So, an extension of the idea of consciousness and control is creation. Our lives are a creation, and somatically, we can look at that creation as an externalization of our internal state. Creation is how we express ourselves, through words, through movement, through the arts. And creation is how we construct not just physical structure or buildings, roads, infrastructure, but creation is also how we construct abstract structures of thoughts, ideas, truths.
Art holds a very valuable place as not just reflecting where we are at as a people, but where we could be as a people. Through imagination and artistic creation new realities start to unfold. So here is a particular artist that I've been drawn to recently, a progressive 'urban artist' named Armsrock talking a bit about that creation, enjoy.
http://www.armsrock.blogspot.com/
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Danger and opportunity of awareness
To diverge for a minute, there is an interesting side effect of increased somatic awareness. Many of my clients experience this and I'm sure many of you have experienced this. You go in for a massage or other bodywork session for a particular complaint and walk out feeling more sore than when you left. Or you walk out feeling great and wake up the next day wondering if you were in a drunken brawl the night before. Assuming you didn't drink heavy amounts of whiskey and piss off a bouncer, this is an affect of the bodywork.
And this is truly a wonderful affect of the bodywork. There is a term we use in Hanna Somatics called Sensory Motor Amnesia(a forgetfullness of how to move and feel a muscle). What this means is that due to increased tension or repetitive movement, an area of your body has become stiff. When that area of the body becomes stiff the muscles no longer contract and release to their full ability and become fixed in that position. As you no longer move that area as much your brain stops actively connecting with it, and like the much loved instrument that used to take up so much of your time and energy that now sits in the corner, your muscles start to be forgotten.
Supporting this you have tension around arteries, veins, and nerves that blocks circulation and inhibits communication with the nervous system. The tissue starts to dry out, the nerves dull and overtime the body part becomes more rigid. At some point, if the tension impacts a major nerve you'll feel numbness or pain and will either get pain killers to mask what's happening or seek treatment to fix the problem.
With Hanna Somatics, we view this not as a problem, but a natural conclusion to months, years of sensory motor amnesia. Further, because this is a function of a healthy nervous system, it is reversible. One goal of Hanna Somatics is to turn that area of Sensory Motor Amnesia(a forgetfullness of how to move and feel a muscle) into Sensory Motor Awareness meaning increased ability to move and feel the muscle/area. So when you wake up the next day feeling sore and achey, this is a sign that the sensory nerves in that muscle have been reactivated, woken up. And if the sensory nerves have been woken up and you are able to feel what's happening in there, then you are in a great position to move and release the tension that caused the pain in the first place.
Pain killers will have an opposite affect. Yes, they may bring you temporary relief but they do so buy further dulling somatic awareness and sensation which will further disconnect you from your muscles. In an earlier post I talked about how conscious controlled movement as the ideal way to lengthen a muscle and inhibit stretch reflex. If you are actively dulling yourself, then not as able to actively heal the pained area, and are potentially creating a situation for more tightness and pain.
The point is not really to feel the pain, but feeling the pain means that you are feeling more and are fostering more internal consciousness and more internal control. You can use that increased sensation to dwell in discomfort or seize the opportunity to change and recover.
I feel this is applicable in the economic scene we're in right now. With the economy struggling, we are feeling the pain of lost jobs and decreased production. The credit surge of the last twenty years served the purpose of masking these problems and now that credit has dried up we are actually having to deal with the economy that we have. Increased injections of capital into credit markets will only serve to further dull and block us from progressing out of this painful moment. Instead this could be a great opportunity to redirect growth and production, fixing the problem.
As JFK noted
And this is truly a wonderful affect of the bodywork. There is a term we use in Hanna Somatics called Sensory Motor Amnesia(a forgetfullness of how to move and feel a muscle). What this means is that due to increased tension or repetitive movement, an area of your body has become stiff. When that area of the body becomes stiff the muscles no longer contract and release to their full ability and become fixed in that position. As you no longer move that area as much your brain stops actively connecting with it, and like the much loved instrument that used to take up so much of your time and energy that now sits in the corner, your muscles start to be forgotten.
