EP 49 - EP 49 with Bam Lionheart: Shedding the Past, Heroic Deeds and Human Movement as Freedom

Yo, how you doing, man? What do you go by? Bam?

Yeah, Bam.

Nice. Is that your name or short for something?

That's my name.

Amazing. Bam Lionheart is your name?

Yeah, I changed it, uh, my whole name when I was 23.

Really?

Yeah.

How old are you now?

28.

Why did you change your name?

I, uh, started going— or I started fighting when I was 15, joined like a martial arts gym. It's really common to get like a nickname. Um, basically, uh, so I started training when I was freshman high school. Every day I got home from high school, go to the gym. And so from age like 15 to like 22, 23, I was with the same gym and group of guys that gave me the name Bam. And then, you know, from 15 to 23, and then like learning how to fight, like you can imagine the personal and physical development, emotional development that I went through, spiritual. I mean, martial arts covers everything. So it eventually got to the point when most of my friends were from the fighting community or from that gym. And then if people were calling me by my other name, it was either family members or affiliated with like school. Yeah, teachers, or maybe work. So I always had this like feeling like that other name was like had authority over it. Yeah, all my past, you know, every time my parents would yell at me. So there was all this weird gravity with that other name, but then the other— but Bam, nothing good. Good vibes. Yeah, yeah, good vibes. And like, I— when I showed up in the gym as Bam, and when people called Bam, I could feel inside of myself another, like I would respond differently when somebody called me Bam versus my other name. And then decided to introduce myself as Bam and kind of just was like, it kind of just bled over into my life. And I started to say like, it's weird when other people, when I started feeling when people call me my other name, I was like, that's weird. Why'd you call me that? Eventually started to just take over. And then maybe like 20, around 20 years old to like 23, then it would got to that thing where people would be like, is that your real name? Like, no, just nickname. And then they would get really like interested, like, what is your real name? And I'm like, my name that I would like you to call me and that I'd like to be is Bam. Like, it's not a big deal.

Yeah.

But they're like, well, what's your real name? And I'm like, I'm like, You know, and then, or at work, I would introduce myself as Bam and everyone here call me as Bam. And then like legally, like a paper document would come out and they'd be like, who is this? Like, yeah, get confused. So I was like, well, I'm ready to just kind of do the whole thing. And then, uh, I was like, well, I know I'm gonna change my first name. And I was like, let's just do the whole thing. That's what I didn't know. What I didn't know was the effects that that was going to have. Like, legally changing your name and then changing it, like, on a credit card or, like, to the bank or anything, it's super, super easy.

Yeah.

But, um, you know, it was like, it took some, some years to be like— it's just, you just wouldn't— things that you wouldn't really feel more on the energetic, uh, personal side of, like, waking up with a different name and having a blank slate was a really good feeling. But also like, I felt the responsibility like on my shoulders, which is what I wanted.

Who is Bam?

Yeah, who is Bam?

Who is the highest version of Bam? It's like this permission to almost just ascend at a different level because you left all your, all the personal bullshit and egoic beliefs that hold you back. It's like, okay, that was that guy. 'But now I am this person.

I'm Bam here.' Yes, that's exactly right. It was a— it was a— I granted myself the permission to just shoot for the highest version of myself.

Um, yeah, that there are so many interesting—

that when people hear this, like, 'What, like you changed your name?' To me, it's not that big of a deal. What is interesting is that more people don't know that they can do that or don't allow themselves to either even entertain that idea. Yeah, it's like, well, it's kind of this— the— not the victim mentality, but it's like, well, the card that's in the hands that I was dealt, that's what I got, and I can't do anything about it. Yeah. So yeah, these are— this is the lineage, this is who I am, and yeah, just go with that energy.

