Speaker 1: 0:20

Welcome back to Party Traffic Podcast. I'm your host, chris, and today with me I have a newfoundfound friend, laura Hyman. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Thank you for having me, chris.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Absolutely so. Today's show I know we have talked previously, but wanted to bring some awareness and more information to the audience, basically about movement and mental clarity, and I know you have a really good method of doing that your LYT method and we'll dig into that. But before we get too far, I just want to touch base and say thanks again for making time to come on today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Thank you, it's an honor really.

Speaker 1: 1:05

No problem. So let's talk about your educational background a little bit. You went to Duke, you got your bachelor's, you got your master's, and you got your master's in physical therapy, correct?

Speaker 2: 1:17

That's right.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Perfect.

Speaker 2: 1:19

I was there for six years. I'm a double Dukie, as it's known.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Yeah, A double Dukie. That's interesting. I've never heard that before. Yeah, so you got your master's in physical therapy and then something that really piqued my interest was your certification through Stanford, the neurodevelopment one. Can you kind of tell me about that a little bit more?

Speaker 2: 1:41

Yes. So with any kind of I mean like lots of professions, but in medical professions you can specialize in a certain area, and so I became really intrigued with the neurology. I'd always been very interested in the brain. I originally thought I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, but after growing up with a father as an orthopedic surgeon, I really got to see you know the hours that it took to do that and it didn't. It didn't appeal to me that kind of lifestyle. But I always had that interest.

Speaker 2: 2:14

And so after being in a clinic for in a rehab clinic for a few years, I decided to go back and specialize in what's called neurodevelopmental training, which is a specific technique that focuses on the neuroplasticity, the ability for the brain to change and grow with stimulus, and then applying these techniques to individuals who had sustained some kind of neurological insult, injury, whether it was a brain injury, traumatic brain injury or a stroke.

Speaker 2: 2:50

And we just so I went to California to learn these techniques that had been developed in Europe five or six decades ago and really it's tracking the developmental stages that we all go through and applying that to people who have had some kind of motor deficit, whether it was a hemiplegia, like one arm or one leg or both arm and leg were weakened or paralyzed, instead of compensating and putting that arm or leg in a sling and just dealing with that, we would go and actually force the use of that, like promote the use of it. So putting the unaffected limb in a sling so that the brain could then start to rewire the connections between the brain and that affected limb and return some of that function.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Wow, that sounds very complicated, but it sounds like it seems to be working.

Speaker 2: 3:57

You know, it's all of the principles, really, of movement applied in a very microscopic way, of movement applied in a very microscopic way, so it's understanding, like if that area of the brain has been affected by a stroke or brain injury.

Speaker 2: 4:16

We have so much real estate up here. How can we create those pathways again and go into the kind of hard wiring of what we did when we were coming out of the womb to becoming bipedal? So we went through these developmental stages and in doing that, from being like a floppy baby that comes out of the womb really floppy If you've had a baby you know how floppy they are to get up and move, the baby goes through those stages learning how to flip over, learning how to come up on all fours, crawling that's a big, significant milestone because the motor patterning and coordination for both hemispheres of the brain are involved in that and then eventually coming up to a half kneel and then becoming up to standing. To be able to do that you have to activate and create those pathways between the brain and the body, for the body to control the movement, For the core muscles we call them core postural muscles, the muscles closest to the bone to be able to stabilize your center of mass as you're moving. So if you take that, you could take that to an able-bodied person, you could take that to a person who's sustained some kind of neurological deficit and apply the same principles, because it's that kind of curiosity.

Speaker 2: 5:39

It's the movement grows the brain. So it makes sense that if we want to change the brain and grow it and reform it, applying movement and applying challenge will help that to happen and we saw that over and over again. It takes time, of course. It takes the training because we did a lot of hands-on to elicit some of that muscle activity as we were working with patients at, some of that muscle activity as we were working with patients. And then I did that for the next number of years in a rehab in a brain injury clinic.

Speaker 1: 6:12

Oh wow, I bet you saw some pretty interesting brain injuries there. Did you have anything major that like wow, I remember this case. This person came over some pretty amazing things.

Speaker 2: 6:24

Yeah, actually, the one case that really stands out in my mind is the one that made me eventually create the lit method, and that is I was working with this man who?

Speaker 2: 6:36

he was a professor. He was super talented, spoke multiple languages, so he had a big brain, a lot of real estate up there, and at a very young age at 42, he sustained a massive stroke. I didn't meet him until four years later, when he had fallen from his wheelchair and broken his femur, and so when he was brought into the rehab clinic, they said, hey, this is a stroke patient, even though he's got an orthopedic issue. Would you work with him? And I did, and the things I was doing, he started moving better than he did prior to having that injury, even though he had the.

Speaker 2: 7:14

And his wife was like she's, she's very into martial arts and she's like what is it that you're doing? I know, you know he was always been in a wheelchair. You've got him up walking, you've got him up walking, you've got him on the ground. And so I continued to work with him once he was discharged for another two or three years, and when I was working with him I had this kind of aha moment, like if he could go from being pretty much wheelchair bound to crawling on the floor, with me coming up, standing up, starting to climb stairs. What would it be like if I applied?

Speaker 2: 7:52

these same techniques to all of us who are able bodied, but it doesn't mean we can change and grow. We have just developed. Most humans, most adults, have developed a lot of small or significant um compensations, suboptimal posture and movement that we just get used to because we've limited our movement experience. We're sitting at a desk, we have a sedentary lifestyle. I mean it's very much part of our modern day world. And so I thought if I did a little bit of this neurodevelopmental stuff in my yoga class and use that as a platform to help change movement off the mat Like, instead of just putting and using it just for exercise.

Speaker 2: 8:31

But actually, I mean, yoga really is about raising consciousness. To raise consciousness we have to actually notice. We have to notice our habits, our movement habits, our posture habits, breathing habits, our behavioral habits. You know our actions, everything, and so all that can be can be improved if we give again the right stimulus. So that one client, what it the, the? There was so much of a dramatic shift that it made me think what if we just did this for everyone? And that's how I created the method.

