Welcome to the minor leagues!

We had a cable column machine, a rack of dumbbells and some medicine balls lined up along the wall, which was also right next to a batting cage.

This is where our professional baseball players would train.

On this particular day, Markus, our star pitcher from Germany walked into my “weight room” right after he pitched 7 great innings in the game.

“How we doing big man?” I asked.

Without saying a word, he just pointed to a spot on his shoulder.

I knew what this meant.

His shoulder was hurting.

This wasn’t uncommon.

He had just thrown about 100 baseballs as hard as he possibly could and we were four months into the season. There were a lot of miles on that shoulder.

But what was weird to me was how every single pitcher we had was coming in and complaining about pain in the exact same spot.

That was noteworthy to me.

Something we were doing in the weight room…or something that we were NOT doing might be the culprit behind this emerging pattern.

It was my second year in professional baseball at this point, which meant that I had seen nearly 400 baseball games and 95% of my pitchers had pain in the exact same spot.

“What’s going on here?” I thought.

I started to investigate our shoulder strengthening program when I noticed something.

Every baseball pitcher in the world does the same shoulder strengthening exercises.

If you go to any baseball game in America from High School to the Big Leagues, you’ll see guys doing these exercises with a band attached to a fence or with weighted baseballs.

But the minute I peeled back the curtain, I recognized a massive problem with these exercises.

When these baseball players are doing these exercises, they are doing them in a way that the muscle shortens.

Think about a basic bicep curl. Before you start the motion and you are holding the dumbbells by your side, your bicep is long.

But when you begin to do the curl, the bicep is shortening. This is why when you flex your biceps, they look more like a ball.

The major problem here was that when you throw a baseball, the muscles we are targeting (the rotator cuff) are actually lengthening.

This meant we were strengthening these muscles in the complete opposite way that we were supposed to be strengthening them.

I immediately altered their arm strengthening routine and each pitcher that came to me pointing at their shoulder with this familiar pain, had 100% of their discomfort disappear in just a few days.

It was remarkable…and so simple.

My hallway weight room started to develop a reputation as the place where “shoulder pain goes to die.”

In fact, the other Diamondbacks affiliates started to hear rumors about what we were doing and when a new player would be transferred to our roster, they would immediately come in for our special shoulder program.

The Puppetmaster

When I worked for the Diamondbacks, we would always have anatomy quizzes. Our favorite quiz was to see if our strength coaches could name all of the muscles that attach to the shoulder blade.

There are 17 of them.

Here they are…

1. Biceps

2. Triceps

3. Deltoid

4. Trapezius

5. Pectoralis Major

6. Pectoralis Minor

7. Supraspinatus

8. Infraspinatus

9. Subscapularis

10. Teres Minor

11. Teres Major

12. Latissimus Dorsi

13. Rhomboid

14. Levator Scapulae

15. Corocobrachialis

16. Serratus Anterior

17. Omohyoid

Let’s look briefly at that last one. The omohyoid. This tiny muscle attaches all the way up under your jaw and somehow makes its way down to the shoulder blade.

But here’s why that’s important.

Imagine you were operating a string puppet. But instead of just a few strings to move, you had 17.

Imagine trying to coordinate all of that movement?

If you pull one string too much, the whole puppet is contorted and thrown off.

It’s tough for you to balance all of those.

Well, in this case, the shoulder blade (scapula) is the puppet and the muscles are the strings.

If one of these muscles is much stronger than the others, then the whole shoulder blade is going to get messed up.

The shoulder joint is where the humerus bone sits into the glenoid fossa (which is just a convenient indentation in the shoulder blade to hold the humerus bone in place).

If you create imbalances, this joint is going to get contorted and then the labrum will take more stress than it needs, tissue becomes unnecessarily tight and, there is a huge set of nerves called the brachial plexus right up there too that may fire up and cause even more dysfunction.

What Is Actually Happening in Shoulder Pain

Most shoulder pain is not a shoulder problem.

It is a positioning problem.

The shoulder sits on the ribcage. The scapula rests on the ribcage. The humerus articulates with the scapula. If the ribcage is not positioned well, the shoulder never has a stable foundation to move from.

Before we talk about rotator cuffs or impingement, we must talk about the patterns that shape the ribcage itself.

The Pattern Beneath the Shoulder

Every human being shares the same anatomical asymmetries. The heart sits on the left. The liver sits on the right. The right diaphragm is larger and stronger than the left. The right lung has three lobes while the left has two.

These asymmetries bias the body into what the Postural Restoration Institute calls the Left AIC and Right BC patterns.

In the Left AIC pattern, the pelvis rotates to the right and becomes very comfortable standing on the right leg. The lumbar spine follows that rotation. Over time, the body struggles to truly shift into left stance.

The upper body must compensate for this rotation. That compensation is the Right BC pattern. The ribcage rotates back to the left in an effort to keep the body facing forward.

If you look closely at posture in this pattern, you often see a right shoulder that sits lower than the left, a left rib flare in the front, and a right posterior rib hump in the back.

This is not random.

It is predictable.

And the shoulder is sitting directly on top of this asymmetrical platform.

Why the Right Shoulder Is More Vulnerable

The right side of the body has a structural advantage. The right diaphragm is larger. The liver underneath it allows it to sit higher. The right lung has an additional upper lobe that does not exist on the left.

That upper right lobe can be difficult to inflate.

The body prioritizes oxygen above all else. If it senses that the upper right lung is not filling well, it will recruit accessory breathing muscles to create space. The scalenes, sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezius, and subclavius begin pulling on the upper ribs to lift and expand the area.

Over time, those muscles become chronically active.

What feels like shoulder tension is often the neck and upper ribcage trying to breathe.

At this point, treating the shoulder without addressing airflow is incomplete.

Hyperinflation and the Illusion of Good Breathing

Some individuals present differently.

Instead of a single rib flare, they present with a flare on both sides. The infrasternal angle is wide. The lower ribs are expanded. The abdomen rises easily with each breath.

This is a hyperinflated presentation.

These individuals are very good at getting air in, but poor at getting air out. Most of their expansion occurs in the belly and lower ribs because that tissue is easier to move.

The upper ribs, however, remain compressed.

From a shoulder perspective, this is critical.

If expansion never reaches the upper ribcage, the scapula does not have a stable surface to glide on. The shoulder joint becomes unstable. The neck muscles attempt to stabilize what the ribcage cannot.

Clinically, we often see wide infrasternal angles paired with chronic shoulder and neck discomfort.

The issue is not strength.

It is distribution of air.

Asymmetrical Airflow and the Scapula

Breathing should create 360-degree expansion around the entire ribcage.

Because of anatomical asymmetries, that expansion is rarely even.

In the common Right BC presentation, inhalation tends to expand the back right ribcage and the front left ribcage more easily. The back left and front right struggle.

This influences scapular position.

The right scapula often glides forward and becomes more protracted. The left scapula tends to sit further back.

This means what restores one shoulder will not restore the other.

The right shoulder often needs posterior expansion and true retraction mechanics. The left shoulder often needs reaching and protraction to restore balanced airflow.

Cookie cutter shoulder programs fail because they ignore this asymmetry.

Shoulder Pain Is an Airflow Problem

In our experience, shoulder pain is rarely about isolated weakness.

It is about:

A pelvis that cannot alternate stance.
A ribcage that cannot expand symmetrically.
A neck that is working overtime to create space.
A scapula that has lost its stable base.

When airflow is redirected and expansion is restored to both sides of the ribcage, shoulder mechanics improve almost immediately.

The rotator cuff can finally function on a stable platform.

The neck muscles can relax.

The shoulder no longer has to fight for space.

The Solution Is Systemic

Fixing the shoulder requires more than band exercises.

It requires:

Repositioning the pelvis.
Restoring alternating ribcage expansion.
Teaching the upper ribs to fill with air.
Reducing chronic neck tone.
Embedding new patterns through strength and energy production training.
Regulating the nervous system so the body no longer defaults to protective tension.

Like the knee, the shoulder is simply where the alarm bell is ringing.

The real issue is the pattern beneath it.

And once that pattern is addressed, shoulder pain often resolves faster than people expect.

The shoulder is not fragile.

It is simply responding to how you breathe.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

“I never ever want to feel pain again.”

I received this message from a client this morning. While I certainly understand and share the same wish, this is not the reality of living with a human body.

Pain is a normal part of life. It shouldn’t stick around for very long, but all of our bodies have particular vulnerabilities that will cause pain to kick in from time to time.

When I worked in the NBA, most players had something that they were always keeping an eye on. I can remember one player that constantly had a shoulder that gave him trouble. All of his warm-ups and programs made a point to put extra emphasis on that shoulder.

I am no different.

I spent two decades of my life playing high-level basketball and that strain took a toll on my body and exposed a few vulnerabilities.

For me, I am always emphasizing my right achilles and my right knee. I want to perform at a high level, which means I have to train at a high level. To do this, I need to put an extra focus on these weak spots to make sure I can sustain that level of effort.

The knee has been a particular focus for me because I do a lot of running. I always tell my clients that running is just a hard thing to do properly so as any of us increase our mileage, the knees become more and more vulnerable.

It was also a major focus of mine when I was working for the Lakers because over the course of the 82-game season with all that running and jumping, the knees were a MAJOR concern for us on a daily basis.

After all those miles and all those years, here is what I learned about knee pain:

Why Your Knee Still Hurts

The knee is one of the most misunderstood joints in the body.

It looks simple. It bends and it straightens. That’s it.

But structurally, the knee is the meeting point of two massive bones: the femur above and the tibia below. When people say they have “bad knees,” what they are usually experiencing is not a knee problem at all. It is a relationship problem between those two bones.

And relationships are built on movement.

More specifically, rotation.

The Rotational Problem No One Talks About

The knee does not just flex and extend. It also has to manage rotation coming from above and below.

When the femur internally rotates, the tibia often compensates by externally rotating. That opposing twist creates torsion at the knee joint. Over time, that torsion becomes pain.

This twisting force is one of the primary drivers of chronic knee discomfort.

Most treatment plans ignore this entirely. They strengthen the quads. They stretch the hamstrings. They ice the joint.

But if rotational mechanics are off, none of that will matter.

The Real Culprit: The Vastus Lateralis

Many people with knee pain are told they have a tight IT band.

In reality, the IT band itself does not contract. It is not a muscle. It is a dense piece of connective tissue.

The real issue is usually the muscle underneath it: the Vastus Lateralis.

The Vastus Lateralis is one of the four quadriceps muscles, and it has a powerful influence on femoral rotation. When it becomes overactive, it acts as a compensatory internal rotator of the femur. That internal rotation feeds directly into the torsion problem at the knee.

In my clinical experience, an overactive Vastus Lateralis is the single most common sources of knee pain.

This is why, for most knee pain cases, we start by foam rolling the Vastus Lateralis. If there is immediate relief, we have strong evidence that we are dealing with a rotational imbalance driven by this muscle.

It is not magic. It is mechanics.

The Foot: The Foundation of the Problem

The next place we look is not the knee at all.

It is the foot.

If the foot is collapsing inward, also known as pronation, that collapse travels up the chain. The tibia rotates inward. The knee follows. The femur compensates.

What started as a small change at the arch becomes a persistent stress at the knee.

The more walking, standing, and running someone does on a collapsing foot, the more that pattern becomes cemented into the system.

Knee pain clients almost always need to address their footwear and support structure. Ignoring the foot while trying to rehabilitate the knee is incomplete at best and irresponsible at worst. The foundation matters.

Quadriceps Imbalance and the Patella

All four quadriceps muscles converge into a single tendon that runs over and under the kneecap.

The Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Medialis, and Rectus Femoris each exert their own directional pull on that tendon.

If one is significantly stronger or more active than the others, the kneecap can be pulled slightly off its ideal tracking path. This can create patellofemoral pain, especially during squatting, stair climbing, or prolonged sitting.

That said, true patellar tracking problems are less common in my practice than an overactive Vastus Lateralis and rotational dysfunction. Still, quad balance must be assessed and corrected when necessary.

The Hamstrings and Internal Rotation

The hamstrings also play a role in this rotational story.

There are three primary hamstrings, and each has a rotational influence on the femur. Only the inner hamstring meaningfully assists with internal rotation of the femur. In many people, this is the weakest and least active of the group.

If the inner hamstring is underperforming, the body loses one of its natural tools for managing rotation. The burden shifts elsewhere, often to the lateral quad and hip structures.

Restoring balance here is not about randomly strengthening hamstrings. It is about identifying which fibers need to work and teaching them to do their job again.

Posture Drives Everything

Now we zoom out.

Most people presenting with knee pain are not just dealing with a local muscular issue. They are living in a global posture that predisposes them to it.

A common pattern we see is a PEC presentation. The lower back is extended. The pelvis is tilted forward. The ribs are flared. The body is biased toward external rotation.

When the pelvis is positioned in external rotation, the femur compensates with internal rotation. That rotation cascades down into the tibia and foot, setting up the torsion we discussed earlier.

This is not accidental. It is predictable.

Add to that the reality that the brain’s fight or flight system defaults to this extended, externally rotated posture, and you begin to see the full picture. A stressed nervous system reinforces the very mechanics that keep the knee irritated.

You cannot overlook this.

Fixing the Knee Is About Untangling the System

There is no universal knee protocol.

Fixing knee pain means identifying which pattern is dominant in that individual.

Is it an overactive Vastus Lateralis?
Is it a collapsing foot?
Is it quad imbalance?
Is it weak internal rotators?
Is it a global postural bias?
Is it a nervous system locked in protection mode?

Once the pattern is identified, the process becomes clear. Lengthen what is overly tonic. Strengthen what is underperforming. Restore rotational balance. Improve foot integrity. Reposition the pelvis and ribs. Calm the nervous system.

But like everything we teach at Saint Bartholomew, this cannot be addressed in isolation.

