there in their normal school. In between every class, they had them get up and run around the playground, wave their arms and scream and yell. And they brought them back in and they tested them after it was every hour they did that. It was like five minutes. They brought them back in. And after the course of like six months, they tested them again. They tested with better grades. The teacher said that they were they acted better than the kids that were on Ritalin and Adderall. And I was like, yes, because like, we actually got the neurology that we were designed with to actually play out. And it's like, now everything's better. And that research is out. I've I've talked about it with multiple principals, right? I heard about that. I'm like, why are we not doing this? Like, if you know, this is beneficial, why have we not integrated this into our education system, which is that's a whole nother fucking conversation. But.

Lara Heimann [00:30:11] You know, and that's why aren't we teaching kids about their bodies at a young age, understanding like that? Yes. Even when their sex education is taught, it's like this very like embarrassing Twitter. Twitter. It's like this is a beautiful home that we are living in our entire lives and many people have no idea anything about it. So then what happens is you give yourself over to a specialist, you know, when it's like you're like me. I want to educate people so that they they feel empowered and they don't need they don't need to go to anybody unless they have something really pressing going on. But they're going to feel much more safe in their bodies, strong in their bodies. So we should be teaching kids this.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:30:56] Well, you know, there's a lot of things that, you know, reducing, you know, damage and injuries and, you know, mental state. But the big thing is, is that when we start when I start working with I have a lot of women who come in and they want me to help them with nutrition and everything to get ready to get pregnant, like detox all that junk out of them and get them nutritionally sound. And I always be like, okay, we are going to talk about exercise, whether you're going to do it or not, because I need you to know what's going on and what are the big things that women do are not told It's not their fault. They don't know. They should be told, but they're not The emotions you have, the stress you have while you're pregnant has a massive impact on your baby. And if you will exercise and I'm not talking about going to the gym for two hours and becoming a bikini model or a bodybuilder, like just move. If you will do that, you will not only keep your sanity, you'll keep your emotions met where they're supposed to be, but those emotions will no longer flood the child. And you have a done to stress issues to the child. So this is a big deal. And it's like, you know, you see a lot of parents who, you know, they'll have the baby, which is an A just I have never seen anything that destroys a woman's body like having a baby. So, you know, one of the things is that if you're trained properly ahead of time, the damage is much, much less. But the other thing is that if you will do the exercises, all of this postpartum issued, a lot of the postpartum issues, calm way down or go completely away. You know, you can actually you know, it's fine. Like, hey, I'm going to leave the baby, just sleep or something else is going to take her. And I'm just going to do in my house like five feet from baby, you know, some actual, like, movement stuff, like, you know, squats, planks, like, whatever you're ready for. Like, you know, I love the lateral hip, hip throw stuff like, that's fantastic. If we can just do those things, everything starts getting better. But no one's taught that. So because if it I have a big chip on my shoulder about how if it doesn't have a drug associated with it, no one's going to talk about it because they can't make money on it. Like, I fix type two diabetes all the time because it's easy, but nobody else does because it's more profitable to keep them sick. So but again, it goes back to moving.

Lara Heimann [00:33:00] Profitable and they assume that people are lazy and won't make changes instead of like, well, if they have education and why, why wouldn't they want to change? You know, it's like it is. Yeah, that is a lifestyle change. So many of our diseases are preventable and improved through lifestyle. We know that to be true. It's good. We have to give people the education.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:33:24] And a lot of it starts with moving. Like, again, we can have the conversation with the processed foods and about proteins and high glycemic function and we can have all that conversation that we need to have it. But where I'm not seeing enough of is because we'll talk about supplements like you pull up Instagram, let's talk about science, let's talk about diets, Let's talk about that. Very few people are talking about if you'll just get off your ass and move more, your depression will go away. Yeah, Yeah, you're going to lose some fat, you know, But if you actually just start moving, your back, pain will go away. Your neck pain will go away. If you stop staring at a screen or your phone like this all day long, your neck and shoulder pain and shopping will call them down. So like that's, that's one of the things that I like seeing when we start seeing those on on, you know, Instagrams like that. But I do see a whole lot more supplements sales than I do. If you'll just move you'll be better.

