Know Your Physio

Sol Brah: The Essence of Primal Living - Movement, Light, and Living Biologically

• Sol Brah • Episode 116

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In this riveting episode, I have the pleasure of conversing with Sol Brah, a visionary and advocate for a life lived in harmony with our primal nature. Known for his profound insights into health, wellness, and living a life aligned with our ancestral roots, Sol Brah brings a refreshing perspective on how modern individuals can navigate the complexities of contemporary living while staying true to the biological principles that govern our existence.

Our discussion traverses the fascinating realms of primal movement, the critical role of light in our lives, and the concept of living biologically in a modern world. Sol Brah eloquently unpacks the significance of incorporating ancestral wisdom into our daily routines, from the way we move and the exposure to natural light, to the importance of aligning our lifestyle choices with our biological design. His approach is not just a call to action but a reminder of the innate power and beauty in living a life that respects our evolutionary heritage.

This episode serves as a compelling guide for anyone looking to enrich their understanding of holistic wellness, improve their physical and mental health, and explore the depths of their human potential. Sol Brah's teachings are a beacon for those aspiring to a more grounded, healthful, and spiritually fulfilling existence. Join us as we delve into the art of living biologically, discovering practical ways to implement primal principles for a more vibrant, resilient, and harmonious life.

Key Points From This Episode:

The power of glycine for sleep. [00:04:48] 
Glycine benefits for vivid dreams.[00:11:42] 
Importance of quality sleep [00:13:42]
Morning routines and sunlight.[00:19:02] 
Effects of near-infrared light. [00:22:50] 
Low-light environment benefits. [00:26:28] 
Blue light blocking glasses. [00:31:12] 
Living biologically. [00:35:35] 
Bodybuilding versus life building. [00:40:28]
Bodybuilding movement patterns and dysfunction. [00:42:32] 
Primal movement and natural patterns. [00:45:46] 
Primal movement for daily benefits. [00:49:17] 
The Soul Way. [00:53:18] 
Following your intuition truthfully.[00:57:41]

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Andres Preschel: I don't like the word biohacking anymore, man. Bro, I think it's living biologically. It's living biologically. You know what I mean? Naturally. And I guess it's a little bit redundant because biology is like the study of life within the study of life. It's like, but still like living according to your biology. It's not like hacking. It's like just living according to your biology. Like this is how you're designed. Understand the elements that modern convenience has and then see how you can get the best of both worlds. There is only one supplement that I think almost everyone on this planet should be taking, and that's a full-spectrum and highly bioavailable magnesium supplement. Because, well, let's face it, ever since the industrial revolution, our soil has been depleted of magnesium. And therefore, our food is depleted of magnesium. And on top of that, Our modern environments, which are inherently overstimulating and stressful, are constantly depleting our body of magnesium. And unlike other nutrients, this is not something that your body can produce on its own. It literally needs to get it from the diet. And one individual kind of magnesium alone is not enough. You actually need seven different kinds to support over 300 biochemical reactions that help regulate your nervous system, red blood cell production, energy production, managing stress and emotions, etc. And so the folks at BioOptimizers have made it very easy and convenient to add back in what the modern world leaves out. They've created magnesium breakthrough. Now I've been taking this for the past two years and the biggest benefits that I've seen are related to my evening wind down sessions and my sleep. I tend to be pretty overactive in the evenings, just totally overthinking everything that I do. And this has helped me wind down and get more restorative, more efficient sleep. So I wake up feeling Way more refreshed, more energized, more clear, more ready for the day. And the way that I see it, sleep is upstream of essentially every other health and wellness related habit and decision. Because if you're sleeping better, automatically you're going to have more regular cravings, you're going to have higher insulin sensitivity, you can derive more of all these inputs like fitness, right? You make more gains, you gain more muscle, you burn more calories. and you wake up feeling refreshed so that you can do it again and again and again, and then beyond the fitness you have more energy to go for a walk, to do fun activities with friends, you are less stressed so you can socialize anxiety-free, and you're also going to be retaining, refreshing, and refining your skills and information much, much better so you won't forget any names. And, yeah, I mean, like I said, over 300 chemical processes that you're supporting with magnesium. And sleep, I mean, wow, better sleep is just a better life in general. So, I found it extremely helpful on a personal level, and I'm sure that you guys will find it helpful too. Your mind and body, and maybe even your spirit will thank you. So anyway, if you want to get a sweet little discount off of this amazing, amazing magnesium supplement from Bioptimizers, all you have to do is visit the show notes. So you scroll down right now, takes just a couple seconds and boom, you'll have access to all seven different kinds of magnesium that your body needs. All you have to do is hit the link and use code KYP from Know Your Physio. KYP. That's all. Enjoy 10 to 22% off depending on the package you choose, whether or not you subscribe. I'm obviously subscribed because I don't even want to think about whether or not I'm going to get this essential supplement in the mail. And yeah, hope you guys enjoy that awesome stuff. And that's all for now. I'll see you guys on the show. all right brother we're in we're in here we are it's great to have you here in my place man I'll tell you what for the people that I do know you and I know me. I think they'll be very happy to see us here together today. I'll be very grateful for this conversation. And for those who don't know you or don't know me, because I'm sure we'll publish this on both of our accounts, you know, whatever that might be. I hope that they're in for a ride because I want to do a little blend of modern science meets ancestral wisdom and just see how we can dissect it all and create as much value for anyone that might be tuning in regardless of who they are. So I really appreciate what you do, man. It's been super fun hanging out. I've learned so much and I think a testament to Some of the lessons that you've learned me, objectively speaking, because there's obviously subjective benefits that I can describe as well. Objectively speaking, the past three nights, and I have data, I can pull it up, I've gotten the best sleep of my life ever, consecutively, with the glycine. Mind you, I do everything possible to hack my sleep. I don't mess around. But this is the one change that I've made, and as any, you know, good scientific study, even an NL1 study, it's a controlled trial. Everything else is the same. The same time to go to sleep, same routine, and just for the non-believers here, pull it up. 95% sleep last night, the night before 100% sleep, the night before that, Another 100%. That is just, that doesn't exist for me. Like, once in a while, sure. I'm usually at like a, I'd say mid to high 80s. Really?
Sol Brah: Yeah. So what is that measuring? When it says percent, what does 100% mean? You got 100% of your sleep need?

