Triune Brain-Body Wellness

New Patterns for Thriving
If you are a fan of somatic brain-body trainings like an in-depth yoga practice or bodywork
you are a  pioneer in the world of neuroscience and healing.

Neuroscience is just now waking up to the profound somatic wisdom of programs like in-depth yoga practice or bodywork/touch.  Brain-body healing processes of movement and touch have been around for centuries.   If you’re like me, long ago you consciously joined in on the call to wake up, to be dedicated to your own brain-body healing.  And you’ve done so for one reason:  You know it works.  It keeps you healthy.  It keeps you sane.  It keeps you young.   It keeps you thriving.  Nobody had to tell you.  You felt it in your first class. Through the experience of felt sensation there’s no question and no conflict in your Triune Brain – your body, brain and heart.  You “know” not because of the research, but because you sense it.  Real evidence talks.

And the real evidence shows up as “coherence” in your central nervous system, in your brainwaves. Your brain emits faint electrical impulses whose wavelengths can be measured and recorded by EEG (electroencephalographic) monitoring devices.  During ordinary waking consciousness, EEG patterns are generally disorderly and rapidly changing.   By contrast, as the brain-body settles into practices that support rhythmic movements, brainwaves too become rhythmic and orderly.   Ancient practices of drumming and dancing have known this for years.  Higher coherence is associated with more integrated and effective thinking and behavior; greater spontaneity in your work and in relationship to others; increased resilience both daily and with larger stressors; and higher creativity, learning ability, emotional stability, ethical and moral reasoning, self-confidence, and reduced anxiety.

When you hear “coherence” think “wellness”. 

Let’s back track to the Triune Brain-Body.  Coherence is a real challenge if you’ve got three mega-portals of transformation, each battling for your complete attention.

• The Reptilian brain (body) is the action brain.  As the center of primitive instinct, it’s concerned with three questions: 

Is it something I can eat? 

Is it something that can eat me?

 Can I mate with it? The reptilian brain is 100% selfish.
• The Mammalian brain (heart) is the social brain. As the center of emotion, it’s concerned with two questions:  Is it safe?  Can I bond with it?  The mammalian brain is 100% cooperative.
• The Neocortical brain (mind) is the reasoning brain.  As the most recently developed part of the brain, it has one question:  Is it meaningful?

You are your most intelligent and most able to transform yourself and the world around you when your Triune Brain-Body works in alignment, coherently.

Transformation takes practice. Work with somatic straight talk through a regular practice. Yoga’s brilliant somatic practices speak straight coherence to your central nervous system, which includes your Triune Brain and your spinal cord.

Change Leaders, Changing Lives
Without conflict between body, heart and mind, you can listen to and follow your inner knowing to catapult the driving forces, visions and processes that can fuel large-scale transformation.  Acting as one coherent Brain-Body-Heart, together we can connect with the masses of people who want to thrive. You have a date with destiny.  You are a pioneering Change Leader Changing Lives with a vision to empower lots and lots of people to take bigger leaps and make a difference in the world.

Gloria Gonzalez is CCO/Founder of Eight Elements West, a Center for Somatic Education and Integrative Wellness dedicated to elevating the human experience through Movement, Nutrition, and Medicine for over 35 years.  For somatic therapies:  Somatic Experiencing, Visceral Manipulation & Craniosacral Therapy.

1.  Peter Levine, Trauma Through A Child’s Eyes  (North Atlantic Books, 2007), 407.
2.  Peter Levine, Healing Trauma Study Guide (Sounds True Inc, 1999).