Issue 7: Somatic Muscle Science Unveiled - How To Break Free From Muscle Memory
Issue 7: Somatic Muscle Science Unveiled
How To Break Free From Muscle Memory
Muscles are puppets. The brain is the puppet master.
While I do inherently believe that every particle of our being contains stardust from the galaxies, I also believe that our wondrous, albeit unconscious muscles are electrically stimulated mindless pieces of meat capable of involuntary, reflexive movement. Along with our volition, the brain enables our body to perform conscious, mindful movement. But there is a catch-22. The brain is able to voluntarily direct muscle movement only if muscles are not stuck in unconscious, poor postural patterns due to sensory motor amnesia-- the negative aspect of Muscle Memory. Muscles are like puppets because they are controlled by the nervous system and do not actually have a memory of their own despite the fact that most people generally know what the term muscle memory means.
Double edged sword - If the brain is so smart why does it feel like my body is attacking me...
Your brain does its best to keep you safe and alive."Muscle Memory" develops in order to better serve your needs so that you don't have to work so hard. But the thing is, your brain defines your needs based on what you habitually engage in. The brain does not differentiate between good and bad movement patterns. It's important to note that what you do every day, as much as what you don’t do, affects muscle memory. Gradually, your daily habitswhether good or bad, condition motor patterns that shape your posture sculpted by life experience, emotional-physical trauma, mundane movements required for work (desk-jockey, iphone), recreational activities and fitness routines. The positive aspect of Muscle Memory means that you don't have to re-learn how to brush your teeth every morning, how to write your signature, ride your bicycle, or go swimming. On the one hand, muscles may function more optimally due to muscle memory-- like Olympic divers, but on the other hand, the same muscles are recruited in the same way over and over again resulting in chronically contracted muscles because the brain thinks these patterns are necessary for your survival.
Do you go on auto-pilot when you practice yoga?
Muscle memory kicks in on your way to the bus stop at 6am. In a half slumber you find your way there without getting lost. Muscle memory also kicks in at the top of your yoga mat to begin a Sun Salutation. Where did your mind go for the 15-minutes you spent doing this "mindfulness practice"? You went on auto-pilot because good ol' Muscle Memory took over. Sounds like the weekly yoga class you've been practising for the last ten years... This is why we need somatic muscle science techniques to hack the nervous system to work with us-- in yoga and in life. The body and mind are two distinct yet intimately connected entities. Thats the dual nature of the body-mind connection for you! Survival Stretch Reflexes are part of automatic lower brain activity and are involuntary and signals do not reach the brain. Your nervous system is like a best friend who reflexively wants to help you and instinctively wants to keep you alive. We know the nervous system is trying to make life easier for you but in reality the repeated, often inefficient, misaligned movement causes muscles to tighten heightening the base level of tension to a new “tight” normal. Enter the Gamma Loop, the Mother Control System, and your muscles completely forget how to relax– and you start feeling pain. Somatic movement modalities offer highly effective, gentle exercises that re-shape poor posture and recondition the musculoskeletal system.
An Unbalanced Gamma Loop Increases Tension & Pain Levels
Why so many people feel stuck in their bodies.
The role of the Gamma Loop is to optimize the ability of a muscle to Contract and/or Release when necessary. Ideally, reflexes function to our advantage. When things are going swell, muscles contract and release when we need them to. The purpose of the Gamma Feedback Loop, and Stretch Reflex, is to prevent injury and maximize muscle function but when messages from the brain and spinal cord get stuck in habitual motor patterns, things start to go awry. When Alpha and Gamma Motor Neurons become overactive it causes an increase in the level of tension that muscles hold onto on a daily basis– morning, noon, and night (yes, even when you sleep the nervous system is working to protect you for better or worse). Elevated levels of involuntary muscle tension result in a diminished capacity to fully contract and fully relax muscles efficiently. This is where trouble begins. When muscles are tense for prolonged periods– weeks, months, years, from unresolved anxiety, stress, injury, it leads to sore muscles, stiff tissues, muscle cramps and spasms, misaligned skeleton, compressed joints, reduced coordination, and limited ability to perform fitness routines, walk, and sadly, even daily activities like carrying heavy bags of groceries become arduous. Furthermore, tight muscles are linked to elevated blood pressure. An imbalanced Gamma Loop is a reason why so many people feel, and are, "stuck" in their own bodies.
Geek-speak: Alpha-Gamma Feedback Loop aka Gamma Loop.
Alpha Motor Neurons initiate voluntary muscle contractions for purposeful movement, while Gamma Motor Neurons adjust muscle tension in response to external forces, inducing the involuntary stretch reflex that helps maintain posture and stability.
The Gamma Loop can become dysregulated when its feedback system is chronically overstimulated, often as a result of prolonged stress. In this state, gamma motor neurons increase their activity making muscle spindles more sensitive to stretch. This heightened sensitivity causes alpha motor neurons to trigger stronger and more frequent contraction signals, keeping the muscles in a state of persistent tension. Over time, this imbalance can limit a person’s ability to fully relax or efficiently control muscular engagement, which is why awareness and regulation of tension through mindful somatic movement are essential in yoga practice-- but most conventional yoga classes do not include these modalities. That is why I've created a series of courses and trainings to fill the gap in somatic movement education.
How Yoga Stretches Can Trigger An Imbalanced Gamma Loop– And Tighter Muscles
Habitual Unconscious Muscle Contraction Imbalances Gamma Loop Activity.