Speaker 1: 9:08

So you've got the LIT method. Let's take a step back. Two things you became a yoga instructor. What kind of pushed you to do that?

Speaker 2: 9:17

Well, I had always loved any kind of sports, movement, dance. I played a lot of sports. I have three brothers. I, I, um, I ran, I. I ran a few for um a few years in college until I was injured, and then I was after I stopped running. In college I started teaching aerobics and I taught all kinds of aerobics. So I was always into fitness and wanting to share that. I loved teaching and practicing and so when I graduated from grad school I moved to New Jersey and I didn't have, I didn't know anyone there. So I joined a running club and one of the Sunday afternoons the running club would offer special events afterwards and they offered a yoga class. And I really knew I knew nothing about yoga.

Speaker 2: 10:05

This was almost 30 years ago, I mean I thought yoga was like sitting around meditating, and that was it, and maybe some stretching, and I thought, well, maybe I'll take a, I'll take this and stretch. And it was a. It was actually a power yoga class and when I took it it just immediately gave me the feeling of both how I feel in running that kind of euphoria, and then how I felt in dance, where it was really this beautiful harmony of the brain and body and the mental focus and the physical, um, just like just release of it, you know, and I just fell in love. And so I immediately, you know, started um, practicing and learning and then eventually teaching.

Speaker 2: 10:45

Within a few months I started teaching. So I've been teaching almost as long as I've been a PT almost 30 years. So it was just yeah, it was just really. And since I'd already been teaching fitness classes, it was just natural to bring it in there. Originally, when I brought it in, there was not a lot of yoga around at this time. Now it's hard to imagine that, but this was again almost 30 years ago. Um, it'll be 30 years in August, um.

Speaker 2: 11:08

Oh congratulations, thank you. And you know um. So the the the head of the gym, I had already been teaching there. I said I want to start teaching yoga and she was like I don't think yoga is going to work here, let's call it something else. So we actually called it um. We called it uh, what was it? It was something like you know, strong um strong and strong mind or strong body or something like that kind of had that. And after a year where 50 people were showing up regularly, she's like you can call it whatever you want. Yeah, it was interesting, cause I think that's the thing too.

Speaker 2: 11:44

Sometimes we get a little turned off or turn or overly, you know, like a title can. What I'm really wanted to, what I want people to experience, is the feeling of being at home in their body, and that is through this um avenue of of yo. The yoga part, so lit, is really a combination. It's really the combination of the disciplines that I love and I feel um elicit the most impact for that connection to yourself, and that is through yoga, through some physical therapy techniques and then through the? Um neuro plasticity.

Speaker 1: 12:20

Yeah, so your, your approach is pretty interesting and I want you to explain the lip method to us, but you're basically tying our movement into our mental clarity and and strengthening and bringing more awareness essentially to the the mind, body, part of mind, body, spirit, right.

Speaker 2: 12:39

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:40

And so in the fire service we're me personally, but I believe a lot of people are looking for this kind of material now and looking for injury prevention. You know, trying to stay fit, improve mental clarity, de-stress, and I think the LIT method has a lot of opportunity to fill that role. Has a lot of opportunity to fill that role. How would we? Well, first let's, let's introduce the LIT method and then we'll work into what it can do for us. Injury prevention wise, and then mental clarity too.

Speaker 2: 13:15

Well, the LIT method is again this integration. So it's, you know, what I like to say is movement is medicine, for sure, but not all movement is is kind of created equal. Like quality of movement, is is essential, and if you pay attention to how you move, the biomechanics of it, the quality of it, you're going to naturally pay more attention to other things in life, right? So it's kind of like you're not going to do anything half-assed. You don't want things to be like I always say you know, kind of sloppy movement or sloppy mechanics over time. It's, it's just gonna. It's like acting, acting in a sloppy manner, you're going to get metaphorically punched in the face. It's just not, and that could be an injury, that could be you're just tired, you're, you're inefficient, you're, you're also not getting that mental clarity. So the LIT method is a a really a blueprint for this, this pathway to access all these things. So we start off in the LIT method. We start off with what we call the reset. The reset is on the ground and it goes through the developmental moves. So we start off on our back, we start on the ground, not only because that's where we all started and it's really good for people to get on the ground, but it's also because you get a lot more support to your center of mass. Your center of mass is essentially at your pelvis, whether you're male or female, and the center of mass is the place where we can compensate. And then that has an impact up the chain and down the chain, meaning it can affect your spine, your shoulders, the position of your head, and also it can affect your hip mobility, your knees and your ankles. So if you start there and you give it support from being on the floor, you can start to rewire some of those suboptimal postural habits and movement habits that show up from daily life. So we start off on the ground. We get that impact from the ground.

Speaker 2: 15:12

We'll do like a low bridge pose to activate the hips, to get the glutes performing. A lot of people are walking around and their glutes are not working nearly as well as they need to because positionally, biomechanically, they're not in the best alignment to fire productively. We are very successful at moving regardless. We can move from our back, we can kind of sling ourselves around. So we do all this work on the ground to reset our best starting position, which is our neutral spine, neutral um pelvis. We act, we do some core activation for our deep abdominals and other abdominals you know also all of the abdominals Um, and then we get on our hands so we can start activating um, the, the shoulder girdle.

Speaker 2: 16:01

A lot of people are not necessarily strong in their shoulder girdle. Men, men who lift a lot of weights and stuff like that might be strong in their arms, they might be strong in parts of their shoulder. But the shoulder girdle that really comes from the back body at the anchor of the shoulder blades, known as the scapula, are often quite weak in comparison to other areas of the body. So getting weight bearing through them. Weight bearing is essential because we have gravitational forces coming down on us and then we have this wonderful force that comes up from the ground called ground reaction force to counter that. So when you have anything on the floor your hands, your forearms, your feet, your knees you are getting a ground reaction force back up. Well, that ground reaction force is like a charge, it's like an electric cord into the body to activate the muscles around the bones that are having that weight bearing. So when you weight bear through your hands, you're not only getting stronger in the immediate, the forearm and the upper arm but you're getting that strength all the way up into the scapula.

