Growing up the son of a doctor and nurse practitioner, Matthew was surrounded by and benefited from close access to the medical model. He quickly saw the power of the traditional medical model and also its many limitations.
This fueled his passion to learn as much as he could from as many different health professionals and practitioners as he was able to - this was the main reason for all of the moves he and his wife made. They were always seeking to learn from the best of the best and were willing to relocate to be as close to these mentors as possible.
Matt was less concerned with people's credentials and more focused on the results these practitioners were able to consistently get with their patients and clients. He also valued the professionals that had a sound thought process that were rooted in solid principles and not biased to their specific craft or modality.
Connect with Matt on his website matthewlabosco.com and on Facebook and Instagram.
Growing up the son of a doctor and nurse practitioner, Matthew was surrounded by and benefited from close access to the medical model. He quickly saw the power of the traditional medical model and also its many limitations.
This fueled his passion to learn as much as he could from as many different health professionals and practitioners as he was able to - this was the main reason for all of the moves he and his wife made. They were always seeking to learn from the best of the best and were willing to relocate to be as close to these mentors as possible.
Matt was less concerned with people's credentials and more focused on the results these practitioners were able to consistently get with their patients and clients. He also valued the professionals that had a sound thought process that were rooted in solid principles and not biased to their specific craft or modality.
Connect with Matt on his website matthewlabosco.com and on Facebook and Instagram.
I think the biggest thing we have to learn is how to listen and integrate our emotional communication and look at emotions as communication systems, not something we have to turn off, eliminate or strive for,
Magic Barclay:
Welcome back to a magical life. I'm your host, Magic Barclay. And today Matthew Labosco joins us. Matthew is a master in telling us what the difference between health and vitality actually are. Welcome Matthew.
Matthew LaBosco:
It's great to be here. Thanks. Magic.
Magic Barclay:
My pleasure. Now, tell us a little bit about yourself. I have a very short bio here, but I know the listeners are going to get more out of hearing from you.
Matthew LaBosco:
Sure. Yeah. I mean, the, the quick and dirty, is, I was raised by a physician and a nurse practitioner. So it kind of grew up in the medical model, which obviously has a tremendous amount of upside to it. You know, plugged into the system. And so there are the perks to that. Uh, but one thing that did happen to me at a very young age, I was a three sport athlete and, uh, had about four or five orthopedic surgeries for the age of 22, from various athletic injuries, playing basketball, soccer, and baseball mainly, and I found out very quickly, a few things about the health paradigm. the first thing is that health is defined as the absence of illness and disease, and I, as a young age, I was looking for more than to not just be sick. And so going through my, my journey physically, I, I realized that the model could potentially put me back together. If something was broken, but it definitely couldn't prevent me from breaking things. And it was definitely not capable of giving me access to what I think of as vitality. So how do I find vitality? Vitality is. exuberant physical strength or mental vigor, the capacity for the continuation of a meaningful and purposeful existence and the power to live and grow. Sign me up for that. Like I'm not interested in just not being sick. And so through my own journey, I started to challenge everything that came with the health paradigm, medical model, however you want to name it. and it started with, The physical body, because I did everything I was told. I did the physical therapy. I, I dove into fitness and wellness and have more certifications. for strength and conditioning, Olympic weightlifting, national Academy of sports medicine, strength and conditioning. I mean, you name it, I've probably taken the course and, and. When I was going through all these injuries, I executed at a very high level all these different techniques to build strength in the body and quote unquote rehabilitate me. And I had a very life changing moment in my early 20s when I was, I would say at my peak quote unquote strength and fitness, it was about 215 pounds and maybe about, I don't know, probably about 8 percent body fat. And I was at the gym on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, um, going for a personal PR, a personal record with a military press, which is a movement where you're sitting on the bench and press a barbell over your head. And I was feeling really good and really strong and really happy with the progress that I've made. And I. Unwrapped this weight, which was a lot of weight. It was about 315 pounds, pressed it over my head with the help of a spotter and some encouraging words, got it up, got it down. And I was like, Oh my God, I finally arrived. Like, I feel like I'm not broken despite all the disappointments with all my sports, I'm finally