SONG
STEEL WRAPPED IN COTTON
From a series of articles titled
"WHAT THE MASTER'S KNEW"
NEI GUNG CHUAN FA INSTITUTE
Founding Director: DAVID E. BILYEU
21 may 2010
1. Why is the knowledge of Neurophysiology important for the practice of and the acquiring of SONG in the INTERNAL ARTS - What is "SONG".
2. What structures and functions of the brain and nervous system (central and peripheral) are involved in this INTERNAL ARTS TRAINING principle. How do you, or might you, use this information in your own training to get this relaxed state of strength called SONG. Explained in detail here, for the technical support of kyusho Journal article volume 1 issue 8.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that our chief want and desire is “to have someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. "Our strength lies within"
This Paper goes further into the functions, principles, and neurophysiology that is involved with achieving song.
We need to continue to study and research this, to find the best principles, and the best methods of training.
Why Train!
John H. a co-teacher at our school says; "he studies the Internals for selfish reasons" - I understand what he means. It is a very strong statement, this simply means we are doing something directly for ourselves and putting our self first, by taking the time and effort to acquire this knowledge and training, it is not selfish in the long view' though, In the end comes this "heightened ability and awareness, and with this comes a drive to share these trainings with others" and you "become more of who you are" - which is beneficial to family, community and school.
You can't help someone else until you help yourself!
Through training and study we become increasingly more self regulating, self healing, and highly autonomous beings, this helps us to help others. As we achieve a higher quality of life, so does everyone else. As John F. Kennedy so aptly put it “A rising tide raises all ships”
There is also a clinical practicum when the principle of slow movement is applied under the résistance of a counter force like gravity. By this principle muscles will lengthen and relax. This will address many postural issues, as well as being shown to correct many maladies such as chronic musculoskeletal tensions, joint pains, myofascial pain, and aids in to eliminating the holding patterns created by stress and trauma.
From a scientific perspective, this all is encapsulated and driven by our unique ability to learn! - Which brings us to the purpose of our more technical breakdown of the article on SONG. It is our learning ability that is given to us by our cerebral cortex, that allows us to attain all of this! So here lies the obvious starting point for our course of study. This Song (Relaxed strength) is a product of our learning ability, and the study of neurophysiology, anatomy and kinesthetics will aid us in the understanding of Song, and in acquiring it.
The Cerebral cortex: The cerebral cortex may be defined as the Central Nervous System’s (CNS) higher order center. The two areas that we are most interested in are the sensory and the motor areas.
The Sensory Cortex:
The sensory, or soma sensory cortex is located in the post central gyrus. This area receives sensory input from throughout the body. Both the sensory and the motor areas can have an overlay of a topographical map transposed on them, that shows specific body regions that they relate to, and proportionally how much thinking real estate they occupy.
The Motor Cortex:
the Motor Cortex lies anterior to the central gyrus. This Is a term that describes regions of the cerebral cortex involved in the planning, control and execution of voluntary motor functions. The premotor cortex should be mentioned too, because it is involved with the planning of movement. This is an area we engage when we are doing our CHI GUNG standing or seated static postures, it is called pre-motor because it's involved with planning movement or visualizing before the movement takes place, thus to make movement more efficient. The premotor cortex is anterior (frontal) to the motor cortex, this of course is also why it is called PRE. Most of its output is directed to the motor cortex, with a smaller amount going to the brain stem and spinal cord. The motor cortex regions receive most of their input from the sensory association cortex, as well as feedback from the thalamus. So we can make course corrections as we move. We can receive greater benefit from our 'INTERNALS' movements like Chi Gung, or really any set form, if done slowly and attentively, by visualizing what we are about to do, this pre-visualizing generates a higher stimulus and intensity to the motor cortex areas. This premotor planning is most recognized in doing standing static postures like Wu Ji. Here then we become aware of the true meaning of what the Master's are saying when they say: "doing standing, outside is still, and inside is active". "Doing moving forms, outside is active and inside is still". We can also engage all these areas during any movement training (Like YOGA), by "going slow, and utilizing these slow conscious movements" this facilitates being more present or “cortical” during our trainings. Even in body work sessions like in physical therapy, somatics, tui na, or our own explorations into deeper areas training, if we try not to zone out, and try to be more present during these sessions, we will receive greater benefit. Knowing this in practice means not making our movements too simplistic or automatic. We have all seen people practicing Tai Chi by unconsciously waving their hands in the air, and we just scratch are heads and wonder... what the hec' is going on there? so we do need to be present' - We can also keep movements fresh and cortical by not being distracted. Ideally all Internals Trainings should be done in a quiet comfortable environment. Save the Rap for the streets'
So here's what we know so far, the big hunk of the brain is the cortex -- the conscious part - where we learn new movements. The little hunk at the back and a bit under the Cortex is the sub cortex or unconscious part, or subconscious, or more correctly the place where all automatic movements are stored. Where we can do movement by habit, and not have to consciously think about it.
