We have seen before that
Spine acts as the protector of the spinal cord. The spinal cord is a very major organ of the body. It is like a column which is made up of nerves. These nerves connect our brain to the whole body so that the body can function properly and harmoniously. It is like a column which is made up of nerves.
The spinal cord serves as a conduit for signals between the brain and the rest of the body. It also controls simple musculoskeletal reflexes without input from the brain.
Hence, it is not surprising that in the absence of a spinal cord, neither our body can move nor our organs can function.
Let us understand how the function of our nervous system works.
There are two parts of the nervous system that bring about movement in our body.
One is the movement controlled and executed by the spinal cord from the spinal segments, called a reflex action.
Second, the movement is executed by the central nervous system.
Reflex action is an inborn central nervous system activity, not involving consciousness, in which a particular stimulus, by exciting an immediate response of muscle or gland. which are equal and opposite. They cannot stop very easily, which we observe in an infant between the ages of 1 to 4 months, is not able to control the movement of the limbs but all these movements are to extend and expand from knee elbow pose.
Reflex action is the action followed by immediate reactions that are equal and opposite. The child learns this art of locomotion by righting reflex through sequence of effort and failure, and one day, the child succeeds.
The failure to go into the posture is because of a lack of ancient muscle memory that the child unwound at the developmental span of 2 years. Further goes into automation. As did not learn consciously and intellectually get lost and forgotten.
The laws of physics govern the body, i.e., the posture will be physically stable, provided gravity and anti-gravity are equal and opposite.
Secondly, to balance gravity versus anti gravitational force, we have been given the right and left side rotation, i.e.dextro and levo rotation. So equality of forces is an important for physical, physiological and psychological state i.e. the principle of physics.
The child keeps learning this through effort and failure. One day, the child remembers the sequence of actions to perform that posture. But the way children succeed, may be some acquired defects remain. This procedure is then recorded in the brain, i.e., cerebellum. In cerebellum, the position of the body with the surroundings is recorded. This is called awareness of space within the body with space outside the body.
Cerebellum records the ideal position of the body. The position of the right side of the body is recorded into the right cerebellum .The sensations coming from the periphery pass through the spinal cord. When they reach the cerebellum, it programmed the cerebellum of the same side. Then, the sensations travel further to the thalamus, which is a sorting centre. It sorts out from where the sensation has come, and accordingly, it transfers to the sensory centres in the opposite brain, Cerebrum. So, the sensation of the position of the body is recorded into the cerebellum of the same side and also the sensory cortex of the opposite side. Then, in consultation with the sensory cortex, the motor cortex of the opposite side decides the plan of action, and accordingly, the spinal cord through spinal reflex executes the action of the muscles.
The ideal posture is recorded in the cerebellum. So, the art of turning on the belly to get up is remembered up to death. The intellect doesn’t take part in the sequence of the activity. We have to learn the sequence of flow of movement in the muscle spindle step by step, i.e., fractional variations in muscle spindle,density of muscle in yoga asanas. So if the motor cortex is damaged, there is paralysis.If you observe ,The paralytic person tries to walk from the shoulder and not from the hip. He uses his hand first while walking.
This walking from the shoulder is the genetic programming of a quadruped animal, which is learnt when the child starts crawling with his hands and knees. But when the child stands and starts walking, it does not use his shoulders but its hips.
So, in our method of learning yoga, the same channel of efforts – failure and success in the biofeedback technique with conscious sequential order with specific direction and flow of muscle movement – are used. Modification of yoga postures teaches us in programming this ancient memory in our Conscious brain further becomes habitual, lifestyle.
Principles are to create a chain of memory of muscle flow in the nervous system. Therefore a posture is divided into small parts and learned bit by bit.( क्षण आणि क्षण क्रम, क्षणाक्षणाला बदलणारी स्थिती/ अवस्था ,गती)
In lying postures, with the help of gravity, the person can execute the control of the nervous system.