Speaker 2: 17:06

So we do some work on the ground and then we get up and start moving. We have sequences and we kind of tailor the sequences to prepare the body even more. So the reason priming the body. Then we start doing some mobility work and then we start doing bigger functional movement patterns. Now, if you went to a regular yoga class, you might have a little bit of sitting where you would ground, and then you usually start moving in these bigger ways before the body has been primed. And when I say the body, I really mean the brain-body connection. So that order and that sequencing is really important for optimizing movement, optimizing breath, optimizing the nervous system. And then finally we end our leg classes with what we call the stream, and that's where we take those sequences we've gone through and we stream them together and that repetition.

Speaker 2: 17:57

We also add some challenge to it, but it's always like there's always a foundation from where people can stay and then they can add challenge according to you know what their day is like or what their mobility is like, or whatever is happening in their life and those that repetition is very important because that is where you hardwire the things that you just worked on, and so that hard wiring is it's like dropping it down into that neuroplasticity so you have more of a chance of carrying that over into your daily life.

Speaker 2: 18:32

So we educate, we do all the type of work we teach people about their body. So we're not just calling out poses but we're actually instructing, like where we want, positionally, things to be, things to think about in those movements, how to transition well. So transitions are often where people also get kind of a little sloppy and then people walk away with that education and they don't, you know, over time they don't need us as much in terms of like, oh, they know, their body starts to integrate that. So, like how I'm sitting here, I'm sitting upright. It doesn't feel good for me to be rounded or pitched forward, because I have signals that would tell me that's not the best alignment. The best alignment is going to be the most efficient alignment, and efficient isn't really a sexy word but it's so magical because when you're efficient, that means you're holding on to more of your energy instead of leaking it out.

Speaker 1: 19:30

Essentially, so for everybody listening right now, let's fix everybody's posture real quick. Is that something you can do for us?

Speaker 2: 19:38

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 19:39

So in the LIT method. Everyone that comes to our class learns about the triple S. So the triple S is just a really easy way. I call it triple S and it but it also stands for stand strong in your spirit. The triple S at its essence is the back of the skull, your shoulder blades or scapula those are, you know, shoulder blades is the lay term and then the sacrum, which is this fused area of your low back, underneath your lumbar spine and above your tailbone, and it's really easy to find because it's like a nice inverted triangle block. Those are the primary curves of your spine. So, going back to when you were a baby, when you see the baby in the womb, it's really rounded over and those curves are the first ones to develop because those are protective curves the back of our skull, our shoulder blades, on our ribs, that's the thoracic spine and then the sacrum. That means those are really sturdy and they're stable. They're stable for a reason and so let's use them. Let's use them as our markers so you can sit up against the back of a chair and see if you can get the scapula on the chair.

Speaker 2: 20:46

Now, if you don't have a headrest, you can put your hand on the back of your skull and just move your head back until you kind of feel it just feels right. It might not feel right at first. If your head is forward all the time, it'll feel effortful, and so that's. The other thing is, if you've been living in a space for a while, that's your habit and so when you do something different it might feel weird, odd. It might not even feel good for a while because you've got tissue tightness that's preventing that. But just keep working that. Just put your hand behind your head. If you're in a car, you've got a nice car seat, the headrest. Press back into that, find the scapula, and then when you're sitting in a car, can you stay like that?

Speaker 2: 21:27

And then, when you can also do this on the floor or on the wall during your day, whatever you're doing, go against a wall with your feet a little bit away from the wall and your knees bent, and see if you can get the back of your skull, scapula and sacrum on the wall. It might feel like one part is harder to get on the wall and that's the area that's giving you information. That's the area that you need to work on, because that means there's some tightness Almost for everybody, it's the back of their skull, because forward head is such a common position. Finally, you can do this. We do this in every class at the beginning when we lie on our back. We just take that moment. Can you feel your skull, your scapula and your sacrum on the floor with the knees bent and this is a much easier to position to get in.

Speaker 2: 22:09

But again, that that forward head will jet people's chin up. If you've ever laid on the floor, if you've ever taken a yoga class, in the very end you lie down. You're like why is my head feels get like a towel underneath there or something to position the skull in neutral, howl underneath there or something to position the skull in neutral. Doing it over and over again and then thinking about it during the day is with everything we know, when you want to take an action, you first have to notice, you have to feel it, you have to, you know really, um, put it in your brain and it's just like a pause before you react to something you know. You give yourself the pause to set yourself up and just put in these little reminders throughout the day to do that.

Speaker 1: 22:52

So somebody who might be leaking this energy. What are some symptoms, obviously, of leaking the energy, but what are some symptoms that they may be losing their posture more often than not throughout the day?

Speaker 2: 23:06

Yeah, there's lots of them. Some symptoms can be you have headaches. If you have a headache, your head is usually off center, almost always If you're hydrating enough and you've done all the other things, and it isn't just like you had a bad night's sleep. But those tension headaches are very much a leak of energy because you're putting so much strain on the neck, you're losing that energy because it has to hold right. So if you're holding energy where you don't really need to, that's actually a leak of energy. It's inefficient. So you could have headaches.

Speaker 2: 23:38

Um, you could just have fatigue because you're working harder than you need to be. So if you're like kind of fatigued without really like having done much, that's usually an indication Um, you can be not breathing well. So you're not managing stress well because that leak of energy is not allowing you to get in that. That upright position, that triple S, also helps you breathe well into your diaphragm because you've got space for it. Your ribs are aligned over your pelvis, your ribs are aligned under your skull. When that isn't the case, your breath is more in your chest, it might be just in your belly, but it's not going into the diaphragm. Now, the diaphragm is really important because that's what helps regulate our sympathetic nervous system and our response.

