Balancing the mind by contralateral movement

Few years before, I did a course on Neuroscience from the Duke University. Through this course, I really got an opportunity to get an insight into the structural & functional aspects of the brain and the associated nervous systems. The key aspects that I learned were the sensory and motor pathways. Sensory pathways are nothing but the sensations such as pain & pleasure and how those signals travel from the affected body parts all the way to the brain. Motor pathways are nothing but the signals that fire from the brain and how those signals travel all the way from the brain to the different body parts that are responsible in the motor actions or movements of the body parts.

Crossover point: For every pathway irrespective of whether sensory or motor pathway, there is a specific cross over point in the midline of the spine for each of the pathway. The signals that fire from the left hemisphere of the brain cross to the right side of the body parts and the right hemisphere of the brain cross the left side of the body and the cross overs occur in the midline of the spine.

Two different Worlds: The left & right hemispheres of the brain work in different ways. The left hemisphere is dominant in logical, analytical reasoning, decision making etc whereas the right hemisphere is dominant in creativity, holistic, intuition etc. Some of us are right hemisphere oriented and some are left hemisphere dominant. To get a balanced state, it is good to use both the hemispheres of the brain in equal proportion.  This can be done by taking advantage of the cross over point. In other words , a balanced state can be achieved by doing certain physical activities that produce contralateral movement.

Contralateral exercises: Contralateral exercise works in the following way. An action in the right hand is fired by the left hemisphere and when the right hand is taken to the left feet, the practitioner is crossing the crossover point and the right hemisphere is activated as the right hand reaches the left side of the feet. This is the precise pattern of movement when the practitioner does  Parivartha Trikonasana , the twisted triangular posture.

So to get a balanced state, activate both the brain hemispheres simultaneously in equal proportion. Here is the list of few exercises that comes to my mind now.

Parivartha Trikonasana

Vakarasana

Artha Matsyenderasana

Garudasana

Matsyasana and many more such postures.

Anulom vilom , alternate nostril breathing also helps in balancing the mind.

Balancing the mind is a learnable skill and exercise involving contralateral movement is one such technique.