Maclean’s Magazine (Canada’s primary news magazine) recently wrote about the brain and its profound ability to change. One of its articles was an excerpt from the book by Dr. Norman Doidge: “The Brain that Changes Itself”. I bought the book immediately.
These articles talk about the latest research coming from the field of brain science. Historically it was thought that the brain was fixed, unchanging and inanimate. Latest research shows that this is untrue. The brain is an adaptable, flexible, changing organ. In other words, the brain has a profound capacity for learning.
What I find so interesting is that this is only just becoming something that is main stream. Meanwhile, Moshe Feldenkrais knew this and took advantage of this amazing capacity of the brain when developing his method of “learning how to learn” some 60 to 70 years ago! He was so incredibly ahead of his time.
To hear a radio interview of Dr. Norman Doidge from WNYC radio, please hover over and click the play button: LISTEN TO FULL INTERVIEW.
For an abbreviated version of this interview:LISTEN.
I love his metaphor for neuroplasticity. Think of a ski slope. The snow is plastic, and therefore, you can take many, many different routes to get down the slope. And, because it is plastic, if you keep following the same path down the slope, you get grooves, and these grooves get deeper and deeper and it takes so much more energy to get out of those tracks. If you have ever corss country skied where the trails are freshly groomed after a big snow, you know what a disadvantage it can be to get stuck in the tracks if the groomers also made tracks down a steep and curving hill on the trail!
Take advantage of this knowledge and invite yourself to do something novel, non-habitual, and sometimes challenge yourself. Being able to do many different things is nice, but being abe to do each of those things many different ways is freedom, and with this freedom comes power–the power to adapt, to grow, to stay young. This is what the Feldenkrais Method is all about!
Hi,
Thank you so much for this entry. I think I first heard this metaphor on a PBS special. I didn’t get the reference at the time though, and have had trouble finding it in the SEs.
Your audio links are broken (btw). Do you happen to know if this is the guy who first came up with the ski metaphor? I’d like to use it, but want to give credit to the proper originating source.
Thanks again.
cvst
Hi cvst,
Thanks for letting me know about the broken links! I’ll try to fix them so you can hear Norman Doidge using the analogy of the ski slope etc. as that is indeed where I got the metaphor. I can’t say if he was the originator of the metaphor, but it is where I first heard it. The cross country skiing reference is my own, I believe.
Thanks for reading…
Gisele
AUDIO LINKS NOW FIXED. ENJOY…
Gisele