Speaker 2: 24:26

So you could be stressed without you know, like we're all. We all have moments of stress, but for the most part I don't really get stressed that much because of the way that I move and I stand. It just allows me a bigger bandwidth to manage whatever, whatever challenge. And so your physical body really sets up or doesn't set up your stress responses, your energy, the way you feel physiologically, and then, of course, finally, if you're leaking energy, you could just feel sore, you know, sore for no reason.

Speaker 2: 25:00

You're waking up, you're in the middle of the day, your neck is sore, your low back is sore. That's because you're overworking areas by doing not anything really, but they're just not in position to be an efficient exchange of energy. So the energy, like the triple S, is like your central line of energy, and whether you're standing or sitting, your energy is coming up through that central line. And it comes up more efficiently when the bones are stacked in that alignment that we're talking about, because bones that are stacked well, they share the greatest amount of surface area and that means it's very efficient. You don't have to work hard. But once you start shifting your spine or your head or your pelvis, those bones don't stack as well and there's a loss of energy there because there's some part of your body. Your tissues around those bones are going to have to come in and try and give them extra support and that just creates work when you don't need to be working.

Speaker 1: 26:01

And so online, through the LIT method, you can give us all the programs and the step-by-step to get our 3S in line, stop leaking our energy right, and how can we start incorporating this? Or how will this start to show up for firefighters or basically, you know anybody? How will this start showing up as an injury prevention method?

Speaker 2: 26:24

Yeah, so that triple S I was talking about that where you're sharing again the most surface area, it's efficient. It's efficient for all the surrounding tissues and that includes, like fascia, that includes ligaments, that includes tendons and then, of course, the muscles. So when you're in that alignment and then you start to move and mobilize your joints, you're mobilizing those joints in a really, you know, optimal way where they aren't putting stress or strain on the surrounding tissues so, and on the joints themselves, by the way, right, so you know. And then you add load to that. So the things that you guys have to carry. So load is just going to also. It's just we have gravitational load, but then you're carrying something. You need that load to be supported by your center.

Speaker 2: 27:14

Well, so you want to the when you're aligned and then, like again in the lip method, we really work on core strength in a very integrated way. So core strength just means that I'm stabilizing well at my center when I start to move. So you lean over, you grab a hose, you're holding it. You're not rounding in your spine to do it, you're using your hips. Your hip joints are made for trillions of cycles of hip flexion and extension, but your back is really ultimately, even though it moves, its main function, especially in functional movement in the type of daily activities y'all would be doing it's really made to stabilize. So holding all the stability around there as you move, in these bigger joints like your hips and your shoulders, is essential. And that's really where injury prevention comes in is how well you stabilize your center of mass.

Speaker 1: 28:09

Perfect. So so far we've got a couple strategies to warm up with the reset right, we can use the reset. We can even use it like multiple times throughout the day.

Speaker 2: 28:20

Absolutely yes, okay, and on the on the online platform, and I'll make sure that I'll give you the code afterwards so everybody can try um five weeks out for $5. We will take you through um. You know there's some educational videos. We have a start here series. We have a lit launch pad that goes through how to establish triple S, neutral pelvis all that taking it into your movement. We have a whole postural series. We have athletic series. We have a stress relief series. We have thousands of classes. You can find it all on there, but I definitely recommend going into the classes that are when it's new for you, like the lip launch pad will set you up for all that set you up for all that and the the individuals that decided to pursue this.

Speaker 1: 29:09

They don't have to be overly uh qualified. You don't have to be a strength trainer. You don't have to have experience in yoga.

Speaker 2: 29:15

This is all and this is that physical therapy lens we're letting. We're trying to use this as a prehab like so you would never have to go to a rehab uh state where you know it'll happen, um, people get injured, um, and there's no reason, you know it's just an injury. But it's really prehab. It's really to make your body durable, because when you're durable you just feel more capable in life and it absolutely sets you up for that because you learn about your body.

Speaker 2: 29:47

You know most people, unless you went to PT school, don't learn about their body much. You know and a lot of um really well-meaning uh Pete movement professionals don't even understand the body that much you have. But it's not complicated if you're taught. So we really teach people about their body. That kind of lessons they should have got early on in life and um, and that's very empowering because then we feel like we have more of the answers. We don't have to like wonder why our low back hurts or you know, and also not um bummed out with pain. Pain is just a communication that we need to change something.

Speaker 1: 30:28

Absolutely. It really just reinforces the idea that if firefighters out there are trying to improve their wellness, which will lead to better performance on and off the job, we really need to come down and get conscious about how we're moving. And when we start to get conscious and we prioritize things like the three S, we will start to see benefits showing up in our lives because we've addressed our movement, which will enhance our mind. Right, that's going to start improving our, our stacking uh, the energy, reducing energy leaks, but that's going to lead into some mental clarity benefits too.

Speaker 2: 31:06

Absolutely, Absolutely. I mean when you said another symptom of, like you know, not being like leaking energy and brain fog, lack of that clarity again, mood and all that. It is very much aligned because our body is our home, it is what we. It carries everything. It carries our spirit, it carries our past and our past, memories and everything.

Speaker 2: 31:33

And so through the body we can heal, we can recover, we can improve. We can change the dialogue we have with our body. We can change the dialogue we have in our head through the work we do in our body. You know, I create a lit yoga mat and it has a compass on it because we move all around the mat and sometimes that can be confusing for people.

Speaker 2: 31:57

But yeah, it's really cool. So sometimes you know I'll say, turn right, you're facing east, because sometimes people you know we'll be facing the back of the mat and right there would be facing west. So it's just like another marker to help people. But we also have sayings, and one of the sayings is I can on one end of the mat and the other is I will. And those are powerful short statements that you really start to encode and believe at a very, at every level visceral, emotional, because when you challenge yourself to learn movement patterns differently, and then in that there is challenge, it is quite a challenge. I will say it's not like if anybody's like, oh, I don't know if I could do, you know, want to do all the stretching, it's not like that, we are moving, it is challenging. We teach people, you know in every way how to, how to challenge themselves to the degree they're, they're wanting to, and then that challenge ultimately helps you believe I can. And then it's like this wonderful you know circle that you continue to just encode and reinforce.

