Monthly Archives: May 2012
Is the Purpose of Sleep to Let Our Brains “Defragment,” Like a Hard Drive? | The Crux | Discover Magazine
…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.
Feldenkrais Week Event
Feldenkrais Week Event in Santa Rosa
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.