Andres Preschel: So basically the way that this device works, the Whoop, and other wearable devices, the way it works, it's like, it will establish a baseline for you, um, over the course of, I think it's a minimum of three to four days. And then there's like a rolling average that takes place over 30 days. And so it's like, you're always kind of competing against yourself, the, the algorithm gets to know you and it kind of will tell based on your metrics and based on your, um, strain or amount of exercise or, you know, uh, training that you do.

Sol Brah: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: stress that you tolerate, what you technically should get to recover as effectively as possible. So that's kind of like a simple version of describing how it detects and estimates your sleep need. And so in my case, like, I'm typically in the mid to high 80s, and I would say that I'd sleep really well. But I think, for example, just for the sake of showing people how the algorithm works and how subjective and bio-individual it is, my 80-something percent would be someone else's high 90s, or most people's high 90s, or even 100%. I get great sleep. For me to get to 100, bro, it's crazy that I got there consecutively. And I think, like I said, it's a testament to adding something new that works extremely well for whatever reason and also tastes delicious. Like for me, having a sort of like a routine that I can count on is very important for me because every day is so different and being able to add something in that works so well It's so exciting to me. You know, this is not something that I can look forward to time and time and time again. I've tested it and I'm very happy to receive more and more wisdom for you and maybe see if we can, if we can help other people do something similar with their routines, whether it's for sleep or their day or their training or whatever that might be.

Sol Brah: Yeah, sounds great. So, glycine is what you've added into your routine. And, uh, relapse hour. And glycine is the simplest amino acid. So, simplest means it has the fewest chemical bonds and it is used for so many different things in the body. The enhanced sleep quality is one of the things that it does. You know, it's the kind of thing that's been very well studied. I'm not a study guy, but It has been very well studied. They give doses of up to 50 grams or so to cancer patients and they tolerate it that way. It's just used in so many different processes in the body. One of which is to increase REM sleep and sleep quality as you've experienced. As also the first supplement that I made through my brand Soulsoft.

Andres Preschel: The very first? Very first one. Wow. Why did it become the first?

Sol Brah: So it was something that I had tried other glycine and I was like, this works. I only make supplements that I personally believe in, obviously. And this was at the time before I had any products out there, it was something that I knew was going to work. And I was also able to find a US manufactured produced supplier for the glycine. And it's the best glycine on the market. Have you tried glycine at all before? I have, yeah.

Andres Preschel: I actually have a pretty high quality brand over there in capsules. Yeah. But I think honestly, man, the experience of putting it in the tea, being intentional, mixing it up, tasting it, made a world of a difference. Because I've used glycine. In fact, I bought the glycine because I saw your stuff and someone recommended this brand. I should have just covered yours just from the get-go. Yeah. But now I have even more evidence to support the fact that this is that much more effective because the other stuff did not help me the way this helps me.

Sol Brah: So the capsules are a little bit tricky because, okay, one, it's a tiny capsule and you're getting half a gram max in it. So you have to take eight of them to even get to a teaspoon of the powder. How much were you using?

Andres Preschel: Of what? Of yours? Yours? Almost one full tablespoon.

Sol Brah: Yeah, so that's a great amount. So that's maybe seven grams, eight grams, something like that, depending on how heaped the tablespoon is. And I find that that's a great amount. I've done, like I said, two big tablespoons if you maybe have a large tea. And like you said, it's a sweet taste.

Andres Preschel: It's delicious. It's a very unique kind of sweetness. It's like, It's like so smooth and it tastes sweet but then it disappears. I think maybe because it's just simple amino acid, I honestly wouldn't know. But dude, it's just delicious. And the combination of that with the chamomile, it's actually the best tea I've ever had. I'm not just saying that, it was so delicious to have.

Sol Brah: Yeah, it's great because you can add it to any herbal tea. There's no calories in it, so I like calories. I'm not like, oh, anti-sugar or whatever, but you can add it to anything. It's helpful on fasts and things because it's great for the gut. Again, simplest amino acid means it can be used for the most amount of things in the body without it having to be broken down and processed. as much as the other more complex chemical bonds and other amino acids. So it's just an all-around great thing. Another powerful thing to do with glycine is to have a large amount post-training. They've been doing that too. Yeah. That has been shown in studies to release human growth hormone in a natural way, usually because, you know, it's absorbed by the gut, you're repairing. Again, simplest amino acid, repairs muscles, good for the gut, gut lining, skin. All these great things. Glycine is naturally found in collagen in high amounts. Glycine, you're just getting one of the base nutritional components to so many different things. It's great for healing, great for sleep quality. And also one of the fun things that can happen sometimes is your dreams become more vivid due to that REM sleep increase. So I've had really powerful, esoteric, symbolic dreams when I have glycine. And it's just a great thing to add overall.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, I definitely noticed more dreams and better, more vivid dreams. Yeah. And it wasn't like, like there's some elements that I've taken, for example, that have given me nightmares. Like, for example, magnesium l-threonate I've taken for sleep. It's the most bioavailable for the brain. And the dreams are so hyper-realistic to the point where I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I don't know if I'm dreaming or if I'm in real life. And that's, that can be terrifying. Yeah. And then there's dreams that are just nightmares and they end up being so overwhelming.

Sol Brah: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: So, so far, the dreams that I've had with the glycine are really nice, really sweet dreams. They're very vivid, but they're pleasant. Like I wake up and I'm like, Oh, that was a great dream. Yeah. Um, so yeah.

