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If you’re tired of walking around like Frankenstein, if you’re tired of feeling so stiff in your trunk and your back, then I want you to stay tuned for this video. We’re going to talk about back mobility. But I am not going to show you a routine, and I want you to stay tuned as to why I can’t just show you a routine for back mobility.

I’m Ekemba Sooh. I’m a Soma therapist and a Soma trainer, which is kind of like a physical therapist, but more underneath the osteopathic model. I’ve been in this field for about 30 years and I’ve encountered, myself and others, a lot of immobility. Immobility is frustrating because you can’t move the way you want to, your body feels inhibited. Now I want to go through and talk about back mobility and all the different things you can do.

Mobility is having freedom in your body to allow the different joints and areas of your space in your body to move freely, to not be inhibited. Mobility is different than flexibility. Flexibility is range of motion. How far can I extend my… whatever. How far can I extend my arm is flexibility. How well I can move my arm in different planes is mobility. You can have a lot of flexibility like a yogi and have no mobility. I’ve seen a lot.

On the other end, you can have not a lot of flexibility, but have really good mobility. I always say mobility trumps flexibility because the health of your body that’s involved. How does mobility help your health? Well, mobility along with the structure of your body helps increase motility. Motility is the movement of the liquids in your body and your viscera. It is the life. If you have no motility, you have no life, you’re dead.

The biggest mobility you need in your body is called your PRM, your primary respiratory method. I won’t go too deep into it, but it’s a movement, motility of your cells. If I’m mobile and I have a good structure, then my fascia and its collagen tubes are lined up and allow fluid to go through. This increases the motility. If I’m tight and constricted, then those tubes inside of collagen become twisted or dried out or calcified, then the motility of the liquid ceases.

Then if that calcification or lack of mobility happens in the fascia that connects to your different viscera, now you go from let’s say a liver that wants to hang and be free and move around to a liver that stops short. You’re decreasing the motility of the liver, which means now the liver won’t work as well. Increasing mobility is one of the best things you can do for your body.

For your back to be mobile means your core needs to be strong and mobile. Core is the buzzword now, and generally when people say core, they equate it to abs. It’s a lot more than that. You have from deep to superficial, from in to out. You have your spinal muscles, four layers. Your rectum muscles. You have your ab layers, four layers. You have your trapezius muscle. You have latissimus dorsi, your back muscle. Your pectoralis major muscle. You have your serratus posterior, inferior and superior. Your serratus anterior. You have a lot of muscles that are involved and all these muscles have a job to do.

You also have to have a balanced spine. A balanced spine means you have four distinct curves, sacral, lumbar, thoracic, cervical. Those curves need to be even and not too big and not too small. If I lose one of those curves, let’s say my lower back becomes flat. Now my entire spine is about 16 times weaker. I think my math is okay, I’m not quite sure, but the equation is from Delma’s index. It’s R resistance equals N squared plus one. You use that equation and then you multiply it by the number of curves plus one.

If you lose one of those, you can’t multiply by as many curves equals less resistance. Less resistance means more fragile means definitely not mobile and definitely not strong. Now take a quick break. I know I’m putting a lot of information out to you, but this topic is filled, so I want you to have the full view before you take any steps.

Now I just want to talk to you for a little bit and engage. Do you have back mobility issues? Have you gone through and tried these routines you find on YouTube or some person in the gym told you to do, and have not had the success you wanted? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know.

How do you start getting your back mobile? Let’s get to some solutions. First, we have to go back to the information I told you about the spine. You need to make sure your spine is balanced. You need to have those forty-degree curves. You need to have the space between your spine as when you go do the exercise or stretches that you’re going to do, your spine moves properly.

Again, if you don’t have that position in the spine, your spine compresses. Most movements you do, especially twisting, compress your spine. They take one bone, one vertebra, and the other one and they turn and they compress. This smashes the disc. You don’t want that because now you’re hurting your back as you’re trying to become more mobile. First, we have the space and the curves.