arrived. And I got off the bench, took about three steps. Away from the bench where I was, where I did the press and my whole right arm completely locked up and was basically dangling. My lower arm was dangling from my upper arm, excruciating pain, and pretty convinced at that point. Uh, yeah, I, my elbow exploded. And so at this point of my journey, I had my orthopedic surgeon on speed dial. So I gave him a call, got in that week to find out what was wrong with me and how they were going to fix me. And, uh, after evaluation, x rays and all of his tests, he came back in the room, said something to me that I'll never forget, and that changed my life and set me on this path to vitality. As he said, okay, Matt, so x rays are clean. I don't see anything wrong with your elbow. And I'm like, I didn't even know what to say. I'm like, uh, how could you sit here and say, there's nothing on my elbow? I, I, it hurts just sitting here. And so in that moment, I just, it just hit me. It's like, wow, these, these, these guys, this model really doesn't have all the answers. And that's what had me go into. this obsessive space of asking why we were recommending everything. Why are we recommending people do core strength when their backs hurt? Why are we recommending people do Cobras when they have back pain? Why are we having people do planks? Like, why are we doing anything? Why are we have people do those external rotator cuff exercises when someone has a shoulder problem? Like, where did all this come from? Why are we strengthening our muscles by doing these movements called bench presses? Like, what are we doing? Why are we doing this movement called squat where I throw a bar on my back and go down? Like, what are we doing? Where did this all come from? And what I found from the physical model was every recommendation of the fitness, physical therapy, you name it, that whole world, was based on cadaveric anatomy. Dissection and, you know, learning about the anatomy on a cadaver. And so we studied how the body worked. on a dead person, and then extrapolated the function of a living organism from what we observed on a cadaver. So as an example, you look at a cadaveric anatomy and you see that hamstring muscles originates in the Pelvis and inserts down on the tibia and we see that when you shorten that muscle, it flexes the knee. So we take out our notebooks and write down the hamstrings of knee flexor. Yeah. On a dead person. Unfortunately, that's not what the hamstring does at all. actually in some cases it extends the knee. Um, and so to say that the hamstrings job is, is to flex the knee or the, the, the, the glutes extend the hip. Like we're, we're completely missing what actually happens in real life function. And so all these recommendations that are being made, were built on a faulty foundation. And so, I started to ask the question, does anybody know what the hamstrings do? Because they don't, they don't flex the knee. that's crazy, uh, that that's what we're doing to rehabilitate people, knees and their backs is doing all these isometric isolated exercises, trying to get their Cadaveric function to be really good when it has no carry over to actual life. and so went down that rabbit hole and, and found people that understood what's called chain reaction biomechanics. and I took that journey in the health, in the, in the movement space. And then I did the same challenge in the systemic space with nutrition and how to take care of our systemic bodies and, and health and nutrition. Like, why are we telling people to eat? Fruits to eat vegetables. Why is that good? Why are salads on the cover of every health magazine? What are salads doing for us? Like kind of did the same exact thing. Why is cholesterol bad? Why is this? Why are we taking these fish oils? Like what what's going on here? Where's all this based off of all these accepted truths of health and found similar things, similar, similar ideas, things that didn't make sense. And then I, in the last 10 years, I did deep dive in the personal development space and mindset and psychology and some of the, the common ideas out there about, you know, how to manage stress, avoid stress, how to eliminate stress in 30 seconds. I saw somebody advertising that today, how to eliminate stress in two minutes. And these, again, these accepted truths and ideas about stress and mindset and Hey, you can choose to be happy. And, and all these things that are accepted out there and really started asking, why are we, why, like, what, where's this coming from? What, what, what, what, what are we doing here? What is it based off of? And found, found a theme through all three spaces. One, like I said, none of it will ever create vitality. And two, what they seem to create for the most part is dependence on the system. I found that none of the information that was accepted as true and being taught by very like well intentioned people, professionals, it just created dependency and would never give people access to an empowered existence of life. I just felt like it always led back to them being dependent on some system or some, you know,
Magic Barclay:
Couldn't agree more. Now, Matt. We ask the same three questions of all of our guests. Everyone gives different answers and they're all amazing. And I know yours are going to be probably shake some people up. Let's just say
Matthew LaBosco:
that wouldn't be the first time.