Next on our journey after taking this brief look at the cortex we'll start moving away from the Brain itself, to next observe the Nervous System and how it is structured, how it can further be organized and divided. So moving into the Central Nervous System (CNS), we know that it simply consist of the Brain and Spinal cord, which connects us to the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). This (PNS) extends outside the CNS and can be further subdivided into two parts. The Somatic Nervous System (SNS) and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
The Somatic Nervous System:
THE (SNS) is associated with the voluntary control of Body movements through the action of skeletal muscles. The system includes all neurons (see below) that are connected with muscles and sense organs, like skin. The (SNS) has (afferent sensory nerves) and (efferent motor Nerves) the afferent being connected to (CNS) dorsally, and run from the stimuli receptors to the (CNS) to inform it of a stimulus. The efferent, or motor nerves carry nerve impulses away from the (CNS) and allow the brain to stimulate a muscle to contract. These efferent motor nerves connect ventrally along the inside of the spine from the CNS, to muscles and glands connecting with effectors which tell them to take action.
~ The Primary building block of all these networks is the Neuron ~
The Neuron:
The primary building block of all these networks is the neuronal cell body. This neuronal cell body itself is composed of grey matter in a satellite like structure of dendrites which can be found in the CNS, and are connected to a long axon (a nerve fiber that is a long slender projection of these nerve cells) these terminate in transmitter groups. So for our INTERNALS study we recognize the above structure as the motor units that connect with the muscles of the body that allow locomotion. These become all important in our further study as we look deeper into the skeletal muscles themselves, and when we examine the alpha gama co-activating system, and how this relates to SONG, or our ability to recalibrate muscle tightness through the use of this system. this is done by resetting muscle tonus, we are actually telling the muscle consciously it's ok to totally relax, let go and stay that way.
Autonomic Nervous System:
Next Let’s briefly mention the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which can factor into causing sensory motor degradation (SMD) which is a forgetting of, how to best move muscles. Sometimes this can be caused by reflex actions associated with trauma, and or stress. Which can be attributed to the (ANS) and the sympathetic nervous system. The (ANS) is subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, which is important to us because these are directly related to our fight or flight reflexes. and how we recover through the inhibitory effect of the parasympathetic nervous system on the sympathetic Nervous system. This happens after each excitatory reflex response, which has an effect on the sympathetic nervous system, Which then in turn is the job of the parasympathetic nervous system to bring us back to a level of relaxation. This is important today in our urban industrial society, because the sympathetic nervous system can be triggered by stress, or by something as simple as someone loudly calling our name. This kind of inter-play can start a cycle of accumulating stress and holding patterns that we can best help to return to stasis through our INTERNAL ARTS TRAINING WAYS. Also by Identifying these triggers, we then can then develop strategies to counteract them. This could be as simple as doing a seated contemplation, with diaphragmatic breathing. Or, a movement pattern designed to release muscle holding patterns by using our knowledge of the contraction and slow release principle. (NOT STRETCHING) As we move away from the (ANS) Let’s begin to look even deeper and go further, as we explore the Neural Pathways themselves. These are the Sensory and the Motor Pathways. Here lies the gold that we are here to mine, by becoming familiar with these systems we have the tools to release stress or any unconsciously tight muscle groups. (And yes it goes without saying we can also cause stress or muscle spasms to any part of the body with this training and knowledge (Called SEALING) - but we aren't here today to do that - we can save that for a future article)
Sensory Pathways:
These can best be seen by journeying with the nerve impulses as they pass from one part of the body to another. We can begin our sensory journey in the outermost layer of the skin and go backwards towards the CNS, from there signals travel upwards in bundles of nerve fibers, also called tracts within the spinal cord. These pathways cross in the brain stem and pass through the thalamus (Sometimes called the brains switching station) and onto the sensory cortex, where sensations are perceived. Some fibers run together, like pain and temperature, while touch and pressure run separately in different tracts. Say we step on something, a small object, This will register through the spine thalamic association tract as it travels from the foot to the brain. We can use the terms first and second order