…Recently, some neuroscientists have proposed that the function of sleep is to reorganize connections and “prune” synapses—the connections between brain cells. Last year, one group of researchers, led by Gordon Wang of Stanford University reviewed the evidence for this idea in a paper called Synaptic plasticity in sleep: learning, homeostasis and disease.

This illustration, taken from their paper, shows the basic idea:

While we’re awake, your brain is forming memories. Memory formation involves a process called long-term potentiation (LTP), which is essentially the strengthening of synaptic connections between nerve cells. We also know that learning can actually cause neurons to sprout entirely new synapses.

Read the article at: The Crux | Discover Magazine.

This Sunday May 6th, 2012 from 10-4:30 at New School Aikido Santa Rosa.

Feldenkrais Week is an opportunity to celebrate the genius who developed a way to access and change brain patterns using movement that are only recently starting to be validated by science. It’s an excuse for those of use practicing the work he started to share our joy of movement with the public and give people a chance to see how powerful it is.

While my teacher, Anat Baniel, studied with Dr. Feldenkrais, I’m studied with her, and I’m trained in the Anat Baniel Method. Which at least to my way of thinking, is part of the Feldenkrais linage. I’m grateful to all my teachers and look forward to celebrating the life and work of Moshe Feldenkrais by teaching a movement lesson this Sunday. If you’d like to join me, class starts at 2:30. Click here for details.

“Even when you think you’re moving just one finger,” said Marc H. Schieber, a professor of neurology and neurobiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, “you’re really controlling your entire hand.”…

A Gripping Tale – Each Flick of a Finger Takes the Work of Five – NYTimes.com.

Anat Baniel: Children With Special Needs: A Revolutionary Approach Gives New Hope.

Dr. Terry Wahls learned how to properly fuel her body. Using the lessons she learned at the subcellular level, she used diet to cure her MS and get out of her wheelchair.

The subject, seeing only the researchers hand in the mirror, saw a young, healthy hand performing movements fluidly and without pain or difficulty. And when asked about their hands level of pain after the exercise, subjects rated their pain, on average, 1.5 points lower, on a scale of 1 to 10, than it had been at the outset. Some had a 3-point reduction in pain, said Case.

via Optical illusion dampens arthritis pain – latimes.com.

The lessons we’re teaching will help you find and release tension in your chest, make bending and reaching easier, and explore moving from lying to sitting more gracefully. It’d be great to see you there. Please pass this along if you know someone else who might be interested.

Pre-registration required, space is limited.
Date: October 8, 2011. 2-4 pm
Location: New School Aikido, Santa Rosa
Cost: Sliding scale $25 – $35.

Click here for the flier

For those concerned with shedding some of their anxieties, it seems planning a certain time every day to worry may help stop the stress-out cycle.

When people with adjustment disorders, burnout or severe work problems used techniques to confine their worrying a single, scheduled 30- minute period each day, they were better able to cope with their problems, a new study by researchers in the Netherlands finds.

The study made use of a technique, called “stimulus control,” that researchers have studied for almost 30 years. By compartmentalizing worry — setting aside a specific half-hour period each day to think about worries and consider solutions, and also deliberately avoiding thinking about those issues the rest of the day — people can ultimately help reduce those worries, research has shown.

“When we’re engaged in worry, it doesn’t really help us for someone to tell us to stop worrying,” said Tom Borkovec, a professor emeritus of psychology at Penn State University. “If you tell someone to postpone it for a while, we are able to actually do that.”

via Schedule Negative Time & Worry Less | Health Freedom Alliance.

Under pressure from regulators, Blue Shield of California and Anthem Blue Cross said they would pick up the initial cost of a treatment known as applied behavior analysis.

via Autism, healthcare: Anthem, Blue Shield to cover therapy for autistic children – latimes.com.

I’m not familiar with applied behavior analysis, but I have seen what ABM can do for children. (And it’s nothing less than amazing). Wouldn’t it be great if parents could use their insurance to choose the treatment that would give their children the best chance at a happy, healthy life?

Movement and enhanced awareness of self are the main tools used for communicating with the brain, and the therapy is conducted very much with the brain and learning in mind. The work done through movement is aimed at facilitating the brain to learn new functions and new ways of acting. So the way of working is a little different to more physically directed therapies such as physiotherapy. Rather than work on the body to produce direct body change, the ABM teacher works through gentle body movements to provide information to the person’s brain which then, in turn, gets the body to change. It is a significant difference and one which means the therapy focuses on increased function and ability of the whole person in areas such as turning, crawling or walking.

via Help and information – therapies – The Anat Baniel Method | Disability Charity | Scope UK.