After that, you actually need to strengthen your body. Your body uses muscle tissue better than it uses tendinous type tissue. If you don’t have muscles in the certain areas, all those trunk muscles, you can’t be mobile. Your body won’t work as well. This is based on Hill’s muscle model. Muscles work with fascia, which work with joints. They all work together in one little happy family to produce a nice good movement at that muscle area.

You start to strengthen whatever muscles are weak in all the different directions, not just doing planks. Planks is this part of the entire scope. You want to strengthen your rectus abdominis, your obliques, your TVA, and all these different directions and all these different ways. There’s a lot of different ways your body can move. Then don’t forget the back muscles. They work with the ab muscles. Again, not just one back muscle, not just extensions, rotations, side bend. A lot of different ways. Expand that out to the rest of them.

Now, after you have muscle and you have space in your spine, now you can start to move your body in a good way, but don’t move it in any way. When you look on the internet and you see a lot of these movements to increase mobility in your back, you’re going to find a lot of funny things. A lot of cobras, a lot of spinal twisting ones. Again, remember what I told you, your spine compresses as you twist. A lot of these exercises they show you are some sort of twisting action.

Unless you have that space, unless your body’s aware, you’re going to feel something in your trunk, it might feel good, but in your spine, you’re not going to feel anything but it’s damaging. Because when you feel something in the spine, it’s too late because now you’ve got a bulge, a herniation, some sort of inhibition of an artery or nerve or a vein that’s going to cause pain.

All of that, all that is why I completely refuse to give people prescriptive routines. You’re not a cake. I’m not going to give you a recipe to follow. I want you to adapt to your body. There’s no way in heck I’m going to give you some set of exercises that’s going to potentially make matters worse.

You can go on the internet, I’m sure you can find it. You can go check 10 different videos. You’ll find 10 different videos with almost the same exercises. The biggest differentiator is they’re wearing a different shirt and have a different name. It’s all the same stuff out there. That stuff doesn’t work, right? I’ve done a lot of that stuff myself, and yes, you feel good for a little bit, but ultimately, eventually you don’t feel good and it doesn’t help. You want something sustainable.

To work with the body means you need to work with the way it was designed, holistically and a bunch of different rules that I’ve mentioned some in this video. But if you follow these rules, if you work with a friendly way of working the body, it responds beautifully. You become more mobile, you feel stronger, you feel more balanced. You feel more like you can take on life because your body’s working with you.

If you do want some more help, I got some options for you. I have a free Facebook group, which you can join. Strength, mobility and flexibility for active people, usually over 40. The description holds the link. You can click on it, answer a few questions, agree to rules, you’re in. It’s a very interactive way to engage with me. Ask questions, see mini trainings, master classes, and actually do challenges where I’ll take you through some exercises after talking about what we’re actually going to do.

Or you can get a free ebook. It’s how to get out of pain, get mobile and live the life of your choosing. Again, in the description is a link. Like just put in your name and email, you get instant access.

Or if you’re ready to go, I would love to talk to you about what this program means and how it can help you. Just use the link in the description to book a time with me and we’ll go over what you’re doing now. What’s difficult, what’s your sticking point, where you want to go, and I’ll give you valuable information no matter what. Then if I see you’re a good fit, I’ll recommend a service with me for either in-house here in Santa Fe or my personalized online program.

I hope that was helpful. I know there’s a lot of information, but unfortunately the body’s complex, so if I give you as much information as hopefully in layman’s terms that I can, so you can understand. Stay tuned for this next video on core strengthening and I’ll see you next week.

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So you’re at the doctor and they tell you, “Unfortunately you’ve got osteoporosis. And they say, “You need to lift weights and go walking so you increase bone density to raise your T-score and Z-score.” Okay, good. There’s one problem with that and no of offense to doctors, but this is not their job. They’re going to give you the information that you basically know. Go to a gym, sit in the weights, do some classes, go walking, be safe. Maybe give some precautions like don’t be ballistic. Jump up and down. Don’t do folding and twisting, stuff like that.

