There are some very good reasons

The current status of the poly crisis requires more committed collective action. We all really need to work together don’t we?

There are some very good reasons why that action should be physical. One is the importance of the sensory motor system to our understanding of the mind and brain. The other is the promise of significant perceptual shift and cognitive development through embodiment practices. A final reason is that the structures of the body and their practical needs provide an organic insight into the laws of nature and even right and wrong.

What is different is that we are now talking about and exploring the interoceptive sensory motor system. This is the postural muscular system located in the deep core myofascial synergy of the axial line of the body.

We are already very familiar with the exteroceptive sensory motor system. These are the large muscles and joints that that we move very consciously and these are easy to talk about. When we swing our arm or jump or kick with our leg, these are all dynamic muscular activities involving the exteroceptive sensory motor system and the superficial muscles of the body. We are aware of these movements through the five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing. The outer skin is the organ of exteroception and it is easy to be aware of and talk about factually.

In contrast the interoceptive sensory motor system is the one that works in the postural muscles of the body, located deep within, and under the surface. Fascia, the connective tissue matrix, is the inner skin by which we know and feel ourselves. It is a crucial part of the interoceptive sensory motor system. Until it’s rediscovery a few decades ago it was the missing link in our anatomical knowledge.

It is more difficult to sense and control the inner parts of the body than it is the outer ones, but it is by no means meant to be a secret or prohibitive. In fact it is meant to be intuitive, easy and natural. This is what it means to be a sensory motor system. It just so happens that this one is nonverbal, and even animals and children master it without any education or language. The system simply functions in a different way than the top-down and intellectual cognition characteristic of exteroception.

There is a completely different physiology for the interceptive sensory system. The muscles in particular function on a different metabolic cycle than does the dynamic system. This deep core sensory motor system is a distinct secondary body wide system that monitors, coordinates, corrects, and maintains itself. It is like a mirror image of our self with agency and self-awareness. It is a sort of animal intelligence. When we recognize it within ourselves we have the experience of being deeply known and understood. This system knows us from the inside out.

The interoceptive sensory motor system is also the postural muscular system. It is the system that holds us together, creates stability and lift, and conveys the experience of grounding and centering. When well integrated and vital, in other words when meta-stable, this system of systems is capable of producing a significant phase shift in the oscillations of the brain. Practically speaking this would be the reintegration or rebalancing of the right hemisphere of the brain.

This is a pre-verbal process and is a form of animal intelligence. Of course it attains a higher level in the human brain. We can describe it as biomechanical enlightenment.

The interoceptive sensory motor system is experiential. Embodiment practices are designed to facilitate the functioning of the interoceptive sensory motor system as an active brain structure.

These are some of the good reasons that our active collective response to the poly crisis should include physical action, in particular an embodiment practice.