never fight a clown...

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Have we evolved certain parts of our brain only to de-evolve our ability to move? Zen and the Art of the ‘Lizard Brain’.


The other day I took two of my kids swimming. It was 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and I had forgotten shoes for my daughter, so I gave her mine. Which meant I had to walk on the hot bitumen to the pool. It got me to thinking how soft my feet had become over the last 50 years. I remember a time as a kid going everywhere with bare feet. I would traverse hot surfaces and fields of grass covered in prickles. I could navigate a wide variety of surfaces without a thought or care.

How and why we become bipedal is divided amongst a few theories. Common themes from these theories attribute our vertical ascension to; the need to carry tools, standing in order to see food and or prey and the general freeing up the upper limbs.

Over time the liberation of the hands enabled us to make and use tools. Sadly, it also meant we needed our brains to evolve to catch up to being bipedal which unfortunately occurred millions of years after bipedalism occurred. Some of the disadvantages included potential back injuries as walking upright and being able lift or carry heavy objects put considerable stress on the lower back. It is thought that varicose veins could be the result of standing upright, due to circulatory system having to move blood against gravity. One of the biggest disadvantages is if injury occurs to one leg or foot it renders the individual unable to move. Despite all that we have survived as an upright. 

We have evolved and continue to evolve all the while trying to make things easier and more comfortable for ourselves. I would even go so far as to say we have pursued this ironically at the cost of movement. That is to say that we hardly move any more. Are we de-evolving physically while our minds evolve? Surely it’s time to bring about balance again.




If I take a snapshot of my day. My food is in the fridge. I don’t have to move much to get it, no hunting or gathering there. My washing has been done by a machine even the drying of it - I didn’t have to go to a river to wash it. On top of all that the terrain I move on is predominantly sealed and flat. I’m not forced to focus on my balance because the ground is mostly all flat. My body isn’t really challenged. There is no prey so my flight, freeze and fight response is not challenged.

This lack of movement is now exacerbated by being hyper focused on the handheld devises (‘text neck’) and bad posture especially at a desk. It is worth noting that the average weight of the human head is roughly 5.4 kilograms (12 pounds). Now when the neck is lent forward that weight on the cervical spine can inflate to as much as 27.2 kilograms (60 pounds) depending on the degree. Even with a small degree increase like fifteen degrees the weight of the head can more than double to around 12.2 kilograms (27 pounds). This extra stress on the neck and lower back combined with our general lack of movement means our poor bodies could be destine to de-evolve.

Therefore, I believe the challenge in our modern lives is to confront this absence of movement and lack of movement awareness front on. I would posit we can achieve this in two ways. By finding a system of movement that gets you up and moving well that works for you. This could be a movement class, martial arts, cross fit or climbing – regardless it needs to be a healthy and safe movement system that works for you. Secondly finding ways to tap into that part of our brain that has been left dormant as we have evolved – cerebellum or our ‘lizard brain’. It is directly connected to the spinal cord (or brainstem). As living creatures, we have basic tasks that must be performed in order for us to sustain life. Those functions originate in this most primitive portion of the brain. Tasks such as: reproduction, balance, reflexive behaviours, heartbeat, breathing, feeding, digestion and muscle control.

I sense the answer to reigniting our ability to move again and move well in the future lies in the harmonious use of the basic functions of the body with a huge awareness of the ‘lizard brain’. With a healthy mental and physical approach to developing our bodies and ‘lizard brain’ we could set our bodies up to be more prepared for a future that is yet unknown. If we think more globally and with a view to the future, we don’t know what our environment will look like. With all the atmospherics changes occurring we need to be more vigilant than ever as evolving humans. The very ground we walk on could be vastly different in the future than it is today. With all this talk of mindfulness I think it is also time to be considering a term: bodyfulness.

2 comments:

  1. We do often function in different states of engagement, and some are more conducive to 'bodyfullness' than others.
    The state we learn in is particular, in that it needs to be safe focused and stimulating. It is not just about learning and deploying skills.
    The activity needs to be stimulating but not stressful. With steps and goals within it, and allow clear feedback. Challenging is a good word.
    When these conditions are met a funny thing can happen called transient hypofrontality, thats when the inhibitor firing executive thinking part of our brain releases us into an unselfconscious state of embodiment. Clown state has been studied in this context, as well as acting, sport and combat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Tim buddy, exactly - which is why I'm including words like 'heathy' and of course my clown brain approach! In also talking about our overall evolution given that we have no idea what our world will look like as climate change takes hold. Will our environment be even harder to traverse - but maybe that's another blog entry!! ps this whole blog is your fault. (August 2011 entry - http://chaosandorder-scottie.blogspot.com/2011/08/thoughts-that-follow-in-this-post-are.html )

      Delete