The “Juggling” Brain
The human brain is a wonderful thing. Controlling our thinking, seeing, hearing, moving. But it’s just a lump of fats and protein? Or is it?
It’s divided into parts. First of all the brain contains two cerebral hemispheres joined by the corpus callosum containing the nerve pathways that connect both sides of the brain. The right side of the brain is responsible for movement on the left side of the body. And the left side is responsible for movement on the right side of the body.
The cerebral hemispheres have separate parts of the brain responsible for seeing, hearing, speaking, smelling, tasting, movement, thinking, memory and emotion.
And at the back of the brain there is the cerebellum, (also called the little brain) which is the coordinator of our movements. Then there’s the brainstem to maintain life (breathing and heartbeat).
Brain Works
It’s quite remarkable - the cerebral cortex has a sensory and motor map of our bodies. In other words parts of the cortex just work for specific parts of the body - with more brain cells devoted to the parts of the body we use the most, such as the lips and our hands (especially the thumb).
But the important thing to understand is that - we can sharpen up this brain map – make the map clearer and stronger - just with repetition and practice of a specific skill – for example hand exercises . . . As you know, practice makes perfect – and one part of that is by sharpening up the brain map, that is, by making extra connections between the nerve cells in the brain.
Now the second important part of the brain is the coordinating part - the cerebellum.
The little brain or cerebellum (the coordinator) has three parts: a connection to the spinal cord (to reach the muscles), the balance mechanism (the vestibular system) and the cerebrum (which connects our senses). It is responsible for coordinating what we do - how neatly we do it and the split second timing we need.
The Brain and Juggling
Now this is where we think about juggling. Surely juggling needs split second timing, and coordination, as well as using the muscles in our hands and arms?
When juggling, the cerebellum coordinates information coming from:
- the cerebrum about the sensory systems (visual, tactile, proprioception and hearing)
- the muscles involved in stabilising our body (core stability)
- our balance mechanisms, or information as to where our body is in space relative to our surroundings.
So…………
The cerebellum assists us with the rhythm and timing of catching the balls as they circulate in the air.
Hence developing the cerebellum skills is a very important part of our learning to juggle.
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