Meet cortical homunculus , a.k.a "the little man."
It could be the reason you can control your toes yet“The art of Contrology proves that the only real guide to your true age lies not in years or how you THINK you feel but as you ACTUALLY are as infallibly indicated by the degree of natural and normal flexibility enjoyed by your spine throughout life.” ~ Joseph H.Pilates, Return to life
The cortical homunculus is an illustration created by Dr. Wilder Penfield
If you care about feeling powerful, confident, and strong (which I know you do), you should hear what the “little man” says.
We move our muscles because of the brain and the nerves. Together, they form the central nervous system; there won’t be any biceps curl or butt contraction without these two components.
Do you see the importance of the spine?
All those movements that feel so good when we roll and unroll the spine help increase and facilitate our nerves to fire muscles faster, thus stimulating our brainpower for more significant muscle tone to support our skeletal muscles. Now let’s go back to the “little man.”
photo by sciencephotolibrary
The part of the brain that moves the toes does not have refined motor skills to do these movements because you’ve never trained them! @jeaniquepilates
Once we get past the grotesque-looking human, an illuminating image emerges with a bigger purpose. The body parts that are more enhanced are the part of the brain that contains more fine motor skills and sensory nerves.
Phew! What a huge relief. Finally, a reason why some of us can’t control our toes (at least for now). The part of the brain that moves the toes does not have refined motor skills to do these movements because you’ve never trained them! But here’s the silver lining – everything is learnable. Thanks to brain plasticity (the brain’s malleability as being “easily influenced, trained, or controlled), by concentrating and training your brain to do something, you can teach your body to do things that they’ve never done before. Woohoo, that’s the spirit.
But the bad news is that you will have to work on it. Yep, no more excuses that you can’t move your toes. Like anything else, if you want something to happen, you have to make it happen. That’s the power that you have! To sum up, give your feet more credit; they have more power than you think.
Willing yourself to work on your feet will help you discover movement that you couldn’t do before.
Anchoring of the legs to the core and the spine.
Cueing
- Inner thighs – double leg stretch
- Spine stretch – gloves made for the legs,
- How to connect your feet to make everything feel connected as one
- How to naturally feel your shins connected to the mat
Weekly video tips and tricks for your Pilates practice.
Doing Pilates is like playing Jigsaw puzzles. Each class gets you a little closer to the final big picture. But sometimes, it can get a little complex. That’s why I am here to help you see the last picture. Are you in?
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