Lara Heimann [00:34:14] Right And I think, you know, like I know in marketing in the past, people have been like, everybody, the practice practices lit is really trim and all that. You should talk about the weight. And I'm like, No, I will never do that. But what I will say is when you start moving and taking care of yourself, you're going to make better choices in the other parts of your life. And that's what ultimately leads to, you know, being a more optimal weight and all that. Like, you don't you can't compartmentalize. But the movement, like you said, move first and it just doesn't feel as cohesive to then go and make shitty choices about what you're going to have for a snack or dinner or whatever. It just it doesn't connect because you've already done all this stuff. You're like you said, all your neurology is different. And so that's, that's really the entry point. And that's been proven over and over again. That movement is the most pivotal habit you can have. It will change, meaning it's going to change everything else.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:35:11] You know, it's funny because we talked you know, I talked to, you know, women who are who are in that point where, you know, their their teenage their kids are, you know, 15, 16, 17, and one's gone to college and the other one's about to go and they're getting a little bit worried about, you know, are going to be empty nesters. Like, what are we going to do? And I'm like, Are you think about traveling? And they're like, I think we want to make have you been exercising? And they're like, not really. To make you need to start exercising before you start traveling. And there was a simple y like, I'm not going to do anything too aggressive. I'm like, Do you know how many people call me because they're on vacation and they're going through Dallas and their bodies killing them because the bed was weird, The pillow was weird. You know, lugging the luggage around was weird and their body wasn't used to that. And so now there's hurting in their saw and their entire vacation is ruined. And like, you've got to prep for that. This is again, we've mentioned this before, but this is are you ready for your life? Like if you think your life can be sitting from your computer, you're still going to need to move. Because sitting in front of a computer and this is my favorite piece about it, is I always tell people, if we raise your monitor up, it'll change your posture.

Lara Heimann [00:36:18] And they go, I have all I have so much on this. I've written articles about this, all that I was like, if you're not at eye level, then what are you doing right? And then you get the wireless keyboard. But if you are looking down, you're like that whole chain from the head. It affects the entire body. It affects the posture, affects your thinking. And of course, then you're wondering why your mid back hurts or your neck hurts or why you have a migraine. Like it's the position of your skull.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:36:45] Yeah.

Lara Heimann [00:36:46] Right. And it's. Yeah, Yeah.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:36:47] Well, it's also thinking like.

Lara Heimann [00:36:49] Where I get all that, I'm like, just lift that up.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:36:51] Monitor up high. Like, if you're looking up, you're doing great like this. I was a little up. A little bit. You'll be fine. You know, keep that those ear holes back of your shoulders. But, you know, and it's funny because, you know, I told you that you sitting there is exercise. It's an isotonic isometric exercise. And so you're exercising. Either push yourself into problems or to push yourself away from them. It is up to you how you want to play it. But, you know, that's that's what's going on. And the reason why people lose lose their their disk space or their neck gets tight is because you've been asking your body to stay in that position for weeks, months and years. So walking it back is going to be problematic. So you need to start as soon as you can moving or else you're going to have major issues from that point forward.

Lara Heimann [00:37:36] Absolutely. And honestly, I mean, I've been in it long enough and you have to ensure the thing at younger and younger used to be because of technology and because more and more people, younger people are getting into these positions and and then they just get stagnant in this position. But I mean, I'm seeing young people come in with issues that I didn't see until people had been working in the corporate world for 20 years or something we're seeing and the 20 year old. So it really it's about do something about it now.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:38:11] You know, there's there's several things that I like to work on. So plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel, frozen shoulder and scoliosis are all actual neurologic muscle issues. They're not joint problems. And so, like, we'll get people in who we got can't even walk because their plantar fasciitis is so bad. And I'll reset the neural loop and they'll send me like it's 50% better. And I'm like, It's not going to be in an hour, but like, this is how we're gonna fix it. We fix it with anterior to the Alice functionality, you know, offsetting the gastrocnemius, causing the whole cascade to calm down. Like, we'll get people like finger mirror bands so they exercise the opening of their hand instead of the closing of their hand. And that helps carpal tunnel. So we go through these things all the time. I get people in for it with, you know, pure form a syndrome. And that one's that one's a fun one to work with because I do some of the things that you're talking about, like we're opening up and freeing up the hips. So is there is there any is there anything pure form of surgery? Is there something that you like to work on? Because performance is hard for a lot of people.

