Page 169 - Total War on PTSD

Humans are prone to having fixed ways of moving and of dealing with life. While most of these habitual ways of moving are useful and efficient, we also develop patterns of movement that can be the underlying causes of discomfort, stress, and pain. Many patterns of movement are below our level of consciousness. We are simply not aware of them. But they can be changed.
Conventional treatments assume that the ways we move are dependent on the underlying body structure and its limitations, whether they are inherent in the structure or caused by injury. The Feldenkrais Method comes from a functional point of view — the ways we move are determined by what we have learned and the habits we have developed. Our habits are based on are the ways we have explored movement as babies, on social conventions (in the military, soldiers always start marching with their left foot), on how we accommodate our physical structures and on our histories of injury or illness. Habits are learned preferences that can restrict our options and contribute to dysfunction and pain. The question is how to unlearn our habits in ways that help resolve movement problems, reduce pain and create more options in life, regardless of physical structure and history of injury.
The path to unlearning these habits lies in the ability of the brain to change and reorganize itself. This characteristic of the brain is called neuroplasticity. Neuro refers to neurons, the nerve cells that are the building blocks of the brain and nervous system and plasticity refers to the brain's capacity to change throughout life. Our brains create maps, or unconscious images of our bodies, which are updated as we move, explore and learn. Recent neuroscience shows that not only do the patterns of neurons firing change with learning, but the physical structure of the brain also changes. We use these maps to guide our senses and movement. As we explore new ways to move, we can make the maps more detailed. We can also make the maps less detailed when we limit our ways of moving. The brain has an extraordinary ability to change, adapt and acquire more efficient patterns of movement and action if given the right environment.
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