There is a respiratory component. If breathing mechanics are off, posture will not hold. There is a strength component. New patterns must be loaded and reinforced. There is an energy production component. The system must be able to sustain good mechanics throughout the day, not just for ten minutes in a clinic.

The knee is simply where the alarm bell is ringing.

The real work is bringing the entire system back into alignment.

When the femur and tibia no longer have to fight each other, when the foot supports instead of collapses, when the hamstrings and quads share the load appropriately, and when the nervous system no longer defaults to tension, knee pain often resolves far faster than people expect.

The knee is not fragile.

It is just misunderstood.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

Without hesitation, the team’s head Athletic Trainer ushered him back to the locker room. Inside, the team’s medical personnel was waiting for him.

The athlete laid down on the training table and the process began. The Athletic Trainer quickly ran his tests. The orthopedic surgeon soon followed. The team’s physical therapist, massage therapist and sport psychologist all joined in.

“MCL sprain,” the ATC suggests to the group, “Doc, can you get him scheduled for an MRI as soon as possible for confirmation.”

The wheels were in motion.

Once the imaging came back clean and confirmed the MCL sprain, the team sprang into action.

On the flight from New Orleans to Chicago, the medical team gathered to create the plan.

The Athletic Trainers would ice down the area and provide red light therapy in the morning.

The massage therapist would then take over to manually remove some of the inflammation and eliminate some tissue build-up in the surrounding muscles.

The Physical Therapist would then step in for some corrective exercises. Building up muscles around the injury, working to support the structure and speed up recovery.

Next, the athlete would move to the weight room where the Strength and Conditioning Coach would train the rest of his body. Even though he would be out for a week or two, he couldn’t afford to fall out of tip-top shape. Alternative exercises were formulated into a plan that attacked different body parts, and new machines were selected to avoid the injured area but still produce an intense training session.

Lastly, the sports psychologist would enter the equation. Making sure that everything in between the ears was remaining focused and in the right place.

In every professional sports setting, this is how injuries, pain and illness are treated.

In the real world…

…however, a very different reality exists.

If you were to have knee pain, what would be your first move?

Maybe, you would wait a little bit to see if it would go away on it’s own.

If that didn’t work, would you Google “good exercises for knee pain?”

Maybe you’d end up down a YouTube rabbit hole or with a completely transformed Instagram algorithm giving you more suggestions and exercises than you know what to do with.

By the time you get here, the professional athlete is already halfway back to full strength.

If you still haven’t found a solution, now you might start asking friends and family for a Physical Therapist recommendation.

Should you choose to see one, this begins an entirely new phase of treatment. You’re sent from one place to the next like a cat chasing it’s tail trying to get MRI’s and X-Rays and going through cookie-cutter programs with mild supervision at best.

If that wasn’t bad enough, you are quietly contending with the insurance companies too…and you may not even realize it.

If your diagnosis isn’t pre-approved by the insurance provider, your Physical Therapist won’t get paid so they are incentivized to fit you into a diagnosis that’s already “on the list,” even if it’s not accurate.

The same thing goes for how they treat you. They can’t use the most up to date science and technology to get you healthy as quickly as possible because the insurance companies don’t recognize those as approved treatments. Again, they are incentivized to give you less effective treatments.

Pair these challenges with the fact that you don’t get access to a team of specialists whose motivations completely align with your own (to get you back as quickly and completely as possible) and it’s a miracle that you end up getting better at all.

Medicine:

The science and art dealing with the maintenance of health and the prevention, alleviation, or cure of disease.

Five years ago, a client of mine began taking blood pressure medication. His doctor had recognized his chronic elevation of blood pressure and prescribed a pharmaceutical to fix it.

Out of nowhere, he started having knee pain.

Was this a “cure of disease?”

Is this the “maintenance of health?”

What really CURES disease? What truly maintains health?

Pharmaceuticals are a blessing to the modern world but so many of the health conditions in our world can be solved completely by REAL medicine…diet, sleep and exercise (we include mental health as well).

When Dr. Terry Wahls was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), it wasn’t long before she was completely confined to her bed. As a physician herself she was discouraged by the effect her medication was having on her. It wasn’t helping her get better, it was just slowing down her demise.

She decided to take matters into her own hands and research who real food might give her the same benefit. She completely reversed her symptoms.

Disease:

A condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms.

At Saint Bartholomew, we believe that there are four systems of the physical body that contribute significantly to chronic pain.

1. Posture & Breathing

2. Strength

3. Energy Production

4. Central Nervous System Control

When any new client comes to our office complaining of chronic pain, we look at the collection of parts to find the answer.

Here is a sample diagnostic that we recently performed:

This person scored a 58 out of 100 and you can clearly see the various places where here systems are breaking down.

This individual came in experiencing chronic upper back and neck tension and the red on the assessment is pointing to his inability to breathe properly in that area.

Look at this assessment:

This individual has been to DOZENS of doctors who are prescribing surgical treatments, a litany of pills and various traditional treatments.

But look how painfully weak they are? He failed nearly every strength assessment? You want to see real medicine? Flip each of those tests to green and watch what happens to chronic pain.

If we take all 42 of these tests and get them flipped to green, the likelihood of him still being in pain is nearly zero because his body is operating at such a high level.

That’s REAL medicine.

It’s Time for a New Branch of Medicine

On an average Wednesday at Saint Bartholomew, you will see client’s split squatting heavy weight. You will see others running on the treadmill and some even meditating.

You’ll see 81-year-old teachers starting to do things they thought they’d never do again and you’ll see All-NFL linebackers trying to get that little edge over the Dallas Cowboys.

But what you’re really seeing is medicine.

Medicine as it was initially intended.

Medicine that actually works.

Medicine that truly restores.

You’ll see people prioritizing their health.

You’ll see people making dietary changes.

You’ll see people sweating!

You’ll see people out of breath!

You’ll see people pushing their bodies to get better and most importantly you will see people healing.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

In a book that reads as fiction (although there is a compelling case to be made for the contrary), Virgil, the pilgrim’s guide, was a real person.

Virgil was a renowned poet who lived from 70-10 BC and in this great book, he represents the voice of reason.

The mountain they were beginning to climb was Mount Purgatory. This is where man goes to purify his spirit before being permitted to cross the threshold into paradiso…heaven.

As they climbed Mount Purgatory, they paused at each level so Virgil, the voice of reason, could explain to the pilgrim what was happening here. He would explain what the souls at each level were doing to cleanse their soul.

Up and up they went. Higher and higher. Until finally, they reached the gates of paradise.

But before them was their final obstacle. A great wall of fire.

“What are we going to do?” the pilgrim asked, turning to his mentor Virgil.

“You must walk through the fire,” Virgil replies.

The pilgrim shudders in fear.

He turns back to Virgil and says, “Ok, let’s go.”

But Virgil doesn’t move.

The pilgrim is confused.

Virgil looks up to him and says, “I can take you no further.”

Virgil continues, “It will not be easy. It’s going to hurt. Paradise is waiting on the other side. But you must go alone.”

The pilgrim, also known as Dante, is petrified by his guide’s instruction, but he works up his courage, bids farewell to his voice of reason, and walks into the fire.

Paradise was waiting for him.

I began studying the brain in 2013. It was my first year working professional sports and my curiosity began because I was confused by what I was witnessing.

I grew up, like everyone else, being told that hard work and dedication was the secret formula to success.

In professional sports, it quickly became apparent to me that this might not be the case.

During my interview with the New York Mets, I was asked, “How would you respond if a player decided to confront you during a workout and tell you he’s not going to do it?”

I said, “I would pull him off to the side and try to explain to him what a great opportunity he had to be playing Major League Baseball and that this was going to help him get there.”

The interviewer laughed, “Definitely do not do that.”

He continued, “Just let him walk away and try again tomorrow.”

The training strategies of professional athletes are nothing like you think. Many of my chronic pain patients are doing workouts that are far more difficult than what I witnessed in MLB or NBA weight rooms.

I expected professional athletes to be dedicated weight room warriors. Many of them, though, had zero interest in training.

In one instance, I had a player that was so opposed to lifting that I jokingly used masking tape to draw arrows on the locker room floor from his locker to the weight room since he apparently couldn’t find it.

During my time in the NBA, another player who hadn’t lifted in months, walked into the weight room. When I was surprised to see him there, I asked, “Hey, are you working out?”

He stopped, looked around and said, “Oh, I must have gotten lost.”

And left.

If you talk to anyone who has been behind the closed doors of professional sports, they will echo the same sentiment.

My point is not that working out is overrated. Rather to ask, what really creates high performance?

Is it fair to say that professional athletes have the best functioning bodies on the planet?

Is it fair to say their systems are working the best?

Is it fair to say that they get the most out of their physical bodies?

I think all of the above are true statements.

Then, if that’s the case, how come the overwhelming majority of them behave this way?

When I asked myself this question, the answer was obvious…

…the wires in their brain were not connected in the same way that mine were.

And I think we can all agree on that.

I remember playing a college basketball game at Cornell University in front of 100 fans and being terrified to shoot free throws.

“Just hit the rim,” I was telling myself.

I was scared, nervous and was completely locked up in the moment.

But professional athletes on the other hand can stand in front of tens of thousands of people and execute flawlessly without an ounce of nerve in their body.

That’s weird.

That’s not weightlifting or running extra sprints. That’s the brain.

I developed this theory called the “Neurological Emergency Brake.”

I learned that the brain was constantly evaluating the world around you to determine if you were safe or dangerous.

If the brain perceived danger, it would activate the fight or flight system and tighten the entire body. It creates rigidity throughout your body and prepares you to fight.

If it perceives safety, it exhales. It relaxes. It allows you to move freely and effortlessly.

What professional athletes were able to do that I wasn’t was perceive safety on the big stage.

In front of all those people, with all that pressure, somehow their brain didn’t see any danger in that and thus, they were able to access all of their God given talent.

It’s kind of like the emergency brake in your car. Have you ever had the experience of driving your car and you notice that it’s not behaving the same way. It feels a little slower. It doesn’t accelerate the same way. Then you look down and realize the emergency brake is on. You pop it off and all of a sudden, it’s driving normally again.

This is exactly how the brain is operating. If danger is perceived, the emergency brake is turned on. It holds back your body’s ability to perform and move fluidly.

To restore optimal biomechanics, the neurological emergency brake must be released.

For me to get an NBA player to reach his peak performance, I needed to ensure that his neurological emergency brake was released, otherwise, I would always be limited. His ceiling was lowered.

For those of you in chronic pain, or dealing with chronic illness, the same rules apply. If your neurological emergency brake is on, your brain is quite literally experiencing an emergency as you read this post.

Your pupils are dilated, less important functions like digestion are muted and your body is becoming rigid.

In my chronic pain clinic, many people come in with idiopathic pain (pain of unknown origin). They have tried everything, no one can figure out what’s wrong, but they are still in pain.

They see muscular imbalance or nerve impingements. But I see a brain in a panic.

No exercise, massage technique or surgery can override a fearful brain. This must be addressed first.

The brain is the gatekeeper.

When I started studying this behavior back in 2013, I started with the obvious. I began reading neuroscience, enrolling in neuroanatomy courses and trying to understand the brain.

I learned a lot about how the brain works but in practice, most of the techniques fell flat. They made scientific sense but didn’t translate to the real world.

My voice of reason took me to the next level. Psychology.

If the mechanics of the brain (neuroscience) weren’t delivering results, maybe I would find the answer in “how humans think.”

But again, most of the strategies were whitewashed, idealistic techniques that made sense in a clinic but not when push came to shove.

My voice of reason whispered to me that there must be something deeper. Personal development books seemed to be the next step.

Legends in the space like Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar create what appeared to be real world applications of human psychology. In a seminar of 20,000 people, these words can light you on fire, but when you’re sitting at your desk on Monday morning, it’s still the same old, same old.

Nothing seemed to work.

Is it even possible to turn off someone’s neurological emergency brake? Or are we all doomed to a lifetime of fear, doubt and anxiety.

As I wracked my brain looking for something beyond self-help books, I began to notice a subtle trend.

There was one book that all of these gurus were referencing.

At first, I was turned off by it. I didn’t want to read it. How do you even read that thing?

But I saw it referenced enough times that I began to wonder, “maybe there is something to it.”

That’s when I picked up the Bible. Not for any religious reason, but out of curiosity. Might there be some secrets in here that I was missing.

In Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, there is a story that we all know.

Adam and Eve.

God creates Adam and soon realizes that man should not be alone. So he takes a rib from Adam and uses it to create woman, Eve.

He places them in the Garden of Eden and says “You may do whatever you want, EXCEPT eat from the tree of knowledge.”

We all know the story. Persuaded by the serpent, Eve eats the forbidden fruit and convinces Adam to do the same.

Soon, God returns to the garden to check on his creation but he can’t find them. He calls out for them and asks why they are hiding.

“We are ashamed that we are naked.” They respond after making small clothing garments out of fig leaves to cover themselves up.

“How did you know you were naked?” God asked.

It was at this point God knew they had eaten from the tree of knowledge.

When I look at professional athletes, I see people who do not know they are naked. They have lived a life where they have found incredible success around every corner. They have always been praised for their athletic gifts. They face minimal adversity (at least athletically) throughout their upbringing and are handed millions of dollars at such a young age.

They have not lived life like we have. They do not share the same fears that we do. And thus, their brains were not wired in the same way.

They live in a state of blissful ignorance.

That is until they eat from the tree of knowledge.

We see this in sports. A baseball pitcher suddenly cannot throw a strike anymore. It’s called “the yips.” Something that they have been able to do effortlessly and without thought for their whole life is suddenly remarkably difficult.

Now they know they’re naked. They know there are consequences to their actions. No longer can they live in a state of childlike naivety.

Like everyone else, they turn to Virgil, the voice of reason. They begin looking at their pitching mechanics. Where do they stand on the mound?

