One of the mysteries of the human mind that we are only beginning to delve into is the relationship between thought and movement – how our brains and our bodies relate to one another.  That our physical bodies’ journey through space profoundly affects our thinking is not in question.  What is uncertain so far is what effects there are and to what extent can we become aware of the links and optimize them.

The naive view of this connection basically has our minds in charge of our bodies.  We direct them to do our bidding, and they do it.  At one end of the spectrum is the beauty of a top athlete or musician with superb control of intention and result – a perfectly executed triple lutz or a Bach chaconne.  At the other end is the desperately sad slow decline of dementia.

The more sophisticated view that is beginning to emerge from brain research shows that there is a much more complex interplay between mind and body.  For example, we move on an unconscious intention before we are consciously aware of it.  We reach for the glass of water to slake our thirst based on an unconscious urge, not a conscious one.  The only reason that we don’t get to watch our arms move and wonder why they are moving is that the brain cleverly elides the millisecond gap, putting motion and thought in the ‘proper’ order for our brains to feel in control.

An essential aspect of this growing understanding is the realization that our proprioception sense (our mapping of where we are in space) is deeply connected to our thinking on topics and in ways that don’t obviously seem aligned.  For example, if you want to improve your memory, the single best thing you can do is to climb a tree.

You read that right.  To improve your memory, go climb a tree.  What’s the connection?  If you make your brain work harder, continually updating where it (and the rest of you) is in space, then it seems to work harder to encode the memories it is making as it does so.

Studies also show that we have more control over our memories in other ways as well.  As we get older, we have more trouble encoding new memories because we are more easily distracted by ‘noise’ in the signal we are trying to remember.  By consciously working to eliminate older or unwanted memories, we can make space for new ones.  And we can reduce or eliminate traumatic memories by a similar process of deliberate removal.

Earlier studies have shown that if you hand us a warm cup of tea, we will have warmer thoughts about the person in front of us.  If you have us hold a piece of sandpaper, we will think an interaction does not go as well (it’s rougher!) as one without holding sandpaper.

We humans can control our environments to an extraordinary degree. So speakers, teachers, executives, and indeed anyone for whom a particular human interaction is important, think hard about how your mind and your body – and the mind and body of your opposite number – are interacting.  As we learn more and more about the mind-body connection, the opportunities for sophisticated maximization of both grow in number and power.  Stay tuned!  For now, if you want your audience, or your students, or your negotiating partner to remember what you are talking about, climb a tree together – or at least go for a walk.  Build some kind of motion into your intellectual pursuits.