Magic Barclay:
I love it. Here we go. What can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual health? Because we know that the medical paradigm doesn't address those. It just looks at what does the body do, as you've just mentioned.
Matthew LaBosco:
So, to answer your question, what could expand an individual's, emotional and mental, physical health, I'll, I'll just, I'll, I'm going to kind of jump on the word emotional health, um, and here's what I'll tell you that I have found personally and personally. Um, engaging with people for the last two decades. I think the biggest thing we have to learn is how to listen and integrate our emotional communication and look at emotions as communication systems, not something we have to turn off, eliminate or strive for, right? And what I mean by that is I don't think emotion should ever be the thing we focus on. Hey, my goal is to be happy. My goal is to be fulfilled. My goal is to be joyful. Those Emotions are great. And I'm not saying that, that, that we aren't looking to experience them, but what I'm, what I would say is experiencing those emotions are the by product of pursuing meaning and purpose. And so when we align with meaning and purpose, and that's our focus, that's the destination we're striving for. Emotions are going to show up to give us the communication, whether or not we're aligned with that or not. The goal isn't the emotional communication. The goal is to live meaning and purpose. And so if I could offer one bit of advice to people, that would be it. Focus on what's meaningful and purposeful to you. And, and I would invite people to not, to let go of this idea that my goal is just to be peaceful or to just be love or to just be peace, I think what we're doing in that scenario is we're not. Integrating and leveraging the biological purpose of emotions and leveraging it to really live the incredible life. I really believe we're all here to live.
Magic Barclay:
And so we talk about wealth here as well, and people think wealth is just the finance, but it's also personal wealth. You know, how you see yourself and how you make things happen. So what are your top three tips to creating wealth?
Matthew LaBosco:
So wealth from a more global perspective, which. Again is more than just money. So I'll speak to that first. to me, it goes back to purpose and meaning. I feel like a wealthy life is a full life. It's a, it's a life that I perceive as full of all the things that are meaningful to me, and that can be relative to the individual. So to really live a wealthy life globally, it's a fulfilling life, full life, fulfilling life, whole life. Wealthy life that happens when we are pursuing meaning and purpose which can devolve over our lifetime So when I say meaning and purpose I don't mean that everybody has to have some big grandiose meaning and purpose like to cure world hunger or to whatever If that's your thing, great But it could be as simple as to create the most incredible environment for my kids to grow up in, to empower them to live their fullest life. That could be your meaning and purpose for a part of your life. And then when you fulfill that, you can have another meaning and purpose. And so I just wanted to share that it doesn't have to be some grandiose thing, but to me, that's a wealthy life.
Magic Barclay:
So what are your top three tips to making that happen?
Matthew LaBosco:
Oh, it's, it's spending time to define what's meaning and purpose for you to right now and not settling for anything but that not settling for anything but those things. that's probably the most important thing is, naming. The thing that's most meaningful and purposeful to me. And honestly, I think that takes some time. When I ask people that question, a lot of times they're like, I don't know, or all they can articulate is what they don't want. So that's number one. Um, number two, when, when I'll just speak to kind of the financial piece, because money. Is it is a resource. And so the next tip that I would give people is don't think of money as as a destination or the outcome you're trying to fulfill. Think of it as a resource to fulfill on an outcome. So anytime someone tells me they want to make more money, We never start with how much or how much money you want to make. I always go lifestyle first. Well, name, talk to me about the lifestyle you want to live. What do you want to create in your lifestyle? And then let's figure out how much that's going to cost you and then work back from there. And so we don't want money to be the, the ultimate outcome. Think of money as a resource to create an outcome with, um, cause nobody really wants more money. They want what they believe money will provide them. and then from a physical wealth standpoint, I had a saying in my clinic in Los Angeles, exercise is optional. Movement is mandatory. And that's how I would relate to it. move every
Magic Barclay:
day. You don't have to exercise every day. Great. Now, look, we talk about weight loss here as well. And many people find that stress is the key driver in their weight battle. Have you battled with your weight? If so, what is it? How did you win that war? And what can you offer the listeners who are in this cycle?