neurons as the signal reaches the spine. Remembering the sensory journey is also termed afferent or upwards to the brain, as opposed to motor, which is away from the brain or termed efferent. So the signal sends it's message from the dendrites to the posterior horn of the spinal cord, (all sensory info synapse’s onto the posterior or dorsal side of the spine) so it goes to the posterior root ganglia and into the posterior horn of the spinal cord and into the grey matter (cell body) where it synapses with the 2nd order neuron, then it crosses over to the other side through the anterior commissure. Then it continues up through, to the medulla oblongata, pons and midbrain area. Then in this capsule area it connects with the third order neuron, where in this case, it sends the information to the parasingular gyrus where the info for the foot is associated, and because it is a pain signal, it goes to the pain gyrus as well. This then, can be seen simplistically as only Half of its journey. Then it now starts the descent, or the motor part of our trip onward to the muscles, to tell them to contract.
Motor Pathways:
With most motor pathways (excepting certain reflex actions) we will be starting with the brain, at the motor cortex. It is the area of the brain that issues orders for body movement, and controls the voluntary muscles systems of the body. In this journey the nerve impulses start internally and pass from the cortex and travel into the brain stem along bundles of nerve fibers that cross in the medulla oblongata. The impulses from the right side of the brain cross and control the left side on the body and vice versa. The nerve impulse then travels into the spinal cord and leaves the spinal cord at each ventral spinal segment via a motor root. Then it travels onto the peripheral nervous system (PNS) to transmit impulses to the nerves that synapse there, and finally onto the muscles to make them contract.
ok now the real juice or Gold!
Sensory Motor Pathways together:
The Sensory Motor Pathways are important to us as the pathways that help us feel and move. Consider sensory motor degradation, and this lack of control is the first problem we encounter, when we are trying to reestablish control and relax muscles, to allow more strength. More strength from a relaxed muscle? yes of course, if your muscle is already 30% tense before you even start to lift something, then you've already given away 30% of your strength before you even start to move.
Conversely it's interesting to note, that these same systems are involved in advanced cases, as of a person becoming numb, not feeling anything! Sometimes unconscious to life itself. (another very skilled teacher at the school, Cody R. has done an in-depth study as to why certain people are not affected by Tui Te or joint locks or even certain Point Strikes, and in rare cases they don't even feel pain. Well we now know that this is in most cases, because of this sensory motor degradation. Here it creates a break in the sensory loop' the body's feedback system, when this occurs it further compounds the persons problems because not only do they not feel pain, but in most cases they are unable to sense, and we need that feedback to move correctly. As another side note we have discovered this actually calls for more patience on our part, to help students reacquire these functions - but instead, in the past we may have had a tendency to be even more heavy handed to create the expected response ----- so with this knowledge we know not to go down that road which could possible cause irreversible damage to our training partner who may challenged by this unusual condition. So again, with this knowledge we are gaining, from these examples we learn to be practical when applying what we are learning to a wide variety of maladies called all sorts of pathological names, but in the long run are proving out to be in part or entirely the effect of this Sensory Motor Degradation. (or a break in the Sensory motor feedback loop) "now we also know we can do something about these maladies" -- we can correct this through our training and applying the principle of slow movement, with muscles contracting, and releasing under a load like gravity, and remembering that the slower the release the better ...... always keeping in mind the resetting happens only in a very slow release under load of this same contraction. So we are sensing, moving, feeling, people. Granted this is obvious. Also a given but not so obvious is the fact that in our training we begin to see these systems are the pathways we use to enter into the brain, this is where the unconscious and conscious reside. The (Cortical and Sub-Cortical). So during training, to develop "SONG" we use forms that allow conscious slow movement patterns. By using these patterns in a slow cortical, conscious way, we do not fall back into any existing tight muscle patterns that have been induced by habitual Stress, and by reflex actions, and trauma as the body attempts to avoid pain, evade danger, or while we are trying to protect ourselves from threats real or unreal. So when muscles tighten from this, holding patterns are created. They are deeply grooved into our subconscious, and