The Cerebellum, affectionately know as the mini brain as it does SO MUCH. For context, this part of our brain has 80% of our neurons jam packed into 20% of our brain mass, in the illustration the Cerebeullum is the lower lobe on the right that looks like it has a plant growing in there. . We can think of it as a power house! But consider if the power house doesn’t get much activation, gets left unloved, untouched, its like a city without the people. Full of potential but not the right ingredients to harness its potential. This is where our Neuromoves steps in to help bring in activation to let the Cerebellum shine in all its glory.
Lets starts with asking, what are its potentials? In other words, what does the Cerebellum do? What is it good at? It’s main functions get put into an acronym A,B,C’s. Accuracy, Balance, Coordination. These functions might seem simple, but the Cerebellum helps us interpret the distance of objects around us and ourselves to help us navigate our world, it is always figuring out our relationship to gravity no matter what position we are in, helps us learn new motor skills and helps us find out midline stability. Other functions are, it helps set our extensor tone, that is any movement that moves away from our centre mass, back bends, head up, arms out and behind us, legs extended back. PLUS it is monitoring ALL our movement and simplifying the messages to the rest of the brain and body to streamline and quicken our motor processes (our movement).
How do we light up and keep our Cerebellum happy, working at its best? Here is a list of things we weaved into our Neuromoves yoga session, that you can get creative and sneak into your training or workouts:
- Exploring tempo in a movement ( going faster or slower than usual)
- Novelty (doing something different, strange and weird)
- Complexity (A challenging movement that requires thought)
- Rhythm and timing ( moving to a beat, get some good music on!)
- Maximum range of movement ( exploring the fullest range your joints can do)
- Accuracy (working with a specific target to touch)
- Balance ( Add in a balance sequence, stand on a wobble board or walk a slack line)
- Extension ( Add in some back bend movements, or other extension work)
As we are all unique, that meaning a cerebellum is unique too…how do we know if the above is working for OUR brain? One test we did was something called RAPS (rapid alternation, pronation and supination) this is where we slap our hand in the other palm, alternating palm up, to palm down as quick as you can. You might notice, your just cant as first, or you make mistakes, skipping the sequence, maybe you can go as fast as you mentally want to or you can notice you fatigue quickly. SO after some Cerebellum tricks, we can redo a set of RAPS and notice can we go faster, smoother, more accurate and with less fatigue? This is just one way to do some detective work. Another way is more intuitive, noticing in general is your movement practices improving , considering the A,B,C’s? Are you becoming more accurate, balanced and well coordinated?
To learn more about your marvellous brain and how it can assist you to move better in your body, join our Neuromoves class. Every last Saturday of the month!
Commentaires