Matthew LaBosco:
Um, have I battled with my weight? Sure. To some degree. not as much, as maybe other people have. and when, when I, to think of stress is one of the big reasons why they have trouble losing weight. I think I've seen just as many cases of stress causing people to be way underweight. and so to me, the way to manage stress is to partner with it and not try to avoid it. and learn how to again, stress the stress response or things we think of as stress, anxiety, overwhelm, etc. Those are just a communications. So understanding how to communicate with these emotions. So you can integrate the communication because it's trying to tell you something. And as far as weight loss goes, I'm a strong believer and proponent of not focusing on trying to lose weight. If you're overweight, like I, I, I would never have weight loss be the goal in a nutrition program. Personally. again, being at the proper weight is the byproduct of nourishing the body in the proper way. So the byproduct could be, I lose some weight if the system. Needs to lose weight, but when we start to manipulate our caloric intake and macronutrients and food. To lose
Magic Barclay:
weight, I think we're missing the mark. Great answer. Now, let's talk about what is the difference between health and vitality?
Matthew LaBosco:
the simplest answer is health is surviving, vitality is thriving.
Magic Barclay:
Okay. So many people are chasing health. I know in my clinic, you know, they come to me and they say this symptom and this symptom and this symptom and I say, it's not about the symptom. It's about the system. What is the system doing to support your life? And how can we support that system or all of the systems of the body?
Matthew LaBosco:
Amen.
Magic Barclay:
Totally. And people, people don't realize what vitality is. So. What does that look like? Because, you know, we've, we've covered this, they're chasing symptoms, they're popping a pill, you know, they're reliant on a system rather than understanding what their body's telling them. So what does vitality look like? What does it feel like? What should people be looking for and aiming for?
Matthew LaBosco:
Yeah, it's so funny you, you asked this question and, and, I was, you know, putting together some resources for my, for my book today and what occurred to me when I was like, I need an image for vitality or when the system is working in its most optimal, the way it was designed to work. And what I found was, I looked up vibrant ecosystem. That's what I looked up and I found this picture of this ecosystem underwater. And you, I looked at this, there was a turtle, there was, you know, the other fish, there was the plants, there was just everything in this ecosystem. Like just in this extraordinary vibrant state and it looked like a utopia. It almost looked like avatar, right? If you've ever seen the movie avatar, it was just this incredibly vibrant. Vivacious, full of energy, everything working in coherence, working with each other, um, just almost like a perfect symphony, um, and the result of the system doing its job and working together was just this extraordinary, Picture of vitality, vibrancy, energy, strength, resiliency, this, and then the ability to, to learn, grow and evolve. Like to me, why are we here? Why did we incarnate? It's to, it's to get every drop out of life, out of life and experience all of it. And learn how to align this incredibly like miraculous body and system and brain and nervous system to create the most extraordinary, meaningful, vibrant life we could possibly create. So. To me, that's what it's about. Um, that's what vitality is. It's, it's living life to its fullest at the end of my life. I look back and say, these are the experience I had that were most meaningful to me. These are the relationships I've had in my life that were most meaningful to me. And this is the impact I had. Like when I look back in my life and know that I went forward in those three places, I feel like I, I lived a life of vitality.
Magic Barclay:
Now, I just want to go back a bit, earlier in the episode, you mentioned about investigating cadavers and how muscles worked and attached and, you know, things like that. I just want to say to that piece, dead bodies don't have feelings. They can't tell you something's in pain. So why is it that as a species, we accept that pain is part of the process?