Lara Heimann [00:39:05] Yeah. So yeah, pure like, my gosh, so many. I mean, I see all those things. I see a lot of shoulders on frozen shoulder, which is for anybody that's wondering, that's very, very common in women. It's very common in perimenopausal and menopausal women, and it's very much related to technology. It is. You have to it's the one, I would say, the one kind of syndrome. You have to go against everything you're sensing because it's and rewire it. In other words, you're going to want to not move and you have to move like you have to lubricated. The fascia is all like bound down. It's called adhesive capsule itis because the fascist surrounding that, the shoulder joint, the hat, the ball, the shoulder joint has just like adhered there. And but you have to move it. And that's something. And once people and like just knowing that you move it until your brain starts to recognize that it's not an assault but not move, it is the opposite. It's going to continue to get worse. And then you get into, you know, it's hard to do thought so but rotator cuff you know all. Kinds of things with the shoulder Again, I love because the shoulder is. Super mobile. And when you. There's always a tradeoff. You get more mobility, value stability. So stabilizing dynamically. The scapula working on the lovely leg, how to how to be mobile in the shoulder in this very strong and empowered way. One of the best ways is to get weight bearing on your hands. Because you've got to get that feedback from the ground into the scapula and doing that elbow stuff, elbows like the knee, it's almost always the victim of the shoulder. I mean, when anybody says I've got stuff down, down the chain, including carpal tunnel, sometimes I look at the shoulder. Carpal tunnel is usually, again, overuse from like being in a claw hand texting computer. Yeah. They can also very much be related to the product. So I always go proximal similar to what you do, proximal meaning closest to the body. So at the scapula, what's happening there? Where's the ribs on top of the pelvis? Women in particular with postnatal women, rib cage is often not in the best position. And if, like you said, fix the pelvis, it'll fix the ribs, but you've got to do them together because the ribs naturally are going to be pushed apart and and often pushed forward and up with pregnancy. And then the baby's not there. But guess what? Your ribs don't know. So you have to do the work to to establish that connection. So all of this stuff, I like working with everyone. And but those are the, you know, postural issues translate into movement issues. And so if we kind of we I always educate about posture. I call it the Triple S, it's the back of your skull, the back of your scalp, the scapula shoulder blades and your sacrum. And the thing is, your brain doesn't know when you're an upright, neutral spine. So you've got to teach it. You've got to give it feedback, Go against the wall, see if you can make the point of contact, whatever. You can't make point of contact. That's going to be your like hotspot. But keep doing that and then walk away from the wall and it'll feel a little robotic at first. Sometimes most people say, I feel like I'm looking down. Well, that's because your head has been forward and the chin has been tilted up. So all of a sudden you get your head back and your eyes reorient and they're like looking down. And that's just, again, neurology. Over time that will improve. So start I start aloud with the posture for, for most people.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:42:34] And when I design like bodybuilding or like muscle growth exercises, like I don't tell people this until we get into it, but like they're all designed for core functional work. So like when you do back work, it's, it's high, right? Low left. It's low, low left, high, right. You know like when you do your alternating bicep curls, the way I teach is, like you said, I want your skull, I want your your shoulder blades. I want your ass against the wall and your elbow against the wall and then do it there. And we were like, okay. And then they're like, They're bad. I had a really reduce my weight. I'm like, Yeah, because you weren't using your bicep to lift it. You were flinging it with your pelvis. Yes. No, Like.