Supporting this you have tension around arteries, veins, and nerves that blocks circulation and inhibits communication with the nervous system. The tissue starts to dry out, the nerves dull and overtime the body part becomes more rigid. At some point, if the tension impacts a major nerve you'll feel numbness or pain and will either get pain killers to mask what's happening or seek treatment to fix the problem.
With Hanna Somatics, we view this not as a problem, but a natural conclusion to months, years of sensory motor amnesia. Further, because this is a function of a healthy nervous system, it is reversible. One goal of Hanna Somatics is to turn that area of Sensory Motor Amnesia(a forgetfullness of how to move and feel a muscle) into Sensory Motor Awareness meaning increased ability to move and feel the muscle/area. So when you wake up the next day feeling sore and achey, this is a sign that the sensory nerves in that muscle have been reactivated, woken up. And if the sensory nerves have been woken up and you are able to feel what's happening in there, then you are in a great position to move and release the tension that caused the pain in the first place.
Pain killers will have an opposite affect. Yes, they may bring you temporary relief but they do so buy further dulling somatic awareness and sensation which will further disconnect you from your muscles. In an earlier post I talked about how conscious controlled movement as the ideal way to lengthen a muscle and inhibit stretch reflex. If you are actively dulling yourself, then not as able to actively heal the pained area, and are potentially creating a situation for more tightness and pain.
The point is not really to feel the pain, but feeling the pain means that you are feeling more and are fostering more internal consciousness and more internal control. You can use that increased sensation to dwell in discomfort or seize the opportunity to change and recover.
I feel this is applicable in the economic scene we're in right now. With the economy struggling, we are feeling the pain of lost jobs and decreased production. The credit surge of the last twenty years served the purpose of masking these problems and now that credit has dried up we are actually having to deal with the economy that we have. Increased injections of capital into credit markets will only serve to further dull and block us from progressing out of this painful moment. Instead this could be a great opportunity to redirect growth and production, fixing the problem.
As JFK noted
"When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is
composed of two characters--one represents danger,
and the other represents opportunity."
Similarly I would say with awareness there is possibility
for increased discomfort,but there is also an opening for
increased joy and graceful movement.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Questions?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A world of pain?
This is the first of what I think will be a series of thoughts on this, the topic of pain and pleasure.
two suppositions I will make
1We live essentially in a world of pain. The way we relate to ourselves is in reference to pain and the way that we react to the world is a response to pain. If you look at the newspaper I think you will find confirmation of this. Most of the topics revolve around suffering, sadness, aggressive violent behaviors and other features that maintain and strengthen a culture of pain. The way our government and economy function seems to be centered around pain to the degree that things don't really change until they get really bad. It's almost as if we push our limits of pain to see how much we can endure, when will we break. Most interventions economic and medical revolve around alleviating pain. The adage says pain is a great motivator.Relief being a transient moment out of pain. At this level, feeling good is being not in pain. I propose that getting out of pain is just the start. If you have a scale of feeling, I'd say that 0 is incredible amounts of pain, 5 is being out of pain, normal. What is on the other side? what about numbers 6-10?
2The other side of pain is pleasure. i think that we can shift ourselves and our world away from one that escapes pain and towards one that seeks out pleasure. I don't mean pleasure in a hedonistic, debaucherous, hypersexualized sense. I am referring to pleasure as a feeling of joy, ease, grace in your body and in the world. Think about the last time that you felt good, maybe you're feeling good right now. Now ask yourself, what would it be like to feel better than that? What would it be like to feel better than that not for a brief moment, but for extended periods of time. How would that change your life? I'm not talking about relief anymore. I'm talking about shifting the baseline of experience. If we live, relatively speaking, with pain, can't we live, relatively speaking, with pleasure? Since they are both valid and reproducable human experiences both are possible at any moment.
Consider these things and let me know what you think. If we choose to live, why would we choose to live with pain?
two suppositions I will make
1We live essentially in a world of pain. The way we relate to ourselves is in reference to pain and the way that we react to the world is a response to pain. If you look at the newspaper I think you will find confirmation of this. Most of the topics revolve around suffering, sadness, aggressive violent behaviors and other features that maintain and strengthen a culture of pain. The way our government and economy function seems to be centered around pain to the degree that things don't really change until they get really bad. It's almost as if we push our limits of pain to see how much we can endure, when will we break. Most interventions economic and medical revolve around alleviating pain. The adage says pain is a great motivator.Relief being a transient moment out of pain. At this level, feeling good is being not in pain. I propose that getting out of pain is just the start. If you have a scale of feeling, I'd say that 0 is incredible amounts of pain, 5 is being out of pain, normal. What is on the other side? what about numbers 6-10?
