Of Course Any Movement Engages The Whole Body: Science Catches Up with Moshe Feldenkrais
From NPR: An overlooked brain system helps you grab a coffee — and plan your next cup
Newly Recognized Brain Part Coordinates Whole Body Action
Moshe posited that the whole body is engaged in movement. New MRI brain data confirm that the brain’s motor cortex links specific muscle stimulus with information on how the entire body supports that movement. A newly recognized strip of brain matter lying directly below the motor cortex lights up when movement is initiated, activating relevant changes in blood pressure, brain activity and more.
In other words, the whole body is engaged when we initiate a movement, from regulating blood pressure to possible release of hormones. Just as Moshe Feldenkrais taught.
Here are some details from the NPR report:
“[S]cientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that previously overlooked areas of the brain’s motor cortex appear to link control of specific muscles with information about the entire body and brain.
As a result, the act of, say, reaching for a cup of coffee can directly influence blood pressure and heart rate. And the movement is seamlessly integrated into brain systems involved in planning, goals and emotion.
But the MRI data leaves little doubt that “there is this interconnected system,” says Evan Gordon, an assistant professor of radiology and the study’s first author. “It always was there, but we had not perceived it because of our training, because of the things we learned in the first neuroscience class that we ever took.””
“Gordon says, they found evidence that the ribbon of motor cortex contained alternating areas: one for fine control of a specific muscle, then another keeping track of the entire body.
”Even simple movements require nuanced control of all organ systems,” he says. “You have to control heart rate. You have to control blood pressure. You have to control so called fight and flight responses.”
So it makes sense that the same ribbon of brain tissue involved in a movement like standing up would be connected to all those other brain areas.
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