As you learned so far, our habitual movement patterns develop progressively, almost insidiously, as we repeatedly contract our muscles in the same way over and over again to stand, sit, and move in daily life. This gradually trains Gamma Loop activity to adapt to a tighter and tighter resting level of muscle tension. Without conscious intervention using Somatic Release Exercises, and Dynamic Pandiculation, the older we get the stiffer we become. It’s not age per se– it's more about the length of time we spend doing an action, such as slumped, rounded forward head posture. From a Somatics viewpoint, it is the accumulation of years of unresolved tension caused by the lack of varied types of movement, along with complacency, depression, anxiety, illness, injury and inefficient, unconscious movement. Stephen Porges, PhD, psychology and neuroscience researcher who developed Polyvagal Theory, says that human beings are "traumatized creatures". Instead of thinking about what that may take away from us, we need to think in terms of the body agency it can give us. Somatic Release Exercises help you reclaim your freedom of movement. You just need to start the self-care routines and create new habits that serve and empower you.
Same-Old Yoga Stretch Practices Can Imbalance The Gamma Loop.
Unfortunately, the same negative muscle memory occurs due to an insufficiency of conscious movement intervention by repeatedly contracting your muscles in the same way week after week in yoga classes. I know, you're going to tell me that "Yoga is a mindfulness practice so how can the movements be unconscious?". Yoga is definitely a mindfulness practice but surprise-- Any movement practice is a mindfulness practice if you apply somatic muscle science techniques that create conditions for signals from muscles to reach the brain, not only the spinal cord. When transitions to enter, hold, and exit a yoga pose are not taught with nervous system reflexes in mind, the practice simply encourages imbalanced Gamma Loop Activity. Thats why is important to practice feedback loop bio-hacking techniques that are vital to Retrain Your Brain in yoga poses.
An example of instructions in a typical yoga class.
Inhale- Lift your arms (shoulders pull up inciting the stretch reflex); Exhale- Fold forward and touch your toes (lower back pulls inciting the stretch reflex); Inhale- Half Flat Back (hamstrings pull inciting the stretch reflex); and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, when the Stretch Reflex kicks at the beginning of class you and your students are now locked out of any increase in flexibility and range of motion. It’s the nightmare I call yoga carnage. You can prevent your own personal yoga carnage from happening to your body with somatic muscle science.
An Imbalanced Gamma Loop Wreaks Havoc On Fascia.
This yoga carnage also impacts the myofascial (muscle and fascia) meridians (lines of pull) causing fascia to become tight/short or tight/long. In other words, weak. Fascia is a highly responsive body wide regulatory system that acts as your own personal inner scaffolding. It can withstand up to 2,000 pounds per square inch and is a replica of the exact shape of you. Fascia is the connective tissue that surrounds, connects, supports, and runs through muscles and organs. Fascia is made of layers of collagen, elastin, and a gel-like ground substance matrix that function best when a slide and glide action occurs between and within these layers. Somatic self-myofascial massage techniques help to restore and rebuild collagen and elastin in your body wide fascia. Overstretching or over pulling your tissues disrupts the tensegrity along the myofascial lines which are responsible for strain distribution, force transmission, coordinated limb functioning, and balanced posture. When fascia becomes knit-up with adhesions or inflamed trigger points form along the myofascial meridians producing localized or referred pain. Unfortunately, typical yoga and stretch classes can exacerbate the problem. That's why it's my mission to popularize the integration of Somatic Release Exercises, Dynamic Pandiculation, and Self-Myofascial Release Techniques into mainstream yoga practices and self-care fitness recovery routines for myofascial pain relief.
Can You Control The Gamma Loop?
Are We All Susceptible to Gamma Loops Going Haywire?
Your dominant side most likely has a higher resting level of tension than your less dominant side. This is part of how Muscle Memory develops and the result of Gamma Loop Activity. Your yoga teacher may have told you that one shoulder is higher than the other-- thats the result of compensation from certain muscle groups being in a perpetual state of high tension. Your physio may told you that one hip is higher than the other but that your legs were the same length-- thats functional leg length discrepancy and the result of compensation from certain muscle groups being in a perpetual state of high tension. When there is no structural skeletal pathology, then the discrepancies are due to chronically contracted muscles. Somatic Release Exercises dissolve tension in the feedback loop. Over time, muscular imbalances negatively affect the skeletal structure so its best to be proactive before its too late. In my 1:1 Somatic Coaching Sessions, I work with you to unravel your particular postural imbalances.
To Answer The Question – Yes! You Can Retrain Your Brain To Regulate Gamma Loop Activity.
You can adjust Gamma Loop Activity by providing your nervous system with biofeedback. Biofeedback trips up the Gamma Loop so that it works with you to somatically release years of muscle memory and tension build-up from deeply ingrained socially conditioned movement patterns, and fight-flight-freeze postural reflexes that lead to muscle, joint, and fascia rigidity, inflammation, and pain. The Somatic Release Exercises that I share with you work to melt underlying emotional tension and fight-flight-freeze reflexes to return your body to a more fluid state of equilibrium.
Put Your Mind Into Your Muscle with short, effective weekly routines. Learn about Somatic Exercise Programs here.
Stay tuned for Issue 8 of Somatic Muscle Science Unveiled to discover answers to the question,”What Is The Pandicular Response And Why Should I Practice It?”
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