2The other side of pain is pleasure. i think that we can shift ourselves and our world away from one that escapes pain and towards one that seeks out pleasure. I don't mean pleasure in a hedonistic, debaucherous, hypersexualized sense. I am referring to pleasure as a feeling of joy, ease, grace in your body and in the world. Think about the last time that you felt good, maybe you're feeling good right now. Now ask yourself, what would it be like to feel better than that? What would it be like to feel better than that not for a brief moment, but for extended periods of time. How would that change your life? I'm not talking about relief anymore. I'm talking about shifting the baseline of experience. If we live, relatively speaking, with pain, can't we live, relatively speaking, with pleasure? Since they are both valid and reproducable human experiences both are possible at any moment.
Consider these things and let me know what you think. If we choose to live, why would we choose to live with pain?
Monday, November 17, 2008
Did we create Obama?
Something to consider is that we, as somatic beings, create our world. As humans, we have become masters of our surroundings. Unlike other species that conform and adapt to the world around them, we are in an active role of changing our surroundings. This is why we have such developed brains and such an amazing ability to sense, interpret and invent.
It's this selfpropelling force that has led us to the election of Barack Obama. I've been reading an interesting book lately called "Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time & Light" by Leonard Shlain. This book takes a look at the ways in which innovations in art often predate innovations in science. The author does the challenging work of finding these developments so I won't attempt to do it here, but what he proposes is that there are steps involved in the unveiling of reality and the forward drive of truth. He describes art as the first attempt to understand a new idea, a thought of what could be. Science then follows with statistical 'evidence' and theory to explain and support these new phenomenom. An innovation is achieved and slowly that innovation is taken up by society at large as a new truth. In the way you get a paradigm shift, and in this way what we know to be true shifts and evolves. The world is no longer flat and Americans can never again say that we're not ready for a Black president.
What started as an idea for equality, turned into a possibility of change with a candidate who seemed commited, and ended with a new American reality. And as Obama seems to point out himself, this is not his victory, it is our victory, an achievement of millions of individuals deciding together on our future. I'm not trying to get too political, but I think it is important to understand this as an achievement of consciousness and a sign of growth in our society. This growth did not happen in the election booth but has slowly been happening for decades and is the logical progression of somatic evolution. We are different people now and our President elect is the proof.
It's this selfpropelling force that has led us to the election of Barack Obama. I've been reading an interesting book lately called "Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time & Light" by Leonard Shlain. This book takes a look at the ways in which innovations in art often predate innovations in science. The author does the challenging work of finding these developments so I won't attempt to do it here, but what he proposes is that there are steps involved in the unveiling of reality and the forward drive of truth. He describes art as the first attempt to understand a new idea, a thought of what could be. Science then follows with statistical 'evidence' and theory to explain and support these new phenomenom. An innovation is achieved and slowly that innovation is taken up by society at large as a new truth. In the way you get a paradigm shift, and in this way what we know to be true shifts and evolves. The world is no longer flat and Americans can never again say that we're not ready for a Black president.
What started as an idea for equality, turned into a possibility of change with a candidate who seemed commited, and ended with a new American reality. And as Obama seems to point out himself, this is not his victory, it is our victory, an achievement of millions of individuals deciding together on our future. I'm not trying to get too political, but I think it is important to understand this as an achievement of consciousness and a sign of growth in our society. This growth did not happen in the election booth but has slowly been happening for decades and is the logical progression of somatic evolution. We are different people now and our President elect is the proof.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Streeetttccccchhhhhh
So, I have been writing this paper on the relationship between Somatics and Neurophysiology. I just finished a major portion on it that talks about static stretching so I thought I'd post a little bit on here that you may find useful. More and more information is coming out to support what Hanna Somatic teaches, that our recent views on stretching are out of date, false, and could potentially be doing more harm than good. I'm simply going to say that our goals for stretching do not match up with the actual outcome. And here is why.
