PROPRIOCEPTION: THE THIRD EYE

“Thence comes the power swift as thought, independent of instruments, and the mastery over matter” -Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras

We all know that we need to take care of ourselves. “Taking care of ourselves” can mean different things to different people. Self-care may look different for someone who struggles with addiction, chronic pain, or works 16 hour days. Also, there are different ways we can “take care of ourselves.” I’m talking about our intellectual, emotional, mental, spiritual, and of course, our physical selves. Each part of our selves may require distinct needs in order for that particular self to feel nourished. 

As you continue on with EXHALO FORTIS, reading blogs and following along on Instagram, I invite you in the month of August to consider your physical self. I believe this is the most accessible self that we can relate to, yet we still ignore the needs our physical bodies ask of us. This is why this month we are focusing on the physical body. To bring awareness and to better understand our physical bodies, this blog post will discuss proprioception - or to put it simply, our 6th sense.

PROPRIOCEPTION

We are beings with extraordinary capabilities. When you think about it, kicking a soccer ball without looking or doing a backflip are incredible movements within our human capabilities. What sense in our bodies is giving us this super power to do these things without looking? You can thank proprioception also known as kinesthesia. Proprioception has been referred to as the 6th sense because it gives us the “senses of position and movement of our limbs and trunk, the sense of effort, the sense of force, and the sense of heaviness. Receptors involved in proprioception are located in the skin, muscles, and joints.”

PROPRIOCEPTIVE TRAINING

Often times when we begin our journeys to physical self-improvement, we focus on the immediately visible - bigger biceps, a smaller waistline, impressively complex asanas - that we forget how training our physical bodies can have not so visible benefits. Some of these benefits are knowing where out body is in space, how our body moves, our balance, and our reaction time. In fact, studies have shown that “proprioceptive training is a viable method for improving motor function”  Don’t worry, most any kind of intentional movement is considered proprioceptive training - especially yoga, tai chi, gymnastics, boxing, playing an instrument and the like. 

I remember when I first started weight lifting, my trainer/friend would demo the movement for me and explain it. I would confidently switch positions with her in order to mimic the exercise and to my surprise, I had no clue how to hold the weight or even what to ask my body to do. While I might have been physically weaker at the beginning of my training, I unknowingly also had poor proprioceptive ability. 

CONCLUSION

Improving our motor function can have beneficial long term cognitive effects, especially when performing neuromotor exercises. I’ve written a past blog post highlighting the guidelines to follow in order to improve neuromotor skills here. 

We exercise to take care of ourselves, to take care of our bodies, to feel stronger, leaner, and committed to our physical well-being. I invite you to take it a step further, exercise to open up your physical awareness, move your body to improve your proprioception - a type of 6th sense that I believe makes up our physiological third eye.