think that while its hard for people to accept that the brain can affect the body, think its equally hard for people to accept that the body can affect the brain as well. think it goes both ways.
well, like, of course, it goes both ways, it's a cycle, a loop, a mobius strip, they are literally connected, whatever you want to call it, one absolutely affects the other
I surely don't think there is anyone who would have trouble with the notion that the body affects the brain!
what's new here to me is the idea that our thoughts and emotions can actually PHYSICALLY change our neural pathways, make them more efficient and and good at transmitting pain messages from frequent use
(undesirable result)
Here's the exact same concept, but now we are carefully, deliberately seeking a:
(desirable result)
(excerpt from my forthcoming book: "Dow's Meandering Thoughts While Swimming Underwater In Circles This Summer"
)
Chapter 8: "Learning to Play The Piano"
Many people over the years claim that the best time in life to learn to play is when you are young, that it is much harder to learn when you are an adult. I think there are some real reasons for that, and it may have to do with establishing neural paths between the fingers and the brain, while the brain and pathways are relatively undeveloped
The basic technique for learning a Bach Invention or another complex piece, is simple repetition, but by doing it slowly, but correctly. In fact, ironically, a good way to get real speed at the piano, is to practice very slow, as long as the fingers "learn" the sequence correctly, it doesn't matter how slowly they play, what matters here is the precision.
After many repetitions, what happens is that the neural paths between the fingers and the brain get PHYSICALLY developed, and before long, it is like magic, the fingers seem to play the music by themselves!
(but note you can learn bad habits just as easily as good, if your teacher doesn't correct you if keep using your strong finger in your left hand instead of the pinkie, you will have even more trouble trying to break this habit later!)
Now if you try to do this as an adult, take up the piano at like age 25 like I did, you will likely find it a lot harder. Your mind is already full all kinds of other things, memories, habits, stored thoughts and associations. It may not easily find a place to write to memory those new songs, there are already way too many addresses, siticom characters, faces, permanently stored there, where are we going to find some space to write this new song?