Go ahead and sit with your leg straight out in front of you and reach out to touch your toes. Reach until you start to feel a pull on the hamstrings and back of your knee. What you are feeling is called the Myotatic "stretch" Reflex. The hamstrings are contracting in response to static or passive stretching. This is a natural physiological mechanism of the body where as you start to pull a muscle from its resting position it contracts/tenses to regain position. The harder you pull on a muscle the more it will contract to regain its original length. So if your goal is to actually lengthen the muscle, this will not work. If fact if you pull too much, you can stretch the tendons leading to hypermobility or possibly tear the muscle or tendon. Also increased muscle tension will increase compression on your joints and nerves potentially leading to disc problems and nerve impingement.
Let's look at why not.
The reason it will not work is because of intrafusal/extrafusal muscle fibers and the alpha/gamma motor neuron feedback loop which I will hopefully explain in clear and simple terms.
Every muscle in your body is made up of intrafusal and extrafusal muscle fibers. The extrafusal muscle fibers are very numerous, they do most of the work involved with actively contracting and releasing a muscle. You want to turn your head. Your brain sends a signal along Alpha Motor Neurons to your neck muscles to contract and release allowing your head to move. That is the extrafusal muscle fibers.
Intrafusal muscle fibers are involved with posture, proprioception and the maintenance of a muscle's resting length. So what happens when you are standing at the bus stop and a strong wind gust comes to push you over? The intrafusal muscle fibers are what help you regain balance and stop from falling into the road. Intrafusal muscle fibers are grouped together in bundles called spindles and these spindles constantly send information to the spinal cord of the muscles length. When a muscle is passively stretched, these spindles sense it and send an impulse up to your spinal cord which then sends a message back to the Extrasal muscle fibers to contract and shorten. The myotatic stretch reflex.
One more thing, once again you have Alpha Motor Neurons and Gamma Motor Neurons. Alpha motor neurons are attached to extrafusal muscle fibers and they cause the muscle to contract and flex your joints. Gamma motor neurons are attached to these intrafusal muscle groups(spindles) and as they become engaged they pull at the spindle, increasing its sensitivity to stretch and making it more likely that the stretch feedback loop will be initiated.
What we know. We know that static stretching increases the activity of Gamma motor neurons.
What else? We know that conscious contraction decreases the activity of Gamma motor neurons.
This means that in order to lengthen a muscle, you need to inhibit the action of these gamma motor neurons by actively firing the alpha motor neurons. A great way to do that is what is called an eccentric contraction which means that the muscle is actively engaged while it lengthens, resetting the resting level. This is why Hanna Somatics works and this is what a lot of the fitness world is starting to turn to as they embrace dynamic stretching and functional warm ups to engage the muscles needed rather than passively stretch and pull. But don't take my word on it. Check out these great articles for more information.
NYTimes article
Stretching and Flexibility: a detailed look at the physiology of muscle contraction and stretch
Go ahead and sit with your leg straight out in front of you and reach out to touch your toes. Reach until you start to feel a pull on the hamstrings and back of your knee. What you are feeling is called the Myotatic "stretch" Reflex. The hamstrings are contracting in response to static or passive stretching. This is a natural physiological mechanism of the body where as you start to pull a muscle from its resting position it contracts/tenses to regain position. The harder you pull on a muscle the more it will contract to regain its original length. So if your goal is to actually lengthen the muscle, this will not work. If fact if you pull too much, you can stretch the tendons leading to hypermobility or possibly tear the muscle or tendon. Also increased muscle tension will increase compression on your joints and nerves potentially leading to disc problems and nerve impingement.
Let's look at why not.
The reason it will not work is because of intrafusal/extrafusal muscle fibers and the alpha/gamma motor neuron feedback loop which I will hopefully explain in clear and simple terms.
Every muscle in your body is made up of intrafusal and extrafusal muscle fibers. The extrafusal muscle fibers are very numerous, they do most of the work involved with actively contracting and releasing a muscle. You want to turn your head. Your brain sends a signal along Alpha Motor Neurons to your neck muscles to contract and release allowing your head to move. That is the extrafusal muscle fibers.
