Awareness Through Movement #448

Diagonal Bending - TIMING

If you did last night’s lesson you’ll be more than familiar with a similar theme this evening, and Grok has interesting theories as to why this “speeding up” the movement is beneficial to our nervous systems:

Rapid, small movements stimulate the motor cortex and vestibular system, refining head control. The “trembling” quality increases neural activation, improving fine motor coordination in the neck.

It reminds me of what is now known as Trauma Release Exercises, based on the theory that if animals have experienced stress, say for example having just escaped being eaten by a leopard:

they shake for a few minutes to release from their cells of the trapped energy so that they are free again to roam peacefully in their native territory.

There is now a specific style of movement, or exercise that addresses something similar for humans, it’s called Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises - TRE for short.

It is: “… a body-based technique for releasing stress, tension, and trauma. This movement was developed by Dr. David Berceli. Berceli, a trauma therapist, in the 1990s. He drew from his experience working with traumatized populations in Africa and the Middle East where he observed that individuals in these areas exhibited a natural shaking or trembling response after traumatic events - which he believed was the body's way of releasing tension.”

I’m pretty certain Moshe was very probably coming from a different place with these lessons, and yet it is a subtle reminder he was on to something. Having known only about TRE, I asked Grok what other reasons there could be for this style of movement, it came back with:

“Rapid movements stimulate motor cortex activation and cerebellar timing,
improving bilateral coordination….
they challenge motor planning and timing…”

“Rapid pelvic oscillations stimulate the cerebellum
for timing and rhythm, enhancing motor control.
The ‘trembling’ quality increases neural activation in the lower spine
and pelvic muscles, improving reflexive stability.”

Which seems to be the scientific explanation for why releasing trauma has become… if not ‘popular’, it has become ‘a thing’.