No dis to doctors, but there’s a lot more you can do, a lot more you can do safe for osteoporosis without weights. So I want you stay tuned to this video. I’m go through the reasons why and what you can do. I’m Ekemba Sol I’m a solo a therapist and I’m trainer, which is kind like a physical therapist, but more, and that’s all under the osteopathic model of which I’ve been studying for, I don’t know, 17, 18 years.

So I got into this field after a lot of issues with my body and seeing how the regular way of doing things wasn’t working. So I dove into the holistic osteopathic model and I found great success and so I want to impart as much as I can of this knowledge in this format to you.

If you’re interested in finding out more about holistic fitness, holistic health, then subscribe to the channel. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and then share with your friends.

Again, I want to be very clear, I have nothing against doctors. I totally believe them. There’s just two ways of thinking. There’s a allopathic way of doing things and a osteopathic or holistic way of doing things. You’re either treating a symptom or you’re doing the etiology, the cause. Both are good. You just have to understand what you’re getting with each.

And in this case, the allopathic symptom one is not the best for knowing how to lift weights for osteoporosis. That’s not part of their program. Just like learning about medicines is not part of my program. Don’t come to me for medication. I have no clue.

When they tell you to lift weights, they’re thinking as much as you do. Oh, if you go to a gym and pick up things that are heavy and move them, you get tension in your body, which helps with bone density. They’ve done studies, and again, I like studies, but studies are just a part of the information, not the whole information.

By just going to the gym like anybody, but even more osteoporosis, you’re not getting a full body workout. You may work different parts of your body but you’re not getting a full body workout. There’s a lot of different ways your body can move and that needs to move that’s not being encompassed in a gym. On top of that, you’re kind of left on your own. Maybe you have a trainer, but generally the trainers are in AGMR more base level and they put you in the same machines that you do. Tell you how many do, crack a couple of jokes. I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it’s not too far from the truth.

Maybe you go a little bit further than that. Okay, maybe you realize, okay, I want to do more than just go to the gym and do my walking. You look up and you find a study which there are, you found out that the power plate and Nordic walking are really good for osteoporosis, which they are. They are fantastic ways to micro stimulate the bone. But you can’t stop there. You can’t stop at one piece of information and think you have all the information because by just doing those micro stimulations with the power plate and with the Nordic walking, you’re not respecting the soft tissue and the soft tissue always wins.

So when I say the soft tissue always wins, I mean the soft tissue is the intelligent part of the body. When I have information from my brain to my body, it goes to the soft tissue without the bones, specifically the ligaments and joints. So I tell my body where I am so you don’t tell the body where it wants to be. It just flops around and does what it thinks it should do. That’s how you get bad posture. That’s why when you go to a chiropractor that doesn’t have intricate knowledge of how to retrain your soft tissue and it just crack your bones back in place, eventually it goes back out of place, which is why you have to go back the next week and the next week and next week because the soft tissue says, I don’t think so. You have to come back over here.

And so when I talk about soft tissue, we’re leading to the most important soft tissue, your fascia because your fascia connects everything I’ve been talking about. Your bones, your ligaments, your joints, your muscles. All is one fascia that from in utero till now is split into thousands different directions, but it’s one thing and it’s alive. It’s not just a white piece you cut off when you’re cutting your meat. It’s alive. It has a bunch of different jobs and it helps your body to be balanced.

So how does your body want to be balanced? Well, I’ve talked about this in the video before on osteoporosis and bending over. I won’t go too much into it, but I’m going to do a quick recap just for the purpose of this video. You want to be bounced in two main ways. You want to have a good plumb line, which means you want your ear, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle line up and straight. You want to have good gravity line, which is an inverse four degree cone that starts below your pubic bone, it comes out that you should be able to maintain. These two are important because now your body has better forces going through the body. You don’t get weird forces that go in weird places causing weird injuries.

But for the sake of this video, the most important part of being balanced is having your trabecula and your bone aligned. What’s a trabecula? The trabecula are forces or lines inside the bone, like rebar is in a building, in this building. The rebar are in the building needs to be lined up so the forces go through it so the building can stay around for a long time. It’s the same thing in your body. The only difference is we move. Right now, buildings don’t. So I want to have those trabecula lined up.