Intrafusal muscle fibers are involved with posture, proprioception and the maintenance of a muscle's resting length. So what happens when you are standing at the bus stop and a strong wind gust comes to push you over? The intrafusal muscle fibers are what help you regain balance and stop from falling into the road. Intrafusal muscle fibers are grouped together in bundles called spindles and these spindles constantly send information to the spinal cord of the muscles length. When a muscle is passively stretched, these spindles sense it and send an impulse up to your spinal cord which then sends a message back to the Extrasal muscle fibers to contract and shorten. The myotatic stretch reflex.
One more thing, once again you have Alpha Motor Neurons and Gamma Motor Neurons. Alpha motor neurons are attached to extrafusal muscle fibers and they cause the muscle to contract and flex your joints. Gamma motor neurons are attached to these intrafusal muscle groups(spindles) and as they become engaged they pull at the spindle, increasing its sensitivity to stretch and making it more likely that the stretch feedback loop will be initiated.
What we know. We know that static stretching increases the activity of Gamma motor neurons.
What else? We know that conscious contraction decreases the activity of Gamma motor neurons.
This means that in order to lengthen a muscle, you need to inhibit the action of these gamma motor neurons by actively firing the alpha motor neurons. A great way to do that is what is called an eccentric contraction which means that the muscle is actively engaged while it lengthens, resetting the resting level. This is why Hanna Somatics works and this is what a lot of the fitness world is starting to turn to as they embrace dynamic stretching and functional warm ups to engage the muscles needed rather than passively stretch and pull. But don't take my word on it. Check out these great articles for more information.
NYTimes article
Stretching and Flexibility: a detailed look at the physiology of muscle contraction and stretch
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Meditation-
One of the things I've been exploring lately is mantra meditation. My original interest came from being exposed to practitioners of TM(trancendental meditation.) I noticed how calm and pleasant they were to be around and how life seemed to flow easily for them. Clearly, TM keeps people in line with the natural rhythms and flow of the Soma and many studies have been done to investigate its' positive effects.
TM is in essence a mantra meditation. Certain sounds or phrases are repeated over and over in your head for a period of time and the idea is that by focusing on these sounds, everything else is put to rest. I saw immediate parallels with Somatic Movements. The purpose of both of these techniques is to direct the action of the brain towards refining and improving function of the Soma.
Our brains are sort of like muscles. In a similar way that muscles contract, brains focus attention and respond to stimulus. If our attention is scattered or being commanded to various places at once, connections will be made between those varied points and we will struggle to maintain focus on all things at once. This is evident in the muscle tension that many people suffer from. Our Somas are reacting to so much stimuli at one time and we are moving in conflicting directions. One part says go, the other says stop. This creates actual tension and compression on the joints and makes it much harder to move through the world.
A great example is the relationship between the flexor muscles of the abdomen and the extensor muscles of the back. Thomas describes the flexor muscles as 'red light' muscles. The red light muscles, when engaged, create a withdrawal reflex and contract in response to negative stress. Our back muscles extend us forward and are thus termed 'green light' muscles. They can be thought of as a joy reflex and respond to positive stress and action. As they relate to each other, the red light is the primary movement and the green light is a reversal of this. The red light muscles make us curl inwards and retreat. The green light muscles lift us up and open us to the world.
Clearly our modern age presents points of conflict for these patterns. We are faced with simultaneous urges to withdraw and extend. The constant barrage of car horns, angry bosses, credit card debt combines with the media attention on war, natural disasters and crime to create a immense load of negative stress. Meanwhile job advancement, relationships, self fulfillment compel us to move forward and advance. Somatically, if left to manage itself, this can create a great amount of tension and lead to postural contortion and pain. The harder our abdominal muscles contract to withdraw and flex, the harder our extensor/back muscles have to work to keep us upright moving forward in the world. It's no surprise that back pain is one of the leading causes of missed work and doctor visits. To add to this, conventional wisdom teaches us that the key to back health is a strong tight core. Further tightening our abdominal muscles will indeed strengthen and tighten our back muscles but it is at the expense of our spine. The compression formed from this co-contraction leads to compressed vertebrae, buldgeing discs and nerve impingements.
So what does meditation do and what does somatic movement do?
