awareness through movement

36 AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT
condition of the nervous system. Obviously, neither position, expression,
nor voice can be changed without a change in the nervous
system that mobilizes the outward and visible changes.
Thus, when we refer to muscular movement, we mean, in fact,
the impulses of the nervous system that activate the muscles,
which cannot function without impulses to direct them. Though
the heart muscle of the embryo begins to contract even before the
nerves that will control it have developed, it does not work in the
way familiar to us until its own nervous system can regulate its
action. From this we may derive a conclusion that seems paradoxical
at first sight: Improvement in action and movement will appear
only after a prior change in the brain and the nervous system has
occurred. That is, an improvement in body action reflects the
change in the central control, which is the exclusive authority.
The change in the center control is a change in the nervous
system. As such, changes are invisible to the eye, their external
expression is therefore considered as purely mental by some people,
while others will consider them as purely physical.
7. Movement is the basis of awareness
Most of what goes on within us remains dulled and hidden from
us until it reaches the muscles. We know what is happening within
us as soon as the muscles of our face, heart, or breathing apparatus
organize themselves into patterns, known to us as fear, anxiety,
laughter, or any other feeling. Even though only a very short time
is required to organize the muscular expression to the internal
response or feeling, we all know that it is possible to check one's
own laughter before it becomes noticeable to others. Similarly, we
can prevent ourselves from giving visible expression to fear and
other feelings.
We do not become aware of what is happening in our central
nervous system until we become aware of changes that have taken
place in our stance, stability, and attitude, for these changes are
more easily felt than those that have occurred in the muscles