The Body Electric

"Dancing is more like high-interface action verbs than nouns and subjects. I'm very interested in the electric threshold; dance can be like live voltage, or crossing realms. Sometimes the body is flooded and energized by an excess of impulses, spasms, jerks, shakes, tremors, and responds with quirks and undulations."           Kenneth King

If a dancing body is capable of these responses, these expressions -- spasms, jerks, shakes, tremors -- then where do these responses go in everyday life? Where do we put that kinetic energy while we sit quietly in front of the computer or clutching our cell phones, thumbing our blackberries and iphones? Do we even breathe when engaged in these activities, never mind allow our body its natural expression?

Part of our successful socialization, or the price of success if you will, is based on the ability to suppress physical, visible, reactions. We freeze our faces (Botox anyone?). We freeze the muscles in our bodies. We do this whether we are excited, disappointed, angry or overwhelmed. But remember, the brain and its extension, the body, are coded for action/re-action. If we can't flinch, quiver, cry or grimace, what happens to those impulses? Do we take these neural stimuli into hiding? Might it be these inhibited impulses that unexpressed hide out in the neck (spasm), eye (twitch), head (pound), back (grab), stomach (gurgle), intestines (run)?

Instead of releasing, do we repress? Maybe it's the crazy person, the schizophrenic off his meds on the subway platform who might still embody his own natural reactions, reactions that haven't been re-pressed. Scary, isn't it? Or think of the disorder of Tourette's syndrome, where the nervous system is operating without the appropriate neural brakes or neural inhibitions. (For it is the inhibitory part of the nervous system that allows it to operate smoothly by applying braking mechanisms that allow for smooth, controlled movements.)

Paradoxically, one of the beauties of meditation is that it allows us to sit quietly and to be with our own mental and emotional processes. It is why it can be so uncomfortable to meditate. All of the sudden, we give permission, time and space to those thoughts and feelings, the same ones that we try, with decreasing effectiveness, to control, to keep down, to run away from. We give these very thoughts and feeling permission to bubble up, as if from the primordial soup, and they want to be heard. In meditation, we can study this live voltage, this energy that gets trapped in our bodies. We do this by sitting quietly, tuning into the repetitive cycles of the breath.

One appeal of yoga is that we invite ourselves to slow down and to feel the body. We are invited to extend the head on the neck, the neck on the spine, the fingers, hands and wrists, torso, toes and limbs out of habitually tight ranges. By doing this, we give ample time and space for the muscles, thoughts and emotions to unwind. Is it any wonder that we feel calmer, with fewer aches and pains after giving the bodymind its say?

Think. What posture is most typical of Western life? Sitting. We sit in front of the computer, the TV, at our desks, in our cars, on the airplanc. We are a nation of sitters!

Many, if not most, of our aches and pains, our illnesses (including diabetes and heart disease) are caused not by overuse of ourselves, our bodies, but by under use. We move too little in quantity and variety. So, let's get up and move, dance to get the electric body moving, and we will all feel better and be healthier for it.

Get Up and Move. Your Brain and Your Well-Being May Depend on It.

The brain is the CEO of the body, the chief organ, the director. It initiates and sends the signals that allow us to accomplish tasks. Making and drinking that cup of espresso. Reaching out to reassure a loved one through a gentle touch. The brain also governs organ function. It monitors and creates neurotransmitters and hormones, complex and dynamic interactions in the body we still know very little about.

Besides sending signals for movement, action, reaction and creating homeostasis within your body, your brain receives and interprets information coming to you from the environment outside you, as well as the environment inside -- your body, mind and emotions. Are you hot/cold? Is it light/dark? Are you afraid or calm? Are you sleepy or rested? Happy or sad? Is it safe out there? What does it feel like in here?

We tend to think of the emotions as originating in the brain, in our minds. Buddhists and many psychologists believe that emotions are caused by our thoughts. Become aware of the faulty thought, identify it as such, and the painful emotion will change, switch or even disappear. Becoming aware of the emotion may mean learning to feel where the tension of that emotion is felt in your body. At this level of tension or bodily discomfort, it's not hard (or is it) to convince many people that we store mental and emotional tension or sadness or depression in our bodies. That the signal of pain or stiffness or tiredness may not be solely physical in origin. That our fatigue, sleeplessness, stiffness and pain may because of a combination of physical, mental and emotional triggers.

Indeed, Yoga, meditation, tai chi and other approaches offer us a method to become aware of our bodies, minds and emotions. Besides awareness, these practices may also offer us a way to work with our minds and emotions in a calm, sane way. Through the combination of mental and physical practices, they offer us a way to counter the deleterious effects of stress and pain stored in the body. On a simple, concrete level, the physical practices of Yoga, tai chi, chi gong get the blood flowing. They enhance breathing (which alters blood flow). They can help us to decrease pain, increase balance and provide an overall sense of well-being.

At the same time, in Western scientific medicine, emotional imbalances or disorders particularly depression and anxiety, are thought to be because of biochemical imbalances, imbalances in the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, etc. and are then treated with pharmacology in an attempt to restore balance to the body's (and the mind's) chemistry.

The good news is that a bevy of studies suggest that the cheapest, easiest and perhaps the most effective way to alter mood, perception or even cognitive function is to get moving. Open the newspaper, go online, and you will find continuously new studies that document the positive effects of exercise on depression and anxiety. Cognition too. Get the blood flowing and you just might feel better (maybe because of an alteration in biochemical processes).

What kinds of exercise can accomplish this? Does it have to be running or yoga or meditation? Stepping not too far out on a limb, I would say that any form of exercise will accomplish this, from yoga, to playing basketball, weight lifting, biking, running, elliptical training, walking, swimming, tennis, tai chi, any form of dance -- you name it.

Get moving and you will feel better, look better and improve your health and longevity. It's a win-win proposition.