What meditation does is it quiets the brain activity. As activity and stress levels heighten, so does our brain/nervous system activity. As our point of engagement with the world, it is our brain and nervous system that takes in and responds to all the stimulus we encounter. The physical contractions and movements we feel are the externalized responses to these stimuli and reflexive movement is a natural way that our nervous system automates common reactions to recurring stimulus. By meditating we are focusing our brain around certain points, words, actions that allow the other activities of our nervous system to relax. As brain activity focuses and relaxes, so does muscular activity.
Similarly, Somatic movement by releasing muscle tension reduces and focuses brain activity. Through slow gentle engagement of our primary motor patterns we learn to focus the brain around certain muscles drawing attention away from other activity and towards healing positive activity.
By resting the muscles, we rest the brain, by resting the brain we rest the muscles. Although approached from different angles, the effect is the same. The cause and effect relationship of our Somas with the world around us and the seemingly disparate parts of our soma can act to cause us turmoil and pain or it can be used constructively to aid in growth and development.
For information on TM
For information on Mantra Meditation
TM is in essence a mantra meditation. Certain sounds or phrases are repeated over and over in your head for a period of time and the idea is that by focusing on these sounds, everything else is put to rest. I saw immediate parallels with Somatic Movements. The purpose of both of these techniques is to direct the action of the brain towards refining and improving function of the Soma.
Our brains are sort of like muscles. In a similar way that muscles contract, brains focus attention and respond to stimulus. If our attention is scattered or being commanded to various places at once, connections will be made between those varied points and we will struggle to maintain focus on all things at once. This is evident in the muscle tension that many people suffer from. Our Somas are reacting to so much stimuli at one time and we are moving in conflicting directions. One part says go, the other says stop. This creates actual tension and compression on the joints and makes it much harder to move through the world.
A great example is the relationship between the flexor muscles of the abdomen and the extensor muscles of the back. Thomas describes the flexor muscles as 'red light' muscles. The red light muscles, when engaged, create a withdrawal reflex and contract in response to negative stress. Our back muscles extend us forward and are thus termed 'green light' muscles. They can be thought of as a joy reflex and respond to positive stress and action. As they relate to each other, the red light is the primary movement and the green light is a reversal of this. The red light muscles make us curl inwards and retreat. The green light muscles lift us up and open us to the world.
Clearly our modern age presents points of conflict for these patterns. We are faced with simultaneous urges to withdraw and extend. The constant barrage of car horns, angry bosses, credit card debt combines with the media attention on war, natural disasters and crime to create a immense load of negative stress. Meanwhile job advancement, relationships, self fulfillment compel us to move forward and advance. Somatically, if left to manage itself, this can create a great amount of tension and lead to postural contortion and pain. The harder our abdominal muscles contract to withdraw and flex, the harder our extensor/back muscles have to work to keep us upright moving forward in the world. It's no surprise that back pain is one of the leading causes of missed work and doctor visits. To add to this, conventional wisdom teaches us that the key to back health is a strong tight core. Further tightening our abdominal muscles will indeed strengthen and tighten our back muscles but it is at the expense of our spine. The compression formed from this co-contraction leads to compressed vertebrae, buldgeing discs and nerve impingements.
So what does meditation do and what does somatic movement do?
What meditation does is it quiets the brain activity. As activity and stress levels heighten, so does our brain/nervous system activity. As our point of engagement with the world, it is our brain and nervous system that takes in and responds to all the stimulus we encounter. The physical contractions and movements we feel are the externalized responses to these stimuli and reflexive movement is a natural way that our nervous system automates common reactions to recurring stimulus. By meditating we are focusing our brain around certain points, words, actions that allow the other activities of our nervous system to relax. As brain activity focuses and relaxes, so does muscular activity.
Similarly, Somatic movement by releasing muscle tension reduces and focuses brain activity. Through slow gentle engagement of our primary motor patterns we learn to focus the brain around certain muscles drawing attention away from other activity and towards healing positive activity.
By resting the muscles, we rest the brain, by resting the brain we rest the muscles. Although approached from different angles, the effect is the same. The cause and effect relationship of our Somas with the world around us and the seemingly disparate parts of our soma can act to cause us turmoil and pain or it can be used constructively to aid in growth and development.
