THE BIGGER PICTURE: From time to time, we hear about campaigns to take care of our hearts, breasts, prostates or bones, but when was the last time you heard anyone suggest you mind your central nervous system? This is the age of communications, after all, and our central nervous system is the information powerhouse of our bodies.
Much more impressive and complex than any World Wide Web, we can log on anywhere and within milliseconds send incredibly detailed packages of information through to any other part of our bodies, provoking an endless series of responses. And still, we rarely think of care or maintenance for this part of ourselves.
The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), together with the peripheral nervous system (all the connectors linking each detailed and minute aspect of our bodies with our brain and spinal cord), really runs the show. Far from respecting and caring for these systems, however, we seem more and more encouraged to abuse and neglect them.
The brain is often thought of superficially as processing information about the outside world and requesting responses from our skeleton and muscles. Its endeavours, however, reach deeply into every cell of our being.
There are entire conversations being had, conferences being assembled, instructions being given, and strategies implemented for problems arising and receding that we let ourselves be completely oblivious to. We take for granted, even abuse, the systems that are working so hard for us.
The alternative perspective of osteopathy bases its practice in the belief that unobscured nerve pathways are an integral part of developing overall health and healing. Freedom of movement of the outer structure, nurtured by the development of strength and flexibility, is essential if the body is to properly nurture and respond to all areas. The body itself is waiting to do the job if we encourage it with good posture and structural development.
Yoga takes this perspective further, insisting that freedom of the mind is impossible when the body is neglected. The entire journey of yoga is to slowly re-connect external and internal awareness. Beginning with the obvious - understanding the current range of motion in our physical structure - we are given the opportunity to develop awareness for the functioning of internal organs and circulatory processes, and finally integrate a deep connection between the depths of our minds and bodies.
Alongside managing the details of our physical survival, our central nervous system is the means by which we are able to feel and attribute meaning to things - to love, give, co-operate, and equally feel pain, grief and loss. It is the mechanism that allows us to have a full, meaningful life. Excellent, healthy care of this system allows us not only to learn and develop our intelligence, but to build both the courage and integrity needed to face a deep range of emotions, emerging richer from our experience of them.
It is necessary to feel and face pain in order to cultivate the skill to face it again. Vital to our continued development is the experience of having survived grief, learning and becoming more passionate and compassionate as a result. Emotional, sensory, nervous strength must be built like any other skill. It must be practised with support and determination, allowed to mature and expand like any other muscle.
With all the ways our modern society encourages us to neglect our bodies, it seems the abuse of our nervous processes are most forcefully encouraged and simultaneously denied. Most of us take multiple hits of caffeine, nicotine or alcohol to stimulate or depress us in the name of relaxation, bravado or simply 'functioning'. However, coping, really coping, means facing struggle, not rejecting it.
We face enormous peer pressure to sell ourselves short. The sentiment is rampant, "I wouldn't trust anyone who wouldn't have a few" - that someone who would actively nurture their nervous processes with nutrition, exercise and integrity would be uptight, untrustworthy and no fun. In fact, probably the opposite is true. On the contrary, getting by in this addicted society without abusing your nervous systems - feeling all the thrills and traumas of life, agreeing to be yourself, feeling awkward and out of place at times - requires self-esteem.
Doing things differently requires a commitment to your own goodness, a willingness to be vulnerable and strength of character. It requires practise, care and deserves ceaseless support. There are so many imaginative ways to have fun without fooling our senses, most of which involve good friends, some fitness and a few personal risks - all of which build courage and strength. The life we have now is rich with experiences, if we can stand to process it all.
Shalini Sinha is an independent producer and journalist. She is a counsellor on equality issues and has lectured on women's studies in UCD. She is a co-presenter of Mono, RTÉ's intercultural programme.