Sol Brah: Yeah, it's been great. Glycine, the first supplement that we made, has hundreds of five-star reviews of it. So it seems to be a pretty consistent thing. The other thing about glycine being in collagen, most people, at least in the Western world, our protein intake is muscle meat. And muscle meat doesn't have that much glycine in it compared to the collagen of fattier cuts, tendons, bone broth, that kind of thing. So, that balance of, I think it's methionine versus the amino acids that we're taking in as Westerners, mostly from muscle meat, if that balance is out of whack, it's not ideal. So, glycine is a way to kind of bring that up without necessarily making bone broth and having all of these tendons and stews and things like that, which is, yeah, it is

Andres Preschel: I mean, if you look at our ancestry, we weren't having filet mignon. I forget, but dinner, we were having like meat off the bone and we were eating the connective tissue, you know, and so. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that's amazing. And I think it's symbolic too that you started with something that, I mean, I, I assume that the main intention, at least in the beginning was for sleep, not for the growth hormone. It was for sleep. Yeah. And I, I just see sleep as being, one of the most, probably the most foundational, you know, to everything else. Like you're, you know, an intuitive approach to eating and how many calories you consume and what it is that you consume. Having the energy to exercise, the motivation, the clarity to do the things you need to do, the deep work, and then also being able to derive more benefit from all these inputs, whether it's exercise or any kind of deep work, like being able to remember the right information, filter out the unimportant information, right? That's what REM sleep is for, the deep sleep for getting, restoring the nervous system, for example. So I think it's symbolic because, you know, you have this lifestyle that you're so passionate about and they've helped so many people adopt. And starting with sleep, in my opinion, is very symbolic for the remainder of the lifestyle. Yeah, because it makes the remaining of the the 90 the other 90% So much more intuitive and it seems to me like you live your life very intuitively Yes, and like the sleep is probably the main driver it I'm assuming there's all that probably other there's definitely other drivers But it's one of the main drivers for that intuition to you know come to life.

Sol Brah: Yeah, it's it's like One, most people have never experienced a quality night's sleep where you go to sleep. Obviously, your sleep hygiene and the quality of sleep is derived from the moment you wake up and what you do throughout the day. As well, getting morning sunlight, that's a pretty common one that people should know by now. Most people, even people in the health space, they'll be not getting up in time for the sun, they'll be using blue light too much, not getting enough sunlight throughout the day, even in the high UV times, that's also signals for sleep, that you really hamstring yourself.

Andres Preschel: I've never heard that before. Hamstring yourself?

Sol Brah: Yeah. So this is like the expression of like, if your hamstring goes, you're slower. Oh, okay. Yeah. So hamstring yourself, then you're like just limiting yourself. Okay. Yeah. So like, think about when you're tired, you're cranky, you know, you're constantly tired. It's like a drain to do anything, to think properly. It's like hazy. And until you've felt how it feels to wake up in the morning without an alarm and just Oh, I'm awake now. There's no grogginess. There's no like, oh, I gotta wait 30 minutes and have my coffee. And okay, now I'm, I despise that whole, oh, don't talk to me until I've had my coffee. It's like a celebration of mediocrity with like, yeah, sleep is fucked. You know, that's just the way it is. That complacency. So cringe. Yeah. So cringe. So sleep is like, I'll tell people, you know, they'll be looking for a supplement. I'll be like, how's your sleep? Yeah, I'm going to bed at like midnight, 1am, and then I'm sleeping for 6 hours because I have to get up early for work, and it's like, well, don't look for any supplements before you're doing that and going to bed at 9, 30, 10 at the latest, depending on when the sun is going down in your area. It seems like it's so simple. That people have a look at.

Andres Preschel: Well, it's like breathing. It's something that we have to do every single day. And because it's something that our body naturally leads us to and has to do, we just go, oh, let's focus on the stuff that we can add in and buy and purchase, the quick fix, you know?

Sol Brah: Yeah. And a lot of the times it is a quick fix for sleep. You may have to go through a couple of days where you force yourself to get up early and look at the sun and then go to bed early. And maybe because of the way that your sleep cycle is locked in at the moment, you may toss and turn a little bit going to bed earlier. one of the resets you can do is just to get up early, yes, with an alarm that first time, go see the sunrise, and then be tired that day, be tired the next day. But very quickly, if you're getting these sunlight inputs, taking glycine, magnesium, actually draining your energy throughout the day through physical exercise, then you can get into a regular, normal, healthier sleep cycle very quickly. And the other thing to think about is like, some people will think about the number of hours they're getting as the only thing. I got eight hours of sleep last night, I'll be okay. But if it's midnight to 8am, that eight hours compared to a 9.30am to 6.30am is entirely different, or 5.30am with an eight hour time period. Because our bodies should be circadian aligned, it's literally less restorative for you to get the same amount of sleep but that sleep window is shifted later in the day. There's a couple of things that it's not just how long you sleep and then there's also a bunch of other stuff that impacts maybe you need less sleep or more sleep depending on how much activity and like you said your stress and things like that. The real Signifiers, how do you feel? Do you feel an unceasing energy throughout the day? I drink coffee, but I don't need coffee at all.

Andres Preschel: And when you have it, you have it like 60 to 90 minutes after you woke up and got in your sunlight. Yeah, exactly.

Sol Brah: Sunlight, truck. sunlight so let's what's let's compare morning routines i think that'll be helpful for people uh i'm traveling a lot i don't have all my gizmos and gadgets all the time but what you can still do is you're waking up and you're walking outside and you're getting sunlight and even if you're not in the place that you're getting direct sun and you can see the sun on the sunrise Just being outside rather than spending your first two hours getting ready for the day, but you're still indoors. If you're outside, in whatever way that is, walking to the local park, going out on your balcony, that sunlight is still coming in.

Andres Preschel: I think someone else on the podcast put this nicely, it's like, if you don't need a flashlight to go outside, you're getting sunlight.

Sol Brah: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Andres Preschel: So we have the pleasure of being in Miami where it's so it's a beautiful day right now. But even if you're in the UK and it's a gray sky, you should still go outside and get the sun that you can get.

Sol Brah: Yeah, it's still coming through the clouds because you can see better than in the middle of the night. So there's like even comparatively like the lumen scale, which is the amount of light that's going to be off the charts higher than any indoor light that you can, even if it's gloomy outside.