Yeah. And there are so many things like that. They, uh, beliefs that we're given by other people around us in our environment. And the conditioning begins from the day that we're born, really, with what we're told and how we are meant to act. And if it's a family surname, "Oh, the Petersons, we act in this way," and, you know, "We're this kind of person." If you're not that perfect image, then, you know, you're the outcast. So there's a lot of internal stuff that can come with that, or just like even having an identity at all. There's so much struggle when people have this identity that they cling to and then maybe they don't fulfill that identity to the standards that they would ideally want to. So they just experience this dissonance because, oh, you're meant to be this epic, let's say, fighter guy, but you're not, you know, performing this certain way. It's like, because they identify with that, that opens the door to so much mental malaise. And when you realize that none of that is a real thing at all, like your entire identity, it's literally just bullshit lies kind of woven together. And like, you think, you know, because this because of that, but where is that now? In this moment right now, listen around you, where is that? It doesn't exist other than this construct in your own mind. And the day you realize you can just go pop and that whole thing breaks down and then you can just act in whatever way in life that you want to. And it doesn't matter what your past was or what you previously have done. It's just like literally the next second, people don't allow themselves to, but the next second past whatever has happened, you can just be like, oh, that's behind me, that's gone, none of that is real, let's deal with the forward.

We can, we do really have at any moment we could choose to be a completely brand new person. Yeah, we do have, we do have that possibility. It takes a lot of power and energy to know how to put on the brakes and then just switch it and then stay locked into this new whatever that you feel called to do. But what's great about, you know, it's like, man, like, uh, Bam Lionheart, it's— people are like, yo, your name is Bam Lionheart? I'm like, yeah, like, that's what's up. To me personally, like I said, there's a lot of responsibility. Like, when I'm faced with immense decisions or like what I'd like to do, I have to ask myself, okay, you know, what does the Lionheart do?

Yeah.

And that has like a— like, okay, there's like great weight and gravity to it. But then on the other side of it, they also really enjoyed, like, they're like, bro, your name is Lionheart. I'm like, yeah. And they're like, they just know, like, either this dude is like, doesn't give a fuck, he is about something else. And it's kind of that whole thing that, yeah, you could make your last name or your name like whatever you want. And it brings levity to it as well. Like, look, I just changed my name because that shit sounded cool. Obviously, there's way more intention behind it. Yeah, but when it's— people can laugh at it with me, and it also has this crazy amount of weight and responsibility internally, but externally has this great levity of exactly what you're talking about. It's so out there that it's like, that's not real, but it is real. So obviously it's actually not— it's a— it's just a figment of our whatever.

Yeah, like there's—

I think people can feel that.

There's a guy like you, you know, physiognomy, how you're acting now, like he can tell you the real deal about trying to be Lionheart or being Lionheart. But it's like, yeah, there is definitely a subset of, you know, if they change their name to fucking so-and-so strongman or whatever, you know, like just try and do that.

It—

unless you embody it, and again, it's about the energy behind it, and it'll just seem fake. But yeah, you know, obviously you're not doing that.

No. And, uh, I, you know, it's, it's out there. And someone asked me recently about it, they're like, what about your kids? And they were like laughing, like, you know, they're gonna have to like go through that. And I'm like, yeah, that's like crazy that they're gonna do that. And we were laughing that like they're probably gonna do the exact opposite, you know. I'm, I'm kind of out there. I'm, I'm very free. Like, I want a tendency to break the rules, tendency to, to carve my own path. Like, they might be like, you're so crazy, I want to change my name to like John Smith, or low-key, like, not make any waves. Like, I don't know.

You don't know how to have kids like that, man.

I don't think so. No, I was, uh, saying to them that I do hope that they also go through their own personal transformation and take upon their own name. Maybe they do want to continue on a Lionheart name because they resonate with my, um my life's mission.

Yeah, your ethos.