“Maybe I should turn my foot slightly out to help me get more rotation,” they think.

But once they are in their head, they’re dead.

My study of the brain has taken me to places I never thought I’d go. What started with simple neuroscience, ended up with me studying the great religions of the world.

As you now know, it led me to Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Dante was led by Virgil through the nine layers of hell, up the cleansing levels of Mount Purgatory and finally to the precipice of paradise, only to be met with the great wall of fire.

Dante pleads with Virgil to go with him, but he is denied.

“It will not be easy. It’s going to hurt. Paradise is waiting on the other side. But you must go alone,” Virgil says.

Reason can only take you so far.

There is a level of health and a level of performance in which you cannot reach by gritting your teeth and efforting your way up to.

This level of health and performance. The HIGHEST level of health and performance can only be achieved by letting go.

Letting go of reason.

Letting go of “how to” strategies.

Letting go of new techniques.

Letting go of all the Type-A, overachiever, analytical, impose your will upon the world ways that you have come to rely upon.

It’s going to hurt.

It’s going to be scary.

But paradise is waiting on the other side.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

That is the job description of an NBA Strength & Conditioning Coach.

I was in charge of taking 15 men to their absolute limit.

What would it take to unleash any and all untapped potential?

If we look at the four categories of human performance,

• Posture & Breathing

• Strength

• Energy Production

• Central Nervous System Control

…an NBA player is trying to maximize the output in each category.

This meant daily training, corrective exercises, brutally difficult conditioning sessions, massages, frequent naps, integrating new technology, investing in their nutrition, breaking down film, studying their opponents, hydration, maximizing recovery and so much more.

As a result, treating their pain is easy.

When an NBA player comes in with back pain, there isn’t much of a mystery. When a human body is functioning at such a high level, there are very few possibilities.

In most cases, I could completely eliminate pain on my professional athletes in a matter of seconds.

For the past eight years, I have operated a chronic pain clinic in New York City for mostly non-professional athletes.

For all chronic pain patients, they are simply looking for a strategy to restore their body to sufficient working order.

Across the world, it would appear, that millions are struggling to find this solution…but it’s not hard to find.

Look no further than the people on this planet with the highest functioning bodies…professional athletes.

When I left Los Angeles to open up shop in New York, I was struck by how much worse the non-professional athlete took care of themselves.

I was blown away by what the general population believed a “good workout” was.

Whenever someone would come into my clinic and tell me they were in pain, I would secretly think, “Well, yea! I’m not surprised!”

They had let their body fall into such disarray and for so long, eventually something was going to break.

Many did so unknowingly.

Everyone is doing the same workout.

During our assessments, I always ask them to tell me about their workouts. 99% of men are doing the same thing. They are doing classic bodybuilding splits. They barely do legs (if at all) and they aren’t sweating a single drop.

At the same time, 99% of women are also doing the same thing. It’s always some combination of Yoga, Barre and Pilates.

Sure there are generalized benefits to doing anything in the gym but this is not how you train a body.

As far as I can tell, everyone is falling far below the minimum acceptable requirements to maintain a sufficiently functioning body.

It’s no wonder they are in pain.

The Ten Commandments of Owning a Human Body

The following is an excerpt from my book Athletes Heal Faster. You can get a complimentary copy of this book here.

When I was working for the Lakers, we had one of our point guards come into the weight room one morning complaining of a stiff neck.

He couldn’t turn it to the left.

As an NBA point guard, that’s not good. His job is to see the entire court and set guys up to score. He’s the floor general.

“I must have slept funny.” he told me.

But I was thinking something different…

“What rule did he violate?” I thought to myself.

The human body has a very unique and specific design to it.

All movement and all behavior is not created equal.

Because of this, there are certain rules that come with having a human body.

When you violate one of those rules, the alarm bells sound.

To put it simply, his muscles were contracted in a spasm. The brain sends the signal to lock a muscle on like this when it believes there is some danger. It’s a protective measure.

If we eliminate the threat, the muscle will relax.

“What rule did he violate?”

Life in the NBA is wild. The amount of traveling that these teams go through in a single season is astounding.

After most games, you’re headed right to the airport to hop on a plane to travel to the next city.

I remember those plane rides well.

Flying deep into the night, across the country and landing at some crazy time in hopes that the airport wasn’t too far from the hotel.

I ALSO remember seeing this point guard on every flight hunched over his portable video game unit.

He was a gamer.

He bought some crazy, portable video game contraption to bring on the plane with him so he could play on the flight.

Any time I got up to use the bathroom or stretch my legs, I would look down to the players section of the plane and see that familiar light glowing from his usual seat.

“What rule did he violate?”

I quickly began scanning my mental filing cabinet for an answer.

“The eyes are intimately connected to the muscles of the neck.” a thought popped into my head.

“The rule he violated was playing video games too much and it was his vision that was keeping him engaged in spasm.” I mentally concluded.

“OK, lets try something,” I said out loud.

I had him stand in the middle of the room on one leg.

I stood on his left with a tennis ball and another coach stood on his right with a tennis ball.

He had to look straight ahead and catch the tennis ball if we threw it at him.

I was trying to make him access his peripheral vision.

After a few minutes, I asked him to move around and test the mobility of his neck.

“How does it feel?” I asked.

“Holy S***!!!” he responded, “What the hell was that?!?!”

His pain was gone.

He had violated a rule, we identified which one, and put the body in a position to force himself out of it.

By accessing his peripheral vision, I was getting him out of that pattern of staring straight ahead at the screen that I was assuming the video games locked him into.

By having him stand on one leg, I was forcing himself to re-stabilize his system without the help of his vision.

When I was a 19-year-old college basketball player, this stuff didn’t matter so much.

I could throw my sneakers on in a hurry, run out to the gym floor and be in the middle of a full-blown, Division-1, college basketball practice within seconds of lacing up my sneakers without missing a beat.

Now, at 36, the tides have turned.

At 19, these are more like guidelines.

At 36, they are commandments.

As we grow older, breaking one of these commandments transforms from a slap on the wrist to a mortal sin.

There are simply rules to operating your body and if you abide by them, those painful alarm bells stay silent.

Commandment #1: Never Do Bilateral Exercises

Bilateral means double arm or double leg.

You shouldn’t be squatting.

You shouldn’t be deadlifting.

You shouldn’t be bench pressing.

You shouldn’t be doing pull-ups.

Am I shattering your beliefs?

Am I being too aggressive?

Let’s make this quick and to the point.

Anatomically, the left side and the right side of your body are not the same.

The right side of your diaphragm is WAY bigger, WAY stronger and in a WAY better position to contract than the left side of your diaphragm.

When it contracts (this is your breathing muscle; it contracts when you inhale), a game of tug-of-war begins between the right side and the left side.

This is like a game of tug-of-war between Arnold Schwarzzeneggar and my 2-year old nephew.

I love the kid but Arnold is going to destroy him.

At 20,000 reps per day (on average), during each contraction, Arnold’s strength (the right side of the diaphragm) is so strong that it pulls your body over to the right.

Humans become exceptionally good at standing on their right side but not so good at standing on their left.

This has nothing to do with being right handed or left handed.

It has everything to do with the right side of your body (Arnold!) being way stronger than your left.

Whenever you do a bilateral exercise, meaning using both legs or both arms at the same time, the contention is that you are getting 50% action on the right and 50% action on the left…

…but with this anatomical arrangement, is that possible?

The answer is no.

I’m sorry to wipe out your favorite exercises but according to the rulebook, they are illegal.

Everything you do MUST be unilateral, meaning doing one side at a time.

For a more detailed explanation of this concept, download a free copy of my book Predictable Pain and read the Left AIC section.

This book will give you an in-depth look at the anatomy of the body and I promise you, it will prove to you that bilateral exercises violate the rules of the road.

Download a free copy here: www.4AHPS.com/book

Commandment #2: Rest Every Fourth Week

Exercise is stress.

Calculated stress…but stress nonetheless.

You are intentionally stressing your body in particular areas to elicit the response you want.

All stress counts the same.

Stress from work…

Stress from family…

Stress from bills…

Stress from your favorite football team that keeps running it on third and long and driving you absolutely crazy (I’m looking at you West Virginia!)

At some point, the accumulation of stress hits a breaking point and the body starts to break down.

When you’re training, that breaking point is usually the end of the third week.

If you’re training at the right intensity, you should notice that you’re feeling a little more tired, a little less energetic and your strength may even be going down in your workouts. This should all start happening right towards the end of that third week.

This means you’ve programmed nicely.

This also means it’s time to rest.

In the business, we call that week a “deload” week. In other words, it’s way lighter. Less weight, less reps, way less intensity and way fewer workouts.

During this week we evaluate our client’s progress and begin to craft the next phase of the program.

Professional athletes can sometimes push off their rest week another week or two, but these are people with nothing else to do.

They go to practice at 10am, they are back home by 1pm and they go to the beach or play video games the rest of the day.

For the rest of us who have other things to worry about, the fourth week is the default recovery week.

Commandment #3: Hamstrings, Glutes and Abs Will Solve All Your Problems

The muscles in charge of power…

The muscles in charge of posture…

The muscles in charge of health…

The muscles in charge of athleticism…

The muscles in charge of just about anything you want are the hamstrings, glutes and abs.

Not shockingly, people pay little to no attention to these muscles at the gym.

“But Sean, I do abs every day!” you might be saying.

When I say abs, I mean obliques. The side abs.

Take a look at the rectus abdominis here…

This is the six-pack muscle. This is what everyone wants.

I’m no different. I like having nice looking abs too but these things don’t have enough real estate on the pelvis and ribs to stabilize the core.

Great athletes (the people with the best functioning bodies) have the ability to keep their ribs stacked squarely on top of their pelvis.

When someone says “core,” this is what they mean. Your “core,” is your ability to keep your ribs stacked squarely on top of your pelvis.

The best athletes can do this while maintaining speed, power and endurance.

It is insanely important to your health and performance to be able to produce the same stacked posture.

Look at their two tiny attachment sites. A small point on the ribs and a small point on the pelvis. That’s it.

You can see how bringing these two attachment sites closer together (a muscle contraction) would facilitate that stack BUT you’re just not getting enough bang for your buck.

Now look at the obliques.

BOOM! Look at all that juicy real estate!

Can you see how the obliques attach to the ENTIRE pelvis and ENTIRE rib cage?

Most pain in the body STARTS when you lose this stack. If I want to get it back and get you out of pain, I’m attacking the obliques with the force of a thousand suns.

Hamstrings and glutes are the most powerful assistants to producing this stack.

If you polled anyone who has ever spent time working with us at our clinic, they would, without hesitation tell you…

“We do so much hamstrings!”

“We do so much abs!”

Commandment #4: You Must Twist

There are three planes of motion that a body can move in…

1. Front to Back

2. Side to Side

3. Rotation

…and yet, most people in the gym only do exercises in the first one. Front to back.

Bench Press

Squat

Deadlift

Dips

Pull-Ups

Sit-Ups

Crunches

…and the list keeps going!

A healthy human has freedom of movement.

Do you know those insanely huge dudes at the gym that are lifting super heavy weights?

Imagine them swinging a golf club!

Pretty stiff, right?

This is the perfect example of someone who has cemented their body in just the front to back plane of movement.

You need all three.

If you’re not doing any side to side or rotational exercises in the gym, you can guarantee that your body is progressively getting stiffer and stiffer with each passing day.

This rule violation is a first class ticket onboard the pain train.

Commandment #5: Move Backwards

As an entrepreneur, if I spend all my time and energy working on marketing, my coaching suffers.

If a basketball player spends all his time and energy shooting right-handed layups, his ability to shoot left-handed layups will suffer.

The healthiest humans are able to do all sorts of different movements. We call this variability.

But if you’re spending every day of your life walking forward, running forward, doing forward lunges at the gym, then your ability to go backwards will suffer.

Remember Rule #3, “Hamstrings, Glutes and Abs Will Solve All Your Problems?”

Well, they are also the muscles in charge of pulling you backwards.

The best athletes do REVERSE lunges.

The best athletes do REVERSE sled drags.

The best athletes spend time walking BACKWARDS on a treadmill.

I’ve even cured headaches in record time by just having someone walk backwards on a treadmill.

Commandment #6: Aerobic Over Anaerobic

At the dawn of the industrial revolution in the late 1700’s, technology began to separate itself from evolution.

Technology develops at such a rapid pace, that the super-slow moving evolution of the human body has not had time to catch up with the modern lifestyle.

It takes hundreds of thousands of years for evolution to set in.

This means we have bodies that are stuck in the pre-technology era.

Hunter gatherer bodies.

Do you know how humans used to hunt for food?

They would go out in teams and try to find a good animal to take down. But the animals were always quicker and faster than they were, so they had to be creative.

They would form MASSIVE circles around these animals and slowly close the gap.

This would sometimes take days to tire the animal out enough to finally capture it.

This means we had to have bodies that could produce energy over a long period of time.

The anaerobic energy system can only produce energy for up to about sixty seconds.

The aerobic aerobic system does not have a limit.

The body you have was not designed to get a bench press PR of 400lbs for one single rep.

It might be a cool achievement to tell your friends, but it’s a violation of the rules.

When you’re exercising and your heart rate is climbing, somewhere around 150 beats-per-minute (depending on your training level), you cross the “anaerobic threshold.”

This is the point where you switch from using the aerobic system to the anaerobic system.

In that moment, you are now training something COMPLETELY different and training above that threshold gets a lot more complicated.

Commandment #7: You Should Sweat During Your Workouts

If you text between sets during your workouts, you can’t train with me.

If you drink a canned beverage during your workout, you can’t train with me.

If you don’t sweat during your workouts, you can’t train with me.

You aren’t working out.

I had a friend that once told me, “I don’t know what to tell you, I just don’t sweat when I workout.”

He told me this for years until one day he asked to join me for one of my sessions.