Andres Preschel: I don't know. Although, yes, absolutely. But people should be mindful of using this in the evening because it'll still be potent enough to, you know, take away from the quality of sleep that night. Using what? Using any kind of light. Like while the light in the morning from devices isn't potent enough to give you this wakefulness response that's natural by nature, you know, evolutionarily preserved, those same devices at night are going to take away from sleep quality. Yes. You know, so they should be mindful of the morning and we'll get into it, the evening light. So making sunset.

Sol Brah: So the evening light, viewing the sunset as well this is like baseline view the sunrise view the sunset no matter what you're doing you're in the office all day you can spend 10 minutes to go find a sunset wherever you are in whatever capacity and that's going to be a complete game changer to the point where if you're getting that sunset It's actually protective against the effects of blue light in the evening. And that's not to encourage, I've viewed the sunset, therefore I can blast my eyes on my phone or computer at night, but it does significantly protect against that. Another thing that I would recommend, or a couple things really, is that you don't use any other lights in your home other than candles beeswax candles or like a very very soft salt lamp or dim red light of some kind if you do that and you don't have the ceiling lights on you don't have the i never have these lights on exactly i'll have maybe an led strip like that one might be i mean purple has the blue i had that on for we're hanging out last night yeah that and then i have this one that's like red orange very very dim

Andres Preschel: Typically both are red at night because there's the absence of blue light. So I can still see it. It's like what sailors and anyone that does any boating, when you turn on, typically there's always a red light on in boat because it allows you to see what's within the boat without taking away from your peripheral visual cortex and being able to see out into the distance. So it's like, it helps you get by, but it doesn't take away from your vision elsewhere. And it's also going to have no blue light so that you don't have the stimulus that takes away from melatonin accumulation that you need to get deep sleep.

Sol Brah: Yes, and I would also just have the caveat if we're explaining the utmost optimization, even in nature, well, like because of nature, there aren't any bright red lights at night or even dim red lights at night. So if you can avoid it, it's not to say like, okay, because it's a red light, I can blast everything because it will have some effect compared to just it's dark. Candles specifically as well, because it's an actual flame, you're getting near infrared light. which is why fires in general are so powerful. Having a fire, being around a fire with your clothes off, is a really interesting near-infrared sauna experience. You can get quite warm with that. So if you have the capacity to have a little fire at night, it's very hypnotizing for humans to stare into a fire and that's why it's become a social thing, and I believe that it has like some really powerful effects. I want to have eventually a house where I can have like, you know, burning fire lanterns on the wall. You know, the castles. I think that that would be really, really cool.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so what can be said for folks that don't have access to any kind of fire, or maybe don't have, or don't want to invest in a red light or an amber colored light, or maybe they think that they're too, they want something a little more modern, a more modern solution. They don't want to have- Incandescent.

Sol Brah: So incandescent light bulbs are kind of operated on the same methodology as a candle. Our LED lights, there's the pure electricity, which is put into this kind of artificial blue light. An incandescent light, you have heat going through the filament, which is somewhat burning. It's not actually burning, but it's the heat that creates the light. So you get this warm amber glow, which is entirely different to our biology, and it looks entirely different to the artificial energy-saving LED lights. So that's a very, very easy fix to get an incandescent light bulb and put it in a lamp. Another interesting thing to make sure that you, in your home design and your environment, is that lamps that are low to the ground are gonna be better than anything overhead. Because, okay, to our brains, the sun is overhead. So if we have light overhead, our brain is going to see that as more awakening than something that's low to the ground and coming up this way into our eyeballs, because the eyeballs are how we perceive everything visual. So very, very dim. If you can get a dimmer switch, that's even greater. Incandescent lamps low to the floor. That's like a fairly modern solution rather than like having all these candles everywhere. And you honestly don't need that many candles. This is the other thing, once your eyes adjust to low light environments, you could have one or two candles in here at night and you'd be able to see the whole room and do everything you need to do. It's just, you need to train yourself a little bit and your eyes adjust and perceive low light environment. And obviously there's diet things like carrots, but if you see in the dark, vitamin A, retinol, it's good for the eyes. But it really takes like, okay, you have to buy some candles or whatever else, change the lamps. But anyone that I've told to do this, they don't have trouble falling asleep anymore. It's like, it gets dark. And then your brain realizes, oh, it's time to settle down. The only reason a lot of people have trouble sleeping and they go to the gym, they're exercising outside and they still have trouble sleeping is because they're blasting themselves all the time. And then they pop into bed and that's the first time that they've had no light or low light. So, of course, your brain is like, well, I thought it was the day five minutes ago. And then you get in bed and it's like, oh, OK. So, the few hours before actually getting into bed, where you can just set this low-light environment is a complete game changer. And it's also, vibe-wise, way cozier. An interesting thing is, maybe if you're our age, in the 90s, there were a lot of streetlights that were amber they have that nice orange glow and as a kid riding your bike you could like there's an ambience compared to some of the new ones that come out and it's hard it's bright um it's it's really like when i'm in charge of uh government and things like that i'm going to outlaw any public street lighting the led and things like that because it also has an effect on our wildlife the light pollution it's an animal wild animal doesn't have any idea what they are it's just usually it's they're using or used to just the sun and that's it. But then they have these harsh LED lights everywhere. That's why moths and bugs go crazy and like spin around lights and you see that happening. That is an effect that we maybe don't realize, but it mucks up the wildlife as well. So there's really, I believe, like a massive social effect to how people feel, the ambience of social environments, nightclubs. LED lights blasting in your eyes. Like that's half the reason people feel hangovers is because they're going into a dark room where then they're getting blasted with all these flashing lights. And it's like, you feel this hangover because your body's been in this really topsy-turvy light environment all night in the complete middle of the night. Like I like going out. I've been out a lot in my life. Nowadays, I would prefer to just go have a good time during the day.

Andres Preschel: You just bit off a tiny piece of your shoe. That's cool.

