Two parts really stood out: The Luxury of Constraints and Embodied Cognition.
The phrase goes "the mind is what the brain does." I agree, but would include an extension from the brain to the rest of the nervous system, and even include responses from the body's other non-neuronal systems.
A quick path to competence in mountain biking is to understand that things are happening way too fast for consciousness to handle. Frequently, you have to give consciousness something else to do while the rest of your body guides the bike down the mountain.
Beautiful example mountain biking. I guess the same is true in many sports. I heard of techniques elite athletes use not to distract the body doing its thing on autopilot. Like humming or singing.
An important aspect of human consciousness is that of the "Problem Solver." It is called into action when the evolved embodied cognition systems sense crisis. This is usually life saving. However, in a rapidly changing environment, like a steep rocky downhill on a bike, the problems being identified can become fixated targets. "Don't hit that cactus" generally draws one toward the same cactus.
Instead of humming or singing to distract consciousness, a mantra applicable to the situation is a better approach. In mountain biking I teach "Fly your head like a cheetah." If you watch a cheetah chasing prey in slow motion you will see every single part if its body in constant undulation. Except the head. The cheetah's head will have a laser beam trajectory. The same can be observed of champion downhill racers.
Instead of trying to manage control of myriad reactions from every other part of the body, the rider can remind themselves "fly your head like a cheetah." They can judge success simply by a stable vision path, which provides the required input for the rest of their embodied systems to get them down the hill. It works.
This is your best article yet!
Thank you, Darren! Truly appreciated. What did resonate particularly?
Two parts really stood out: The Luxury of Constraints and Embodied Cognition.
The phrase goes "the mind is what the brain does." I agree, but would include an extension from the brain to the rest of the nervous system, and even include responses from the body's other non-neuronal systems.
A quick path to competence in mountain biking is to understand that things are happening way too fast for consciousness to handle. Frequently, you have to give consciousness something else to do while the rest of your body guides the bike down the mountain.
Beautiful example mountain biking. I guess the same is true in many sports. I heard of techniques elite athletes use not to distract the body doing its thing on autopilot. Like humming or singing.
An important aspect of human consciousness is that of the "Problem Solver." It is called into action when the evolved embodied cognition systems sense crisis. This is usually life saving. However, in a rapidly changing environment, like a steep rocky downhill on a bike, the problems being identified can become fixated targets. "Don't hit that cactus" generally draws one toward the same cactus.
Instead of humming or singing to distract consciousness, a mantra applicable to the situation is a better approach. In mountain biking I teach "Fly your head like a cheetah." If you watch a cheetah chasing prey in slow motion you will see every single part if its body in constant undulation. Except the head. The cheetah's head will have a laser beam trajectory. The same can be observed of champion downhill racers.
Instead of trying to manage control of myriad reactions from every other part of the body, the rider can remind themselves "fly your head like a cheetah." They can judge success simply by a stable vision path, which provides the required input for the rest of their embodied systems to get them down the hill. It works.