they can, and most likely will remain, even after the body has healed itself. As we start to understand this we simply learn to repattern the motor signals to make these areas of the body relax. This again is done by putting the focus on movements that are slow, which make us more cortical. Here we have found, that stiffness and pain by in large, are due to forgetting how to move (the motor) and to sense (the sensory). Again what we sense we can move! then as we train more, and train efficiently, we become increasingly aware of where our muscles are, and how they are moving in relationship to our entire body, and our environment. This is called connectivity by the Masters, and proprioceptivity from the academic community. Then as we learn how to move all the muscles in a relaxed and refined way, We begin to realize this SONG, this relaxed strength, and how this affects every area of our life. At this point we start unraveling how to become more self regulating and are less effected by stress, and the trails of daily living... primarily because we have the tools to make changes. We even enter into a state of feeling youthful, empowered, confident, full of energy and vibrant, and authentic. We know that as we get older we don’t have to become stiff and less capable, and this brings hope. We can actually look forward to old age, as we become more of who we are, and who we want to be, which is that relaxed strong person, who is highly mobile --- vital, and a self regulating being, free from stiffness and pain. We can start building an unending wealth of knowledge that we can share from direct experience - not something we read or saw on a DVD, we now rest on fundamental understandings of how our body's and mind work - and can achieve even deeper levels of song via these networks and the Sensory Motor Neural Pathways.
We can't really summarize these compartmentalized systems up to here they just are what they are, but before moving on to the muscles themselves, we need to look at what we do, to obtain and keep this SONG! So here is our main simple principle > “What is tight we make tighter” then we slowly release it". We learn to contract beyond the existing tonus, and then gradually come down (Releasing) under a load like gravity or have someone give us resistance as we slowly release a muscle while remaining in voluntary control. This is basically what is happening in all internal forms of INTERNAL ARTS and Tai Ji. This is one reason we achieve song from practice. You don't get it from thinking about it, it only comes through practice. This makes any new movement the dominant pattern, when done this way. The dominant response, so it’s not so easy to fall back into unwanted attractor states. We create a deeper groove of new learning. A "deeper Groove in the Floor" So when unexpected traumas happen, such as a lateral side trauma from a punch. We can teach the body simply not to continue to convolute itself into a sustained protective pattern, long after the event has passed, or even after the trauma has healed.
keeping all of this in mind we move on from the pathways to next look at the muscles themselves:
Muscles Structures:
To best learn about muscles and how they function in the context of neurophysiology and acquiring SONG, we will journey from the Cerebral Cortex down the spinal cord and into the muscles to see where we actually activate skeletal muscles. The CNS/Cortex creates an action potential that travels down the spinal cord to the motor neurons and the muscle itself. As the nerve fiber branches, the action potential travels down each branch. Each nerve fiber branches many times and stimulates several muscles fibers. The union of the axon and the muscle fibers is called the neuronal junction. If you zoom into the microscopic level each axon has a terminal that connects to the muscle fiber while the remaining outside the muscle membrane. When the action potential, (AP) arrives at the axon terminal, the (AP) causes a release of acetylcholine in the synaptic vesicle (The space where the axon terminal and the muscle fiber meet) This is also called the synaptic cleft. In the synaptic cleft the acetylcholine binds with the receptor site on the fiber membrane which opens a chemically gated ion channel. Then sodium rushes through the ion channel and causes an (AP) to form on the muscle fiber, this(AP) spreads along the fibers, to more nerve branches, that activate additional fibers, and the (AP) finally (at about 1/30th of a second) spreads along the entire muscle. Upon activation the muscle contracts. There is a biochemical ratchet that drives the filaments' that lie in hexagonal bundles there, that slide past one another. These fiber bundles allow the muscle to contract. These muscle fibers are striated in appearance and are composed of subunits called myofibrels, and myofiliments. These are composed of the protein actin and myosin and serve as the fundamental units of striated muscles. Also called sarcomeres on the microscopic level. Again a contraction is the sliding of these thin filiments past thick. This is the basis for muscle contraction. These striated muscles are also referred to as extrafusal fibers. Which brings us to intrafusal fibers.
