Carla Hannaford’s book ‘Smart Moves- Why Learning is not all in your head’ is an important book for anyone who wishes to understand themselves and their ability learn and heal. The body and movement play a huge role in learning and healing, as do emotions. A safe and complex environment is key in order to help facilitate learning.
Hannaford says that the story of neural healing is also the story of learning. This means that we have the ability to learn how to transition our bodies out of pain. In order to reduce pain we must first reduce the stress that our system is under. When the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated we are in a survival state. Learning and healing do not occur in this state. We must learn to switch on our parasympathetic nervous system so that our bodies have the ability to learn and heal. Children who are having trouble learning are nearly always stressed. And adults who are in chronic pain are usually in a state of chronic stress. Optimal movement, optimal sleep and a safe environment are key to reducing stress in the system to allow for learning and healing.
Read the Move Note below and get the book if you are feeling it.
BONUS!
Listen to my conversation with Carla Hannaford, author of ‘Smart Moves’