The mind-body connection in learning

Mind Body Connection w/Learning

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One only needs to feel the knots in the stomach prior to an important speech, or test, or recital, or just before participating in a crucial sporting event to know that there is indeed a mind-body connection (Woolston, 2009).

What is This Mind-Body Connection?

"The human brain and body work together. Neuro-pathways from your brain are communicating all the time with your cells and muscles. Messages travel back and forth at blistering speeds. This merging of the mind and body creates a holistic connection that is critical for health and wellness... there is significant evidence to suggest that coordinating the interaction between our minds and bodies can result in amazing things. Lifelong learning plays a major role in this

because it helps balance both your mind and body" (Nordstrom, 2007, para. 2, 14).

How Does it Manifest Itself?

Our "gut," otherwise known as the enteric nervous system (ENS), many experts refer to as a mini-computer of sorts which has its own program of software. That software contains different responses of gut behavior for different behavioral situations.

It's like a two-way street between the brain and the digestive system. Chemicals are released in the form of acetylcholine and adrenaline that tell the stomach to produce acid, for instance, when to "churn" and tie into those knots, and when to remain calm. The ENS also controls the movement of the intestines. It can send those hunger, pain, nausea, or calm feelings in the form of electrical messages to the brain (Woolston, 2009).

Intuition is another way that the mind-body connection manifests itself. Does it exist in all of us? Answer this. Were you there on the moon when Neil Armstrong took that "giant leap for mankind?" How do you know he wasn't on the back lot of some movie company when the cameras rolled? Because we take it on faith that he did, with some external evidence that in fact it happened. It takes such a leap to consider that intuition exists. We don't have it on film, but we recognize, when it happens to us, that, indeed it exists.

Intuition, according to Schulz (1998), is just "another unique language created by the brain and the body to help us gain insight into, and understanding of, our past and to provide solutions for the future" (p. 2). It is a result of a network of memories, experiences, and emotions stored in our subconscious brain that, when brought forth, allow us to tap in and apply them to our current lives whether it be learning, or healing or a myriad of other activities in which we have a sudden "gut feeling" or insight that helps us deal with the situation. And that manifestation could be that choice of answer "A" on a multiple choice test when we really have nothing to back it up, but we "know" we're right.

So, What is This Connection Between Intuition and Gut Feeling?

Some scientists believe that gut feeling may have a higher rate of success in predicting the outcome of certain life events than the best laid "scientific" plans (Dayton, 2009).

Gut reaction and intuitive behaviors are neurologically based and have evolved to ensure that we humans can respond in a split second when our survival is at stake, for instance. Too much data can make the difference between life and death. When the planes hit the towers in New York City on September 11, most of those from the top floors of the buildings who survived were those who intuitively had a feeling in their gut that they needed to get out. Despite warnings not to, or reassurances that the building was safe, or feelings of this could not really be happening, they ran for their lives.

That's the connection between intuition and gut feeling -- right there in 9/11. Everything came together including previous experience, memories, brain signals, and emotion to produce that churning in the stomach that told them, in an instant, to go. Those who hesitated and waited for more input signals, unfortunately, perished. If you follow that leap of faith into intuition and gut feeling, then you realize that their brains had "learned" that it didn't need layers of data to reach a decision. It had learned, through previous intuitions and/or gut feelings that it had could rely on those feelings.

Learning and the Mind-Body Connection

Dr. John Ratey, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, noted that "neurons that fire together, wire together." That, he says, is that way we learn. Enough said? Not hardly. Ratey calls two natural brain chemicals -- nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neuroropic factor (BDNF) -- "Miracle Gro for the brain" (Weiss, 2001, p. 1). When we are in a quandry over something, the brain releases these chemicals, and since we are evolutionary beings, the brain adapts to how much "Miracle Gro" is required for certain troublesome, or learning, situations. As we learn new things, the correct amounts of the chemicals are released.

And, if you recall the two-way street we talked about earlier, that plays a part in what happens when these chemicals are released. There are neurological, biochemical, electromagnetic, and biophysical pathways between the brain (mind) and the heart (body) (Weiss, 2001). Were there not a mind-body connection, the body could not function, nor could the brain. The heart influences such brain functions as decsion making, mental clarity, communication skills and productivity through these pathways.

Thus, learning isn't really all in our heads. The things we do with our bodies affect our brains. Anyone who exercises intuitively knows, or has a gut feeling that during and after strenuous exercise, particularly cardio-vascular, their thinking is somewhat clearer. In other words, through these pathways, what we are doing for our bodies and our hearts is also positively affecting our brains as well. The movement and exercise enhance our optimal learning activity.