For information on TM
For information on Mantra Meditation
Monday, June 2, 2008
A pause on potential
So, one of the things somatics has done for me personally is open up opportunities that I never felt were possible. It's allowed me to see myself as an athlete, as a dancer, as a businessman... all at the same time. A key thing I've been thinking about lately is something Thomas Hanna wrote in the body of life..
Contrary to traditional biological thinking, growth is open-ended; it is a venture of risk. Growth is not a static, repeated cycle, nor has it ever been. It is always expanding towards more than what has been. Only conceptions are static Life grows, expands, evolves towards an open-ended future of its own contrivance. Some human beings may hang on to life, just managing to survive, but all somas prior to human somas have confidently expanded their numbers and their variety into the universe, almost as if the universe existed only for the purpose f supporting and lending itself to the project of life's expansion.
(Hanna, 1979, p 128)
The idea of stasis as a goal is predicated on a modern, western view of the body as a machine. This was a view proposed in the 1600's, initiated by Rene Descartes(I think, therefor I am) as a way to seperate the mind from the body. A necessary split at the time, that put emphasis on the brain and a thinking man's ability to conquer it's environment. The body was simply another thing, object to be studied and fixed. The body became a seperate entity and in many ways has become somewhat of a hinderance. And if it is truly a machine, then on it's own it cannot grow, it cannot improve, it can only fall apart and get fixed.
If, on the other hand, we choose to see the body and mind as one object, us, a soma, then we see that just as our brains can get more intelligent and better as we age, so can our bodies. The are intertwined, un-splittable, as one improves so does the other.
A more manageable split is one of function and structure.
Structure refers to the bones and tissue and genetic materials that direct our growth.
Function on the other-hand, is what we do with our structure. Function is development, decay, adaptation for the good or bad. But most importantly, the way we function is our point of control over our actions and the consequences of those actions. And as Thomas points out, efficient, graceful, easy function is what we as somas do and what drives us to excel and to achieve and to grow beyond subsequent generations and even subsequent species. Consequently, if that is truly our nature then to allow natural functioning is to deny failure. This, I believe, is the true goal of the methods Thomas Hanna developed that I practice on myself and teach to others. By releasing natural movement(function) we can truly express ourselves as human somas and discover our potential.
Contrary to traditional biological thinking, growth is open-ended; it is a venture of risk. Growth is not a static, repeated cycle, nor has it ever been. It is always expanding towards more than what has been. Only conceptions are static Life grows, expands, evolves towards an open-ended future of its own contrivance. Some human beings may hang on to life, just managing to survive, but all somas prior to human somas have confidently expanded their numbers and their variety into the universe, almost as if the universe existed only for the purpose f supporting and lending itself to the project of life's expansion.
(Hanna, 1979, p 128)
The idea of stasis as a goal is predicated on a modern, western view of the body as a machine. This was a view proposed in the 1600's, initiated by Rene Descartes(I think, therefor I am) as a way to seperate the mind from the body. A necessary split at the time, that put emphasis on the brain and a thinking man's ability to conquer it's environment. The body was simply another thing, object to be studied and fixed. The body became a seperate entity and in many ways has become somewhat of a hinderance. And if it is truly a machine, then on it's own it cannot grow, it cannot improve, it can only fall apart and get fixed.
If, on the other hand, we choose to see the body and mind as one object, us, a soma, then we see that just as our brains can get more intelligent and better as we age, so can our bodies. The are intertwined, un-splittable, as one improves so does the other.
A more manageable split is one of function and structure.
Structure refers to the bones and tissue and genetic materials that direct our growth.
Function on the other-hand, is what we do with our structure. Function is development, decay, adaptation for the good or bad. But most importantly, the way we function is our point of control over our actions and the consequences of those actions. And as Thomas points out, efficient, graceful, easy function is what we as somas do and what drives us to excel and to achieve and to grow beyond subsequent generations and even subsequent species. Consequently, if that is truly our nature then to allow natural functioning is to deny failure. This, I believe, is the true goal of the methods Thomas Hanna developed that I practice on myself and teach to others. By releasing natural movement(function) we can truly express ourselves as human somas and discover our potential.
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