The chemical control of the central nervous system on the activity of the spinal cord is an act of intellect. Hence, the movements are smooth. In diseases like Parkinson’s this control of chemical balance is lost. Therefore, the body either becomes fast or slow.
In a lying posture, the person totally surrendered to gravity and tried to remember the intellectual control over the movement of the body.
To achieve this, reflex activity of the body should be completely silenced. By doing this, the person can attain coordination between the cerebral (sensory and motor cortex) and spinal cord. This requires the position of the body understood by the cerebellum of one side to be balanced with the activity of the sensory cortex of the opposite side. The sensory cortex in coordination with the motor cortex tries to manipulate a posture towards the ideal posture.
Ideal posture is posture where the life force (Jeeva) is in the state of Tranquillity.
A person should understand how to resist the reflex activity of the spinal cord. To learn this, a person should understand the position of the body in relation to the ground and must learn the correction of muscles from minute to minute in any pose.
It requires the coordination between the cerebrum and cerebellum of the opposite side. Here, the role of the cerebellum is a moderator who makes the person perform the ideal things. For e.g. in cinema there are two people, the first is a director and the other is the actor. The role of the director is done by cerebellum, and the role of the actor is done by the cerebrum. The actor knows only the art but does not know the limitations and always suffers from ego. So he really does accept the mistake.
Therefore, the position of the body is recorded at two places, one in the cerebellum of the same side and the other is the sensory cortex of the opposite side of the cerebrum.
The sensory mechanism of the sensation of the feet, then the visual balance and vestibular balance, will give an understanding of whether the posture is stable or unstable.
How your posture looks from outside and how it is inside always differs. Hence, your teacher must see this distortion in spaces within and guide you.
Remember that,for most of the time, the motor system is not concerned with moving the body at all, but rather with keeping it still and stable.
This Is especially true in humans, whose precarious twin support needs constant motor commands to keep them upright against the force of gravity. Our centre of gravity is so high off the ground that passive stability is not enough. It must involve an active process as well, which uses proprioceptive feedback information.
The support area is much smaller in humans than in four footed animals, and additionally, we have not made efforts at all to extend ourselves upright in the name of exercises and in the name of yoga too.
I always say we look like a biped but still in a qiarderpet stage. Hence, maintaining an upright posture is correspondingly more difficult. A tilt of only a degree is sufficient to cause instability. (Hence, yoga has given more importance to physical stability first . therefore, unconsciously, we lose balance of gravity and anti-gravity. What I observed in yoga teaching is that they lack very basic principles. This is the process that leads us towards diseases. So be aware.
The role of the motor cortex is limited in stable posture. But the human body is a moving object. Hence, the person should be more careful to maintain the posture. Mobility has got no meaning without stability. For any dynamic movement, we must learn posture first and that also intellectually. For that, the person must know the ideal posture. There should be a method of learning step by step and with props, which will help the person to learn.
The yoga teacher should know the ideal postures through which he or she can guide the person for their alignments and equilibrium in musculature. that can be learned through yoga philosophy.
The philosophy without practicality is barren and practical without philosophy is blind.
Therefore, the person must understand the nature of the body through ayurveda, modern medicine and anatomy, physiology, and physical science.
Then only we can learn the behaviour of the mind through yoga philosophy. These two arts and sciences are synchronized , and only yoga can become the restoration and therapy for improvement, enhancement to evolve further. It is not easy-going in today’s fast lifestyle but not difficult also.
My method of teaching tries to give a helping hand to improve the natural way of healing, preventing, and evolving ourselves as human beings.
Therefore, different types of postures, which I divided into two parts , are upper extremities, which cover head to Thoracic spine with ribcage and organs above the diaphragm.
Second is the lower extremity, which covers the lumbar spine, pelvis, and all organs situated below the diaphragm. All these postures help to maintain the healthy relationship between body,mind, and intellect complex. It will give a person a healthy body and healthy mind, attitude in life.
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Swati Joshi Yoga Therapist