Lara Heimann [00:43:13] Like people. I mean, that's the thing is our bodies are smart and so they'll substitute and people don't think they're cheating, but they haven't learned. They haven't learned that. Like, that's why you need the feedback of the wall or the ground or somebody watching you or all of the above. And that's really, I think, what sets us apart so much and lit is that we're always teaching ways of being able to give that feedback to yourself, whether it's through foam blocks, the wall, the ground, your hands, where are your hands? Are they stacked like sternum and middle of the pelvis and are they essentially on a shelf? Like and those type of things makes such a difference. They help your breathing, they help your neurology, they help your digestion, they help your energy, and then they help your biomechanics.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:44:00] You know, it is like what you just mentioned is such a big deal because if your if your your torso is where it's supposed to be, the reason we breathe is because our ribs move and people don't recognize that enough. And so, like, like, like they'll sleep with people who sleep on their side. There is no right way to sleep. It's just one of those things you always ask me, but there's no one way you're gonna see. You're not going to hurt yourself. So just. If you'll move, you won't. But you know that whole thing, if we. If the ribs, bucket handle the ribs move like they're supposed to, we can easily get the air in and out. The diaphragm starts to move. We start get peristalsis function in the intestines. So if we're if we're in the right physical position and we're doing the things the body was designed to do, literally everything starts to get better. Like I've taught people to sit and breathe and they're like, my sinuses were draining. And I'm like, I know. Amazing.

Lara Heimann [00:44:49] And it's amazing. And you get like, my resting heart rate is like 43. I it's lower than when I was running marathons. And it's because it's not. I'm efficient, but I'm breathing and I'm breathing optimally and that that just like makes your heart happy. And I work so hard.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:45:07] Yeah. It's easier to move the oxygen around. We're getting more oxygen and and more efficient.

Lara Heimann [00:45:13] Well, the other.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:45:13] Thing that we get into is that your lymphatic cells actually drain a lot easier. So the acidity in your body that requires the oxygen to offset it decreases totally, which and I'd be careful with how I phrase this, but this is one of the reasons why athletes have lower instances of cancer, because we have the chemicals that create cancer and reactive oxidative stress and all those other things that cause heart attacks and plaque in the whole deal are always lower because we're bringing in the oxygen, getting these things to flow out, we're flushing out all that waste. And so all the metabolic waste is now leaving the bodies of sitting stagnant, requiring higher levels of oxygen to offset. So that is that is one of those big, big pieces that, again, I don't think we mentioned enough.

Lara Heimann [00:45:56] No. And that's we talk about lymphatics a lot, too. And for people that don't know this, the lymphatic system is similar to circulatory system, but different in the sense that it operates because of movement. It doesn't. Yes. Like if you're not moving, you aren't draining. You aren't like taking all the whatever the byproducts of these products into those lymph nodes to be processed out that it's a it's a one valve pump. And that when you tell people that they're like, I'm like, you got to move because of that. That's this is your you want immunity, you want better health, you want to be sick. You've got to move like your lymphatic system. One of the biggest, you know, immune systems in the body requires movement.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:46:40] Yeah. No, that's yeah.

Lara Heimann [00:46:42] You can't let people sit and lie lie in the hospital bed too long because of that. It's not the circulation. Your circulatory system is going to move. Of course it moves better when you're moving, but your lymphatics do not unless you're moving. Yeah.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:46:55] Yeah. It's really easy to lymphatic stagnant and then you get sick and you get sore and you get everything sucks from there. And it's it's just funny to me from like, well, how often are you exercising and healing? Well, I know, like, so never. Okay. That's what I'm hearing. Yeah. Yeah.

Lara Heimann [00:47:09] So they're like, I need to take a couple of days off. And I'm like, no, just move. You got to still move. Maybe do something. Don't do exactly what you did yesterday. But soreness is not like a message to not move. It's actually a message to move because you need to move that stuff around.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:47:24] Yeah, it's telling you that you have not been moving enough in the past. Yeah. So yeah, like get out of there like, what am I going to? My legs are killing me. What am I do, I'm like, do like a quarter of the same stuff you did yesterday with your legs and like, what do you talk about? Like, you need to move that lactic acid out of your legs. You know, it's like the doms is always like it's been there for too long. You know, it's been there for two days. So either massage it out or get up and just move and it'll be fine. So, you know, but again, you know, as people are starting to, I think the nice thing about what's going on right now and I think, you know, weird blessings Covid is if you look at it properly, Covid was a great blessing for a lot of us because people started to realize maybe, maybe I shouldn't be looking to the drugs to get my health. Maybe I should figure out a way to stay healthy so I don't have these things happen to me. And it's been like I've had a lot of people call me up and be like, All right, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. Wait until you ask me on the doc. Like, how do I how do I keep myself healthy? And I'm always like, I'm going to tell you right now. And if you want to hang up, you're more than welcome to because I don't want to work with you unless you're committed, you're going to have to move. You're going to change your diet and you're going to have to sleep more like that's these are the things that you're going to have to do if you want to eat healthier, you know, segmentations in there as well. But the taking pills is easy for people. I'm like, you're going to have to move and then like, how much I make. You're going to look at an hour a day, like how do we build up to that? But that's what you've got to have to get to the point where you're moving for at least an hour a day. You know, and I get it. Like people are always like, well, I don't want, you know, like, okay, So I get up at four and I either read or I'll watch your podcast and research stuff. And then for 30 minutes I'm on the treadmill and then I work out. I teach my kids that workout for 20 minutes, go to work, I go home is I like working on all day for crashing the stress cycle and I'll be in my gym lifting from one to out to 15 to 30 back up here. And it's weird because every single day and I work out all the time, every single day, the second half, my day always feels more calm, more relaxed, more peaceful, more just like more joyful than the first half because I got to work out in the middle of the day and crash that stress cycle. So, you know, it's this is I can't speak highly enough for moving.