My life's— yeah, my ethos and Lionheart are very much aligned. But I do hope, or would support, that, you know, when they feel like they've kind of settled into that, their own ethos, that they do change their whole name and take upon this responsibility that my life is my life and my name is, is this instead of— this is just what I was—

well, back in the day, obviously, we used to get these heroes which would, um, No, like maybe they literally faced a lion and killed it, like, in the— to protect their tribe. And then from that day on, they were, you know, Leo the Lionhearted, and that was how you were known in like a community. And, you know, different legends we kind of hear about through history happen because of this extra level of masculine, uh, potential and ideals that they embody. And I think that's like On the note on having kids with this stuff, it's like you want to have traditions that you pass on to your kids and raise them through, but you also have to realize that every single child that comes into this world is their own person as well. And sometimes parents can think because you're my daughter or my son that you should therefore have the right to control them and like decide what they do. And that's very, very prevalent in, in the society that we're in. But really, that, you know, that person is a soul in and of themselves, and they've chosen to come here in this particular experience. And yes, help them and like, you know, give them guidance, but they have to figure themselves out and pursue their own paths. And I think names is a very, uh, powerful part of that. On one hand, on one hand, I feel like you can have names that you think you want to call your child, or, you know, favorite names. But I feel like there's got to be some level of connection once the child is here that you get an idea, oh, this is your name, this is what you want to be called. And maybe it's your favorite names are those names already, like, kind of behind the matrix, like, being affected there when the child's spirit's already existing. It's not in a physical body yet, but it already exists somewhere out there. Um, so yeah, thinking about that the other day.

Yeah, that's also something that I felt with my first given name, which I love and have no— you know, there's still family members and people that I'm not like— I'm not like a diehard rigid, like, you call me, you know, this. There's people— yeah, yeah, still whatever. But there was definitely a different feeling when I was like, okay, this is the first given name that my parents decided for me before they even really had physically met me, besides my mom while I was in her womb. But for me personally, like, if I, let's say, get a dog or a new animal, I won't know their name until I really watch them interact with them and watch their behaviors. Then something kind of clicks. Whereas I recognize that a lot of names are decided before you even—

Yeah, yeah.

Touch the person. Whereas when I was given my BAM as a nickname, I was 15, it was because of the behaviors, because of the energy, because of the way that I showed up in the gym. Yeah. That it fit the mold of who I was. Yeah. And it felt just way more like Like you said, like this, there have been indigenous cultures that it's common for somebody's name to change multiple times throughout their life depending on different life-changing events or different roles, responsibilities that they take on. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's something that we don't really necessarily allow ourselves to think about. We just think, oh, it's like point A to point B, but really like the trajectory of our life, like takes these, you know, it's more circular, it's more cycle. Like, I, when I feel the name of my first given name, I feel that cycle, my youth teenage cycle. Then I feel the origin of Bam and the kind of this crucible that I had to go through and that I wanted to put myself through, the, you know, the classic male rite of passage into that kind kind of thing. And, and maybe at a certain time, uh, I'll want to go buy something else because it honors the cycle, though, which is, I think, the most important. It's honoring the cycle that the specific person is instead of just, you are who you are and you're going to carry that from birth to grave.

I think, um, an aspect of that is that people don't realize there are different cycles of your life and that to really, like, pinpoint one particular point in time say, this is who I am. That's always shifting. Your interests, your tastes, your responsibilities, the people you're with, like everything, your experiences you have, the mistakes you make. You are not who you were 3 months ago and, you know, 2 years ago and so on and so forth. So when people experience dissonance between this is who I am at 25 years old, these are the things I like because my name is John Smith and XYZ, they experience dissonance again because that— what that version of themselves they thought they had and they thought they knew, and this, you know, I'm happy with this and this is me, that changes. And then they're like, oh, who am I? But then behind that is there is no you to be lost, you know, like that whole thing is who am I? I doesn't exist, it's just awareness. And then we code our own layers and layers and layers of bullshit over the top.

Yeah, and I think when you can kind of come to those realizations and maybe start to pull your awareness back a little bit and start to feel that, that I'm not the character inside of the game, I'm the guy on the computer watching the character being played, or even more so, I'm watching the the guy controlling the computer, playing, you know, you can kind of like really take it back. But once you get out of the, out of the computer and you realize that you can go into the settings and you can change the preferences, oh yeah, you can change how you look and you can change your name just like you do in a video game, there's really no difference. There's just people are afraid to say, this is who I am, this is what I want, and this is what I like.

