Finally, Feldenkrais (1981, p. 72) turns to the distinction to be made between the less complex brain of most organisms and the highly complex brain that has evolved in human beings:
Your brain, and mine, have a very long history. Our nervous systems are among the most complex structures in existence. They have very old layers covered by less old ones and then more recent layers. Each new layer is a formation that functions more finely. The older are primitive, and abrupt in the all-or-nothing way. Each layer checks the older ones and supersedes them. The newer the formation the finer its function. It makes action more graded, more differentiated. The older structures function more reliably faster and need less apprenticeship. The newer layers switch themselves off and allow the former more reliable swifter formation to take over and assure survival. The finer, more varied newer parts will take over once the emergency has ended. The old structures are not destroyed; they just become latent, less obvious but essential in an emergency. Any situation that cannot be dealt with at leisure will produce a regression, i.e., the older formation will take over. The newer the neural structure is, the slower it is. Gradation and variety need time and apprenticeship for deliberation and choice, following the weighing up of the pros and cons.
In this extraordinary analysis, we find the anticipation of contemporary neuroscience analyses, as well as the analyses offered by those in the emerging field of behavior economics. First, Feldenkrais offers an important distinction between the ‘old” brain and “new brain” (primarily prefrontal cortex). As more recent analysts, such as Jonah Lehrer (2009) have noted, the new brain is easily overwhelmed by emergencies and acts slowly when under pressure. The old brain tends to take over in these challenging stressful situations. If there is nothing but stress in one’s life, then the old brain will always be in charge and orderliness will be demanded. The armor remains in place and new environments are avoided.
Behavioral scientists such as Daniel Kahneman (2013 join with Feldenkrais in noting the slow process being engaged by the new brain. “Deliberation and choice, following the weighing up of the pros and cons” is in the province of the “slow thinking” advocated by Kahneman. This slow thinking, in turn, is a perquisite if we wish to leave the forest and journey to Oz or some other destination that in no way resembles the forest.
All of this processing of the external environment and all of this shifting from one part of the brain to another part requires that all elements of the brain are involved. A holistic-operating brain is required whatever the stage of evolution to be found in any living species—thought this holism is particularly important in the life of an evolved species such as the human being who has a choice between various states of neural and behavioral freedom. As “evolved” humans we can choose to leave the forest –though only if we recognize the challenges we will face as well as the complex neural processing required in these changing and challenging environments.
Reich–Words and Body: Freud spoke of the power based in the “talking-cure”, believing that words (psychoanalytic treatment) could heal the body (curing “hysteria”) as well as the mind (curing “neuroses”). Reich similarly believed that words could play a major role in confronting the physical as well as psychological elements of character armor. Coming out of his Jewish heritage (as does Freud and Feldenkrais), Reich finds it easy and comfortable to integrate the mind (particularly verbal functions) with the body.
We can trace this integration and the power of the word back to the first statements in the Old Testament of the Bible (Torah) in which God Said there would be light, water, land, living creatures—and ultimately human beings. It is through words and pronouncements that God created the university—and our Jewish practitioners of psychotherapy and physical therapy created physical and mental health.
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