Lara Heimann [00:49:47] And it's really good that you brought that up. It's like I think it's like we're so well versed at this and it's part of our daily lives and all this, but it doesn't mean we wouldn't have the same like I have, like where my energy's about to go to, like, I just know what to do about it. But it's not like we're going to still have some of the same things. Anybody. Like it's not like, well, you got to figure it out. It's like, no, if I don't move for a while, I'm going to start to feel that. But then I know what to do. Like put in that midday workout, put in a midday what? Whatever it is. But every but like you said, you have you have to prioritize it like prioritize yourself if you're, you know, that's really what it comes down to.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:50:28] Well, one of the things I tell the moms all the time, because usually I have a whole mom lecture. I also like women are better than men to begin with because you're more compassionate and loving and caring and it's just how you're designed. And then you have kids and it gets put on steroids and you'll take care of your kids, your friends, kids, your, you know, stray animals, stray people. And at the end of the day, if there's any time left, you might think about taking care of you, which is great. Makes you a great servant in the whole deal. But the problem is, is that if you live like that, you will fall apart and you will fail to take care of the people you're trying to take care of because you don't have it in you anymore. So I always tell the moms, make the best thing you can do for your children, for your husband, for your family is to go out and exercise every day.

Lara Heimann [00:51:07] That's what I say, too. When Mommy's happy, everybody's happy. And the only way Mommy's going to be happy. And that I have worked on that for 30 years, like my first group were moms stay at home moms who even when their kids were not right there, like, still had that. And it's conditioned you know, it's conditioned to be the carryover into. And I and I would say to them like, you're better, more energized, more patient, more like in a relationship with your husband when you take care of yourself. That is not selfish. That is better for everybody.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:51:42] Yes.

Lara Heimann [00:51:43] It's just changing.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:51:45] It's selfish not to.

Lara Heimann [00:51:46] Exactly.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:51:48] Because you're trying to be lazy. You're choosing to. I'm going to do this other thing. I doing something because you want to avoid it. Yeah.

Lara Heimann [00:51:54] Like being a martyr or. And you may not even realize that that's maybe what your mom did or what you've seen people do or what you thought. And again, this has been placed on women over, you know, centuries. But it doesn't like we have a lot more at stake and a lot more that we're continuing with in this in this society now. And we need to come with like our arsenals got to be full and yeah, energy patients and that's take care of us first. Yeah, I've never had a problem with that. Maybe it was because I grew up with three brothers and like, I was treated totally equally and all that. So it was always really weird for me to be like, Why are these women having such a hard time with this? Or feeling guilt about it? I'm like, I don't have any of that. Like, I'm like, I'm taking care of me first because I'm just not as nice of a person if I don't. And I recognize that.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:52:44] No. It's funny cause my, my, my, my office manager one day this I had, I had I miss workout two days in a row for various emergencies. And then I was talking to somebody and she, like, got between the two of us and she was like, hey, I'm real sorry. He's lost his message. Unless you work out. And if he doesn't get to the gym, he's going be an ass. And she was like, I totally get it. And I was like, Thank you. That helped me out. But, you know, and that's texting.

Lara Heimann [00:53:06] Have you have you moved today? Yeah. You look grumpy. It's not like. Have you eaten? Yeah, maybe that. But have you moved?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:53:13] Because if you moved enough today, can more like.