Intrafusal Fibers:
The muscles are actually the keys to our practice, they are the mystical tunnel we go through to lay in new tracts of motor learning, as the signal goes through the nerve pathways, spinal cord and on to the brain. This basic functioning of the skeletal muscles is how the muscle do what it does to relax, and how do we do what we do to assist this. This is what we are interested in as Internal Arts Educators. So to top off this priority pyramid at the very top of the charts are the Intrafusal Fibers or the Spindle Cells. We go through the spindle cells to lay in new tracts of motor learning. It is through these nerve pathways that we are able to access the brain itself.
Spindle cells:
The Afferent feedback loop - ALPHA GAMMA COACTIVATION SYSTEM:
What we are dealing with here then, is velocity, intensity and voltage. All In The sensory neural feedback loop. As to say, whether it meets a certain threshold in this neural loop. The threshold is always the same but the inhibiting factor is what changes and allows us to change the muscle tonus and allow it to rest.
Spindle Cell Diagram:
The gamma drive from the spinal cord causes contractions of the ends of the bag and chain fibers. This stretches the central region where the afferents are located, increasing their sensitivity. Gamma drive is the spindle’s volume control, adjusting its sensitivity. And during the process of slow motion movement under load we are increasing the sensory information going back to the (CNS) so this input allows the proper motor response. We are intentionally sending a signal to the brain. If the muscle is 30% contracted, or has 30% (SMD) we work with the 70% that doesn’t have (SMD). And in a systematic way we want to obtain 100% cortical focus during the movement. It's like picking up seashells along the beach, acquiring more as we go. Drawing in more control each time we make it more cortical. This is how we see gains. If it's a 30/70 contraction, 30% contracted tonus during resting anything over 30% will bring it back to the cerebral cortex. It just needs to be bigger than the contraction amplitude.
So what we are propagating here is a controlled rate of descent, it brings in reciprocal inhibition. We are actually tuning ourselves and students down through these reflexive responses. What we are doing then is making the whole muscle more cortical to lay in new patterning. It doesn’t erase the old patterns it just brings in a new ones, stronger “dominant signals” that have more volume, that will take preference as they recede back into the sub-cortical cerebellum, or subconscious part of ourselves. And, we instantly get the relaxation response we are looking for. And, acquire SONG (Relaxed strength). As a byproduct, and future topic for an article, with this training way also comes increased sensing! which produces increased knowing and proprioception. In time we will gain the ability to hear (Feel) our own energy which will allow us to hear or feel another's energy - which the Master's call 'listening jing' All this can be gotten from the practice of the Yang Chi Gung form. All Internal Arts practice creates Song, This particular set I teach seems to produce this the fastest though --- and all forms will produce the desired effect in done slowly and consciously. All systems have these forms, so as one of my instructors say's "use what you got"
So all of this song is the result of our training correctly with the knowledge and use of the principles discussed. Slow conscious movement under a load like the force of gravity. This then will reset all muscle tonus eventually to 0, and relax the entire musculo skeletal system, this creates Song, the relaxed strength, or steel wrapped in Cotton.
A PREVIEW:
A look at LISTENING JING a product of training proprioception.