Yeah, life is the best online role-playing game you can possibly have. You know, like, it really It is.

And that's what I felt. I'm like, yo, let's just go all in. Let's just change the name. Let's just like, let's do whatever it is to put that out there.

Yeah, like character editor, you can change size, haircut, what you do for a living, anything. But again, the attachment to what they think they are is what holds people back. So what is your— yeah, there we go. I usually cut these just straight in so we can just continue. Is that an Oura Ring?

Yeah, I just got it maybe 3 weeks ago. My oldest brother got it me for Christmas.

Great Christmas gift, great birthday gift for anyone listening, for like health and fitness person, Oura Ring.

Yeah, uh, what have you found with it, uh, about like the data and the feedback? What have I found? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm still getting used to, uh, seeing the data, and I just started putting it on, but right, I think that it needs to kind of spend some more time, yeah, with me. Um, but I, you know, I just always use it as a little guide. My favorite is the sleep. I love seeing the sleep.

That's, that's the only thing I really look at, to be honest.

Yeah, knowing how much sleep I got, the quality of sleep, and then my resting heart rate in the morning. Yeah, those two things are like, did I get enough sleep? Was it quality sleep? And if my heart rate, my resting heart rate is up, that's— those are like two big signs that I need to tighten things up.

Yeah, so what do you do if your resting heart rate is too high? It's usually because you're overworked, right? Or relative to your recovery.

Yeah, like I said, just tighten it up. I'm really, um, fluid and patient and understanding with myself where like I'm not going to see like, oh my goodness, like I didn't get X amount of hours of sleep, like I gotta like get it tonight. Yeah, it's more just like information. Hey, hey, hey, look, remember, like, look, your, your resting heart rate's a little high today. We're kind of at a little bit of a compromised state, like, hey, we're probably a little dehydrated, or any of those things. I just kind of let it sit in the back of my awareness and slowly allow myself to kind of make changes and learn. Because in the past, when I've been like, we got to get on this, it's very rigid. And I'm like, this isn't fun anymore.

Yeah, it's the emotion. It's the point of information, like you said, which you can take into your perspective and analyze, okay, where do I need to get better? What do I need to switch up? The emotional reaction to it doesn't need to happen. They're like, oh, I'm such a bad person. The shame, the fear, the any reaction you have to these things, it's like, okay, yeah, sure. Be aware that you did not do what you could have yesterday, but Once it's in the past, there's literally like, people want to punish themselves over and over and over again for big mistakes that they've had in the past. Like literally everyone's done it. They've thought about a situation where they went wrong hundreds of times, hundreds of times. And all of that like wasted thought and mental energy because you're, why didn't I just do that right? You know, that my life would be so much better and there was this fork in the road. But again, that's not real. Um, and obsess— okay, learn the mistake, you learn the lesson, then you go on. But literally, once it's happened to you, uh, it doesn't matter to go revisit it and dig it up and then experience those same fear emotions, cortisol, all of that kind of stuff. Because Joe Dispenza talks about it really well. It's, it's, it's like you're going through the, the bad experience again to your body because your body doesn't recognize the difference between imagined or like thought up in your head, uh, experiences, or this particular physical reality and experiences we have here. Your body reacts in the same way. So cortisol, same with dopamine. If you're imagining yourself winning and just like, yeah, I'm the fucking king, or whatever, that is as if you were doing in real life and as you'd perceived as having success in real life. And that's why there's so many kind of ways you can hack that, if you will, uh, by affirmations, visualization, all of these things which we know kind of coalesce into, you know, choosing your reality or creating your reality, right?

You're very powerful people, very powerful. How funny and ironic though, um, which is, you know, we have technology and like, okay, I'm gonna— somebody says, I want to get an Oura Ring or something to track my health and my sleep. I feel like I'm not getting good sleep. And, you know, they, they maybe have a bad night of sleep or whatever.