When we finished, he looked like he just took a shower with all his clothes on.

I belong to a swanky gym in Manhattan and as I’m doing a grueling workout on the treadmill, I look around and see a whole bunch of nothing.

People texting between sets.

People staring at themselves in the mirror.

People socializing.

Look, all that stuff is fine, but you ain’t here to train.

Exercise needs to be difficult.

It must cross a certain threshold of intensity to get what you want out of it.

Sometimes people show up to their first session with us in jeans or khakis.

“You’re gonna learn today,” I think to myself.

If you’re not sweating at the gym, you’re doing something very, very wrong.

Someone Out There is Thinking: “Any exercise is better than none.”

You are correct but you are painting with a very broad brush stroke.

This is not about generalizations.

If you want to be the best of all the ordinary people, then you can use that paintbrush.

Ordinary people are in pain.

This is about transcending ordinary…about moving with perfection.

If you are reading this, it’s time to start thinking about stepping out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary.

Commandment #8: Breathing Matters So Much

When I was playing college basketball, our Strength and Conditioning Coach had us do an exercise called “alligator breathing.”

I remember feeling that a breathing exercise was ridiculous.

But from where I stand today, breathing quite literally might be the single most influential action your body takes.

Anything you do for 20,000 reps every single day is going to have a mighty big impact.

To be blunt, if you can’t breathe correctly, you won’t be able to do anything correctly. It’s that big.

Here’s some key points.

Belly breathing is not good. This is training you to breathe with a disengaged core. Nothing good comes forms from a disengaged core.

You should be able to expand your ribcage 360-degrees with each inhale. Breathing into your back is a major problem for many folks. Add into the equation an anatomical arrangement that is making this even more challenging and you begin to realize the deck is not stacked in your favor.

Commandment #9: You Must Recover

Athletic Restoration is conversation between you and your brain.

You are sending your brain a signal (through intensity) that you want something (whatever muscle you’re working on) to improve.

If you deliver the right amount of intensity, the brain will concede and make that muscle stronger.

That process only happens during recovery periods.

It’s like when they shut down a road overnight to do some construction work on it.

They can’t fix the potholes during rush hour traffic!

Athletic Restoration is the same.

If you are not deliberate with ensuring that you have enough recovery time to create the improvements you’re asking for, nothing will ever change.

When I worked in professional sports, this was our biggest challenge. Where is the recovery time in a 162-game professional baseball season or an 82-game NBA season?

Commandment #10: The Brain Holds a Master Key

Imagine for a moment that you booked an assessment with me at our New York City office.

Nestled into the Manhattan’s Upper East Side, you find our office, take the elevator up and the door opens to a beautiful restoration center.

It smells nice. Like a fancy hotel lobby.

I walk out of my office to greet you wearing nice clothes, a spritz of cologne and I’m eager to get started.

After a brief discussion in my office, seated in nice leather chairs, we walk to the assessment room next door and begin the testing process.

I ask you to lie down on the table so we can get started.

You’re excited to get to the bottom of this thing that’s been bugging you for a while and you really believe this place is the answer!

Imagine how you would feel lying on the treatment table in this scenario.

Now, let’s paint a different picture.

Imagine you walked into our New York City office and the first thing you noticed when the elevator doors opened was a foul smell.

You step off the elevator into a poorly lit office and you see me sitting on the floor eating my lunch.

I stand up, wipe the crumbs from my mouth with my hand, and extend that same hand out to greet you.

You notice that I’m actually wearing flip flops and what appears to be a bathing suit.

My hair is sloppy, I don’t smell particularly nice, the entire office is a mess and it kinda seems like I haven’t paid my electric bill.

Now, to emphasize my point, let’s get a little crazy.

Imagine that the time has come to begin our testing. But instead of taking you into our testing room, you notice that I took the treatment table and placed it right in the middle of a busy New York City street.

I ask you to lie down to begin testing.

Imagine how you would feel lying on the treatment table in THIS scenario.

There is quite a difference, right?

In this second example, you would be tight, stiff, nervous and fearful that you might get run over by a car at any moment.

But in the first scenario, you would be much more loose and comfortable.

If I’m testing your hip mobility in the middle of a Manhattan intersection, I’ll take note that you have “tight hips.”

But do you really have tight hips?

No! You’re just very uncomfortable in your current environment.

When your brain perceives that there is a threat in your environment, it stiffens the entire system to protect you.

It turns on fight or flight.

This is not something we can overlook in Athletic Restoration.

We understand that the brain holds a, sort of, master key to regaining mobility, functional movement and optimal performance.

If you cannot manipulate that master key, then you cannot make a real change to your body.

“But Sean, what about __________.”

“Can I still do my Yoga?”

“Can I still do ___________?”

I get these questions every day when I outline these rules in our clinic.

Look. It is what it is.

Anything outside of these rules is illegal.

I did not design the human body.

I did not make the rules.

This simply comes with the territory.

If you want a body that behaves, that does what YOU want it to do, that moves through your life comfortably and without pain, you don’t have choices. You must follow the rules of the road.

What does that mean for your favorite pilates class? I’ll let you do the math on that one.

Violate these rules at your own peril.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

In 2010, I graduated from college with a degree in print journalism.

I chose journalism because it was the easiest major that I could think of.

I still remember sitting with my Mom, going through the catalog of things to study and settling on Journalism.

“You’re such a good writer.” she said to me.

But inside, I was thinking, “There’s no tests, only essays. JACKPOT!”

You see, at this stage of my life, I was 100% certain that I would be playing in the NBA someday. I simply couldn’t allow trivial distractions like studying get in the way of my hoops dreams.

“My major is basketball.” I would say.

Well, you know how this story ends.

I did not make the NBA…at least not as a player.

After my college basketball career ended, I was left with a vanquished dream and a degree that I wanted nothing to do with.

For that first year, I actually was a journalist. I worked in the sports department of the New Haven Register in New Haven, Connecticut.

I found the workplace to be remarkably dreary.

It was just a huge open room with desks scattered about and a constant low hum of phones ringing and people typing on their computers.

My supervisor was hardly aware of my existence. I would be given the lowest possible busy work like calling local high school volleyball coaches to record the team stats so we could print the box scores in tomorrow’s paper.

As I began to realize that nobody had any clue that I was even there, I just stopped showing up. I would be gone for weeks at a time. I would pop back into my supervisor’s office on my rare trips to the office just to show face.

As you now know, I did not last as a journalist. I quit after one year.

The next year, it was time to try something new.

I was going to be a substitute high school teacher.

And I joined the workforce at New Haven Academy, also in New Haven, Connecticut.

I decided that I was going to be the “cool sub.”

I would just let the kids talk quietly amongst themselves and enjoy a light period.

Well, on the very first day of school, I immediately lost control of the class.

The kids were getting so loud and rowdy, that I began scrambling to regain control.

One of the students jumped up onto her desk and began to dance. The rest of the class was loving it. I was in a complete panic.

The school had a security officer who would roam the hallways. He was not a policeman but he was a very likable person and I needed some help. So I paged him.

A few minutes later, he walked into the classroom to find quite the rambunctious scene.

I motioned towards the student dancing on her desk and signaled that I needed help.

He sauntered his way over to the student and said, “Hey, c’mon now! Get down from the desk.”

The student turned to him, raised her middle finger and said, “FUCK YOU, I DO WHAT I WANT!”

The officer turned to me and said, “Well, I tried.”

And sauntered out.

I quit that job after the school year.

Barely out of college, I already had two failed career attempts and I had no idea what I would end up doing with my life.

One day, while watching my favorite show, King of Queens, with one of my best friends, he asked me the classic question when you’re trying to decide on a career.

I was frustrated with this big life decision I had to make.

“I can’t think about this right now,” I said, “I’m going to the gym.”

He stopped, looked at me and said, “Do that!”

“Be a Strength and Conditioning Coach!”

At the moment, it sounded reasonable. I liked the idea of wearing shorts to work every day and the Strength and Conditioning Coach that I had in college was awesome and seemed to love his job.

I decided to take the first step.

The next day, I walked into my college Strength and Conditioning Coach’s office and asked him what he thought.

Without answering me, he turned to his bookshelf, grabbed a huge textbook and dropped it on the desk in front of me.

“If you want to be a Strength Coach, you’ve got to learn this book.” he said.

I flipped through the pages for a moment.

“Ok.” I said, “I can do that.”

He continued, “And you can intern for me this coming school year.”

That was good enough for me. I was in.

Now, you’ve got to put yourself in my shoes. I had a JOURNALISM degree. I knew NOTHING about exercise science. My only experience was in being the athlete going through the workouts. I didn’t know any of the methods behind the madness.

I still remember opening that textbook and seeing “Actin and Myosin Cross-bridges” on the first page.

It may as well have been written in Chinese.

Each excruciating page was filled with things I had never heard of. I had to Google every other word to find out what the heck it was. It was a painstaking process.

A process that I didn’t quite understand either, because, after all, I knew everything there was to know about working out.

…or so I thought.

The interesting thing about fitness is that the world does not THINK they know how to workout, they KNOW they know how to workout.

Why else would 95% of the gym-goers in the world show up to their local health club and go at it alone?

I was the same way.

I thought that fitness was simply a game of mental toughness, intensity and volume. Do more, go harder, do it longer.

Almost immediately, I was blown away by the complexity of the human body…and I was just getting started.

I spent a few years making my rounds as an intern but eventually, I had to get a real job.

I loved the idea of working in sports but the only places willing to hire me were local gyms looking for personal trainers.

This journalism degree was really getting in my way.

Every exciting job posting had the same paragraph….

After months of getting turned down for jobs, my Mom started to apply some pressure. I had to get going here.

“If you really want to work in sports, you should send an e-mail to all the current Strength Coaches and see if they have openings.” she said.

Of course, as a know-it-all kid, I scoffed at the idea.

But later that night, I decided she was right.

I pulled out my computer and sent an e-mail to every single Strength and Conditioning Coach in professional baseball.

Since every Major League Baseball team had four or five affiliated Minor League teams, each with their own Strength Coach, I figured baseball was my best chance just given the amount of jobs that existed in the sport.

The next day, I got e-mails back from a bunch of teams.

Then my phone rang…

“Hello?”

“Hi Sean! This is the Head Strength Coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I got your e-mail.”

I was in shock.

“Could this guy be calling me from inside the Diamondbacks stadium?” I thought to myself.

I ended up landing interviews with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets.

I was offered positions with the Mets and the Diamondbacks but the Diamondbacks was my top choice.

And in 2013, I was hired to be a Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

My story that you’ve read so far is important because I need you to see where I’m coming from.

I walked through the doors of the Diamondbacks training facility for Spring Training for the first time in the spring of 2013…with a JOURNALISM DEGREE.

To say I knew nothing was an understatement.

All of my colleagues had relevant degrees, many certifications and talked well above my reading level.

Truthfully, I was mortified about how little I knew compared to everyone else.

At the end of every day, the Strength Coaches and the medical team would hold a meeting to discuss the various injuries amongst the players.

“What’s going on with Andrew?” the medical director would ask, “What’s our plan for his rehab?”

He would call on me every day.

I vehemently hated this.

He knew I didn’t have the answer but he would still call on me.

My routine was to just re-word whatever someone else said before me.

The only thing I was capable of doing at a high level that year was setting up the cones for team stretch.

Eventually, I hit a breaking point.

I was so fed up with getting called on in those meetings.

I was so fed up with players asking me a question and then another coach telling them not to do what I said because it made no sense.

I decided that I was going to get as smart as humanly possible and put an end to my ignorance once and for all.

My goal was to one day become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in the NBA and I knew that, if I was going to accomplish that, I would have to overcome the fact that I had a degree in writing paragraphs.

I knew that every interviewer would take a look at my resume, scan down to the college degree section and immediately toss that resume in the trash.

I needed to find a way to make my degree irrelevant.

This left me with only one option.

I had to get BIGGER and BETTER results than anyone else. And I had to do it FASTER than anyone else.

Here, I uncovered my greatest advantage.

You see, I was not weighed down by academia. I did not have a pre-scripted routine that I was “supposed to follow.”

While my colleagues were looking through the lens of “this is what I’m supposed to do,” I was looking through the lens of “what actually works.”

I vividly remember being in my first weight room in Missoula, Montana (Short Season Single-A Affiliate for the Diamondbacks, the Missoula Osprey) and watching my players go through a very popular ankle mobility exercise.

The goal, of course, was to increase ankle mobility.

The problem was, no one’s ankles ever became more mobile.

And yet, it was an accepted staple of everyone’s routine.

I threw it out.

I began to see weightlifting and exercise from a different perspective.

I began to see the HUMAN BODY from a different perspective.

Now, this book is going to teach you the lessons that I learned and the discoveries that I made, so I’ll spare you the details now.

But as I read more books, attended more seminars, spoke with successful coaches and continued to look through the lens of “what really works” the tides of my career began to shift.

After my first season with the Diamondbacks, the National Strength and Conditioning Association invited me to be one of their keynote speakers at their national convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

Each offseason, I began going on mini-tours of conferences and universities that were intrigued as to what I was doing.

I was developing quite a reputation.

People were noticing that I was doing things quite a bit differently than anyone else and the results were striking.

Soon, NBA teams began to take notice.

In my fourth season with the Diamondbacks, I was working in Mobile, Alabama with the DBacks’ Double-A affiliate, the Mobile BayBears.

We were on the road in Montgomery, Alabama and I was standing in the outfield during batting practice when my phone rang.

On the other end was the Los Angeles Lakers.

They wanted to fly me out and interview me for their open Strength and Conditioning position.

I didn’t tell anyone.

The next morning, I took an Uber to the local Macy’s to get a suit. I got a purple tie for Lakers’ colors.

Next, I went to get a haircut.

