The Unlearned Becomes Learned
“Proprioception is,
literally, how we “sense ourselves.” There are three main sources of input into
our proprioceptive system. One of them, kinesthesia, is the feeling of
movement derived from all skeletal and muscular structures. Kinesthesia also
includes the feeling of pain, our orientations in space, the passage of time,
and rhythm. A second source, visceral feedback, consists of the
miscellaneous impressions from our internal organ. Labyrinthine or
vestibular feedback? The feeling of balance as related to our position
in space is provided by the chochlea, and organ of the inner ear. The
physiological term “proprioception” refers to the ability to evaluate, and
respond to stimuli sensed by the proprioceptives, actual nerves imbedded in our
tissues (muscles, joints and tendons). These cells constantly communicate with
the brain, orienting the body to its movement, position, and tone. It is our
sixth sense. The other five senses provide information about the outer world.
Proprioception provides information about the inner world, which we alone
inhabit. Physicist David Bohm used the term “proprioceptive intelligence” to
describe an optimal state of self-sensing, self-correcting, and self-organizing
awareness? allowing for coherent participation in life through the integral
functioning of all modes of intelligence.”
- Risa Kaparo, Awakening Somatic Intelligence, 2012, p.25
"Awareness is the function of isolating "new" sensory-motor
phenomena in order to learn to recognize and control them. It is only
through the exclusionary function of awareness that the involuntary is made
voluntary, the unknown made known, and the never-done the doable.
Awareness serves as a probe, recruiting new material for the repertoire of
voluntary consciousness.
The upshot of this is somatic learning begins by focusing awareness of the
unknown. This active functioning identifies traits of the unknown that can
be associated with traits already known in one's conscious repertoire.
Through the process the unknown becomes known by the voluntary consciousness.
In a word, the unlearned becomes learned."
- Thomas Hanna
Body-Mind, Somaesthetics, Somatics: Quotations, Bibliography, Resources
New information for me and most interesting. To think of my "inside" life, this is a first.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!
Techniques for cultivating awareness of our feelings have various degrees of success for individuals. Inside and outside are mingled in our experiences. A modicum of separation of the two is mostly frequently done while the body is still, relaxed, and in a quiet environment. When busy acting in our daily life, both thinking and feeling fade into the background as doing fills the foreground.
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