Yeah.

And then they check their data and they're like, no, like, my sleep was bad, like, my day is going to be ruined. And they're creating that negative loop. Yeah. And the first initial intention was, I want to be healthier. Yeah. Now that you have this data that you're using to judge against yourself.

Yeah.

And what is that emotional cost? What is the physical cost? Like you said, the chemical reaction, the physical cost, the cortisol that's going through your body. Yeah, because you're like, oh no, no, I can't do that because my resting heart rate was, was like this, or my sleep was off. And, you know, we have so much information that, um, I've found myself really pulling back from it, limiting the amount of podcasts that I, I listen to. Yeah, even books that I'm reading.

And it's feeling better to kind of just try and not take so Yeah, yeah, well, some authors like Niche would not even read any other authors because they wanted their writing to be completely theirs, not stealing things or like even accidental turns of phrases that you kind of like take in when you read someone else. So I think that that's a perfectly valid way. Like, yes, there's one side of listening to podcasts, there'll be a bit of information in there that's going to help me, and I think that's good to a point when you're starting in all this stuff because you're learning from people who are further ahead than you, and that's about I did. And now, once you hit a certain level of spiritual awareness and maybe progress with whatever area of study that you're in, you can kind of rely more on your internal knowledge and the knowledge that comes to you from intuition and just contemplation and being by yourself and thinking about things, because we all have access to that same pool of knowledge. It's out there. Like, who's putting the next words in my mouth? It's not me really. I'm just like this, I'm the speaker for whatever is deciding to, you know, speak through me, which is interesting to think about. Um, but everyone can tap into that once they've kind of— they don't necessarily need to be— you don't want to be studying forever.

You don't want to be studying forever. I like that. Yeah, I recently posted something about that, um, in the, uh movement, fitness, whatever kind of world. That's a— as things are emerging, that's some— what's something— something that some people say is, I'm, I'm exploring movement, I'm researching my own movement. And I think that's fantastic. I'm always going to be, you know, kind of exploring here and there. But what I said was, you know, if you start to then take up on the role of a coach or someone who is a thought leader, at some point you wanna stop studying. You wanna have filled up or gotten yourself to a place where your intuition, like you're talking about, your ability to tap into your critical thinking is your main skill set rather than a bunch of information that you can kind of bounce back to people.

Yeah.

And I was saying, you know, it's really difficult and sometimes really not, uh, best when somebody is trying to do both. When somebody is trying to educate, coach, and lead people, but at the same time they're still in a study and research mindset. And I think it's the mindset that really can mess things up. It's like a coach-athlete. At a couple times in my life, I tried to play both roles. And they're— they just don't mesh because one of them is completely selfish and one of them— or self-serving— and one of them is selfless and serving other people. So it's really difficult for your mindset to like really put both of those things together.

Yeah.

Um, so I like what you said, at some point stop studying.

Yeah, all of the best stuff comes from that. There's taking information in, analyzing that information, but then there's synthesis between what you know, what you've read, and then what else comes from other places. Like, that is the unique blend of stuff, and that's what forms the voice of your information, your writing, that you hopefully are, you know, sharing with the world in some way, like we do. And yeah, that, that's, that's kind of fulfills a lot of that innate human creativity that I think a lot of people just don't have an outlet for. Like, if I couldn't write, man, and like just think about my thoughts and put, you know, kind of synthesize them a bit better, that, you know how filled up this head would be? Like, I'd be like this because it's just endless thoughts that kind of, once I write them, they're out of my head and it's just like a chill. And I think that there's more, you practice that skill of being creative, whether it's creative with your movement, or, you know, a hobby that you do, or writing like I said. I think everyone should be doing some sort of that.

Some sort of creative outlet, yeah. I hope that it hasn't been shut off for them.

