WHEN THINKING IS AS GOOD AS DOING
In the early 1980s William Straub, a sport psychologist at Ithaca College proved the efficiency of mental training in sport. Initially sceptical he provided the first prove that a combination of physical practice, body awareness, imagery and relaxation improves performance dramatically.
Here a summary of his results:
No practice, no mental training: No performance improvement.
Physical practice only: Average improvement 67 points.
Physical practice and mental practice: Average improvement between 111, 141 and 165 points.
BRAIN PLASTICITY
The brain changes with anything you do, including any thought you might have. Any time you learn something new, any time your brain deems an experience worthy of remembering (and what you do in class is definitely worth remembering) over the long term, new connections sprout between brain cells, which strengthens previously existing connections. The process is called plasticity or neural plasticity or adaptability of the brain.
The wonderful news is that plasticity is available for a lifetime. Plastic remapping of the brain occurs when you learn or improve at any physical skill, be it guitar playing, golf, tennis, yoga, Pilates, dancing or running.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
The motor maps involved in any skill - those that send commands to your muscles to perform a task - are reorganized by physical practice. For example in early piano practice sessions, while you are still a novice, your finger maps grow in an exuberance of neural rewiring, seeking and strengthening any connection patterns that maximize your performance. If you then stop practicing, your finger maps stop adapting and slump back to their original size. But if you stick with practice over time, you reach a new phase of long-term structural change in your brain maps. Many of the novel neural connections you made early on aren't needed anymore. A consolidation occurs: The skill becomes better integrated into your brain's basic circuitry, and the whole process becomes more efficient and automatic.
VIRTUOSITY
There is one more level to all this, and that's true expertise, or virtuosity.
People who practice complex motor skills day in, day out, for years on end, always striving for mastery, show brain maps that are again increased in size.
Here is one more interesting fact about expertise: As you gradually master a complex skill, the "motor programs" it requires gradually migrate down from higher to lower brain areas. Pilates, dance, yoga or whatever else you practice has truly become part of your being.
BRAIN ERGONOMICS
Studies also show that brains of better practitioners use less energy than those of beginners. The better you get at something, the more efficient your brain is while doing it.
REFERENCE
The Body has a Mind on its own by Sandra & Matthew Blakeslee
