The Power of Mind Body Connection

America’s beloved poet Walt Whitman is known for his famous line:

“I am the poet of the body,

I am the poet of the soul.”

Walt Whitman means more than meets the eye when he says he is the poet of the “body.” His life and writing has something very valuable to teach us about mind body connection; America’s poet may hold the secret to how great minds of a generation are formed -- and he may have cracked the code on how we can cultivate the same greatness in ourselves.

Whitman’s life did not have much consistency in it other than the fact that he worked with his hands and body and often wrote about what science and psychology would today call a “mind body connection.” American’s poet dropped out of school at age 12 to work as a printer's apprentice, which in the early 19th century was a very hands-on job. Following this, while conceiving “Leaves of Grass,” -- America’s most renowned book of poems -- he was building houses. When it came time to publish his book, Whitman had a hand in the printing and designing of his book and continued doing this with all his books thereafter. He also volunteered as a nurse in the civil war while writing Drum Taps.

During Whitman’s time, poetry and writing were thought to be strictly cerebral activities. Whitman turned this notion on its head. He often wrote about how he preferred the open sky to lecture rooms (“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”) and how he learned to be a poet by responding to nature (“Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”). Whitman wrote about both male and female bodies in detailed ways that were scandalous for the time -- he did not think the body was to be hidden and ignored in life or in writing. In a time where culture was heavily influenced by the Christian belief that the soul is placed in the body but unconnected to it, Whitman believed the soul and the body were inherently one. Whitman lived and wrote about the importance of the body, and likely even made things like homemade health bread because of the belief that “you are what you eat.” Whitman also wrote a book called “Manly Health and Training” on what men should do to be in the best health, such as showering in cold water and drying off with a rough towel with the window open for fresh air. Beyond his fascination with the body and aptness to work with his hands, Whitman’s life showed that he preferred to learn through experiences rather than academic schooling. He was a hands-on learner, or what today would call a “kinesthetic learner.” Much of Whitman’s poetry is inspired by his highly kinesthetic lifestyle. Walt Whitman, as well as many other great minds, serve as an example of the shocking impacts of having a mind body connection.

Whitman seems to have had innate knowledge that the mind is not separate from the body, which was radical during his time and still speaks to a need in our society today. When one is doing something in which their body and mind are fully involved at the same time -- such as dancing, building, cooking complex meals, or practicing yoga -- higher human capability is unlocked. The video “Mind Body Connection” interviews an expert psychologist on the significance of having a mind body connection.

“The goal is that the body and mind should function smoothly together as one organism...not a dualism. Many times when we’re doing things, we’re thinking of something else at the same time, and we’re not as integrated as we could be, and therefore, we’re not as effective as we could be. And as human beings we’re capable of incredible things when we really are unified,” (Mishlove 2:30).

Mishlove goes on to talk about how those who develop a strong mind body connection by doing a task or activity that requires complete energy and attention of the body and mind simultaneously develop heightened cognitive abilities and even psychic abilities.

Because of these heightened cognitive abilities, it is not atypical for dancers, chefs, musicians, and trade workers to find themselves back at school -- they reach a heightened level of mental capability due to the work they did with their bodies and have an incessant desire to fill their mind. Columbia University in the City of New York has a unique school specifically for returning and nontraditional students such as dancers, athletes, playwrights, entrepreneurs, and many other highly kinesthetic individuals who originally pursued a more kinesthetic path that in hindsight opened up their minds, bringing them back to not just any university, but an Ivy League university. These students (many of whom previously struggled in traditional academic settings) are often found to be equally or more successful than the traditional Ivy League student because they are not afraid of failure and are less phased and stressed about the structures of education as an institution.

While many kinesthetically driven individuals often find themselves back at university, we must question what made them decide to leave in the first place. If kinesthetic work heightens one's mental capacities, why are educational systems made to benefit the student that sits still and doesn’t cause disruptions, leaving students with an innate mind/body connection to dropout, feel confined, or lose creativity within the structures of the institution’s set up? A popular slow lifestyle magazine based in Copenhagen, Denmark states in its education issue that “traditional schools were created in the image of factory lines. Now, an increasing number of parents and educators are asking whether a system that prioritizes good results and blind obedience is the best fit for a generation of free thinkers...children shouldn’t have to sit quietly listening to a teacher for hours on end, they should be granted more independence and learn by discovering things on their own,” (Kinfolk 139). This, I’m sure, is a philosophy that Whitman could have gotten on board with. The article goes on to say that children who can’t sit still and quietly shouldn’t be “considered damaged goods,” (Kinfolk 139).

The Brain’s Sense of Movement published by Harvard University Press states: “Indeed, to the five traditional senses—touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell—we must add the sense of movement, or kinesthesia. Its characteristic feature is that it makes use of many receptors, but remarkably it has been forgotten” (Weiss 25). Weiss goes on to talk about how crucial it is to have awareness of kinesthesia and the body’s role in thinking. “For there is no action without movement,” or in other words, thinking should also be made tangible by using the body (Weiss 181). By denying children the freedom to move and learn kinesthetically, we may be crushing their ability to tap into higher awareness.

