www.liberatedbody.com/matthew-lacoste-lbp-010 Matthew Lacoste of www.thetouchtrail.com talks about the epic journey that he is kicking off next month. He’ll be traveling the world following the history of massage. On a bike. That converts into a massage chair. Using massage as his primary currency. Wow! He’s sure to get an up close view into how massage affects many different kinds of people’s lives, as well as charting how touch has influenced society throughout history.

http://www.liberatedbody.com/jules-mitchell-lbp-009  I get a chance to talk with Jules Mitchell right after she turned in her Master’s thesis in the science of stretching. Jules’ work blends biomechanics with the tradition of yoga to help people move better, and while looking into the research on stretching she discovered some pretty eye-opening things! For example, the idea that we can persistently stretch a muscle and have it grow longer, it turns out, is not exactly true. We get into many other myths of stretching- and it seems there are plenty- what really works, what’s really risky, and what a better model of viewing the body might be when we put aside the “stretch tight bits to make them looser” paradigm.

Nancy DeLucrezia, founder of Neuro-Structural Bodywork and of The Kali Institute, talks about the importance of connecting fascial release with neuro-muscular re-education, or how to address both the hardware and the software of our bodies. She also talks about breathwork and somato-emotional release, and her own process of becoming embodied and of healing.

Britt Johnson of The Hurt Blogger  talks about life with autoimmune arthritis, how movement helped her to rehabilitate her body, her work to facilitate more patient-centered care as a bio-consultant and e-patient scholar, and her ambitious training to meet her mountaineering goal of one day climbing Denali.

www.liberatedbody.com/matthew-remski-lbp-006 Matthew Remski discusses his WAWADIA (What Are We Actually Doing In Asana) Project. We get into if yoga was ever really intended as a physically therapeutic practice, what the Hatha yogis may have actually been after, injury rates in asana practice, the bias towards flexibility, and what a yoga practice can offer us.

www.liberatedbody.com/erwan-lecorre-lbp-005 Erwan LeCorre, founder of MovNat, explains what natural movement really means: it is the movements our ancestors have been doing throughout the history of our species, but which are now often voluntary and not required for daily life. He explains how we’ve become a lot like Chihuahuas, why only doing as much as you can do well trumps brutalizing yourself in your fitness regimen, and how natural movement heals.

Eric Goodman talks about the major back surgery that was recommended to him at the young age of 25 when he was, to the outside eye, the picture of strength. He discusses how he rehabilitated his way out of pain and dysfunction by developing the Foundation Training. We get into how the notion of the “core” is outdated, why the spine should not be the prime mover of the body, how a functionally integrated posterior chain is crucial, and much more.

Esther Gokhale dives deep into her anthropological view into human posture and how it affects the pain epidemic in this interview. We talk about the influence of the fashion industry, why sitting really isn’t the enemy, an S shape vs. a J shape spine, what we’re missing in a culture that doesn’t partake in head carrying, and much more.

http://www.liberatedbody.com/wendy-powell-lbp002 I interview Wendy Powell of MuTu System about why spot-treating postpartum issues like diastasis recti and pelvic floor dysfunction (or really any issue)  doesn’t work, her own less than perfect birth stories, why pushing ourselves into “getting our body back” is not only the least compassionate, but also potentially the least effective route, and the magic of plain old walking.

http://www.liberatedbody.com/original-strength-lbp001 I interview Tim Anderson and Geoff Neupert of Original Strength about why it’s a good idea for your body and your brain to return to some of the rocking, rolling, and crawling movements of infancy, why traditional ab exercises won’t get you a strong core, the downfall of the mobility-stability approach, and why no one should have to settle for aging as a miserable experience.