Sol Brah: That's my mentor. Thanks. Sorry about that, man. I don't care.

Andres Preschel: Well, at least it's high quality leather. He just tried to chew through a real animal. You know what's interesting about this, man, is I'm kind of reflecting on a few different experiences and also on a phenomenon that happens with the iPhone. Like, I think 99% of people tuning in can relate to this, even if you have another phone. Think about this. Over the past decade, every year we get a new iPhone that comes out and every year they get brighter and brighter and brighter. Yep. That is great. Have you ever seen someone that most people that you see with their phone, if you were to swipe down to see the brightness setting, it's always going to be topped out, bro. The phones get brighter and brighter and brighter and they max it out every single time. So what does that tell you?

Sol Brah: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: The other day, for example, I was having, I'll take you to the garden later. We have a beautiful little garden here with a little like a fire pit and I'll have friends over. We'll make steaks, you know, whatever. And, um, they always most people that come they always tell me like hey man you should get like some kind of light out here and i'm just like dude we have a fire and i can see i can see just fine yeah to me it's almost too bright i can dim down the firefight yeah yeah there's an option i would and i just i just kind of think to myself like damn like How is it that I love this and they feel so uncomfortable and obviously, you know, a few minutes go by, they adjust a bit, but even they're still complaining. But then I'm like, well, if I look at most of the light exposure that I get throughout the day, I mean, with my work, I have to look at screens all the time. I have to look at lights, but I'm very mindful. about the exposure on those devices. I turn it down and I think that alone has helped sensitize my eyes quite a bit. I see it then when I go to the bonfire. And it's fascinating to me how you can kind of get two of those benefits. Number one, you're sensitizing your eyes. Your eyes are just working better, but then you're also getting better sleep, which is the best opportunity your body has to do its daily software update. So your whole body's getting better and better and better and more capable. And so I hope that anyone tuning in now, if you haven't made these changes, start small, make it happen, and your body's going to become better. You're going to be able to understand and appreciate more of your evolved potential. Otherwise, we're just getting further and further away. As the new iPhones come out and they get more evolved and they get brighter and brighter, we're getting further and further and further away from what our mind, body, brain, and eyes can do.

Sol Brah: Another important thing is blue light blocking glasses. Look over there. Yeah, fantastic.

Andres Preschel: Give a little shout out to Matt.

Sol Brah: Matt at Raw Optics. I have a, I didn't bring it with me, but a collab with Raw Optics where I designed a frame which is going to be available in April. And these are a complete game changer. If you cannot control what light environment you're in, they do so much work in, because they literally block any of this external blue light. If I go to the grocery store in the evening and the sun is already set, and then you go into the grocery store and it's just real harsh blue lighting. Separate topic is what that is doing to the fruit and things outside. Because light is light information, it has effects on the cells of the fruit and particles. But that's, anyway. They are such a simple tool that if you can just put them on, maybe you're in a place you can't change the lighting or whatever it else, going outside in public, the street lights, driving, those new bright LED lights of some other people and they have the high beams on, like you're driving at night, that's a good half hour when you're getting like blobs of that stuff. Boom, glasses on, you'll feel tired sooner in the evening. You can use your, phone and laptop at night without that same negative effects occurring. If I go out to the nightclub, I'll wear my blue light blocking glasses. We need to shift the culture to have, it's so common to wear blue light blocking glasses, as common as sunglasses are now. And sunglasses need to be thrown in the trash.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, and then most blue light blocking glasses are trash. So get this, my dad is an eye surgeon, he's an ophthalmologist, and so he's always looking at new research and stuff. I was trying to get my family on BlueBlockers and he sent me a systematic review, a study of studies, a meta-analysis. that said that blue blocking glasses don't work. But hold on, but hold on, wait, hold on a second. I looked at the study, I was so puzzled by it, and I looked at it, and the thing is, in the research, what you need to look out for to find the right research that supports glasses like these is it has to say amber colored. Because regular, the clear blue blocking glasses do nothing for you. For eye strain or for sleep, these do. Then I found a different systematic review, and I can put it in the show notes. study of studies with like over 450 participants and it shows that amber colored blue blocking glasses actually do work. And I think a way to kind of describe what we're discussing here, just like in a nutshell, is this is allowing us to live in the modern day a more biologically consistent life. You know what I mean? That's really, that's it. It's as simple as that. And if we can do that, then we can leverage our evolutionarily preserved mechanisms to help us be and express our best selves.

Sol Brah: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: It's as simple as that. If you understand, I think that if people understand that, I think it'll make sense why you and I seem like such outliers. But in fact, in this modern day, we have an advantage. Understanding how our body was designed and looking to replicate that through modern means that are still consistent with how we're designed. Yeah.

Sol Brah: You know? Yeah. Whatever my biological capabilities are above the average person, it's because I'm aligning with how the human body is meant to work. And it's not, yes, I have my genetics and things like that, but there are so many things that you can do in order to return to how the human body is meant to operate that will have you in a state of health that you couldn't have dreamed of. You know, like your hair's thicker, you're stronger, less body fat, all these things which because you're living a lifestyle aligned with our primal nature, it's just such a better level of existence. And you also want to experience the modern lifestyle as well, to some degree. You know, I'm not living in a cave somewhere, although maybe I want to one day. In the Rikerford cave. Yeah, exactly. Snoop's tea is all around you. I would never leave.

Sol Brah: Yes.

Sol Brah: So you know we want to be part of the modern life we want to also be strong healthy and happy and that requires these little tips and tricks and you know it's like a fun hobby diving into all this stuff you can call it biohacking you can call it whatever you want but really it's just getting back to the basics getting rid of all the garbage.