Speaker 1: 33:08

Yes, it's definitely like a spiral right. Like you water the plant, the plant produces a crop, you eat the crop, you live to water the plant again and that cycle, they just start to stack on each other and eventually you spiral up and disappear into the universe.

Speaker 2: 33:26

Exactly. And movement in getting back to your clarity. We all know that if we are feeling low on energy, low in our mood, if you take a 10-minute walk, you feel different. It's very like everybody. We're all wired that way. That's just capitalizing on what is there and that, because that's it changes. Movement changes everything. It changes our nervous system. Our you know, our neurotransmitters are sparked by movement.

Speaker 2: 33:57

We feel clearer, we feel better, we feel brighter, we feel more hopeful, and so you already take that and then you put it into a really intentional practice where you're also paying attention to the quality of movement it. It naturally enhances the quality of your cognition and your emotions and your um again, your just ability to manage everything in life with, uh, with more grace and efficiency yeah, definitely more movement, but better movement first.

Speaker 1: 34:28

Right, let's move better yeah, let's get some more of it.

Speaker 1: 34:31

Um, guys and gals out there, after, after you eat, 10 minute walk. Right, let's get up out of those recliners, let's, let's just get some sun. Walk, walk around the bay 20 times, whatever it looks like. Just just get some movement, um, but make sure we're moving, good, right, yes, um, so you mentioned one thing that I've thought about and I'm very curious to hear your take on. But breathing in stress, right, like in the fire service, we know we breathe, we know, uh, medical terminology, we have understanding of respiration and you know most of those things. We're not doctors, but we understand it as much as we need to. Um, but a lot of people, when I instruct, we lay down, and not a lot of people understand the proper techniques to breathing. Like, at some point in our life something happened. We just started breathing in our shoulders, in our upper chest, I'm not sure why, but can you kind of walk us through the proper breathing mechanics, what that looks like, and kind of explain a little bit of science on that?

Speaker 2: 35:36

Yes, and you're so right. I mean, if I had 30 people lying down and they were pretty new to me especially it's it's astonishing how you can really breathe in that efficient way, and one way you can see it is just observing. Like them lying there maybe feet are, you know, their knees are bent, feet are on the floor and and you can just start to see when they breathe. I had somebody the other day who was new to me and I was watching him they breathe. I had somebody the other day who was new to me and I was watching him and when he was breathing he was pushing all of that air out into his belly. So as he inhaled, his belly went out.

Speaker 2: 36:22

What that shows me is that is a compensation, because he can't get it into his rib cage. So, like you said, it's either upper chest and shoulders, really high breathing, which is really associated with stress, or it's dysfunctional breathing that pushes the belly out with an inhale, and that is not what we want, right. So how we retrain it, one of the most effective ways that I did this with this guy is putting something a little bit of a light towel or something with some kind of. It could be a belt, you know just something that's tactile right underneath your scapula, if you're lying on your back and so that's the back of your ribs, and then instructing someone to inhale and press down into that, someone to inhale and press down into that so pressing they're moving the inhale into that area, which is moving it into the back.

Speaker 2: 37:11

Because people go up into the upper neck or down into the belly because they don't have the backward motion. The diaphragm is inside and underneath the rib cage but it goes all the way to the back. So getting your breath into your back is what is, I find, hardest for people. So if you're just sitting in a chair listening to this, try and inhale and push into that area. So think a couple of inches beneath the scapula, just press that into the. It's really challenging to do.

Speaker 2: 37:43

A lot of people will kind of almost hold their breath or tight, overly tighten, and that's just okay to do at first because you're trying to figure it out, because there will be tone in your abdominals when you do that. They're not just rough. The abdominals are big players in um, active breathing. So active breathing means how we participate in it. Breathing is going to happen whether we're participating or not. But the impactful breathing, the diaphragmatic breathing that we can do, we're involved in it. The abdominals are involved in it, so that inhale presses back into the back and then it expands out into the side ribs.

Speaker 2: 38:23

So sometimes people talk about like a bucket handle. When you lift a bucket handle. That's the diaphragm breathing and so it's not just going, it goes forward a little bit, but it really goes to the side and to the back and so thinking about almost blocking any forward movement can be helpful. So with that guy who was just pushing his belly out, he actually had to restrain it and try and take that breath up and out much bigger. Why is that important? It's way more efficient way You're, you're just taking in more oxygen but with that, whenever time you use your diaphragm, you're also connecting into your sympathetic nervous system, into your nerve, into your, into your somatic nervous system, your parasympathetic and sympathetic. And the diaphragm is really involved in again that managing of stress. So we know stress is very much felt up in our upper chest or belly's. Breathing as well can be signs of that sympathetic state. Sympathetic doesn't mean bad. We just don't want to always to be in sympathetic state. We want to be able to modulate between those.

Speaker 2: 39:33

So you can use your diaphragm to diaphragmatic breathing to help kind of regulate you, bring you down from a stress state, but it can also prepare you for more intensity and you'll be more efficient in that You're not going to get into, like you know, this kind of panting breath which is not efficient for when you're moving, running or you know, like what you guys are doing.

Speaker 1: 39:57

Yeah yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And just that's the first time, you know, I've I've been conscious of trying to figure out the breathing mechanics, but this is the first time I've heard breathe into your back. I've heard definitely try and get that three-dimensional shape, Um, but constraining the front constraining and and breathing underneath the scapula with the towel. I can't wait to get on the ground and try it.