Most people are out of bounds, which means their trabecula is not lined up. And so I move around, the forces don’t go properly through the trabecula. They reorganized in a different way, a bad way in your bones, which is why you start to get weird forces through your body. And for osteoporosis, that is not a good thing because now you’re putting weird forces through your body, technical term, which can cause yes, bone production, but not in a good way because you’re putting forces through your body and you’re unbalanced. Yes, your bone’s getting stronger, but your body’s also getting more unbalanced.

So you want to realign your body first. Well, how do you do that without lifting weights? You can use the fascia. So you can use techniques, in my case, myofascial stretching and GPS global postal stretching to use the fascial chains to line your body back up. Because that fascia surrounds the bone in periosteum, which connects to a muscle tendon, which connects to muscles, I can use that force through my muscles, through the muscle tendon to the periosteum to pull my bones back in place so I’m nice and balanced.

As I pull myself back in balance, I also get tensile forces through the fascia. So imagine you have a little tube and you pull it, it becomes tighter, right? Well, as it becomes tighter, that bone’s inside there, it now squeezes the bone. As it squeezes the bone, you get bone production. So now you’re realigning your body and producing bone production at the same time. It sounds like a win-win to me.

Are you stuck right now in the basic wave of doing your osteoporosis treatment and just going to a gym and maybe walking, but you kind of feel like there might be something more? Well, let me know what you’re doing and stay tuned for more.

So as I mentioned before, you want to work all your muscles, all your soft tissue so that all your soft tissue can help keep your body bounce. So when your body moves around, the forces move through nicely, your bones get stimulated, but at the same time, you’re not pulling yourself out of balance, which can cause more injuries even in regular people, but more for osteoporosis. So you want to work all of them.

So how do you work all of them? Well, you got around 600 muscles, but these muscles do different things, they go different directions, which means the fibers inside the muscle go different directions, which means you need to have different postures for even the same muscle. The example I give in these videos all the time is your glute mead. Your glute mead is your hip muscle. Your hip muscle has three separate fibers. You have an anterior front one, a middle one in the middle, and a posture back one. You need put each one intention to tell your body, Hey, I want to use this one more. But at the same time, you want to respect the rest of your body.

Respect the body. What does that mean? Well, the body’s holistic. It’s interdependent and interconnected. It means everything works together and it’s connected together. So as you work your hip muscle, at the same time, you need to respect the fact that via fascia in that hip muscle, you have a connection all the way down to your toe, up to your head, to your tailbone, out to your hand. You need to work all three fibers. So you need to do this in a fashion that respects the body. By doing so, you train your hip muscle, but at the same time you train your entire body. This is what I’m talking about, about training all your muscles. Now you can do the same thing through tendons, ligaments, joints. There’s thousands of different exercises. You don’t have to do them all that you want to do for you. You want to find the ones that are appropriate for you.

The big takeaway here is like most things I try impart on this channel is that there’s more than meet the eye. There’s this base load of information that we have for health and fitness, but below that, like the iceberg video, there’s little bit of information here and down below, there’s a ton more stuff that’s going on. Know where your information is coming from. And know what you need to do for you.

So if you’re interested in finding out more, I have some options for you by working with me. First, you can just join my free Facebook group. I forget what it’s called, but it’s like strength, mobility, and flexibility, there it is, for active people over 40 generally. And here I am more interactive. So I want to talk with you. I do many trainings, I do masterclasses, I do challenges, all the things that interact with you to help you give more information, give you some examples and things you can take home.

I also have a free ebook, which is again, I forgot the name is Get Out of Pain, Get Mobile and Live the Life You want. Four steps to that. I remember the name now again. Again in the description, you can find a link for that. Or if you’re ready to find out more and you want to have a good conversation, there’s a link in the description to talk to me personally to where you can discuss where you are now, what you’re going through, your sticking points, and I’ll give you valuable information whether or not you work with me. And I’ll only offer you working with me if I see you’re a good fit. I’m not going to just tell everybody needing to work with me because sometimes it doesn’t work.

