The dizziness of freedom.
The Anxiety Study is my most technical project to date. In it, we looked the physiology and psychology of anxiety through a variety of perspectives.
In the end, the ground has been laid for new tools and insights into movement and psychology. I will share some of these below.
Perhaps the most significant insight from the the Anxiety Study has been the effect of muscle tension. Muscle is cognitive, in the sense that the state of our muscles and tendons influences our final conscious perceptions. This is true for the striated muscles, that we have conscious control over, and the smooth muscles of the visceral organs, which we do not directly control.
Practically, anxiety can have the effect of co-contracting muscles: contracting muscles on both sides of a joint. This produces movement that is stiff and unable to adjust itself to the demands of the environment. A vulnerability emerges that discourages one from exploring body positions outside of the vertical alignment with gravity.
However, anxiety can also produce movement that is excessively loose. This is often accompanied by a lack of coordination or excessive movement variability. A sense of panic may remain close to the surface; as the lack of structure means that energy is easily overwhelming.
These nuances are obviously as psychological as they are physical, and yet there is another layer that is more elusive: the visceral body. Because the organs are so vital to our survival, they experience a special privilege in shaping how we feel.
There are several pathways to explore the visceral body in movement. One important perspective is the connection between the vestibular system and nausea: where a lack of gravitational security results in a hyper-sensitivity of the stomach. Avoidance of uncertainty is a natural consequence when one feels they are on a rollercoaster every misstep.
This reflex clenching of the body may be related to the neonatal response to falling: a specific pattern of tension and adrenal release. In this way, we can approach anxiety by improving gravitational security: learning to improve the reflexes that naturally balance the head and hips in relation to the vertical and horizontal planes.
Below is a video with some ideas on connecting the eyes, neck and hips to the horizon.
Whilst I have developed this material slightly further, the basic point stands: if we can reduce reliance on conscious, cognitive control - we can liberate our attention for more interesting problems. Automatically stabilising the head, like a hunting owl, is one way to do this.
