Second brain

[Guest guest]

On Sun, 12 Nov 2000 19:05:42 jb wrote:

>An interesting article can be found at:

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_105441.html

>

>An excerpt:

>

>Researchers believe this belly brain may save information on physical reactions

to mental processes and give out signals to influence later decisions. It may

also be responsible in the creation of reactions such as joy or sadness.

>Professor Prinz thinks the stomach network may be the source for unconscious

decisions which the main brain later claims as conscious decisions of its own.

>

 

Hi,

 

That was pretty interesting and fun to read.

 

It is not difficult to feel how mood can influence gastrointestinal status quo,

anyone who's had a hyperacidic stomach or heartburn knows this (even though

these problems are also caused by other factors than just psychosomatic

factors).

 

The control of digestion is important for the body and must oversee large

amounts of body material, since the GI tract is several meters long. So no

surprise there should be a large and complexly organized nerve plexi to control

this system and that it is closely connected to the brain itself.

 

The nerve plexi pertaining to the GI system, not only those of the stomach or

guts themselves, but also surrounding organs such as the adrenals, are plentiful

and can be felt during meditation.

 

However, when it comes to the question of decision making and the brain, and

where in the body/brain decisions are made, these are a difficult questions.

 

There are decisions which are built in the body and whose execution are usually

not modified by those centers in the brain that usually make decisions, these

are reflexes. They can usually not be modified by will, they are not under

conscious control, i.e. control by the brain's cortex = outer layers.

 

There are motion reflexes controlling posture and balance etc and also more

vegetative reflexes such as the secretion of acid in the stomach and the rate of

speed of gut movements during digestion and reflexes controlling heart rate and

blood pressure etc etc.

 

All signals that produce a reflex probably reach the lower brain centers in the

spinal cord or brain stem. From here, these signals or rather, their presence,

are sent to higher centers, but they can usually not be affected by the higher

decision making centers in the cortex except by training and deep concentration.

Breath control is one such type of training that affects a reflex. The cortex

can usually only watch the signals in the body of the reflex as it is being

executed.

 

The decision process of even the higher cortical centers, those responsible for

motor control = conscious movement, language processing such as reading and

writing and the processing of emotion, is still unclear. The locus for conscious

decision is thought to reside somewhere in the higher cortical centers, but the

researchers do not agree exactly where this is. Maybe it is not a center, maybe

it is a decentralized function, as so many of the brain's functions seem to be.

The function being in the coordination and summary of signals rather than the

signals coming from one single place. Thus, it is very interesting to see a

suggestion that decision can be influenced by what would usually go as a spinal

/ brain stem reflex. But it is probably not the only deep reflex that influences

conscious decision making.

 

Also, judging from the number of psychosomatic diseases, it is no doubt that the

conscious centers of the brain, together with the more subconscious centers,

along with deeply located pure reflex centers, work as a whole and can influence

each other, reciprocally, the nervous system being as much a part of the body as

anything else.

 

---

 

In the article, it is also noticeable, that the people having found the stomach

nerve plexi are working with the peripheral nervous system and would perhaps

like to more see this part of the nervous system as important for decision

making as the higher centers. Workers on cortical centers are not always happy

to be reminded of such possibilities.

 

However, there is a dimension to this new discovery which is not mentioned in

this article. Even though there is a large nerve plexi in the stomach, it is a

question of the nature of the connections of this plexus to the higher centers.

Depending on these connections, there is a probability, the signals of the nerve

plexi will be leveled out and ranked not above but on par with signals from

other and perhaps smaller centers elsewhere in the GI system and the body in

general. Size and complexity of a nerve plexus can indicate output control more

than input and importance of this in the hierarchy of signals to the brain is

more indicated by number of connections and type of connections going to the

brain.

 

 

Love,

 

Amanda (well connected).

 

 

 

 

Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com

[Guest guest]

Great reply, Dear Amanda.

 

The aura/chakra apparatus that I use, concentrates very much on the

gastro-intestinal tract. I have a lot of people do intestinal cleansing and

high colon treatments. Also high doses of enzymes will aid digestion and

clean the pipes so to speak.

What you say about the plexi is very important.

 

Love, Wim

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the excellent commentary Amanda. My interest was aroused because

science and Yoga are meeting too. According to the Shandilaya Upanishad, the

nabhi chakra (navel wheel) is where the psyche (jiva) resides "like a spider in

its web". My experience is also that all emotions feel to be "wired" from this

center. So I wonder, when the "spiritual" heart center (the one at the right

from the "yogic" heart center) will be discovered. An indication that there is a

conditioned equilibrium between the influence of these centers comes from

fasting (water only). It will drive the body into ketosis and that causes the

brain to go on "economy mode" - so one would expect a dulling of all senses and

the "sharpness" of mind, because of the lack of carbohydrates. But the contrary

is true, the mind becomes more "awake" and life gets a more "spiritual"

dimension. As ketosis could be called the very antithesis of fruitarianism, I'll

take the experiment myself to see what happens this time:) The previous time,

some 30 years ago, was quite spectacular - the smell of acetone coming from my

body was so strong that I was afraid to lighten up a cigarette in a closed room

)

 

Love,

Jan