Autism Awareness Month Part 2

Autism is a spectrum disorder where different developmental milestones vary widely. One area that is consistent in all folks with autism is weakness in the gravity sense. All people with autism have issues with any or all of the following:

The gravity sense organ, the semi-circular canal and its ability to read and react to gravity

The cranial nerve and tracts that connects the gravity sense information and intake of sound into the brain stem

The cerebellum with the brainstem that modulates muscle tone and presorts sensory input

Why is this important? One of the most important reasons is that weakness with the gravity sense and other body senses can cause the Lower Brain to send alarm signals to the Upper Brain often resulting in anxiety.

Addressing the issues of the body senses can make this functioning better and lessen anxiety.

Tune Into Tone

We are so busy! However, more and more people are trying techiniques, such as yoga and meditation to relieve stress.These are excellent practices and tuning in can improve yoga and mediation or be used on its own.

In the study of sensory-motor-reflex, we consider the tone of our body’s tissues, muscles, liquids and organs.Tone is the ability of living systems to push out in tension and release to relaxation. It is tone that we use to feel and give us a brain map of the inside and outside of our bodies. The words “tone” and “tune” come from the root word. So when we tune in, we are noting our tone.

Try this: Sit in at a table and put your elbows on the the table. Relax. Cup your hands and gently place them over your ears. Close your eyes. Now tune into what you feel inside your head in the inner ear. Don’t try to make something happen, just notice. Take a minute or two and relax, just feeling the inner ear.

How did it feel? Warm and pulsing? Cold and contracted? Something else? The inner ear is the housing of our Gravity Sense organ: the semi-circular canals and of our sound wave translator: the cochlea. Tuning into this area may make you more aware of your sense of gravity and hearing. It may improve the tone of the inner ear and help a tune reach your brain more easily. Over time while practicing this activity, you may feel changes in the tone and sensations in the inner ear. Try it daily for a few weeks and see.

As the months roll on, I am hoping to bring you more tips about tuning in and toning. Tuning in gives the Lower Brain that oversees survival time to communicate with the busy, distracted Upper Brain. This physical inner exploration can be not only fun and relaxing, but the start of a more conscious way to help your body-brain system work more efficiently and to help sustain attention longer in only a minute or two a day!

Gravity, Our First Relationship

First there is Gravity, pushing down upon us to the center of the Earth. We are designed to push back in the tone of our cells, tissues and muscles. Gravity and Tone push and yield in the rhythms of our bodies: breath, heart beat, lymph flow, cerebral spinal fuild, and brain waves. And our reflexes with flexion and extention and contraction and expansion reflect the push and pull of the consistent interaction of tone and gravity. After birth, we have been squeezed and pressed and transformed, ending in the press of gravity, hitherto unknown to us. It is somewhat like coming out of water after a long swim. The gravity feels heavy and cloying, but as newborns we have never felt full gravity. We must work hard to push against it or we sleep and allow gravity let us "fall" asleep.