Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Kinesthesia:


... a sense mediated by receptors located in muscles, tendons, and joints and stimulated by bodily movements and tensions; also : sensory experience derived from this sense. (Webster's Dictionary)

This is your 6th sense. How can you close your eyes and still touch your nose? Your body feels it. Just like any other body sense or system, it can work well or be dis-eased. Unfortunately we cannot yet do laser corrective surgery to repair disrupted kinesthesia.

This is where somatic therapies come in... Rolfing, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method, Chiropractic, certain Physical Therapy techniques, Yoga Asanas, Dance, Breathwork... and a host of other body-therapies can help to re-program your body's sense of itself.

Often the problems start with your mental state; your response to stress, your ingrained habits, and your physical responses/guardings to emotions.
So mental and stress reduction therapies also can play a role here. Meditation, biofeedback, psychotherapy, guided imagery, and simply being attentive to your body state/reaction/alignment can all be helpful in regaining and maintaining your proprioceptive balance.

Just as when you don a pair of glasses and a new field of vision opens up, using these physical and mental therapies toward correcting the kinesthetic sense enlivens us, and allows us to be more at ease. Unlike the sense of vision, we can become active participants in growing and correcting this sense. Unfortunately this also means we can ignore the signs of incorrect proprioception to our detriment. I encourage you to address and prevent the inevitable imbalances to live well in your own body!

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