Proprioception:
Could be called the Holy Grail of INTERNAL ARTS training and Education. Always moving into greater Proprioception (which really is a heightened knowledge of where a person's body and limbs and energy reside in space, at any particular moment). This is of course directly related to the basis for our study of Internal Arts methods. And surprisingly this also gives us an understanding of another's energy body, and their intentions as they move through space' Within this chi gung form we practice, we quickly feel this awareness in our own body and as follows, then in another's body'! Simply because if you can feel this in your own body, then you can feel it in someone else's.
How amazing is this? Right now close your eyes and touch your nose with your index finger. Well yea, I know, not a big deal' But this ability to know where your body and limbs are in space, is all important to us in the INTERNALS. It is the primary tool used when sensing partners during two person drills and is consciously used during push hands training to detect a person's intentions, also it aids in teaching classes, because you can understand where a student needs to relax. Anatomically this is achieved by receptors that signal the position and movement, (including velocity) of a limb. There also are Joint Afferents’ these are located in the Joints and are most sensitive to joint angle (position). Then, as we mentioned there are Muscle Spindles located in the muscle as intrafusal fibers, they are afferents for muscle velocity and movement. The Golgi Tendon Body, is located in the tendon and detects muscle tension and force. Last there are Tactile afferents, Which aid in the positioning of muscles through receptors that signal skin stretch. While all receptors can supply information to the (CNS) - different receptor types are better at providing different information. And, when these are fully developed and associative - this compounded sensitivity creates listening jing and fills the Tan Tien and the extremities all in one process.
Now why all this training is practical and important to our teaching and understanding......
Now we can see by looking at all these neurophysiological systems of the body and how they phase together. That we can determine that everything we do is controlled by the CNS. We can see that most messages sent to skeletal muscles are a mix of voluntary (those that we consciously control) and involuntary or (those that have become a habituated movement, the ones we don't consciously think about). This makes for a fast and efficient way of doing things, since we don’t have to relearn each time, how to raise ourselves from a seated position to standing. But what happens when we want to retire at night to relax and read a book, and some of those muscles are still chronically tight from the day’s stresses and activities. We know There still may be a message being sent by the brain for certain muscles to remain tightened because of habituated movement. It’s so patterned in our sub-cortex that there isn’t a way to voluntarily release it. We’ve forgotten how to control these muscles. This is what we have discovered previously as (SMD) Sensory Motor Degradation. How do we reestablish voluntary control again? We’ve seen clearly through the mechanisms of the body that we can stop that message from being sent to tighten, and we can also send a new message, and start regaining conscious control. How? Not through trying to think them relaxed, but by knowing that the portal to the brain, spinal column, and (CNS), is through the muscles themselves. This is what we have termed in our study as - “if you can sense, you can feel, you can control” this is done through the feedback from the moving of the body consciously and slowly. This helps us to build and maintain a healthful balance between the involuntary and voluntary parts of our brain. It achieves and ever increasing high quality of muscle control, and of any multi- dimensional movements we make. Which in turn makes us feel eternally flexible, strong, and youthful.
• These movements also become more individuated and complex as we train, (The brain and body know when to turn muscles on and off, to turn off antagonist muscles to ease in movement is just as important as activating them. All these abilities can grow with continued practice as we grow older. As we work further with this Training, and as we continue to explore on our own, we will learn and gather new experiences, and these inspire us to use and share what we know. We increase experience and awareness to the point that not only do we become free from pain, but we begin to experience the joy and freedom of living a pain free life, while gaining strength, and ever higher levels of performance - even as we advance in years. Truly Amazing.
When we think about any of these interlinking processes we want to think in terms of the entirety of the human experience, This is only a window to look through to view a small part of the process of SONG it is of course much more all encompassing, and the sum total of all these processes can only be understood by practice. This is a study tool and a way to better understand the science and physiological processes of the loosening and strength we gain through our study and exploration of martial arts. Knowing each Being is uniquely different, and as we recognize this, we allow everyone to have their own unique experiences, and will be drawn to the best way of training for them. We know we are just a student like everyone else, learning about life, so we encourage our fellows, friends and family to become an integral part of exploring life with its varied experiences - that await us all.
“WE INSPIRE”
the best to you in your training and life....
Sifu Dave
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2.Neuroscience for kids/copyright 1996. 2006 Eric h Chudler
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