Yeah, well, you've got to get your health right first because it's very hard to be creative when your brain is calcified with fluoride. Genuinely, genuinely, your pineal glands are seed of creativity, intuition, divine connection. Fluoride goes in the teeth, your nerves connect right out of the jaw right into the brain. That's why they do it through the mouth, is to kind of block off that little bad boy.

Yeah, you don't wanna—

it's a— it's a—

I have a good friend and mentor in Oregon, and he would speak about allowing your assemblage point or allowing your awareness to move into the place of the—

Assemblage point, don, castanada.

Castanada, Ruiz, that kind of thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's understanding that we are, you know, the location of us, whatever that is, and how it can be moved. It can be pushed forward to the front lines like right now, or it can be moved to the back. And you have the ability to move that around. But the place of silent knowledge, which I just love this concept, is where when you reach a state of inner silence and your mind becomes quiet, so quiet that then you can tap into, like you said, this information or this universal intuitive knowledge that is always there and accessible to all of us. And of course, maybe people listening right now are like, like, that's way too out there. Or— but if you think about an animal, like, an animal did not go to school. Like, a bear did not go to bear school to learn how to be a bear, to learn how to forage food and all of these things. They're living in a different type of awareness, an animalistic, so to speak, awareness. That we can also tap into. And we can also tap into the most recent evolutionary one, which is great and allows for us to have this dialogue, that frontal lobe, that rational brain thinking. But the place of silent knowledge is beyond that, is behind that. And behind that frontal lobe rational brain is this more pineal gland tapping into this universal knowledge that is kind of just instinct sitting there. Yes. And that's kind of what I also feel with taking in information from books or podcasts, that it goes right to that rational brain and I have to filter it. I have to let it do its thing until it can merge and like you said, kind of synchronize with the rest of everything. But if I have too much in here, then I can find my awareness getting stuck here and I don't enjoy living there. I know other people do.

Yeah. It's, it's like, this is why religious experiences, uh, have like chanting and drumming and like shaking the body and things like that. It's to just— you do a repetitive chant or something, Om, over and over again. You do that for 15 minutes straight, you're not going to know who's there. It's just going to be your vibrating head, you know. It's, it's that kind of thing, take you out of your egoic awareness and into just what is this? I'm here, experience. When you're in that state, it's very easy to go to visualization or just, like you said, tap into that intuitive knowledge. A really good thing to do that is breathwork, you know, figure out some sort of breathwork cycle and do that. You know, you can get literally like full body out-of-body experience tingling with a few minutes of deep breathwork. It's very accessible for anyone. It's, you know, it's completely safe. And that's a very, very easy way to like, if you do feel it too in your head, literally just go sit down or lie down and just breathe as deep as you can over and over again. 100%, 110% down to like 25% and then back up to 110% or whatever. And do that over and over again until you're just completely out of your mind and out of your out of your head in a good way.

In a good way, yeah, in a very good way. Uh, yeah, turning it off. Yeah, yeah, good stuff, good stuff.

I'm glad we got to do this, man. I, um, I've seen your stuff, and today— not today, yesterday was actually the first time that I had run and really felt the kind of Go To principles working. And like, I just felt much more smooth and stable and powerful. And it was like, yeah, it just felt natural. So, you know, I've been looking at your stuff. I have a friend who kind of taught me the first things. Tell me if I'm saying these wrong. Inside ankle bone high, heel away all day. They're the only two that I remember. But, you know, when I was running, I was like, oh, that's how it's meant to feel. You know, it was this really cool, cool experience. And yeah, I just want to thank you for putting your stuff out there. And obviously you've got G.O.A.T.E.R. on the wall. That's your main area that you're kind of focusing on at the moment. Do you mind just giving people a spiel? Because I know you probably talk about it a lot, but I want to give these principles to as many people as possible. And that was part of the reason for doing this podcast. So, you know, at a glance, what is GOTA and how is it relevant to today's life?