Andres Preschel: I don't like the word biohacking anymore, man. Bro, I think it's living biologically. It's living biologically. You know what I mean? Naturally. And I guess it's a little bit redundant because biology is like the study of life within the study of life. It's like, but I feel like living according to your biology. It's not like hacking. It's like just living according to your biology. Like this is how you're designed. Understand the influence that modern convenience has and then see how you can get the best of both worlds. Biohacking

Sol Brah: We've been to biohacking courses. That's where we first met. 90% of people have no tan. Yeah. What are you biohacking? What are you biohacking when you won't even go outside? Like that's crazy. And I think just the whole rabbit hole of biohacking in general, and you're looking at like, how do I optimize my mitochondria with this supplement? And I'm going to breathe this amount. Like that's good. But there are some basics, which it's like, is going for a walk in the sun with bare feet biohacking? It's not viewed as that way, but it should be the most prominent, like primary returning to our biology.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, exactly. You know, and something else I want to mention for folks is I know everybody tuning in, everybody wants to look better. They want to feel better. They want to look stronger. And I think that obviously, you know, you and I, we definitely put the work in to exercise our bodies. However, I think the vast majority of our accomplishments physically reflect the lifestyle that we live, that it's consistent with a lifestyle that made us more attractive because of reproductive success that the lifestyle awarded us, rewarded us with. You know what I mean? In simple terms, if you live a life that is biologically consistent, then you're going to have a body that's prepared for life, that's prepared to survive. It's gonna look great. That's a byproduct of the lifestyle that your body knows is essential for life. So, you know, I think a lot of people make the mistake of going for the body first and doing anything necessary to get there. Skipping steps, taking steroids, doing BS. Um, when in fact they should look at their lice and they should look at the way they live their life in accordance to their biology. And then yes, sure. Go and do this specific workout. Uh, you know, uh, uh, uh, overload over time, like all these other things, they work great. But if you have these foundations laid out and you can appreciate biological consistency, it's so much more realistic, so much more attainable, more rewarding and more sustainable.

Sol Brah: Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, a lot of people, Even if you want the body, it is your best strategy to do these primarily biological things. It's not the same as doing a set of curls, but if you want bigger biceps, get more sunlight. It's all related. Optimize your sleep, go for walks, clean up your food, your diet, all of that stuff, because just the bodybuilding kind of centric thing where it's just about that, that's not healthy. Really, being healthy is about being resilient. And if your only exercise also is an hour and a half under fluorescent blue lights, then you're not going to be healthy. And people All the things that I do to maximize health will also increase your muscles. Like, that's what people don't realize. Like, you can be the most shallow person and all you care about is like, yeah, you're fat and you want to get better, but dialing your sleep in and everything else is really the best way to that. rather than the protein powders and the pre-workout.

Andres Preschel: And you can get away with less time in the gym because if you maximize the recovery, that any one of these inputs, you're going to derive maximum benefit from them. Like I see so many gym rats, I mean, I don't want to make anyone look bad or feel bad, but I see a lot of people that just, or they spend countless hours in the gym. They have this bag littered with pre-workout and essential amino acids and like all these things. And they do like disgusting shakes after and all this meal prep. And I'm just like, dude, you're missing the point. You're missing the point. Your body wants, you want to look great because it's what it represents, but it represents a lifestyle that orients you to survival beyond, people think that their survival is warranted by how they look in a picture on Instagram. That's what's going to get them to survive and feel good about themselves and have other people value that. I think bodybuilding for the most part is BS. Like I used and dude, I know that we do bodybuilding like I have had my phase where I'm a bodybuilder But I see myself now is more of like a life builder and my body just reflects that People can can can cancel me for this. I don't really care I think that there's I know that there's more to life than just the way you look and the way you live your life Is it help you look better?

Sol Brah: Yeah

Andres Preschel: Why don't we dive into some of the stuff that you were helping some of the guys enjoy when we were on the beach together. I mean, I was really impressed by your approach to mobility and strengthening muscles that most people don't even know exist. Yeah. Um, like I was doing things with my feet that I don't think I've ever, I've ever done before. Yeah. But bro, I was sore in the areas that I've never been before. And I know that there's just another opportunity for growth. You're only as strong as your weakest link. And trust me, you helped me identify some of those weakest links.

Sol Brah: Yeah. So really it's a by-product of several things. And this is something that I've come to learn more about the last couple of years because I, uh, I had consistent sciatic pain down the left side of my leg. When I was healthy, I was training four or five days a week. But the movement patterns of the traditional bodybuilder are not good in the sense that they're not evolutionarily consistent. It's very strange to have a barbell which doesn't move with the weight on the outside compared to if you were picking up a rock here and the center of gravity is here, the different kind of ways that you move your body in order to move the heaviest weight in these really isolated and strict patterns and having good form. And good form is good, obviously, but if you're doing a deadlift and then you're thrusting up and bringing your hips forward all the time and then leaning back and that's the lockout and yes, I did it and then fall down again. if what I was doing was, you know, days and days of that as my primary exercise, and yeah, I've hit the gym, done my exercise, and then working and sitting all day. And it goes back to sitting all throughout school for years and years and years. And our feet as well being shoved into shoes all the day and then we lose the foot movement which connects to the fascial network and activates your glutes and hips plus all this thrusting from the traditional bodybuilding movements results in dysfunction and that's what was happening with me with sciatica and a compressed nerve and that was like pinging all the time. So I was like, what's happening? You know, why am I getting this pain? The pain was so bad that I would wake up in tears. Like I just couldn't sleep. It was awful, awful. And so I was like, what's going on? So researching like back pain, generalized back pain is one of the biggest health issues of our society today. And it's because we're not moving enough. When we do move, we're doing it in a way that's not ancestrally and primarily consistent. And there are just several principles that you can relearn that if you look at how a baby moves, a child moves before they have been socially constrained in a lot of ways, sitting in chairs all the time, over years we lose these movement patterns and then we lose this natural decompression of the spine that occurs when we're waving. This is what we should be doing in most areas of movement that we do. So, what I was teaching you guys at the beach is stuff that I've learned from great friends. Bam Lionheart was the guy that really got me into this stuff and taught me. And then when you have these principles in mind, you see how they flow into everything else. It's like understanding that unlocks so many other things with movement. And then you get more muscular as well, because you're activating and using muscles that you haven't used in so long. And whenever you do that, you get that kind of the noob gains of when you're first training. Exactly. The noob gains for muscles that have just been turned off for so many years.