Speaker 2: 40:23

I can't wait for you Like, yeah, amazing it's, it's a game changer. And then guess what? Guess what? All the triple s stuff will be, um, improved by your breathing, and your breathing will improve your triple s. You know it's like they've. They help each other because you're making space for that to happen and you're not letting the. You know the ribs are not offset by it. And by pushing into the back you're not letting the. You know the ribs are not offset by it. And by pushing into the back you're going to naturally expand into your sides. It doesn't mean you can't put your hands on your sides and practice that as well, but if you go into your back, you can just feel if I push into my back, I naturally will go into the sides because the breath comes up and pushes in those dimensions and it's contained more in the front.

Speaker 1: 41:13

That is very good information and I think if we can breathe better, we can manage our stress better. That's actively going to contribute to moving better and feeling better every day. Hopefully, wellness goes up. Performance goes up, right. You said we can use it to calm down. So in the fire service we take calls, right. We don't really know when they are Um, and we could perhaps use it as a morning warmup, right.

Speaker 1: 41:35

Lay on the ground, breathe into our backs, do our reset, and that can be done multiple times throughout the day, but after calls or we could use it correct.

Speaker 2: 41:44

Yes, absolutely. And in our reset we couple breathing with the abdominal core work. So you inhale, you're on your back, you're inhaling and you're still trying to push backward and not let the belly, and then when you lift up, you're actually just pressing your ribs more into your abdominals and using the head just as a weight. We don't do crunches per se, we're doing integrated core and breathing. It looks like from if you just kind of whiz through the video, it looks like we're doing typical abdominal work, but it's actually way more impactful because we're going slow, very deliberate with the breathing, and then also that gets you into your deeper abdominals, which, if you're doing lots of crunches, you don't tend to get there as much. You're getting into the superficial ones, the six pack ones, which great, but they're not going to help you with your stabilizing, with your breath or your movement.

Speaker 1: 42:42

So what I'm hearing? Hearing, and it sounds like we're talking about some mindful movement here yes um, very intentional, um, we have a goal, we have a strategy and we have a desired outcome. Do you think that? Or does the, the mental clarity come from that mindful movement? Is that kind of how we're getting there? And would this be something that firemen can do in the morning, like pull up a video, pull up a reset?

Speaker 2: 43:12

Yes.

Speaker 1: 43:12

We'll do right before we go on shift or before we leave the house for the day.

Speaker 2: 43:16

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 43:18

And I love that you say for the day, because if you set it up in the morning, you're basically setting up the wiring to take that path that is more productive, that is more optimal for everything, for the rest of your movement of the day, for your breathing, for your stress management, and you know how it helps, like you were just mentioning that.

Speaker 2: 43:41

So say, you probably can envision down dog If you were in like a down dog and if you haven't done yoga. That's like your hands are on the floor and your pelvis is up and you're creating like a triangular shape. And if I just said, step your left foot forward and lift up into a lunge but I didn't really give you many more instructions step the foot forward and lift their hands to do that, because we're going to find some like tension in their back line, back fascia tightness there, um, and then they'll lift up but I'll say you know, don't lift your hands, press the floor away and pull your left thigh up into your pelvis and then move that foot forward. So it's telling you to, it's giving you more tiny things to think about and those little changes where you have to think about, oh, how to move, not just, oh, step that foot forward and let's come up. That also, all those little instructions and those moments of retraining. Some movement naturally carry over because you're just paying. It's the art of paying attention.

Speaker 1: 44:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 44:47

Pay attention to how you do something. And again, yes, not all movement is created Well. It doesn't mean that movement's not going to feel great or have some, but why not make it even more impactful for the rest of your day Because you are paying attention moment to moment in how you do the movement and eliciting the best quality movement in that process.

Speaker 1: 45:08

I like that and I always say that we train our ability to be mindful or present or these small, subtle skills that we have in the mundane moments throughout the day like a really good time to practice mindfulness is while you brush your teeth, right, or you do clean the dishes. It just seems to be really excellent opportunity. And if we can take our mindfulness now into our gym routine or our movement like micro guide or like micro cues, right, that's going to also not only is it going to help us move better, we're going to tie our breath in, but we're also going to get some mental repetitions of mindfulness. I think getting those small repetitions in the days, moments where we're not, for instance, at a fire scene right, that's not the greatest place to try to implement some mindfulness that I haven't been practicing all month yes, exactly, but if I've been mindful and you know mindfulness is really going to create.

Speaker 2: 46:06

You know it is summoning you to pay attention and in that you're paying attention to sensations. Like you said, washing the dishes, you're feeling the action of the movement and you're tuning into sensation. I'm sure you know, as both a man and as a firefighter, like that tunes you into what is what you're feeling and and that's probably not been um an education that you got you know as, as as a man or a firefighter, and it's not.

Speaker 2: 46:37

you know, it's like you need to feel those things. I'm sure you can't respond to every one of them. It's not going to work if every firefighter sees something that's so stressful and distressing and they, you know, lose everything right there. But not feel it. It just means you're still holding it, you're carrying it with you to the next day, next month, next year, and then that's coming out in various ways.

Speaker 2: 47:02

So, mindfulness is also allowing you to have the freedom to sense something, to feel something, and then the strength to manage that at that moment, but not just snuff it away or stuff it down.

Speaker 1: 47:18

Yeah, yeah, I think that opens up a whole other conversation about what we see on the job, what our body does when we perceive what we see, how it reacts and then how we manage that or how we pretend it doesn't bother us. And maybe it doesn't bother us to the point of breaking down, and maybe it doesn't bother us to the point of drinking two or three beers every single night for the rest of our career. Maybe that's fine, right, but the body takes those things in and to. I feel like it's irresponsible to assume that that's because I am coping in certain ways maybe positive, maybe negative, that it still doesn't impact us.

Speaker 2: 48:04

Oh, yes, yeah.