Lara Heimann [00:53:16] A little nappy, I think. Yeah. So much happier if we could. If. If this is like a movement revolution and this just became the norm and we see it in pockets. I'm sure you have pockets. I have pockets too. But it's still astounding to me when people will come and say, Well, they don't wanna spend the money on this. And I'm like, You know what? Nothing. You're like, Is your health less important than buying a nice whatever. Like reprioritized? I would put all my money into the food aid. That's what I always say. I will never shortcut what I put in my body and I will never shortcut how I treat my body and everything else will be prior, you know, priorities below that. And that's how I want everybody to think of it, is like, this is your health. There is no price you can put on that. And unfortunately, having worked in rehab and seeing people who worked hard all their lives were like, I'm going to retire and then I'm going to, you know, do this and do this. And guess what? They had a heart attack. I'm not saying this happens to everybody. What? What, Why? Why, why, why? Like do everything now. Live now for yourself. And that requires taking care of yourself and all those things that you buy that you think are going to bring you something of happiness or not if you're not healthy.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:54:39] Yeah. You know, I think that I think the quote is, you know, a man with a man with health has a thousand wants a man without health only has one.

Lara Heimann [00:54:46] Yeah, exactly. And that's that's the thing you don't know until it's taken away. And I walked out in my clinic so many times, seeing people whose lives were changed in a minute, like whether it was a person surfing and and had a spinal cord injury or a person who had a stroke. And I walked out and I thought, I'm walking in the daylight to my car and I'm like, I will never take this for granted the years that I walk to my car. These people are trying to learn to stand up again. So it's like, don't take it for granted and do the work needed so that you won't ever have to worry about taking it for granted.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:55:20] You know, it's kind of funny because I talk about this a lot because I see it. I see it manifest in so many areas of life. We have lost we've lost our our coaching connections. And what I mean by that is when you see somebody now like, you know, their mom lives, you know, two states away, right. And they have like 2 or 3 friends, but they don't have the whole, you know, hey, I'm 25 and I just had a kid where the 35, 50 year olds, the six year olds I have access to be like, tell me how to do this. Like, what do I need to get done? How does how does how do I raise this kid? How do I raise me? Like, we've completely lost those people that were super important. The elders that that that that taught you. Hey, by the way, I did this wrong. And look at me now and think I did it right. Look, I mean, okay, I'm going to go do the things right now. And I think that's of the big issues is that I think a lot of men and women would be much more willing to take care of themselves and exercise and do the things and raise their children differently if they just had access to people who be like, all right, I'll walk you through it. This is not you know, let me explain to you how this works. And so I'm glad that you guys are kind of doing that. So walk me through like your Internet stuff. How does your online protocol work.

Lara Heimann [00:56:34] Though? And to that point, I'll just say I feel like and for anybody listening, this this is kind of a sidebar, but like I'm 55 and I feel like in a lot of ways, I'm just starting new every day. And, you know, and I think what makes what makes people come to me is not only my education, my experience is but but the the decades that I've been doing it, you know, and that so search for that person because like you're saying, we we can learn from those who have been around and and and seen you know and when people are like, I saw this on Instagram or this and I'm just like, there are tried and true things that I was taught 30 years ago that are still true today. And there's going to be all kinds of like Sparky, gimmicky, whatever. And I'm just saying, try them if you want. But I know these to be true and to be helpful. Universal, because these are principles of biomechanics, you know?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:57:27] Yeah, I've learned I've been super lucky with the practice I've had over the past 20 years that I've met. Like I'd find somebody with a great marriage and they'd be like, Tell me how you do it, right? And you asked, Yes, 20 people are 50 people like that, 50 couples. And they start giving you the same answers. You start something like, What do you do with your kids? You've got great kids. What did you do? How did you parent these? And they give you the same answers. Like there's there's always like outside of that, the splatter charts, always right in here. You're like, okay, I'm going to do those things as well. And having I feel kind of I feel highly privileged to have had access to that because it helps me as a dad. It helps me with when my marriage I have a great marriage. I got great kids because I learned from everybody else. I saw how to deal with horrible kids. Like how do you raise your kids? They're like, not going to do that. So that's the.