Andres Preschel: perfectly said exactly that's what i felt it was like i was like dude i feel like i'm working out for the first time again yeah seriously yeah yeah i think i'm saying that for me when i first started it was such a rewarding experience and i feel like i've unlocked a new level and my dream yeah i might do like i i think that i had a foundational um as far as moving in an ancestrally consistent way. I thought I had a few things figured out as far as like, look, I think sprinting is very consistent. I could be reaching in the wrong way. That's another thing, right? I could be sprinting in the wrong way. I thought sprinting was consistent. I thought that, for example, using more dumbbells and kettlebells was more consistent, but it's not just like, Like that's, I think, level one. I think level two is just like turning your body, you know, twisting, using the diaphragm and breathing, you know, uh, while you move, like that's a whole other level and it's a whole other experience. Yeah. And a whole other range of muscles and, and, and, uh, uh, combinations of muscles and the way they're working together. It's, it's wonderful.

Sol Brah: Yeah. It's incredible. It's, it's all this rotational movement, which becomes your body becomes a natural loaded spring.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, that was a major topic that we discussed in that group session.

Sol Brah: Can't really do it as I'm seated, but once you understand these concepts, you're activating the feet, you're opening up the toes, you have your hips behind your ribcage. at all times, if possible, in learning how to walk. One of the other things that if to relearn how to walk, with each step, you should be internally rotating each leg, which naturally pops the hip back, you're loaded into this side, internal rotation on the other side, and it becomes this float. And then you think about how do you swim? Oh, it's the same movement. How does a fish move? It's undulating its spine like this. How does a snake move? It's all the same. It's all these natural patterns of nature that you can see in everything. Spirals. It's all spirals, DNA helix. It's all connected. And then you incorporate that into training. You can bodybuild while incorporating these movements. and it's been unendingly rewarding for me. My sciatica is pretty much gone unless I really am not moving plus doing deadlifts and I would just be foolish to do that now. But we did deadlifts and I'm good because the rest of the time I now know how to decompress my spine. My hips and my glutes and hamstrings are actually activating and I'm not spending all of my time thrusting and hip thrusts. Girls want to get a big booty, so they're doing hip thrusts. And all of that is training this pushing forward motion. And I'll say that once you learn the kind of primal movement, you get bigger glutes because they're finally activating their first time to the point where you can walk But if you're walking in a way that's actually using the glutes, you'll get bigger glutes and you'll be more athletic. And going back to the point where when someone's walking, they have that sexy model walk, their gait is very good. We find that attractive because we can perceive that as their body moving in the primarily consistent way. Yeah. So it's super rewarding. You move better, you become more athletic, you're faster. A lot of people, oh my knees hurt when I run. It's because they're running in the wrong way. And obviously, just hearing about these concepts rather than seeing them is a little bit tricky to understand, but I invite anyone to look at Bam Lionheart's stuff, some of my vlogs.

Andres Preschel: Or just look at this guy walk. Just look at this guy walk. You walk like Tarzan, bro. You said it so nicely. That is something that we find attractive. Models walk that way. Why do we find it attractive? Because we've been reinforced over millennia. That's just how a healthy human being walks. And then also, I think another prime example of this is when you breathe properly, your nasal breathe, you breathe diaphragmatically, your face It's more attractive because it's the correct way to breathe. Mouth breathers, they get the chin goes up here, their nose droops down, they get this forward head posture, they're in a chronically more sympathetic, more stressed state. There's all these things that happen and it's because it's just simply not biologically consistent. So, it just goes to prove that that kind of consistency and seeking that consistency in the modern day is going to make you more attractive, is going to help you perform higher, is going to give you more satisfaction, is going to give you, is going to make you a more attractive person, overwhelmingly so, you know, in almost any area of your life. And I don't think it takes becoming soul bra to experience the benefits of this. Like, I think everyone realistically can dose some of this into their day, every day, and enjoy and reap the benefits of it.

Sol Brah: Yeah, I mean a 10-minute decompression-style primal movement, tap into your hips and glutes. You can do it on your hands and knees in bed, before bed. You can just like rock in. Think about how a baby learns to crawl. First of all, they're on their back. then they get to roll over and then they kind of do this like rocking movement back and forth that is kind of the same movement as we should do when we're sprinting it's like all of this this spiral and then if you watch how a baby crawls it's doing this so we know how to do these things in our very core in our being we teach ourselves how to walk Our parents don't go, okay, now move your spine like this and then you got to balance this way. There are these several stages you can watch like a baby's progression. That's the same kind of movement that we can relearn. And you'll pick it up like if you're just consistent with it because it's already inside us. you can activate these things and then you're walking like a model and you're walking around and you feel good. And then esoterically as well, our spine is a receiver. Our bones receive electromagnetic frequencies. They're like a satellite dish kind of thing to electromagnetic frequencies. The spine is the same. So when we're doing this all the time, there's a lot of esoteric practices like the whirling dervishes where they're just spinning all the time. There's religious dances and the point is to move the spine like this. You're unlocking all of the energetic centers in your spine to the point where yes, it's a physical movement, but you then become more energetically charged, more spiritual, more tapped into your intuition because you're living as you're meant to rather than cut off from like… The other thing with lifting is everything is straight back

Andres Preschel: hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook, hook,

Sol Brah: There's, you know, it's the 80-20 rule, right? It's like, you don't have to be devoting hours and hours to this each day, but if you understand, how do I be conscious of how I'm walking, how I'm sitting? There are several different things you can do, like just bringing your office chair back from your desk so you're no longer Like this. Here, I'm chilling on the couch. The couch is one of the biggest offenders because now my hips are in front of my chest. So ideally, a resting position you can do is on the knees. This is called scissor position. And you can see here, Cesar, my hips behind my chest. If you're on the floor, that's a much better way to chill. If you can have some way that your desk is like this.