Speaker 1: 48:05

And this being mindful is an opportunity to to feel. For some reason, like you said, men mostly, uh aren't ever given that education or that conversation, and maybe young kids are now right. This is a topic, but it's a very that's a very interesting conversation and I'd definitely like to ask you more about that, but I know we're limited on time. But just be mindful, right Like that's going to lead us to so many better outcomes daily. It's going to improve our relationships at home and it can start with our movement.

Speaker 2: 48:41

Yeah, and you know what A movement is a great way to also process those things. So say you can't lose. You know you can't express all the feelings that you're having in that moment. But, yeah, instead of going home and numbing out, in some way maybe move your body, because the movement of your body is going to shake free some of the stickiness of those hard feelings. And so movement is not just a way of cultivating energy and making us feel more vital, but it is a way of also processing the things that are harder, that we carry. And that's why sometimes people can feel a lot of emotions come up when they're moving intentionally. Um, and that's because it's a great way to release those things.

Speaker 1: 49:32

Yeah, this and this isn't necessarily like a good or bad example of it but, uh, I had a client who she came in. This was years ago when I was a personal trainer. But she came in and she's like, let's, let's work out, right, it's pretty much same same as everything. Uh, we got into the squat bar while we warmed up, we did you know, all the essential stuff, and two or three sets into squats. She just starts crying and right, the movement and the breathing elicited a release of of what was going on and come to find out she was having marital issues and stress at work. Right, just so many things. And I think you're right. Like going for that movement in between shifts, right, you, before you go home, but after shift, or before you go on shift and and you can prepare.

Speaker 1: 50:18

You can prepare or you can go the other direction. So that's, that's very interesting, would you say, like running, for instance? I know it can be hard on the body, but that rhythmic breathing, does that play into kind of like what we've been talking about?

Speaker 2: 50:32

Oh yeah, and running, I mean, is running is such a great, um, you know, endorphin, uh stimulator, uh stress reliever. You can focus on your breath and really feel like how you can control the breath and then how the breath can actually help you become lighter and more efficient as well, so you, you can pace the breath accordingly. Um, I think so many people have found running as a as just a huge source of stress relief. But if, again, you don't like running or it doesn't, your body doesn't like it, you can get that same. And that's really when I created the lit method. Not only did I want to put in all these things, but I wanted to be efficient. I'm like, listen, I'm a busy mom, Um, a professional, all these things. I don't have time to do this class and then have to go for a run or then have to do that, like I want it all part of this.

Speaker 2: 51:33

So we also incorporate plyo. We also incorporate invert inversions um, not headstands, but, like you know, getting into a handstand or a forearm balance and the pathway to get there, because that is such a great way of of not only getting focused, getting your heart rate up, your cardiovascular, but also a huge stress reliever. So it's a really compact. You know, we have classes that are a little less so and then a lot, a lot of it. So anywhere from 10 to 75 minutes of it.

Speaker 1: 52:03

Oh, wow. So I and this I think we've talked about this, uh, in our previous conversation, but the, the, the methods used for recovery, for wellness and high performance, they're all similar, right, like it's all the same tools across the spectrum of of wellness or healing or, you know, performance or recovery. So we could also use some of these things to improve our ability to think and remain calm under stress, right? Not only is it creating that space for focus, but it's making us stronger in that same moment, correct?

Speaker 2: 52:40

Absolutely, and that's again why I created this in this particular way is I wanted this time spent on the mat, metaphorically or literally, to be the like how we train, how we train our brain and our body and our breath to carry into our lives. So it's not just come and then leave and then go about your day, and that can be impactful for people, but like, how much more just incredible could this be if we're doing this, this is our training time and and training the art of paying attention, the paying attention to your breath, the sensation, how you respond to challenge. You know what is your brain, what is your mind telling you. You know, because your mind often will give up before your body. So how can you, how can you really?

Speaker 2: 53:32

Again, that stimulus, that challenge is also going to not just change your strength, your mobility, but it's going to change the conversations you have with yourself. You have with yourself because that I can, this is going to come up more instead of like, oh, this is so hard, this sucks my shoulders. You know you're going to really just change that conversation. So you practice it and, like you said, you train it and it's going to stay with you.

Speaker 1: 53:55

Yeah, yeah, we have to. We have to get those reps when it's easy, right, we can't just go straight to run, we have to crawl and, and literally I mean L-Y-T. Right, we have to start on the ground on our back. Yes, and when people say oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 54:10

I mean, I taught this morning and after class we were talking and this woman said oh, that side bridge, forearm side bridge, just my left side never feels easier. I feel like it's going to get stronger and I was like it's going to get stronger and I was like it it's going to get stronger.

Speaker 2: 54:26

It's just, you know not, it's not there yet, like our expectations sometimes are. We do something and there's an immediate impact, and it's like for me, I'm, I've and this is by practicing and, and, and you know this, creating this method myself was really about I'm not doing it for tomorrow, I'm doing it for 30 years from now, like so I'm not in a rush, like I'm just really watching and observing and and then celebrating this small changes. And that's the other thing it does is it gives you patience, it gives you generosity, it gives you courage, because you're not immediately like I'm putting this in and what's you know, where is it? What's the outcome? It's like right.

Speaker 2: 55:09

We're going to get there. This is fun in the process, like it's life. It's a practice and that's never going to stop, ever.

Speaker 1: 55:16

Absolutely so. Before we wrap up, I did have a question and I wanted I wanted to to hear maybe an abbreviated uh story, but as much as you have time for about running this untrained marathon. I'm really interested to hear about that because I've I've thought about marathons. I'm not a runner and I'm currently not trained to run one, but I probably wouldn't go run one next week either.

Speaker 2: 55:41

So yeah, well, the big caveat there is I was 18, that you know like. So 18, you know. So I was, um, I'm a triplet, I have two identical brothers, so I was always doing yeah, so, and I have an older brother who's two and a half years older, so I was in this pack and we were always, I mean, wanting with them, playing games with them, so and and um, so my one of my triple brothers and I ran cross country and when our and our senior year, when it was over with, he's like hey, there's this marathon in two weeks, um, you know, in Greensboro, which was about an hour away, do you want to run it with me? And I was like sure, you know, like I didn't even think about it. I think I knew that it was 26.

