The Human Body as a Giant Muscle (DA)

Everyone has heard the saying "it's just like riding a bike."

That saying means "it's easy" or "you'll pick it up quickly" because once you've learned how to ride a bike you never forget how to ride one, no matter how much time has passed.
This is true with most of what we ask our body to do. Most people walk without thinking about it, we jump, we write and we dance. Once you've learned to waltz, you can waltz. There's obviously a learning curve, but the idea is that your body knows it and will remember how to do things faster than you brain. These are learned movements that after repetitive training have become second nature.

This is one reason why some people with memory issues follow similar patterns. If they encounter a problem, their body takes over and tells them how to deal with it before their brain can figure it out. For example: I wake up and see my driveway is covered in snow. I've forgotten how to start my snow blower (or that I even have a snow blower) so I grab a shovel and get to it.

Today I experienced it as I walked my dog. We used to take amazingly interactive walks, by that I mean, mentally stimulating and challenging for me and the dog. Our walks could vary in pace throughout, or feature sudden stops or changes of direction, or even multiple terrains; my dog knows every inch of the jungle gyms in my neighborhood. However, this winter has been so cold and the sidewalks and parks have been treacherously icy that it's been difficult to do anything more than the typical walk around town. It's awful! and my brain had forgotten that we used to love those walks, but today I found a deserted side street that was clear of snow and icy and my body remembered how to make our walk interactive and stimulating. The street wasn't very long, but we took 30 minutes just playing up and down this street.

It was an amazing feeling and a very real example for me about how amazing our bodies are, and what they are capable of if we train them properly.

-Brandolyn