GOTA is a movement system. We have observed and observed the way that the human body moves, and the human body moves predominantly and primarily forward through time and space. On two feet. And so we looked at a large group of populations from small children and babies to high-level athletes, Indigenous peoples, and elderly people. And through observing many different people and many different, um, types or groups, we saw Coach Gill who was the original observer, saw in slow motion especially that there was a pattern, and that there was a pattern of health, and that there was also a pattern of degeneration. The pattern of degeneration that we're seeing right now in everyone, uh, merges many people having low back pain, having random knees that need replacement, or meniscuses that get, you know, hurt, or people having random hip for more acetabulum impingement. Right now, the musculoskeletal system is under full-blown attack, especially in the Western world. And we're not given answers. We're not given reasons why. We're just told to take pills. Pills and surgery are the solutions that are being provided for right now. But we are actually— it came from Coach Gil, who was experiencing this firsthand in his own body. That there wasn't any answers besides we're going to cut you open. But why do you need to cut me open? I didn't get hit by a car. Nothing happened. How did this enter my life to where I'm now waking up with pain and going to bed with pain and I'm unable to do the activities that make me feel alive?

Yeah.

So because there were no answers that any professionals could give, Coach Kehoe, he took to his own study and went around the world looking and learning from different people and trying to fix his own body. And because he has this great circular mindset, he was able to use slow motion video because the iPad came out and document these different, you know, look at the indigenous people, look at the babies, like, how are they actually moving? And when you put it in slow motion, it becomes very apparent you know, about the quality and the basic general pattern of movement that is seen across all humans.

Yeah.

And so, you know, we just break down that this is just a movement system, and I haven't heard any— anybody else really talk about a movement system. Yeah. There's a million and one different training methodologies, methods, training programs, but these are things that you engage in, you enter you begin the training, you begin practicing the method, or you're practicing the practice itself, and then you leave. This is a movement system that is a, a blanket map or paradigm that Gota is a way to— it follows me into the restroom, it follows me through the mall, it follows me into the gym, it follows me while I'm climbing trees, and it offers me an understanding of of movement. And it's, it's pretty powerful because it does really solidify us as, as forward locomotive beings. This is who we are as humans. Our, our animalistic earthly form is we are forward locomotive beings. We are not designed or meant to be in a house in chairs wearing sneakers and not on the move. There's a reason that our our bodies are breaking down at an astronomical rate right now. And it's just because, just like diet, before when food was changed because of technology, the refrigerator, plastics, preservatives, we had the ability to choose to eat Frosted Flakes, Pop-Tarts, and Top Ramen all day if we wanted to. You know, 200 years ago, that wasn't an option. But then all of a sudden when people started getting sick and we started to say, oh, it's because we're eating foods that we're not supposed to.

Yeah.

So what does that mean? I guess that's diet. And it took a long time for us to understand the concept that what I put in my, my mouth and my body is going to have a direct effect. It's not just hunger and not hunger type of thing. So we're the— Gota to me is the only not only group of people that is talking about a general and global movement system, meaning when I go and work with my grandma back home, I'm teaching her go to movement, which is the natural movement that all humans are born into and teach themselves from age 0 to 1 or 2 to walk. It's this natural innate thing that we do before we know how to talk. It's the same thing that I would teach a high-level athlete, same thing that I would teach you. So it's great because you're giving people back what it is that they are, which is a forward-moving being. The way that the humans move is bipedally on, on feet. And so it's fantastic to have that conversation. It's fantastic to try and illuminate people about movement diet, that there is movement environments and qualities that we can have in our body that serve our our health and our strength, our ability to stay active and healthy throughout our life. And then there are movement environments, behaviors, and qualities that degenerate that.

