The brain cell - neurons.
You have them. The fascinating thing about neurons is that they grow with stimulation of the mind and body. Imagine a tree that copiously branches out every time you touch it, speak to it, look at it, play music to it...anything!! In the infant this stimulation is continuous. That's why my 12 month old child rather play with the box than the toy in the box.
The dendrites of each individual neuron number in the thousands. They branch out and connect with other neurons as the need may be. The connection is electro-chemical across the gap called a synapse and is not physical. The purpose is to receive signals and transmit them to other neurons, forming neural circuits.
There is a neural circuit for every movement and I would like to think every thought too. Hence a movement that you can do unconsciously is run by a complex circuit whereas a new movement in which you clumsily attempt to do (think wake boarding fro the first time) is just newly forming its circuit. So there are millions of these circuits - directly proportional to the amount of stimulation you have been receiving.
What if a child does not get enough stimulation? Retardation - the ugly word.
A friend of mine met a child who was left in a hammock for the whole day while the parents, farmers, went out to work. The caregiver did not bother even to change diapers so to speak. The child was hosed down and left to dry in the warm tropical climate. Very little stimulation indeed - the result? The boy is unable to speak today. And it would have been much worse if he had not been fortunately adopted by a kind soul who saw his plight.
Movement is the door to learning.
Brain Gym advocates moving to learn.
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