A few days later, on our off-day, I left my Mobile, Alabama apartment at 3:30 in the morning to head to the airport to catch the first flight to Atlanta, where I would then pick up a flight out to Los Angeles.

I landed at LAX several hours later, went down to the baggage claim area, walked into the handicapped stall in the bathroom and changed into my suit.

I hailed a cab to the Lakers’ training facility in El Segundo.

There I sat, in the waiting room of the Lakers’ practice facility. I remember thinking how cool it was that this is where Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant trained for many years.

Maybe I would see them while I was here.

For the next few hours I went through the interview process.

I interviewed with the performance and medical staff.

I interviewed with the General Manager.

I interviewed with the Head Coach.

When it was over, I hailed another Uber back to LAX to catch a flight back to the Bible Belt where I would meet the team in Biloxi, Mississippi.

No one knew a thing.

About a week later, the Lakers called and offered me the job.

The funny thing was that, in the entire interview process, no one ever asked me about my journalism degree.

They simply wanted to know how the heck I was able to deliver such crazy results and would I be able to bring that to the NBA.

This is the Flammarion Engraving.

If you look closely, you can see a man in the bottom left corner of the engraving.

The man is living in the normal world, but he’s a curious man.

You can see that he’s poking his head through the veil of the universe to see its inner workings.

He’s looking to find out how all of this REALLY works.

This painting is centered on the wall behind me in my office because I am that man. This is what I do.

This is how I was able to go from Journalism Degree to NBA Strength Coach in just four years.

This is how I’ve been able to help so many people get out of pain, recover from illness and unlock a level of health they never thought possible.

All of that came from looking through the lens of “what actually works.”

I do not know why you are reading these words.

I assume you are looking to do something similar. You may be in pain and desperately seeking a solution.

You may be sick and looking for an alternative strategy.

You may simply be looking for a way to be healthier, live longer and improve your overall quality of life.

If this is you, I can emphatically state that the answers you seek are in the pages ahead.

But I am not writing these words to meet your expectations.

I am not here to pander to the conventional.

I have no interest in getting you to like me, to agree with me or putting out a book that draws no criticism.

My only commitment is to the truth.

You may have come here seeking exercise routines, biohacks and nutritional guidance. All of which are coming your way.

But you will also most certainly find the unexpected as you continue to turn these pages.

My only commitment is to the truth.

My only commitment is to showing you how all of this REALLY works.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

- C.S. Lewis

On the very last page of this book, I will reveal to you the secret to exceptional health.

These will be the very last words I type.

This secret is real.

It is one sentence. Six words.

And it is truly a secret.

However, the secret to which I refer is right in front of your eyes at this very moment.

It’s staring you in the face.

Hiding in plain sight.

The supreme secret to optimal health is unexpected…very unexpected.

When I say “secret,” I don’t mean a trick or a technique.

I don’t mean something locked away in a textbook or known only to experts.

I mean something so ordinary and so close that most people refuse to take it seriously.

Years ago, as I flew out to Phoenix, Arizona, to start my first job, I never could have foretold this would be the ending.

But as I poured through hundreds of texts, enrolled in countless courses and debated with experts from around the world…

…all roads lead back to this one, painfully obvious, unexpected and all-powerful secret.

I’ve always felt that my greatest asset was the ability to be an objective observer.

When I was a kid, I remember growing curious about this whole Tooth Fairy thing.

I was looking at the facts and the likelihood of a flying fairy with an affinity for dentistry flying around the world, dropping a few coins under my pillow in exchange for my tooth.

“What does he do with all the teeth?”

“How am I not feeling it when he slips under my pillow?”

The next time I lost a tooth, I didn’t tell anyone.

“Surely, a magical fairy doesn’t need a heads up from my parents that my tooth fell out!” I thought.

So I slipped it under my pillow, per the directions, and simply went to sleep.

As it turns out, it is essential to the Tooth Fairy’s entire operation that I first inform my parents that the tooth had fallen out!

I’m asking you to be a more careful observer.

I’m asking you to be an independent thinker.

I’m asking you to read between the lines.

I’m asking you to watch what I do, not what I say.

I’m asking you to start asking, “What’s really going on here?”

If you ask those questions, and keep your eyes wide open, this mysterious secret will soon be yours.

I began writing this book about a year ago. It is the story of how I learned all this stuff about chronic pain.

In 2013, beginning with an irrelevant college degree, ending up in the NBA as a Performance Coach and settling in New York City with my own chronic pain clinic, I felt that I had a very unique perspective on a widespread problem.

I believe it’s worth sharing.

I felt, and still do feel, a strong sense of urgency to get this material into your hands. That’s one of the reasons I am releasing each chapter as I write it and releasing it at no cost.

However, that is not the primary reason for giving it all away, but that secret will stay with me until the very last page of this book.

The book has no title, although I’ve got a few in my head, but each time I complete a chapter, you’ll be the first to get it (I will also record an audio file for listening).

Lastly, to keep it organized and easy to follow, you can always go to the Welcome Post: Start Here + Guide to get links to each chapter in order. It will be posted on the Saint Bartholomew Website as well.

I hope you enjoy it and I hope it teaches you a thing or two.

Sincerely,

Sean Light

Founder of Saint Bartholomew

PS: You’ll notice that we are sending you the prologue as well to get started.

I’m putting the finishing touches on the next chapter so stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

Should a grizzly bear come barging through your door at this very moment, a simple collection of light would be received in your eyeball. That light would be converted into an electrical signal and travel along the optic nerve up to the brain.

Once it arrives in the brain, it’s headed towards the neocortex. This is the filing cabinet of the brain. It is going to thumb through these files trying to see if this collection of light (the grizzly bear) has been experienced before.

Finally, it stumbles upon the grizzly bear folder. It pulls it out, opens it up and in big red letters, it reads “DANGER!”

Your eyes don’t signal the danger. They are just light receptors. It’s the neocortex that makes that distinction.

At this point, your brain, which is a two-million-year-old protection device that only cares about your survival, must communicate this information to the body.

In this case, adrenaline pours through your veins and your body stiffens as your prepare to fight or flight (run away).

Based on this input, your fight-or-flight (sympathetic nervous system) has become activated.

Inside of the brain, this is all happening on complex neural networks. The grizzly bear is just a singular neuron on a massive network of connections, each with their own chemical response.

Despite holding the power to control your entire body, each of these neural networks are rendered useless without the simple signal…the action potential.

The action potential is a simple, little electrical charge that turns on a neural network.

As you sit here right now, think about lifting your right arm but don’t actually do it. That little build up of energy you feel is an action potential sitting at the starting gate ready to take action. If you go ahead and lift your right arm, that’s the action potential lighting up that neural network.

But as you send that electrical charge down that network and lift your right arm in the air, the neural network to wiggle your toes has no charge. It’s useless.

Try to tap your head and rub your belly at the same time. See what I mean?

Herein lies the importance of goal setting when it comes to chronic pain.

Did you know that the first person to ever get pulled over for speeding was going just 7 miles per hour?

Of course you didn’t (unless you read last week’s newsletter).

But in the moment you learned that information, an actual physical connection was formed inside of your brain.

When you set a goal, in that moment, you create an actual physical neural connection inside your brain. And when you think about it, thus sending the action potential down that neuron, you render other networks useless. After all, you can only think about one thing at a time.

If you want to learn a little more about this process, we went over it in more detail in last week’s newsletter.

When we ask you to set a goal, I am not trying to motivate you, I am trying to establish an entirely new neural network in which your pain signal does not exist.

Please take a moment to watch this video so I can explain some of this science.

By establishing a clear goal, we create a new neural pathway—one in which pain is no longer central. Through carefully designed systems and workflows, we reinforce that pathway day after day, giving the brain consistent evidence that a different state is possible.

Over time, that pathway becomes the default. The nervous system no longer has to decide—it simply follows what it has learned. This is why goal-setting is not motivational in our work. It is foundational to lasting pain relief.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

Of course you didn’t!

But at the very moment that you read that sentence, a physical neural connection was formed inside of your brain.

An actual file was placed into your brain’s filing cabinet upon learning this information. If someone were to ask you about it fifteen minutes from now, you’d be able to recall that information.

The networks in your brain are connected like a fishing net.

Each individual line represents a piece of information, just like the information you just learned about the first person to ever get pulled over for speeding.

But they don’t connect to random networks. They connect to similar networks. It’s called relational memory.

For example, the first person to ever get pulled over for speeding may have connected to the memory of when YOU got pulled over for speeding. This helps the brain better understand how to respond to the information.

A very important piece of neuroscience is to understand that when one connection fires, all the surrounding connections fire as well.

This is why you can be thinking about the time you got pulled over for speeding and ten seconds later, you’re thinking about your second grade crush.

“How the heck did I start thinking about this?!”

The connections might look like this…

You hear the information about the first person to get pulled over for speeding.

Now you remember when you got pulled over for speeding.

You remember you got pulled over for speeding because you were racing home late for curfew.

You remember that you were driving a Honda.

You remember that your first girlfriend drove a Honda.

Then you remember how you had such a big crush on her before you started dating her.

Then you remember your second grade crush.

All of this happens in the blink of an eye.

This part is massively important to chronic pain, as you will soon find out.

How Pain Becomes Automatic

You should now know that neural networks are created by connecting to similar connections (relational memory). You should also know that when one connection activates, it triggers a sequence of surrounding connections to do the same.

What happens when you wake up in the morning? If you’re like the rest of the world, it’s the same exact thing every day.

You grab your phone and hold it in the same hand…

You check the same apps in the same order…

You get out of bed and put on the same slippers…

You go to the bathroom…

You brew the same coffee…

You drink it from the same mug…

You drive to work the same way…

You listen to the same podcast…

You see the same people at work…

Where you perform the exact same tasks…

You drive home following the same route…

You order takeout from the same restaurant…

You watch the same shows…

Take a shower washing yourself in the same pattern…

You dry yourself off with your towel in the same sequence…

You put on the same pajamas…

You go to bed at the same time.

We are creatures of habit.

We are creatures of habit because the biology of your brain is set up this way.

In the very moment that your alarm kicks off in the morning, that is a signal to your brain that it’s time to trigger your morning routine. The first neural connection fires and all of the others soon follow. It’s on autopilot. You don’t even have to think about it.

This is called allostasis — the brain preparing in advance for what it believes is coming next.

For someone in chronic pain, this could be the entire problem.

Remember, in this newsletter, we described how pain is just a signal. An alarm bell. In my apartment building, every few months our fire alarm goes off, but there’s no fire! Well, the very same thing is happening to you. The pain alarm is going off, but there’s no damage. It’s a signal error.

You see, for many people in chronic pain (not everyone), somewhere in that sequence is the trigger to turn the pain on.

You grab your phone and hold it in the same hand…

You check the same apps in the same order…

You get out of bed and put on the same slippers…

You go to the bathroom…

You brew the same coffee…

You drink it from the same mug…

You drive to work the same way…

YOU START TO FEEL LOWER BACK PAIN

You listen to the same podcast…

You see the same people at work…

Where you perform the exact same tasks…

You drive home following the same route…

You order takeout from the same restaurant…

You watch the same shows…

Take a shower washing yourself in the same pattern…

You dry yourself off with your towel in the same sequence…

You put on the same pajamas…

You go to bed at the same time.

It’s embedded into your neural networks. It’s automatic!

Simply by falling into your usual routines and patterns, your brain fires the same circuits over and over again.

This doesn’t mean pain is imagined. It means the nervous system has learned to expect it.

How to Deactivate a Neural Network

The easiest way to quiet a painful neural network is to simply activate a different one.

If you were to wake up tomorrow and implement a radically different morning routine your brain would have to create an entirely new neural network and in this new network, the pain signal doesn’t exist.

You simply guide the brain down a different pathway and have it activate a different network.

How to Activate a Different Neural Network

The brain uses your senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste) to evaluate the world around you. Each input your brain collects via your senses will trigger a neural network to activate.

For example, when you see those pizza commercials with the hot, gooey cheese, your mouth starts to water. All that is happening here is your vision is collecting the input of a pizza and your brain responds with an action (mouth watering).

To activate and build a new neural network, just give your brain different input.

Want to see how your brain reacts to new input? Don’t have your morning coffee tomorrow.

How We Build Out New Neural Networks at Saint Bartholomew

The cool thing about humans is that we can trigger these networks through thought alone.

When a zebra is grazing on the prairie and sees a lion approaching, it turns on fight-or-flight system. But if the lion goes behind a rock, the Zebra’s brain isn’t advanced enough to realize the lion is behind the rock. It doesn’t see the lion anymore so it let’s it’s guard down.

Humans have the thickest neocortex (outer surface of the brain tasked with higher order thinking and problem solving) on the planet. This allows us to know that the lion is behind the rock and we shouldn’t relax just yet.

A study was done in 2004 that concluded that by just imagining that you were playing the piano, many of the same neural networks that would normally activate if you actually were playing the piano were activated.1

At Saint Bartholomew, we don’t try to “turn pain off.” We help the nervous system learn something new. The process always begins with a clear goal. Not because goals are motivational, but because they give the brain an anchor. A defined aim is the first new connection in a neural network — a reference point the nervous system can begin preparing for instead of defaulting to the past.

From there, we build systems and workflows around that goal. These are simple, repeatable routines that change what your days look like and what your body must anticipate. Movement, breathing, recovery, work, and training are no longer random. They become coordinated signals that reinforce the same message: this is where we’re going. Each repetition strengthens the new network and weakens the old one.

The workout program matters — but it works because it’s supported by the system around it. When the nervous system sees consistency, direction, and forward movement, it stops preparing for threat and starts preparing for performance. Over time, pain loses its place in the prediction. Not because it was suppressed — but because it’s no longer required.

This is why we don’t chase symptoms. We change what the nervous system prepares for.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

On Steve’s very first session, after his evaluation, I confidently looked him in the eyes and said, “We’re going to get rid of this pain!”