Lara Heimann [00:58:15] Questions. And that's a big part of like, what I teach is inquiry, curiosity. Like none of us really have the answers, but there's people that have wisdom, you know that. Yeah. And you know, when my dad said somebody ask him, like, You raised four great kids, how'd you did? And he said it was a lot of luck. And I thought that was really humble. But it's kind of true in some ways. And then, of course, there are you know, a lot of it is is giving them wings and and encouraging them and and realizing they're individuals. Okay. So my program on my platform, it has thousands of classes. What is unique is that all the classes are taught by people who have been taught by me. So we have I have over 1000 teachers around the world who have been taught by me. Some of them are on the platform and but we're all saying the same messaging. So that consistency is there. That's super important. You can go to a yoga studio and you can have or a gym and you can have ten different people kind of telling you different ways of doing it. And I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, but the messaging of consistency is really important for the neurology of like repetition and understanding happens from that kind of consistency. We have classes all different levels, all different times, durations, themes. We have post-natal, we have prenatal, we have athletics, we have regular, but they're all in the blueprint that I created, which is based on the. Neurological blueprint. We start with what's called a reset, and that is going through developmental like moves on the ground so that we can better prime our body for bigger functional movement. And then we get up and we do some things you'll see that are yoga like and then some are very functional movement gym like, you know, we just incorporate them all because again, we have a lot of our movement experience needs to be rich and diverse and we have lots of entry points. We have a beginner intermediate, like it's, it's very it's a, it's a robust platform. And I'm offering everybody that's listening who's new to us to come and listen or come and try it out. And you would just use the code move better on the link that we'll have in the show notes. But you could also look up lit daily l l y t or just go to my website lit yoga l t yoga.com and then you just go to the free trial. So we have that. We again, lots of classes on there. And then I also have the online teacher training, which is really specific for people that are interested in teaching. But I also get people who are just interested in learning about themselves and about moving better and may want to teach and may not. But we are a Yoga Alliance accredited 200 and 500 hour teacher training as well. And then I teach workshops and hold retreats around the world.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:01:00] Very fun. Yeah. So that would. I like I like the online stuff because, you know, I think Covid, like you mentioned, Covid is such a phenomenal, you know, helps people who are like, okay, I got to do something. I'm going to start looking at stuff online. And it's been, you know, people have been able to get really, really beneficial, beneficial movement from that because, you know, it's one of those deals where even because I live five minutes from my house, so it's easy for drive home from my office to my house, work out and drive back. But, you know, a lot of people are like, I don't have time to go to the gym. You know, I got to close an hour there.

Lara Heimann [01:01:34] You like It's you're cutting off 40 minutes by just doing it at your house. It's it's incredible. Yeah.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:01:39] Yeah, yeah. So if, if, if he and if he could. Hey, I'm going to step away, you know, and do this thing over here where I have got, you know, 20, 30 minutes, I'm going to go do something. And you always I talk to you about this all the time. And like, I only have like 20 or 30 minutes. I'm like, that's that's a lot better than zero.

Lara Heimann [01:01:55] Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:01:56] That's like get a lot done every day in 30 minutes.

Lara Heimann [01:01:58] We have a lot of 20 to 30 minute classes for that very reason because we have busy people, people who work with people who are parents. We have people who are both everything and we have 20 minutes all the way to 75 minutes, but a huge number of 20 to 30 to 40 minute classes because of that very reason. And, you know, if you think, I'm not like an online person, just try it because it's like it can be your and it's it's something else. Like if you love going to your gym or love going to your yoga studio, use this as an end. Because what we also find is people taking the education we give them and they bring it into whatever they're also doing with more mindfulness and awareness of their own body and they then they can take that in and it really enhances the whatever else they're doing. And it could be running or bike riding or etc..

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:02:42] You know, I think it's funny when I told my my NFL athletes or I'll tell my, you know, my bodybuilders or ever I'm like, we need to start incorporating more yoga in what you're doing. And they're always like, Why? And I'm like, okay, let me rephrase that. We need to start incorporating full actual functional movements into what you're doing. And they go, yeah, okay. I totally to my okay, sorry, I use the wrong words for you.

