The many healing powers

There are many healing powers: positive images, positive words, positive feelings, positive energies from people and places and positive belief from You.

The start of wellness or good feeling of wellbeing is enabled by the owner of the body and mind, YOU. There are many documented stories of coming back to life during times when our heart stopped beating. My sister experienced this event during her difficult childbirth with her firstborn.  Coaxed by a strong voice and spirit and her determination to live and see her new baby, brought back her spirit to her body.  Our body is made up of electrical energies and our brain is comprised of nerve impulses that communicate to every cell in our being.  Energy inside our bodies allow us to breath and live each day.  As we instruct our legs to move, we build more neurons in our brain.

Somatic psychology centralizes body awareness as a primary healing agent in psychotherapy

Somatic therapy starts with an understanding of our nervous system.

Our body, nervous system

What does the nervous system do?

The nervous system along with the endocrine (hormonal) system works to control all activities within the human body. It does this by communicating messages between the brain and the body very quickly using nerve impulses (action potentials).

The four main functions of the nervous system are:

Control of body’s internal environment to maintain ‘homeostasis’

An example of this is the regulation of body temperature. As we exercise we create heat, in order to maintain a relatively constant core temperature the nervous system sends messages to the blood vessels to dilate (expand), increasing blood flow to the skin, and increasing sweating to help disperse the accumulating heat.

Programming of spinal cord reflexes

An example of this is the stretch reflex. This reflex functions to protect us from injury. If we were out jogging and accidentally ran into a pot-hole and rolled our ankle, the stretch reflex would instantly sense the stretch in the muscles around the ankle and send messages to those muscles telling them to contract and resist the stretch. This reflex serves to protect the ankle from breaking and results in a minor sprain rather than a severe break.

Memory and learning

You didn’t learn to read or write overnight did you? A certain amount of repetition was required to learn and memorize these key functions. The same applies with exercise. New movements, especially complex ones, take time for the nervous system to learn. Remember this when teaching new exercises to people – a certain amount of repetition will need to occur before their nervous system gets it right!

Voluntary control of movement

Every voluntary movement that a person performs is under the direct control of the nervous system as the nervous system sends the messages to the particular body parts to move. If the movement has been repeated numerous times (walking for most of us…) the movement will be very efficient. If however the movement is new and still requires some repetition then we would expect the movement to be less efficient and in some cases look awkward and ungainly (such as a person learning the squat for the first time).

Why is the nervous system important?

The nervous system is integral to our ability to function in every way. As we know muscle creates movement by contracting and pulling on our bones. However it is the nervous system that is responsible for stimulating the muscles and causing them to contract. Without the neural impulses of the nervous system, muscle would simply not work.

When someone experiences a severe trauma to their spinal cord, it will often result in paralysis of their body below the point of trauma. For example if the spinal cord is damaged above the nerves that stimulate their lower body (legs etc..), then they will not be able to walk again. This is because the messages, which are intended for the legs can no longer reach them. In essence it is like the power cable to your house being cut and the lights going out.

The nervous system is not just responsible for stimulating muscle; it stimulates every tissue and organ within the body. It is therefore important that you understand the nervous system so that you can train clients safely and effectively.