Someone recently commented on this quote of mine that was posted on social media.
They commented, “First, though it must be felt in the brain to reorganize the body.”
That’s a general conception. And it’s valid. What I’m sharing is another perspective. When our body is forming as an embryo, it does so without the brain’s control. There are processes that take place before there is a brain.
The brain itself is one of the later structures to develop embryologically. I’ve read brainwaves are not perceived in the embryo until 20 – 27 weeks. From my experience in researching through embodiment, there is an organization within the tissues themselves that underlies the organization by the nervous system. Experience happens first in our cells and tissues. The nervous system, including the brain, records this experience after it happens.
Each cell in our body has living intelligence. It is capable of knowing itself, initiating action, and communicating with all other cells. Cells experience directly, before information reaches the brain. In exploring the body and movement, there are ways to access the direct experience of our tissues and cells, ways to enter this process before the brain modulates or filters it. When we follow our awareness to this place of directly experiencing, it gives us a sense of open presence in our body.
The brain, of course, is important but it enters the process secondarily, after the experience has taken place at the cellular and fluid level. The brain organizes experiences at a different level. After an experience occurs and is recorded by the brain, a dialogue emerges between the cells/tissues and the brain. This dialogue creates patterns (memory) and helps shape our expectations and responses to present, future, and past experiences.
This is a completely different approach to what most people are used to. It involves opening awareness to your cells and tissues in this very moment.
Then, when you initiate movement from this place of cellular awareness, you provide new information to the brain of what is actually occurring. This is different than responding based primarily upon the memories stored in the brain of what happened in the past.
A cellular approach provides you with new options for perceiving and responding at the body level. This will, in turn, also open new possibilities for how you perceive and respond cognitively and emotionally.
The embodiment of cellular experience and cellular knowing is a thread that weaves through all of my work. If you would like to pursue this subject further, I have two courses on this subject: Embodying Cellular Consciousness through Touch and Movement Exploring the Embodiment of Cellular Consciousness through Movement.