Lara Heimann [01:03:04] That issue too. Like we really do bring we have a lot of yoga people originally, but we've had many more like people that were a little hesitant, I didn't like you because really it's if you look at it like you just said, it's full body functional movement that's going to strengthen and and educate you about how to move better for decades to come.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:03:25] My my favorite one was I was talking to one of our NFL guys and he was like, he's like, Yo, man, I thought that was for chicks and was like, okay, why don't you come to a class with us then? And I was like, Show them all how to how big strongman moves. And it was hilarious because like, these girls were like, Can you do this? Can you do this? And he couldn't do He's an NFL defensive quarterback and couldn't couldn't do half the stuff because again, you know, we camps we because they're not trained that way and that's also why they get injured so often And you'd think you're worth 5 million a year. Yeah. Why don't you do a little bit of stuff to make sure that you're going to stay healthier? And when you teach them that they start doing it, they do great. But they're not told that in high school and college and the pros. And so we get a hold of these kids. Like I say, kids like I refer to all my NFL athletes as kids because they're 20. But yeah, 16 to 30. If you'll start doing functional movement stuff now, you will be so far ahead When you're older, you're just it's just it's so unbelievably better for you. So don't wait till you're broken and your joints are rusted shot. They don't move. Right. And it's going to be painful and a giant, horrible issue for you and whoever your training trainer is to get you to move. Right? Just start now. Like today's the best day for real start.

Lara Heimann [01:04:45] Yes. Yes. I totally agree. I love that we're on the same page. I'll come down and visit you any time and teach anyone. They're NFL old ladies, all of us.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:04:55] So we do so Vibe five. We do. We do. We start off with a vinyasa flow, then we'll do some weights and some cardio, something that we end with more yoga stuff to just elongate and open up joints. And we do it under pharm for rad. And so I love, I love adding this stuff under the right frequency farm for red, the ceramic base farm for red because it is worlds different and that's that's my big thing is is the frequency function. But you know that's how we do it here. And it's been it's been really, really fun sending patients over there after they've had, you know, before, you know, some of the guys have had spine surgery and they come in and I get an all worked up and we send them over there. Some of the guys have had, you know, five ankle surgeries or three. And, you know, I blew my knee out twice and, you know, that type of stuff. And we start getting the knee thing for guys. They went into it. Guys when guys have ACL injuries, their hips are always screwed up. I have never one time see somebody who's had an ACL repair whose hip wasn't completely trashed. So you start getting into moving and they're like, you know, it's fake is like my my knee feels better. Like, I thought it was fine. But it's not like my whole leg feels better. It's because your knee wasn't the only thing wrong with your leg.

Lara Heimann [01:06:04] Yeah. Yeah. My gosh. We could talk forever about this stuff.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:06:08] Yes. Well, all right, so if you guys go check out our website, you know, yoga.com. Try that. You know, if you guys aren't doing anything, please jump on. Try out the the, you know, free free classes and the demos.

Lara Heimann [01:06:22] Five weeks for $5. So we have a one week trial. So you actually end up getting six weeks for $5 are our normal amount is $40 a month. So you had nothing to lose by trying it out and email me with any questions. I love interacting. We also have a community on there that's really lovely community page, So yeah, check it out.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:06:42] Very awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I think this will help a lot of people, so that's very fantastic. And you're also on Instagram. What's your Instagram.

Lara Heimann [01:06:49] Handle? It's Lara Lara that I'm in. I am. And yeah. And then lit method is also on Instagram.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:06:58] Very, very cool. Are you on any other social media is.

Lara Heimann [01:07:02] Facebook. Ish. We are. We do have stuff on YouTube. If you look up lit method or lit yoga on YouTube, a little bit on Pinterest, but not nothing really. I mean, I'm on TikTok, but I really don't do much on there.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:07:17] I got I got Ban on Tik Tok for talking about things the CDC doesn't say. So, yeah, I YouTube's almost kicked me off three times as well. So. Yeah, I get. I get that one, so. All right. Well, thanks for coming on. If you guys have any questions. Emailer look her up on social media. Definitely go to the website. Check that out. You know, this is one of the things that could in 20 minutes could literally change your life. So this is a great thing for us. So, Lara, thanks for coming on and being here with us.

Lara Heimann [01:07:43] Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [01:07:45] Absolutely

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