He looked up at me, “HA!” he scoffed.

I looked back at him, confused.

“That’s what they all said,” he told me.

Over the next four months, I was able to produce no results for Steve. Each week, he would religiously come in every Monday, go through all of my exercises and nothing would change.

Not even a little bit.

After each exercise, I would ask him to stand up and tell me if anything felt better.

After I asked, he would stand up, take a few steps, twist his torso, look back at me and go, “It’s still there.”

As the weeks went on, each time he would look back at me, I was starting to notice “a look” in his eyes. The look struck me as “unbelief.”

Each time he would look back at me, I couldn’t help but think that Steve didn’t believe this was going to work.

As he was leaving one evening, I asked him, “Hey,” I started, “Do you actually believe this is going to work?”

He thought for a moment, then looked down, “No.” he said.

“Even if I had the best exercises in the world,” I replied, “Don’t you think it would be hard for them to work if you didn’t believe that they would?”

He nodded in agreement.

Over the final few weeks of his program, I knew I had to address the brain. I had spent the last decade of my life studying how the brain could inhibit the body but I never had the guts to implement such an unconventional strategy. But in Steve’s case, it was all I had left.

On his very last session, I began telling Steve about my suspicion. How I felt there was some sort of brain block to getting the pain relief he was so desperately seeking. Since it was going to be my first time trying it, I offered to take him through it for free over the next few weeks.

Willing to try anything at this point, Steve agreed.

I was realizing that the brain was impossible to ignore. We all accept that the mind-body connection exists, but very few approaches actually do anything with it. That’s when I realized I needed to.

The Missing Piece

After a decade of studying neuroscience, I came to one simple conclusion.

If left to its own devices, the brain will eventually descend into chaos. Fear, doubt, anxiety and constant vigilance will all take over and leave us with a brain that is constantly in a low-hum of fight-or-flight.

When the brain flips into fight-or-flight, it puts the body into protection mode. Muscles tighten, breathing becomes shallow, and the body stiffens to keep itself safe. The problem is that a body stuck in protection mode can’t move freely—and without free movement, chronic pain has no way out.

Most people assume that if they just try harder—more exercises, more stretching, more effort—the problem will eventually resolve. But a nervous system under constant stress doesn’t respond that way. It responds to clarity. Without a clear sense of direction, every new exercise becomes just another signal the brain has to evaluate for danger. Instead of calming the system, this often keeps it on high alert.

We must deal with the brain first and that means getting everything moving in the right direction.

The very first week after installing this system, Steve reported a jaw-dropping 60% drop in his symptoms.

One week after that, he was back to playing basketball and soccer.

For years, my work focused on posture, breathing, strength, and conditioning. Those systems matter deeply—but Steve’s case made the brain impossible to ignore. If the central nervous system is stuck in protection mode, none of the other systems can express themselves fully.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

Halfway through the 2016-17 NBA season, one of our point guards walked into the training facility with one of those pesky “kinks” in his neck.

The kind where you can’t turn your head in one direction for a few days as it slowly dissipates.

For an NBA point guard, this is a major problem. These guys are tasked with “seeing the entire floor” to make the offense go. It is not uncommon to hear broadcasters remark about how certain point guards would have their “head on a swivel.”

Well, in this case, his head was stuck in concrete. There was no movement.

He walked into my office, turning his entire body to face me because his neck wouldn’t move, desperate for some relief.

We walked into the weight room and I asked him to stand on one leg. I stood on his left and another coach stood on his right. We both had tennis balls.

I instructed the point guard to look straight ahead and catch the tennis ball that we would be throwing at random. Sometimes it would come from the left and sometimes from the right. He had to use his peripheral vision to make it happen.

This is not the time to go into the science of this move, but in short, the neck often stiffens up because of a visual system too stuck in focal vision. Accessing the peripheral vision unlocks the mechanism.

After a few minutes of this, we sent him out to practice.

Over the next hour or so, his neck tension melted away and he never missed a single game.

During my time in professional sports, I came up with all sorts of tricks like this.

I developed a list of “rules” that would guide me whenever a player would come in with some sort of pain.

If they came in with right knee pain, I did a Vastus Lateralis release.

If they came in with right lower back pain, I did a left adductor activation exercise.

I thought of myself as some sort of quick-fix wizard.

But when I left professional sports and began working with non-pro athletes, the same problems that I could solve in three minutes in the NBA took me 3 months with the rest of the world.

I couldn’t figure out why this was happening.

During the first year of my clinic, a man came to me with “typical” right lower back pain. But none of my tricks worked.

I was a bit panicked and felt like I had to come up with something for him to do.

“Well, this guy is in pretty bad shape,” I thought to myself, “Let me just put him through a simple workout because people tend to feel better after some exercise.”

So, that’s what I did.

I gave him the most basic workout I could think of.

It had a profound effect.

His pain began disappearing by leaps and bounds.

This was when I first began to realize that the ordinary person’s body had fallen into such disarray, that just doing ANYTHING would start to move them in the right direction.

Working in the NBA, I was working with people who had been finely tuning their body for years. They ate well, they trained with expert trainers, they were hydrated, they meditated and consulted with sports psychologists and they pushed their bodies to become better every day.

But the average person has been drifting from this path for decades. They have an average diet, pull workouts from unqualified YouTubers and maybe meditate for five minutes at a time. Most people we see never REALLY push their body to get better, they do the bare minimum and oftentimes don’t even sweat in the gym.

The average person has been drifting from having a “well-oiled” machine for years. Eventually, something is going to break.

When you are born your body is firing on all cylinders. We call this genMAX. You are operating at your genetic maximum level. If we were to diagram it, it would look like this.

Your genMAX is broken down and measured in four categories (posture & breathing, strength, energy production, central nervous system regulation).

When you are born, each category is on the far right of the spectrum, hovering around “excellent.” You are at your genMAX.

The professional athlete has worked his/her entire life to maintain or even improve their genMAX.

But for non-athletes, your physical body grew less important. Maybe you were more interested in academics, or the arts. You spent your time focusing there and your these categories slowly began drifting to the right.

You didn’t do any one thing wrong, you just focused elsewhere.

But, over time the spectrum kept inching left towards “poor.”

At some point the screws start to loosen.

As you got older, maybe you started feeling a few aches and pains or maybe your gut became less resilient to certain foods and this made you start thinking about your physical body again.

This is when you’ll start researching “exercises for lower back pain,” or “good foods for gut health.”

You find a couple exercises to try or some new foods to introduce into your diet but nothing ever really works. This is because you’re trying to improve just one of these systems.

Then you go to the doctor who does the same thing. You go to a back pain specialist who is only looking at your back. Or you go to a gastroenterologist who is only studying your gut.

They will label this as “idiopathic pain,” which means “pain of unknown origin.”

But it’s not unknown at all.

To make learning easier and more digestible, our education system breaks it down into different parts.

This is why we see doctors who specialize in just one thing like brain specialists (neurologists), foot specialists (podiatrists) or eye doctors (optometrists).

But they’ve missed the most important step! Putting it all back together again.

One of the great privileges of my life was to see first-hand, what the best athletes in the world did to ensure their body was operating exceptionally well and then the juxtaposition of seeing how far off the rest of the world was from standard.

It wasn’t hard to see where chronic pain was coming from.

I found myself often thinking, “Well, of course you’re in pain, you haven’t worked out in a decade.”

Or, “Well, of course you’re in pain, your workouts stink!”

When I got my certification as a Strength Coach back in 2011, I thought I knew everything there was to know about fitness.

I thought it was all about doing more, going harder and taking no rests.

I was catastrophically naive.

The depths of the human body are mind-blowingly deep and most of the world is exercising on their own.

That is the equivalent of me stepping into the cockpit of a 747 Jumbo Jet armed with a YouTube tutorial from a guy who looks like he knows what he’s doing.

The genMAX System

Our success rate at Saint Bartholomew hovers around 90%. And remember, we see the hardest cases. We see the people who have been in pain for decades, tried every possible solution and are now throwing up one last Hail Mary to see if we can fix it.

And we do.

It’s not because we do anything complex. Rather, it’s the complete opposite. We do the most simple thing imaginable.

We just get the body…the ENTIRE body, back to working form.

The genMAX System evaluates each of your four systems and scores you in each. Based on these results, our team puts together a training program to improve them all.

All of our success rests on one single principle. If we get all four systems functioning exceptionally well, we will reduce the likelihood of you remaining in pain to nearly zero.

The genMAX System was inspired by my work with professional athletes. It was inspired by the glaringly obvious answer that pain cannot survive in a body that operates at such a high level.

The good news is, that you don’t need to come anywhere near your true genMAX, or the intensity and discipline of a professional athlete, to get out of pain, but there are minimum requirements to having a healthy, pain-free body.

It’s kind of like high school. You could work your butt off to get a 100% on the exam but passing is a 70%.

The body is a wonderful, yet extremely complex machine.

It all works together in a beautiful symphony of collaboration.

When we look at chronic pain in isolation, we miss the big picture.

But when you look at chronic pain through the lens of genMAX, you see the solution hiding in plain sight.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

In the early fourth century, in the coastal Roman city of Myra, a father of three daughters fell on hard times.

A previously wealthy man, he fell into poverty which meant that he no longer had enough money to arrange weddings for his daughters. In the early 300’s AD, this meant more than just social collapse. The daughters would have to be sold into prostitution.

Meanwhile, at his church, the Bishop learned of his parishioner’s hardship and took matters into his own hands.

Cloaked by the darkness of night, he made his way to the man’s house, stepped up onto a ledge and dropped a bag of gold coins through the open window.

The next evening, he did it again. This time, three more coins for the man’s second daughter.

On the third night, with a third bag of gold prepared for the third daughter, as he reached up towards the window, the family was ready for him. They wanted to meet their hero.

It was their priest, Nicholas of Myra.

Saint Nicholas.

Santa Claus.

I have this painting hung over my desk because I believe that it is the great secret to chronic pain relief.

Your brain serves as the gatekeeper to pain.

Its mechanism is simple.

Every moment of your life, your brain uses your senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch) to evaluate the world around you.

Remember, the brain is a two-million year old protection device. It’s top priority is survival.

When your brain perceives safety, it relaxes. YOU relax. You feel loose, the shoulders come down, your heart rate drops. This best version of you exists in this state. It’s in this state that the pain-free version of you exists too.

But when the brain perceives danger, it activates your fight or flight system. The heart rate rises, the pupils dilate, your ribs flare and your pelvis tilts forward. It’s preparing you to fight your enemy.

What was originally installed as a primal response to escaping life-threatening experiences for humans thousands of years ago, today, the brain gets a little confused.

In today’s world, the brain is incorrectly perceiving danger in everyday experiences. It perceives danger at work, in social situations and even simply by scrolling through Instagram.

Our ancient brains haven’t caught up to 2025 yet.

For many chronic pain sufferers, this is the missing link. They’ve tried all of the traditional methods of treatment but have yet to address the system holding the key…the nervous system.

I have watched so many miracles occur inside our office simply by getting the brain to open the door.

So, where does jolly old Saint Nick come in?

Remember, the brain is a survival machine. When it is up-regulated and activating fight-or-flight, it believes that your very survival is in danger.

You are now tasked with convincing it that it is safe.

Giving is the most profound way I have found to make that happen.

When you are a giver, you are sending the signal to the brain that everything is OK. “I’m taken care of.”

You are looking beyond yourself.

In a battle for survival, the brain can only focus on itself.

When relaxed, when fear and anxiety fade away, the brain will look to others. It can be generous.

To a survival brain, generosity is proof of safety.

In fact, I find it so powerful, that I have made it the sole core value for the Saint Bartholomew organization. Every decision gets run through the filter of giving.

In the early 4th century, in Myra, a Roman port city, Saint Nicholas quietly intervened to help someone in need—without being seen, thanked, or remembered.

What he revealed was the secret to conquering the nervous system.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

People who have been in pain for a decade or longer.

It is shocking how similar the stories are, “I’ve tried it all. I’ve been to a dozen Physical Therapists, tried acupuncture, a few chiropractors, had MRI’s and X-Rays done at the hospital…”

…and the story goes on.

It is crystal clear that the current system for dealing with chronic pain is awful.

In fact, I don’t think a system for eliminating chronic pain exists at all.

Physical Therapists, schooled in recovery from injuries and surgeries are utterly helpless when it comes to idiopathic pain (pain of unknown origin). It’s not their fault. They weren’t trained for this.

Doctors weren’t either. Physicians have isolated themselves to one single part of the body and are fixing their eyes on that spot alone. They mean well, but they aren’t seeing the complete picture.

The current system relies on procedures that address symptoms rather than sources. A nerve ablation procedure literally burns off the tip of the nerve so it stops firing the pain signal. But why was their pain in the first place?

Pharmaceuticals and injection are all attacking the symptom and not the source.

I’ve even had a few clients come in telling me that their surgeon is recommending that they do a “diagnostic surgery.” In other words, they can’t find anything wrong, so they’re going to cut you open to get a better look and MAYBE we’ll find something.

That’s tragic!

What’s even more tragic is the insurance-based system in which the entire medical industry relies on.

In an insurance-based medical system, clinicians often must choose diagnosis codes and treatment plans that fit what insurance will reimburse. This doesn’t always align with what makes the most sense for the human body. Many effective interventions — including personalized movement strategies, nervous system regulation, and foundational physiology — are not reimbursable, which means clinics are financially discouraged from prioritizing them. As a result, the system tends to incentivize volume and billing compliance over deep, individualized healing.

Chronic pain is not a mystery but it is to a medical system that is rooted in isolated, symptom-based medicine and a flawed economic model.

Saint Bartholomew was created to be real medicine.

Deep down, we all know that the model is broken. We know that truly restoring the human body requires a holistic approach that covers more than just the focusing on the symptoms. We know a healthy, thriving body consists of a fully-functioning mind, body and soul and it’s time someone acknowledges that.