Matthew LaBosco:
Well, I think it is. And I think. it's important to accept that it is, because I do believe that, that putting the focus on avoiding pain equates to suffering. And so I don't think we can avoid pain, but we can avoid suffering. and I think in the scenarios where people are adverse to pain, What they do is they opt out of temporary pain for long term suffering. Now there's obviously certain scenarios where pain is, and this is mostly with children, pain is so, so intense. and they have no resources, no support system to learn how to regulate, manage, leverage the pain, the communication of the pain. So we have a mechanism in the body of, to disconnect from the pain and thank God we do because it comes in handy. But as we are able and, you know, mature and theoretically are taught tools, uh, the proper tools, It's, it's important to understand how to have relationship with pain and how to leverage it to learn and grow because, you know, one of the things that can be painful for people is when they're frustrated just to get to emotion. But what they're finding with, in the neuroscience right now is frustration is one of the requirements for the brain to access its neuroplasticity. So frustration actually triggers the brain to be open to learning. So if we avoid frustration, temporarily, it feels a little better, but long term, we're not really doing ourselves any, useful because we're going to suffer because we didn't learn anything. So the same thing that frustrated the first time will frustrated the next time because we didn't learn from it. And so I personally. Believe and think it's important for people to understand that pain is going to be part of life. but suffering doesn't have to be, pain can happen here and they're suffering since to happen for long periods of time. And the more I work with people that are avoiding pain, those are the people that suffer the most.
Magic Barclay:
Great distinction there. Thank you. Now we've kind of covered a lot here, but I know you've got so much more to give. So what would you like the listeners to know?
Matthew LaBosco:
I guess the big message that I. continue to try to get out to the world and to each person I work with is number one, you're not broken. don't let anybody tell you you are and, your body, your system, your biology, assume it's on your side. Assume that it's there to support you, learn how to communicate with it, learn how to understand it. And that goes for emotions and experiences from your past. understand these different aspects of you because they're all beautiful and they all have a purpose and they've all served a purpose. All aspects of you, even the darkest aspects of you have a purpose. And so understand them, learn where they fit. and then the last thing I would say is, Don't settle for anything but the best life you can possibly live for yourself. Like if there is a kind of life you want to live and you want to experience, don't settle. Don't allow yourself to say, You can't, you're not good enough because of my past. It's not possible. Like I would just invite you guys not to settle for anything, but the most incredible life that you can perceive as possible and don't be afraid to, to ask for support. There's some incredible practitioners and people out there That are here to help, um, and just ensure that after working with any professional, you feel empowered, not dependent on them.
Magic Barclay:
Wise words there indeed. Now we love freebies because we do empower people here on A Magical Life. So what can you offer the listeners and where can they find it?
Matthew LaBosco:
So what I would I be happy to give away to your the first 25 people that go to this website that I'll share in a second is a free copy of my book. My book is out on Amazon now, but if you come to health to vitality dot com backslash book giveaway, just put in your name, your address. That you heard it here on magics podcast, and I will send you a free copy of my book.
Magic Barclay:
Fantastic offer there. Listeners get onto that one. Now, where can people find you other than your website? Do you have a Facebook?
Matthew LaBosco:
I, I do, I have a Facebook, Matthew Labosco. You can find me on Facebook, health to vitality as well. You can look up that on Facebook. my website is definitely where I'm most active in my blog. but Instagram, Facebook, I am more active than I've ever been.
Magic Barclay:
Terrific. Thank you so much for joining us today, Matthew. Been great having a chat that I guess. Reinforces that the medical model is a little bit limited and that there's so much more out there for the listeners.
Matthew LaBosco:
Amen. Magic and appreciate all the things you're doing out there and what you're sharing with the world.
Magic Barclay:
Oh, thank you. Listeners. Thank you so much for your time. We do appreciate you. Please go ahead and leave us a review. Share this podcast with everyone that you know, let's get out there and change the world one body and mind at a time for now, go forth and create your magical life.