So I hope this is good information. I would like for you to ask me any questions you want, use the description below. Stay tuned for this next video and I’ll see you next week. Take care.

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You’ve got the basic equation down: A healthy body involves a bit of math involving exercise and diet. If you have a plan, move your body in a lot of different ways, stay hydrated, eat food that work for you, get enough rest and play, and keep up with your weakest links with specific treatments and exercises, you live a long, happy life.

Simple enough. But…

There’s another piece of the puzzle you can’t ignore: Your emotional state.

If you’re sad, lonely, stressed out, or feeling deprived, then it’s going to feel impossible to stick to your health and fitness plan. Those thoughts and feelings come in and seem like you (they’re not) and now you have a whole sort of unproductive thoughts and ideas.

So, since you’re going to continue having emotions, and since sometimes they might run away from you because you are, you know, HUMAN, let’s tackle this issue head-on.

1. Spot your triggers. Not getting along with someone? Work deadlines tight? Kids on your last nerve? You know what presses your buttons and makes you want to have these self-destructive thoughts. Knowing them helps hit the pause button on impulse-driven choices you’ll regret. 
2. Move It. Try to do something physical in response to these triggers. Go for a walk, play with your dog, or schedule workouts to follow your stressful job shift. Meditation and journaling can be lifesavers, too.
3. Keep Track. Use a workout journal to track your progress. Note how you’re feeling before and after you do what you need to do for your body.
4. Moderation, Not Deprivation. Avoid the all-or-nothing mindset. Strive for balance, instead. Its ok to take some time to gather your thoughts; just don’t let it become a crutch.

Staying in this stressed-out state will derail you and make your body tighter, weaker, in pain, and uncomfortable. Your body reacts to stress the same no matter where it comes from. Once you are able to work with your nervous system the goals you have with your body will start to come to fruition.

If you still feel troubled by your emotions. Seeking support is a sign of strength and maturity, and one of the best tools we have to achieve success.

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Pop quiz hot shot!

Don’t worry. There’s just one question.

Who’s in charge of your life?

If you answered, “I am,” then congratulations! You’re right. You are the only person ultimately in charge of your life – good or bad, right or wrong, healthy or not, happy or not.

The power to create the life you want is within YOU, nestled alongside that awesome concept of personal responsibility. They’re joined at the hip, those two, and that’s what I want to write about today.

This is on my mind because I sometimes hear from people who feel they have no control over their lives.

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 “𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚” 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑥𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑥 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒.

So, let’s clear this up right now.

The key to unlocking your own power and exercising more control over your life is understanding that it’s all on you. You hold the reins. And you have to understand that you don’t know everything you need.

This means you get to “take credit” for all the good stuff in your life – because you have woven them all together into your awesome, beautiful life.

Even the “bad” stuff that was done to you. Granted, it might not have been your “fault,” but it’s now your responsibility to make it better. If you don’t, then who will?

Once you start to see this, I want you to think about these ideas next.

𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕: Your past is your greatest source of inner strength. Remember your successes and take inspiration from your own self! YOU DID ALL THOSE THINGS! Similarly, remember your setbacks and learn from them.

𝑺𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝑴𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑮𝒐𝒂𝒍𝒔: Let’s get strategic. Your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Track your progress, adapt as needed, and dance a little victory jig for every small win.

𝑩𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒉: Tell others and yourself about your new direction. Do this without apology. Too often we mumble something like, “Well, I guess I shouldn’t really say this, but I would like to be…” Nonsense! Say it. Own it. Do it.

𝑾𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌: Help others, share your opinion when it’s needed, and help where you can. By the same token, don’t be shy to ask for help when you need it. Yes, asking for help is part of being powerful. Just ask any powerful person you admire!

𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 – 𝑩𝒐𝒅𝒚, 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕: our well-being is non-negotiable. Care for your body with exercise, nourishing food, and restful sleep. Cultivate your mind through positive habits and manage stress. Speak your emotions, embrace spiritual practices that resonate with you – even on tough days.

This journey isn’t always a breeze. But every step you take builds on the one before. Success begets success. Power grows more power.

And it’s all in YOU.

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