It is of no shock that Walt Whitman, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Langston Hughs, Bill Gates and countless other great minds dropped out of school at one point or another. Those who are most successful in school are often the ones that know how to follow rules and don’t question the status quo or cause disruptions. Those who are less submissive to institutions often become frustrated in the confinement of traditional academic settings. Many great potential minds are disregarded as disruptive students, trouble makers, or Attention Deficit Disordered children. Children who can’t sit still and quietly shouldn’t be “considered damaged goods,” (Kinfolk 139). These children may be the very minds that have potential to harness heightened cognitive abilities due to their innate mind body connections shown in their lack of interest or ability to participate in traditional schooling regimes (being still and sitting down). As 19th century engineer Nikola Tesla said, “when education limits your imagination, it’s called indoctrination.”

According to a medical journal published back in 1979 titled “Biofeedback for Mind/Body Self-Regulation: Healing and Creativity:”

“British medical people began to get an inkling of the power of consciousness as long as 250 years ago when they began to study certain Indians who could do some very unusual and interesting things. These people, called yogis, apparently had phenomenal powers of self-regulation, of both mind and body. Of course, medical doctors as a whole did not believe it, but as the decades passed and reports became more numerous, some British and European physicians began the study of mind/body relationships. By the end of the 19th century the physiological phenomena of hypnotism, spiritualism, and various yogic disciplines had attracted some serious medical and philosophical attention, and by 1910 of this century, a mind/body training system...had begun to be developed by Dr. Johannes Schultz in Germany” (Green 1).

The journal goes on to say that “creativity in the mental domain involves the emergence of a new and valid synthesis of ideas, not by deduction, but springing by "intuition" from unconscious sources,” or in other words, developing a mind body connection strengthens one’s intuition and and unlocks their brain to messages from their unconscious mind (Green 138). Considering these ideas have been around for a while, it’s time the education system catches up. Maybe we all should be practicing a little more yoga as well as implementing it in schools.

In our daily lives, we can use meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises to open up our unconscious minds and tap into unused regions of the brain. Near death experience researcher Ornella Corazza states that she has come to “rethink embodiment” all together (Corazza 124). Instead of clinging to the Western perspective that bodily activities are dependent on time, we can look at the Japanese perspective that “bodily activities are primarily considered in terms of space (basho) rather than time,” meaning that consciousness can transcend the law of time (Corazza 124). This supports Mishlove’s philosophy that those who strengthen their mind body connection can develop psychic abilities. Not to mention, infamous energy engineer Nikola Tesla was thought to have believed in telepathy and “was firmly convinced that mind could communicate directly with [another] mind” transcending both space and time (O'Neill 263).

To speak of my own example as a post-professional ballet dancer and current Columbia University student, I have found that a mind body connection opened my mind in innumerable ways. I took up dancing as a child and stuck with it for 18 years because it gave me the ability to think in a more flexible way instead of in a traditional academic setting in which I had to sit still. As many dancers say, “I dance to think.” I credit dance to being what kept me in school as long as it did (although I left high school early to begin dancing on a full time schedule); the more I danced, the more my mind expanded and the more I felt I needed to learn. This is what led me to stay interested in school, finding newfound curiosity in learning in general. That same curiosity is eventually what led me to Columbia University. While I am at Columbia, I channel my mind body connection by assigning terms to my body parts for memorization, taking my readings outside, bringing in more senses through essential oils and color coding, and taking breaks to stretch. As a dancer I often experienced epiphanies, out of body experiences, and urethral feelings of being greater than my human body while on stage; such experiences are common conversation among dancers. I also believed my unconscious mind to give me direct messages in my dreams while I was asleep, whether it be a realization of how to do a specific turn that I then was able to successfully implement in the studio, or guidance about a major life decision. In applying to Columbia University, I wrote specifically about how my mind felt it could no longer hold the thoughts that it was producing. This coincides with Green’s previously presented idea that a mind body connection allows “new and vaid synthesis of ideas, not by deduction, but springing by “intuition” from unconscious sources” (Green 138).

On that note, do some yoga, take a dance class, meditate, or check out the youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJ3YNUcfv4 on “super brain yoga exercises” -- using our bodies and hands has rewarding outcomes far beyond what initially meets the eye.

Works Cited

O'Neill, John J. Prodigal Genius: the Life of Nikola Tesla. Book Tree, 2007.

"The Mind-Body Connection." , directed by Jeffrey Mishlove, Eleanor Criswell, and Arthur Bloch. , produced by Arthur Bloch. , Thinking Allowed Productions, 2011. Alexander Street.

Reed, Julian A. Active Education : Lessons for Integrating Physical Activity with Language

Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies. Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2009.

Dennis, Daphnee. “The Rise of the Free Range Classroom.” Kinfolk, 10 Sept. 2019, pp. 139– 141.

Green E.E., Green A.M., Walters E.D. (1979) Biofeedback for Mind/Body Self-Regulation:

Healing and Creativity. In: Peper E., Ancoli S., Quinn M. (eds) Mind/Body Integration. Springer

Corazza, Ozarra. (2008). Near-Death Experiences. London: Routledge