Yeah, it's so beautiful, man, and you hit a lot of the notes that I've been feeling about it. Um, it's personally, you know, I, from weightlifting, working at a computer too much, uh, and so on, not stretching enough probably, but you know, it was eventually going to happen anyway. Sciatic pain, you know, slight disc herniation, and I'm kind of working through that. But the GOTO Movement Principles have really helped. I've just spent so much time stretching and like in my own body that I realized like there were whole sections of my lower back that I just, I haven't been using at all. And I think even giving it the name like lower back degrades it so much. It's like, oh, it's just my lower back, but it's really like The connection through your hips, your glutes, your lower back, that's where everything is stabilized and, you know, that's where you move from or should move from. And once you kind of get further and further, like, it's so funny, I'll be unlocking a new level of strength or control of the muscle in that particular area, and I'll be like, oh wow, I didn't realize it could feel this good and have this much control over my movement. And then it just, you know, unlocks another 2% or 5%. And that's one of the beauties of mobility training is you can kind of pretty much do it like as much as you want really. Like, because it's not very taxing on the body other than just like the mental like, oh, you know, connecting there and maybe holding a stretch or whatever. I find you can, you know, you can sit down for an hour and do that. And it's so rewarding. Even though I'm not in the gym lifting weights, although I am coming back to that now. It's just a different modality of training and It taught me a little bit, like we were saying about cycles of ourselves, and there was some level of me that I wasn't lifting weights, and I was like, oh, that's something that I would have identified with. So you kind of have to just like, all right, it's okay, I'm not doing that at this point in time, and I will be able to go back to it. But I've really had to look at my, like you said, basic movement patterns, realize how they're wrong, and work to correct them every day through repetition. You know, there's— if people wondering how does this all fit together, go to Bam's page, watch his videos, watch the people he kind of shares, and you start to see and integrate it into your knowledge. And then when, like you said, when you're walking around at work, you just think, boom, boom, boom, okay, how's my— how am I— how are my feet operating? And then eventually it becomes a subconscious pattern. How long would you say it takes with people you work with? Really to kind of get them into that?

It really is depending on the person and what they've experienced.

How's your grandma doing?

Great. You know, great. You know, the whole thing is like, "Grandma, we just got to keep you on your feet." And I spent 4 years on the ambulance and there's studies that show this. When an elderly person loses strength and specifically lower body strength, and it's susceptible to a fall and breaking a hip or femur, their chances of, you know, passing in the hospital are like 70% plus. Yeah, legitimately, at an old age, your number one ticket to a living a longer and more vital life is the strength of your legs, is the balance, is the strength of your bones, which means constantly moving. Walking and being able to walk. So Graham's doing great, feeling balanced, feeling coordinated.

That's nice.

That's what I care about, which is that people have the ability to move forward through their life despite obstacles, despite setbacks.

Yes.

Right now, what we're seeing is that young people Young teenagers are practicing sports, small sports, you know, they're developing and they're facing catastrophic injuries, ACL tears. They're 15 years old and they're having low back pain that's keeping them from being active. And, and to me, that is really a, a definition of health, a definition of strength for me, is the resiliency to move forward through your life, uh, to go forward with what you want. And one of the easiest ways to stop your forward movement is to have an injury to your musculoskeletal system or to become sick. Your physical body, when that becomes limited, it makes it very difficult for you figuratively and physically to move forward through life. And right now there's a lot of people there, um, they're physically not able to move forward because of injuries that aren't— so many are not, not explained. They're not explained. You don't see in the wild a tiger blown ACL. You know, you didn't see Indigenous people, you know, having the different shapes and sizes that we do now. It's really fascinating to see.

Yeah, man, well, I think that'll do us. I really appreciate your time, Bam, obviously, and You know, I'm sure we'll rip this again, but this has been the Soulcast. Thank you for joining me, my man.

Appreciate you having me on.

Where can people reach you?

Reach me on Instagram @gotabam. That's G-O-A-T-A-B-A-M. Send me a message. I'll get back to you. If you're interested about the Gota Movement System, which is the original system that you taught yourself how to do, They taught themselves how to walk. So I'm not giving you or explaining anything that you already don't know. I'm just trying to help the world and other people get back to home base, get back to default settings so that they can go and do the things that they love, be pain-free movers for the entire life. That's our mission.

It's a beautiful mission, my man. I love it. Thanks so much again, man. Uh, I'll speak to you next time.

All right, bro.