At Saint Bartholomew, we’re not here to manage pain — we’re here to end it.

What is Pain?

Lorimer Moseley, the great pain scientist, tells the his story of hiking through the Australian Outback when he stepped on a stick.

“Ouch,” he mumbled to himself but didn’t think much of it.

A few minutes later, he noticed that his ankle was starting to hurt.

The pain grew and his ankle started to swell.

That’s when he looked down and noticed the unmistakable bite marks of one of the most venomous snakes in the world.

What followed was one of the most traumatic experiences of his life. He was helicoptered out of the outback and rushed to the hospital just in the nick of time to save his life.

Fast forward a few years and he was walking through his backyard and he actually did step on a stick. This time, his body exploded with pain.

Why? Because the brain remembered what happened the last time he felt that sensation and wanted to make sure that he was not so careless this time around.

Pain is just a signal.

It is not the sign of an actual injury, it’s just an alarm bell from the brain that is trying to get your attention.

For many people with chronic pain, that alarm bell has been ringing for so long, that the alarm itself has broken. It just won’t turn off! No matter how many clamshells you do with your Physical Therapist, if your brain EXPECTS pain, pain won’t go away.

A better approach is needed.

When I Worked in the NBA

…anytime a player got injured, he was rushed back into the training room and an immediate “meeting of the minds” commenced.

Gathered around the table were all the specialists on staff. I was there, the physical therapist was there, the massage therapist, athletic trainer, strength and conditioning coach, orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, and sport psychologist were all there.

Each would give their opinion and a multi-disciplinary plan was formed.

I would do his corrective exercises, the massage therapist would work on specific muscles, the strength coach would strengthen certain areas, the orthos would decide if any imaging or procedures were needed and each day, the athlete would show up and go through the entire plan.

Have you ever noticed that when a professional athlete gets injured, the team releases a statement that says something like, “Kobe Bryant will be out 4-6 weeks,” and then, like clockwork, 4-6 weeks later, here comes Kobe Bryant back to the court!?

But how come it’s taking months, or worse yet, YEARS for your chronic pain to go away?

In the NBA, the system is built for results. I never had to worry about client retention, the lifetime value of my customer or whether the exercises I chose would be approved for reimbursement.

My only job was to get results…period.

This is not the system that the average person has access to.

Not even close.

The Four Levers of Chronic Pain

We designed Saint Bartholomew using the professional sports system as our model. We wanted a comprehensive approach that addressed every major system of the body and we wanted to design the organization to ensure the clinician and client were aligned in their motivations. It had to be results-based.

We came up with the Four Levers of Chronic Pain. These are the four systems of the body that contribute significantly to pain.

Posture & Breathing

• 20,000 breaths every day, if this isn’t working well, nothing else will be.

• Static posture must allow proper breathing mechanics. Overly tight or overly weak muscles will influence how you breath.

• This is your core.

• Can you keep your ribs perfectly stacked on top of your pelvis?

Strength

• Now assuming you have a good “stack” (posture & breathing), can you maintain it under stress?

• Do you have adequate strength to maintain your core?

Energy Production

• Can you hold proper breathing mechanics long enough?

• Many people feel good when they wake up, but by 2pm, the pain is back. This is your ability to produce long sustaining energy.

• Nutrition and sleep play a major role here also.

Central Nervous System Regulation

• Are you quietly activating your fight-or-flight response without even knowing it?

• The moment fight-or-flight is activated, your body stiffens up and prevents you from becoming pain free. This must be trained.

• This is the gatekeeper to your chronic pain

Our philosophy is simple, if you train all four systems, you will eventually return the body to a high-functioning state.

With a body functioning at such a high level, what are the odds that you are still in pain?

This process effectively reduces the likelihood of you being in pain to nearly zero.

And that is our mission at Saint Bartholomew.

Breakthroughs are Happening Every Day at Saint Bartholomew

Tears are not uncommon in this clinic.

People who were running out of hope or thought this was just a part of the aging process are now staring down a pain-free, active, vibrant, exciting future.

Some people experience it on the very first day others breakthrough a few months in. But this is the place where it happens.

One of my favorite examples was a young man, 24 years old, who came to me with chronic lower back pain.

We went through the entire program and he got no relief. Every technique I tried came up empty.

At the time, I was still “workshopping” our CNS strategies and I wasn’t confident enough in them to bring them into the clinic but since we were having no success, I asked him if he would be open to giving them a test-drive.

One week later, his symptoms were 60% improved.

By two weeks, he was playing basketball and soccer again.

By week three, well, I don’t know because he just stopped coming in!

After this breakthrough, I knew our CNS strategies were the missing link and the final piece of our puzzle.

YOU CAN SEE MORE SUCCESS STORIES HERE

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Every time we hire someone new, we tell them that whenever a new client comes in, they are going to tell us their story.

They will highlight the complexities and the challenges they’ve faced.

They will make it seem like their case is uniquely complex.

Then we tell them that it rarely is.

You are not in pain for one singular reason or event.

You are in pain because collectively, your four levers are not operating as well as they could be. Maybe you let your diet slowly slip. Maybe you don’t sleep as well as you once did. Maybe you’re only focusing on strength in the gym and never do any cardio.

Chances are, it is a collection of factors that have led you to this point and it’s now time to get everything moving in the same direction again.

There is a great image from the book, Essentialism, that I like to show our clients.

Most of our clients come in with their energies and resources being aimlessly scattered about. But we know that success will come from channeling each of your systems all in the same direction.

This is how progress is made.

This is how breakthroughs happen.

Medicine by Saint Bartholomew - The Weekly Newsletter

I am writing this newsletter to give you the tools.

To teach you the science.

To show you the strategies.

To keep you up to date with new things I’m learning and experiences that happen in our clinic.

Our mission is to effectively solve chronic pain for as many people as we can and if you’d like to take this journey with us, please consider subscribing to this newsletter.

Sincerely,

Saint Bartholomew

I was in the second grade and my “Ranger Rick” magazine had just come in the mail. I was flipping through the pages when I felt an unusual sensation behind my eyes.

It felt like someone was pulling on the muscles behind my eyes.

Over the next few hours, the unusual sensation turned into tremendous pain.

It crippled me.

I was forced to retreat to my room, turn off all the lights and pray that the pain might pass.

The pain grew and grew and grew until finally, my body had enough and I began vomiting in the bathroom.

This, as it turned out, was the only way to make the pain stop.

Over the next fifteen years of my life, every few months, that ominous tug would appear and I would immediately know that my day was effectively over.

If I could catch it early enough and fall asleep, that seemed to work too.

But once the pain had crossed a certain threshold, it was like a runaway train. Nothing was stopping it.

In 2013, I was just starting my first job out of college. I was in Phoenix, Arizona as a Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

We were about halfway through Spring Training, which for us Strength Coaches, was the most grueling part of the year, when I felt that all-too-familiar tug behind my eyes.

My heart sank.

I knew what this meant.

I was just starting this new job. I was trying to make a good impression and I didn’t want to be the guy that had to go home because his head hurt.

Desperately, I walked into our medical office to see if they had anything that might help.

“Do you guys have anything for a Migraine?” I asked.

“Yea!” one of our medical guys replied, “We have Andrew!”

I was not in the mood for games. I was looking for medicine, not some wise-cracks.

Andrew was our medical director and our resident genius. He was known around the Diamondbacks facility for how smart he was. It was not unusual for him to perform, what appeared to be magic tricks, with the players.

I remember once, a player came in with lock-jaw. I had never seen that before. His mouth was stuck in the wide-open position. He looked like he was about to take the first bite of a massive cheeseburger.

I don’t know what Andrew did, but a few minutes later, the player was good as new.

If anyone had some sort of medical trick up their sleeve for this headache, it was Andrew.

“Give me five minutes,” Andrew said with a slight chuckle.

Five minutes later, Andrew walked into the weight room where I was waiting and told me to climb up on the massage table.

He started performing a battery of tests.

I had no idea what he was doing.

After a few minutes, he had me lay on my left side in the fetal position and lift my right knee in the air.

“At some point, I’m going to press this knee down,” he started, “Don’t let me push it down.”

I was confused but willing to try anything.

Suddenly, Andrew jolted my knee down towards the ground and I reflexively shot it back up.

“There,” he finished, “Stand up and see how you feel.”

“That’s it?” I thought, “He didn’t even touch my head.”

But as my feet hit the floor, I felt it.

It wasn’t instant. Rather it was like someone was turning the volume knob down. My migraine was retreating.

To say I was in shock would be a massive understatement.

This was utter disbelief.

In that moment, I had flashbacks to all the puzzled specialists I had been to as a kid who would simply say things like, “drink more water” or “stay out of the sun.”

For a decade and a half, these migraines were just a part of my life. Woven into the fabric of my day-to-day existence.

And in a moment, a light sprang up at the end of the tunnel.

There might be a future without these headaches.

“What the hell did you just do to me?!” I asked Andrew, “You have to explain it to me.”

He paused for a moment.

“Ahhh, it’s pretty complicated,” he replied.

“You don’t understand how big of a deal this is,” I started, “You MUST explain this to me.”

He stopped and his eyes turned upwards. Clearly he was trying to formulate what to say.

Then he looked back at me and said, “It’s just too complicated.”

In that very moment, my life changed forever. I became absolutely committed to finding out the science behind this magic.

Clearly there was some science out there that traditional medicine was not aware of and I made it my life’s mission to find it.

The Four Levers of Chronic Pain

After years in professional sports and years more in the clinic, I’ve come to one conclusion:

There are only four levers in the human body that truly matter when it comes to chronic pain.

If you don’t pull all four, pain is inevitable.

If you do pull all four, pain becomes optional.

Lever 1: Posture & Breathing

This is the foundation. The most fundamental movement pattern we have. You take 22,000 breaths every single day — more than any other muscular action except the beating of your heart.

If your breathing mechanics are off, your posture will fail. If your posture fails, every other movement in your life is built on a faulty structure.

This lever is about:

• Stacking your ribs on top of your pelvis

• Demonstrating good respiratory mechanics

• Maintaining that alignment during life, work, sport, stress, and movement

This is your core. If this doesn’t function well, nothing else will.

Lever 2: Strength

If posture and breathing are the core, then strength is your ability to hold that core together under pressure.

Think about an athlete getting bumped in a game. If they cannot keep their stack intact, they collapse. Strength is the muscular armor that preserves alignment under load, speed, impact, and fatigue.

This lever is not about bodybuilding. It’s about structural integrity.

Lever 3: Energy Production

This lever answers a different question entirely:

Can you maintain good mechanics long enough?

This includes:

• Cardiovascular conditioning

• Metabolic Health

• Sleep

• Cellular Health

• Nutrition

• Recovery

Maybe you can stay pain-free in the morning, but can you stay pain-free throughout the entire day, the entire week, the entire season?

Without this lever, your mechanics will fail simply because your system runs out of energy to sustain them.

Lever 4: Central Nervous System Control

This is our secret sauce.

This is the Saint Bartholomew lever.

When the brain enters fight-or-flight, it creates stiffness in the body that overrides every other lever. The nervous system locks the joints, clamps the muscles, and restricts movement until it perceives the threat is gone.

The threat can be:

• Something physical

• Something emotional

• A memory

• Stress

• Your personality

• Pure imagination

The human neocortex allows us to activate fight-or-flight with thought alone. A Type A personality can put themselves into chronic sympathetic activation simply by the way they think.

Until the nervous system is calmed, your body will not grant permission for healing.

It’s the emergency brake on the entire system.

Why These Four Levers Matter

When I worked in the NBA, I watched elite athletes come in every day and pull all four levers — constantly, intentionally, systematically.

They did:

• Corrective work

• Breathwork and postural restoration

• Strength training

• Conditioning

• Recovery work

• Nutrition

• Mental performance training

• Stress management

They had access to chefs, psychologists, manual therapists, sleep specialists, and recovery technologies.

Of course they did.

They were tuning a multi-million-dollar machine.

And it showed.

When an NBA player walked in with back pain, I could usually resolve it in minutes.

But when I opened my clinic and began working with the general population, what took me three minutes with an NBA player now took me three months.

Not because the NBA guys were more “athletic” — but because they were tuned across all four levers.

The average person was not.

How the Average Person Actually Trains

The average person pulls one lever and expects all four to change.

They take random advice from:

• Friends

• Social media

• YouTube

• Influencers

• Trainers who barely understand anatomy

Then they piece together a patchwork routine.

Meanwhile, even many “qualified” professionals are not studying, not reading, not learning. Most are simply clocking in and out.

The old military quote says it perfectly:

“Out of every one-hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back.”

I think just about every industry shakes out this way.

In health and fitness, out of every 100 professionals, 10 of them, you don’t even know how they got their certification.

80 of them are just going through the motions. Clocking in at 9 and out at 5 and not thinking about you until they see you again.

9 of them mean well and make a good effort.

But one of them lives and breathes this stuff. They go home and it’s all they can think about. They read books. They go to courses. They ask questions. They are on a quest for the truth. For the answers.

The odds that the random influencer you have found on YouTube is actually “the one warrior” is highly unlikely. It’s just as unlikely that they are one of the nine. This means that just about everyone is getting terrible information about training.

What Levers are You Pulling?

In addition, just about everyone who comes in here tells me they are doing the same workout. Most men are ONLY pulling the strength lever. They go to the gym and hit some combination of bench, squat, deadlift, etc. and they go home. They barely sweat, they never touch conditioning and they are certainly not doing breathwork, postural restoration or mental work. Women are much of the same.

Most women who I see are doing some combination of Barre, Yoga, Pilates. Again, mainly pulling just one lever.

Why Chronic Pain Becomes a Mystery

Chronic pain is so mysterious because the doctors and therapists tasked with solving it are not looking at the body this way.