Andres Preschel: I've got that thing here and I use this little copy table just so I'm propped up. I get that extension in my hips and it's just, it's great. I feel so much better. And I also got the standing desk, but like I can't stand sitting and working. It's just so

Sol Brah: It's stiffening, you're not getting proper blood flow, there's a lot of things. Even if you just pull your office chair back from your desk so you're encouraged to do this, that's almost more important than your focused hour of exercise each day. Six compounds every single day. Yeah. Every other time that you're walking, every other time that you're just chilling and working is like, that's going to train movement patterns that you don't want to reinforce in a negative way.

Andres Preschel: Right. So look, man, I know we're running pretty short on time here. Kind of like 15? Yeah. Why don't you tell us about The Soul Way, this wonderful book that you gave us the pleasure of writing to compile all of your greatest wisdom and teachings into just one resource. Yeah, well, the back. First of all, let's talk about the artwork, bro. The artwork is absolutely amazing. Who made this artwork?

Sol Brah: My buddy, Matthew the Stoat. Matthew the Stoat is a great artist, but this is really something that we worked on together for months and months, just little tweaks. And I had the ideas that he was able to bring into reality, which was really cool, hand-drawn. But Yeah, it's got a bit of a mythological feel a lot of the stuff that has inspired me throughout my life as I was always reading Fantasy books. I love dragons Heroes ancient mythology has always been very inspiring to me and the book itself is a collection of my best writings over the last few years, I pretty much write every single day in some shape or form and I I wanted to collate them in a way that I could give it to my 14 year old self and hey this is what I've learned so far and this is what has helped me in my life and this is the mentality, the perspectives, the philosophies, the understandings of how the world works so that you can go live your best life and have the most success and be the healthiest, happiest version of yourself and I want to write more books, of course. It's given me like a, oh, this is so cool, like having an actual thing. So I'm going to write a health book, an exercise book, like specifically training, things like that. But this one particularly was the most important one to get out first because it's the basis for everything else. If you cannot look in the world and enjoy the world and be resilient in your perspective, in your mindset, then it doesn't matter what else you do. And you'll find that the results of your life really comes from your mind first. Everything we perceive comes through the mind. So it's most important to figure that out first. And the book is really how I view the world in a way that is engaging and simple and makes sense to people to go in, even if they're not a big philosophy person, but just to understand how the world works. And that's what I put together the book.

Andres Preschel: It's amazing, man. And I think maybe this This is something I don't think I've ever asked you, but how did this start? Like, what was the original idea that inevitably evolved into this soul bra and what you do and why you do it?

Sol Brah: I get asked this a decent amount and there was no earth shattering moment where I was like, this is what I have to do. I've always felt I've had this feeling where I know I'm where I wasn't doing what I meant to do. I didn't know what I was meant to do for years and years and years, but I could feel that I wasn't doing in that moment if I was working an office job or studying uni and I had an incredible time. I enjoyed myself in so many different ways in what I did. And it was just kind of like this feeling behind me, like, ah, this isn't quite it. This isn't quite it. I knew I had to bring more and give more of myself. And I eventually found out that it was creation and writing and sharing knowledge and teaching, which was really at the core of everything that I was doing, whether that was an expression of helping my friends in the gym, whether it was writing my initial tweets, telling people about food and everything that I've learned and sharing what has made my life better. And getting to the truth of things and sharing with people, actually, this is BS, like it should be this way. And I don't know everything. I'm sure I'll change my mind on a lot of things as I learn more. However, it's just been this process of, as I evolved, sharing what made me evolve and the lessons that I've learned along the way, with the primary driver being, how can I have the best experience of life, create the life that I want to, and that's going to vary for all the different people, but there are principles and things that will apply to anyone doing anything in terms of attaining your success, following your intuition. I speak about that in the book because really, if you're following your intuition truthfully without fear, then your life's purpose is going to appear to you. And that's what's happened with me. And now I find myself in these incredible opportunities and meeting incredible people like yourself. where I get to talk about this stuff. And it's, it's all a result of being open to the magic of life and finding out what my destiny is. And being Soulwrithe seems to be what I'm called to do. And I'm so grateful that it's unfolded in this way so far. And, uh, if I can wake up each day, create, share, teach, then really I can go to bed happy.

Sol Brah: Wow.

Andres Preschel: Well it's an honor to be here with you man and to get to contribute to that story and that evolution of you becoming your best self and in the process empowering others to do the same with actionable steps that are preserved in our evolution that unfortunately through this modern life we forget or we dismiss or even ridicule at times but in fact You know, I look at you as someone that lives life so gracefully because you live life in a lot of ways, simply the way that life is meant to live, you know, and looking at life, not just from a perspective, like a mental perspective, but physically and esoterically. And so, um, Yeah, man, I really appreciate that about you.

Sol Brah: Thank you. Yeah, doing my best, learning along the way and having fun.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, definitely. And so let me ask you this, man, to conclude for now. If you could put a word, message or phrase on a billboard somewhere in the world, what would it say and where would you put it?

Sol Brah: The phrase would be have faith. And I'd have to put it on a giant volcano somewhere. I don't know if many people would see it. Yeah. But I feel like that would just be the coolest place.

Andres Preschel: Nice. Very cool. Very nice. Awesome, man. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, man. It's been an honor and pleasure. Hopefully this is the first of many conversations that we continue to have to help a lot of people live the life they're meant to live. Thank you. Yeah, awesome. Thanks for watching. Thanks you guys. So that's all for today's show. Thank you so much for tuning in today. For all of the show notes, including clickable links to anything and everything that we discussed today, everything from discount codes to videos to research articles, books, tips, tricks, techniques, and of course, to learn more, about the guest on today's episode, all you have to do is head to my website, AndresPeruchel.com, that's A-N-D-R-E-S-P-R-E-S-C-H-E-L.com, and go to podcasts. You can also leave your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future episodes, future guests, so on and so forth. Thanks again for tuning in, and I'll see you on the next one. Have a lovely rest of your day.