Speaker 2: 56:19

I think I knew what a marathon was, but I probably might not have even known that. But we probably had run no more than 12 miles. I mean, that would have definitely 10 to 12 miles. So, but I was in good shape, I was, like you know, young, and so we did it. My brother like takes off right at the beginning. I think he ended up with like a 305 or something.

Speaker 1: 56:41

Oh, he finished.

Speaker 2: 56:42

Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know so, and I finished as well. I finished with like a 340, but um, but what happened is I got to like mile 16 and I just 17, and I just was like this freaking sucks, I'm gonna stop. What am I? Uh, I was just going, I just was so mad and so, and then I, you know, just walked for a little bit and I thought, okay, let's start again. And I just started going, I started negotiating with myself like make it to that tree, make it to that sign, see if you can catch up with the perfect person in yellow. And I just changed my mind. I changed the story because it made everything worse when I felt like my legs hurt this sucks, it was a lot of hills. And I just changed it and I was like bite off a little bit, you can make it to there, you can make it to there. And then, sure enough, I completed it.

Speaker 2: 57:39

And then I went and wrote my college essay about mind-body connection, before really even having any concept of mind-body or knowing that I was going to go into yoga, and it was just this. Yeah, it was kind of like dumb young luck that just probably made it through. But there was also that human aspect that your thoughts are so powerful, human aspect that your, your thoughts are so powerful. And I love the quote um by um henry ford. Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right and it's like oh, okay, so I can do this, I'm just gonna, you know little, make it a little. You know, I think I can, I think I can a little bit at a time and.

Speaker 2: 58:22

And so that, I think, has been. Yeah, that was just a great kind of entry into adulthood and the path that I took, which is, you know, believe that you can do anything and then just give yourself the space and time to experience the adventure of it all without you know the expectation, and that is the last thing I'll say, the thing about yoga another. You know I bring in the concepts all the time, even though it is like through hybrid, but one of the concepts of yoga is this philosophy of non-attachment.

Speaker 2: 58:54

And non-attachment was mistakenly thought to be like, oh, that you're not going to have, you know, a car, this like luxury thing, but at its essence, it's really not being attached to outcome and, as a parent, that helps me tremendously Having kids that were not reproductions of me but absolutely individual beings, and honoring who, how they were wired, their experiences, and just supporting that without the expectation of anything. You know just. And so I think that if we can bring more and more in that into our relationships, um, and into our lives, it's not that you don't, you know, have standards for how you're treated or whatever, but there's just this non-attachment because ultimately we can only control ourselves. So if we get more okay with just not being attached to outcomes outside of that, it's very powerful and it's, again, a practice right Throughout life.

Speaker 2: 59:57

Well, like there's no perfect. We always work, we're human, but that's what's great. And then that inner voice like today, I really sucked at that Well, that, that what's great, it's just to be. And then that inner voice like today, that I really sucked at that, well, that's okay. Tomorrow I'm going to come back at it. You don't get down when, when you have a mistake or a hiccup, or like you get out of a routine, you just start up again and you start small because you want to be successful, and the best way to be successful is to give everything time and again, not be attached to whenever you think you need to get there.

Speaker 1: 1:00:29

Yeah, Having expectations is a real, a real deal and you got to really be careful with that. And, like you said, being attached to outcomes, um, that's we. We kind of get into a little spiral sometimes and then our internal dialogue just goes to crap. Yeah, and that kind of yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 1:00:47

I was just going to say and so much of our life, um, we're conditioned to outcomes. You know whether it's a test or a job, or you know what you're expected to do, get married, have to, blah, blah, blah. You know, it's just like there's a lot of, um, conditioned outcomes that have been placed on us and so to resist that actually is the best part of being a human. It's like make your own course and be the best person you can, and actually it makes you more humble, and that humility is really needed to be kind and generous and compassionate.

Speaker 1: 1:01:23

I love that. That's very true. Well, Laura, it looks like we're running low on time. Do you mind letting everybody know where they can get a hold of the Lit Method? They can find you and all your resources, and I'm going to make sure I include everything in my episode companion as well. So anything you guys hear here today I will also list in the companion. But, Laura, go ahead and let us know.

Speaker 2: 1:01:45

Well, go to the website lityogacom L-Y-T-Y-O-G-Acom. That LIT stands for Laura's Yoga Technique, but not many people really know that, so don't worry. Like LIT is really this onomatopoeia. You say it and you feel it, and I want people to feel lit up, lit up about themselves, about their lives, about movement. So lit yogacom. We have blogs on there, we have I have a podcast on there Um, and then, we have um a link to to take.

Speaker 2: 1:02:15

Well, I'll be giving a link to you, specific to your listeners, so you can try the five weeks. So the platform is called the lit daily. I'd really love it to become part of your daily life and it can be. We have classes, again, from 10 minutes to 75 minutes, and then you can find me on Instagram at laurahyman, and please, please, you know, drop me a message, send me an email. I really love to interact with people. If you have any questions or you know anything, just please write me. I'd love to engage with you.

Speaker 1: 1:02:41

Excellent. Well, laura, I really appreciate you making time to come on and share the Lit Method with the audience, and I appreciate everybody out there listening taking time to listen to this. Go lityogacom, check it out, follow along. I'll post some five-day discount in the.

Speaker 2: 1:03:00

Five week.

Speaker 1: 1:03:01

In the oh five week for $5, right.

Speaker 2: 1:03:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, week in the oh five week for $5, right?

Speaker 1: 1:03:05

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we'll get that out there. I want everybody to check it out. I'm going to check it out. Um, I'm going to try and make it part of my morning routine at work, so I'll have some feedback for you, let you know how it goes. But thanks again so much. I really appreciate it, everybody out there. Thank you so much for listening to priority traffic podcast. Have a good day.