Which is RIDICULOUS because this is how the body works and we all know it.

A Physical Therapist dealing with a patient with shoulder pain and only doing shoulder strengthening exercises is a complete disrespect to the human body and the patient in front of them.

Where This Leads

Athletes sit on the far right side of the spectrum — high-functioning across all four levers.

The average person sits on the far left — undertrained, under-fueled, under-recovered, and neurologically overstressed.

Put simply:

If you don’t intentionally train all four levers, chronic pain is only a matter of time.

If you do train them all, you return to the way the body is meant to operate.

With a body functioning at such a high level across all four levers, what are the chances of you still being in pain?

This process effectively reduces the likelihood of you remaining in pain to nearly zero.

And that is the entire mission of Saint Bartholomew.

Bringing the four levers back to the people.

Pulling the whole system toward healing — the way it was always designed to work.

Read This Next:

Bartholomew’s Secret: Some of the greatest minds in human history have left us clues hinting at this great secret. Learn the secret for yourself.

Sean Light PRT, CSCS, LMT is the founder and President of Saint Bartholomew’s.

Prior to opening Saint Bartholomew’s, Light was the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB).

He holds a Master’s Degree in Sport Performance & Injury Prevention, is a Licensed Massage Therapist, a Postural Restoration Therapist and holds over 30 professional licenses and certifications.

This Was Never Supposed to Happen

I graduated from college in 2010 with a degree in Print Journalism.

I spent my entire life dedicated to fulfilling my childhood dream of playing in the NBA and when that didn’t happen, I was left with a degree that I wanted nothing to do with.

For the first year, I actually was a journalist for the New Haven Register in New Haven, Connecticut. But that only lasted for a few months.

The following year, I was a substitute high school teacher, but I hated that also.

After two failed career attempts, I was really struggling to find direction.

On a friend’s suggestion, I decided to try and become a Strength and Conditioning Coach. I thought it would be a cool way to stay involved in sports and it came with the perk of being able to wear shorts to work every day.

In 2012, I passed the Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach Exam and a year later, landed my first job as a Coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball.

My Chronic Pain

I still remember my first migraine headache. I was in the second grade, standing in the living room when a felt a dull pain start to build behind my eyes.

Over the next hour or so, the pain would get so bad, that I threw up all over the bathroom.

This was the first of many.

My parents and I tried everything we could think of to fix it but nothing ever worked.

During my first Spring Training with the Diamondbacks, that hot, Arizona sun got the best of me and I began to feel that familiar pain click on behind my eyes.

Panicked about what was about to happen, I pleaded with our medical staff in hopes they had something that might help.

A few minutes later, our medical director walked into the training room and began putting me through a battery of strange tests and exercises.

“Stand up and walk around,” he told me after a particularly unique activation technique.

As I slowly rose to my feet and began moving, I realized that a miracle had just happened.

The pain was gone.

I had just assumed that these headaches were going to be a part of my life forever and for the first time, a small light appeared at the end of the tunnel representing the possibility that this could be solved.

This was my moment.

Commitment to What Works

I became obsessed with fixing pain.

Whenever one of my athletes had any aches or pains, I rushed over to try some new technique that I just learned to see if it would work.

Interestingly, I had an advantage that my colleagues did not.

Because I had a degree in Journalism, I was looking through an entirely different lens when it came to how to treat pain.

I had no idea what was written in the textbooks. I had no clue what we were SUPPOSED to be doing.

I was only concerned with what actually worked.

Additionally, I knew that because of my unrelated degree, anyone considering me for a job at a higher level would always ask about my unrelated college degree.

I knew that I had to deliver bigger and faster results than anyone else.

This forced me into a radically different perspective than everyone else in the industry.

This perspective was one of the key driving forces for me to start studying the human brain and it drove me to accumulate dozens of professional licenses and certifications and read nearly 300 books on the subject.

Soon, I began to develop a reputation.

“The Neuro Guy”

After a few years of this, I began to develop a reputation around the sports industry. Others around professional sports were starting to notice my unique way of doing things.

First, I was asked to be a keynote presenter at the National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference in Louisville, Kentucky to outline my approach to pain.

Next universities like Sacred Heart University, the College of Holy Cross and Springfield College invited me to be a guest lecturer for their Sports Medicine departments.

Everyone began referring to me as “The Neuro Guy.”

Finally Making it to the NBA

I spent my entire childhood dreaming of making it to the NBA and in 2016 after five years of studying pain and neuroscience, I was hired to be the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Los Angeles Lakers.

It was a dream come true.

Saint Bartholomew’s

Since leaving the NBA, I have had the privilege of working with so many people suffering with chronic pain.

Each case is unique.

Some clients are able to shake the pain through corrective exercise alone, but for others something was still missing.

As I continued to dive deeper, learn more and search for the missing link, a familiar pattern began to emerge.

A “Neuro” pattern.

I began to test some of my neurological frameworks with my most difficult clients and suddenly, they started to get better.

I tried it with one client. Then another. Then a few more.

They were really getting better and I simply could no longer deny that the brain was a major player in the chronic pain cycle.

Saint Bartholomew’s is the truth surrounding chronic pain as I have discovered it. Sometimes it’s an uncomfortable truth and often times it’s not easy, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

I didn’t build Saint Bartholomew’s to be a big business. I built it to deliver lasting pain relief to good people like you, who deserve a real path to getting better, led by people who genuinely care about delivering that result to you.

Professional Licenses and Certifications:

• ​Registered Strength & Conditioning Coach (RSCC)

• ​Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)

• ​Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Postural Restoration Trained (PRT)

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Pelvic Restoration

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Myokinematic Restoration

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Postural Respiration

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Cervical Revolution

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Impingement and Instability

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Advanced Integration

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in Vision Integration for the Baseball Player

• ​Postural Restoration Institute – Certified in PRI Integration for the Baseball Player

• ​Functional Movement Screen - Level 2 Certified (FMS)

• ​Active Release Technique - Upper Extremity Certified (ART)

• ​BioForce - Certified Conditioning Coach

• ​Athletes Acceleration – Certified Speed and Agility Coach

• ​NASM - Performance Exercise Specialist (PES)

• ​Functional Range Conditioning Certified (FRC)

• ​Certified Member of the National Association of Speed and Explosion (NASE)

• ​CPR/AED Certified by American Red Cross

• ​Member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association

Presentations:

• ​​2015 National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) National Coach’s Conference

• ​2018 National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) New Jersey State Clinic

• ​Springfield College – The Neurology of the Athlete

• ​Quinnipiac University – The Role of Fascia in Biomechanics

• ​Sacred Heart University – Soft Tissue Techniques Simplified

• ​College of Holy Cross – The genMAX Training Model

• ​Equinox Trainer Forum – Discover genMAX.

• ​2019 National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) Massachusetts State Clinic

“To be honest,” she said to me, “This is a Hail Mary.”

With tears in her eyes, she told me that she was out of options and nearly out of hope.

She had already been to dozens of “specialists,” and agreed to even more procedures and methods that promised to eliminate her pain.

It had been over a decade of this and she was finally taking matters into her own hands to try and find help.

This is how she ended up in my office.

This is how most people end up in my office.

How I Discovered This

I grew up dreaming of playing in the NBA.

Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were my heroes.

I remember sitting at a basketball camp when I was in the sixth grade and one of the high school coaches stood up in front of the camp to tell us the secret of how to make it to the NBA.

I leaned in.

“If you want to make the NBA,” he started, “You can’t go to the beach with your friends. You can’t even go to the movies with them.”

“If you want to make it to the NBA, you have to work longer and harder than anyone else.”

In that hot gymnasium back in 1999, I made the decision to follow that blueprint.

Starting that afternoon and continuing for the next ten years, I did exactly that.

I never went to the beach with my friends. I never went to the movies with them either.

Every day, I would go outside and do my basketball drills with the conviction that I was going to make it to the NBA.

I didn’t make it.

In 2016, I did make it to the NBA as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and what I saw surprised me.

None of the guys who got there had followed the blueprint that I was taught.

In fact, it seemed like they all did the complete opposite.

They didn’t train that hard. Their nutrition was a disaster and yet, here they were performing jaw-dropping feats of athleticism in front of 20,000 people and millions more on national television.

I began to wonder what I had missed.

Getting My Wires Crossed

What fascinated me the most, was how these guys could stand in front of all those cheering fans and calmly sink a free-throw.

When I was in college, standing at the free-throw line in front of a few dozen fans, it felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.

I would be so nervous that I would just pray that I didn’t embarrass myself.

But these guys, had real pressure, and millions of dollars on the line, and seemed like they were merely shooting hoops in their backyard with no one watching.

My fear of failure had grown to a point that it prevented me from accessing all the skills I had built in those long hours of training.

While the NBA guys, were loose as a goose and free to use all their talent.

It was clear to me that the wiring in my brain was different than the wiring in theirs. So I began to study neuroscience to figure it out.

My Epiphany

I became obsessed with mastering my own brain.

Selfishly, I was trying to figure out where I went wrong and what could I have done to not get so nervous during games.

I began enrolling in college neuroscience courses.

I started pouring through literal textbooks on neuroanatomy, psychology and even some ancient medicine practices that claimed to be able to manipulate the brain.

It became exceptionally clear to me that the brain held some sort of master key to the rest of the body.

And for athletes, if you couldn’t unlock that door, the brain would stiffen the body and prevent you from tapping into your full athletic potential.

The Biggest Obstacle to Chronic Pain Relief

When I left professional sports, I started my own chronic pain clinic.

The thing I enjoyed most about being a Strength and Conditioning Coach in sports was helping the athletes out of pain.

When a guy would come in twenty minutes before a game with bad shoulder pain and I could wipe it out quickly, that’s what filled my cup the most.

Naturally, I aspired to be able to help others in the same way.

But when I started seeing clients, a familiar problem appeared.

I started seeing the same neurological roadblock. Only this time, it wasn’t preventing them from playing basketball, it was preventing them from getting out of pain.

How it Works

In its optimal setting, your body moves smoothly and loosely. Your skeleton flows beautifully from one side to the to other as you walk down the street.

Until a grizzly bear jumps out in front of you.

Your brain, recognizing the danger, activates the fight-or-flight system, and prepares you to either fight or run away.

Once activated, the fight-or-flight system stiffens the body, shuts down your peripheral vision and even turns off unnecessary processes like digestion to divert all resources to dealing with this emergency.

As complex as the brain might seem, it’s actually quite simple.

For all stressful inputs, the brain reacts in the same way.

That means when you’re stressed about meeting a deadline at work, your body is reacting as if it is fighting a literal grizzly bear.

The threat doesn’t even have to be real.

You can think your way into activating the fight-or-flight response.

Fear, anxiety, stress, low self-confidence and worry will all keep the body in emergency mode.

And as long as that system is running, the body cannot return to it’s optimal function.

If you are in pain, the body can’t get out of it.

See For Yourself

Imagine for a moment, that you decided that this was the missing link for you and you decided to come to my office to get an evaluation.

Once you arrived, the elevator doors opened to a beautiful, well-lit office and a smiling receptionist greeted you by name and offered you a complimentary beverage while you wait for your appointment to begin.

A few moments later, I pop out, well dressed and escort you to our state-of-the-art treatment room where we begin the assessment.

You might be thinking, “Wow, this is the real deal!”

Now imagine that those elevator doors opened to a dimly lit space that had a weird smell to it.

As you stood in the lobby, you didn’t see anyone at all.

“Am I in the right place?” you wonder.

Just then, I pop out from a door in baggy sweatpants, a shirt with a noticeable stain and what appears to be guacamole in the corner of my mouth.

And just to drive my point home, now imagine I say, “We can’t do the assessment here,” so we walk down the stairs, out onto the streets of New York City and I put the treatment table directly in the middle of the busy intersection.

As you lay down on this table, I begin the assessment.

But imagine what would be going through your mind. Imagine how you would be feeling.

Would you be loose or tense?

Would you be calm or anxious?

Would I be able to accurately assess what’s going on with your body?

Absolutely not! Because the brain is activating the fight-or-flight response and preventing access to your loose, fluid and optimal movement ability.

The obvious first step would be to get the brain to relax. Or in this case, to go find another therapist!

The Mission

Conquering the brain is the greatest medical mystery humanity has ever wrestled with.

For thousands of years, researchers have poured billions of dollars into trying to figure this out and the best your doctor can come up with is, "have you tried meditation?”

But at Saint Bartholomew’s we have discovered the secret to unlocking the brain and creating lasting pain relief for even the most intense and stubborn symptoms.

The secret is a framework that we call “Bartholomew’s Garden” and our mission is to teach it to you and give you all the resources necessary to implement for yourself.

Read This Next:

Meet Sean Light: The Founder and President of Saint Bartholomew

I founded Saint Bartholomew’s Chronic Pain Clinic because I am committed to solving pain for good. I will go to any length and any depth to find that answer.

You are about to see this for yourself.

Through this clinic, I have been in search of a repeatable framework that I can apply to our clients who are suffering.

Coincidentally, we are referred to as the “Hail Mary” clinic because we are where you go after you’ve tried it all.

We see people in a lot of pain and running out of hope.

I believe my calling is to help these people and that pull is why I’ve gone to such great lengths to find the solution.

This weekly newsletter is designed to teach you everything you need to know about chronic pain and the strategies we use to overcome even the most stubborn symptoms.

Get Started Here:

1. The Truth About Chronic Pain and the 4 Levers that Resolve It: In this letter, you will learn the fundamentals of our strategy. You will learn how we discovered it and how it can work for you.

2. Bartholomew’s Secret: Some of the greatest minds in human history have left us clues hinting at this great secret. Learn the secret for yourself.

3. The Missing Link to Lasting Chronic Pain Relief: Get an overview of neuroscience and learn how it operates as the gatekeeper to your pain.

4. Meet Sean Light: The Founder and President of Saint Bartholomew