We have the two mental systems of reaction: the immediate one that can get us alarmed before we realize that it is not a snake but just a stick, and the slower one that we use to figure out how we can get ourselves to put our sticks away where they belong instead of leaving them in the way. These two systems are often referred to as system 1 and system 2. You could probably say that Freud's idea of the Id was our system 1 and combining his Ego and Superego would be about the same as our system 2 with our internal clerk-mathematician-scientist thrown in, too. The book Thinking: Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman discusses these fast and slow systems. The much older book The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey discusses the need in tennis drills to give the analytic system 2 something to do, such as call out "Hit" when the ball hits the court. That way, the basic body-connected system gets a chance to do the stroke in a natural and relaxed way.
Our brains and bodies are shaped by millions of years of evolution. What can and did happen in such a span of time is way beyond normal imagining so I am hesitant to dismiss any part of our bodies or ways of thinking as wrong or superfluous. Modern Western thinking tends to be just that: thinking. And thinking, fast or slow or both, can be good. However, we are more than our brains. I was interested when I heard about Sohini Chakraborty, an Indian woman who applies ideas from dance and dance therapy to helping traumatized young women. Research may eventually show that movement of different types, using rhythms of different kinds and tones of various types, can indeed assist in getting a handle on better ways to think, feel and move. There may be something sometime to using different scents and olfactory experiences to heal or promote healing or better prepare for healing of various kinds.
I have seen more and more how doing yoga stretches and postures can prepare the body and mind to mediate. A friend just told me the other day about an app that will vibrate when I should improve my posture. My own physician has consistently maintained that exercise, especially aerobic exercise, is good for my brain. Prof. Satterfield says the same thing, reporting that physical exercise has been shown to be more effective for brain function that brain-training software, which itself has a small positive effect but long lasting one.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
