Have you come up with any resolutions or intentions for 2021? We hope you’ll add this sea squirt inspired idea too: You can improve brain and body health with ONE activity! What’s the ONE activity? Read more to find out!
Brain Synapses
The human brain is incredibly complex and diverse. It contains 1 billion trillion synapses! (Yes, one billion trillion is grammatically correct!) The synapse is where neurons meet to send messages for communication.
Brain synapses contain approximately 1000 different proteins, and each and every synapse is diverse from any other.
What does this tell us about the purpose of the brain and the nervous system?
And, even more importantly, what does this tell us about how to keep our brain and ourselves healthy?
The Sea Squirt
Did you know that without one particular phenomenon occurring in any organism, there would be no brain present?
Let’s see if thinking about a tad pole like organism, the sea squirt, can give us a clue as to why we have brains…
The sea squirt has a brain and a spinal cord connected to a single eye and a tail for swimming. But once it attaches itself to something, it no longer moves. It then actually absorbs its own brain!
It no longer needs it because it is no longer moving!
Photo courtesy of Brittanica.com.
Brains are for Movement
Yes, movement is why we have brains!
And what of the quality of movement do you think keeps the brain active, engaged, and thriving?
You got it! —movements that stimulate curiosity, activities that engage in a variety of shapes and rhythms—three dimensional movements that keep us young and healthy!
If you will, please visualize the following:
children who have just been let out for school recess
the joy of participants in recreational sports and dance
dogs romping at a dog park
the sheer ecstasy of an infant discovering the ability to crawl and eventually walk and run!
The variety and pleasurable aspects of movement are what keep the brain flowing, maintaining the complex synapses as well as the simple ones.
Pain Prevention
Sadly, most of us decrease the complexity and variations of our movement experiences as we get older. The old “use it or lose it“ saying.
Our body and brain suffer—less variety of movement creates more tension in the tissues and pressure on the joints, and thus pain and diminished mobility result.
What can we do to prevent and even reverse these changes?
The good news is with what we know about neuroplasticity, we can always revitalize and create more functional brain tissue for greater mobility and pain-free well-being.
Movement Classes
And the key to that is movement…
…especially of the nature that you will experience in the Feldenkrais “Awareness Through Movement“ educational classes.
The movement class series “Superflow” begins in January and continues through March. Get more information about the classes, and sign up for one class…or sign up for a monthly series… or sign up for all three months!
Remember, “As the brain flows, so the pain goes!“
We look forward to joining you in 2021 as we achieve happier and healthier bodies and lives!