Body of Knowledge

Our brains are physical things and the place where most of us locate our minds and certainly our thoughts. There’s growing evidence and a lot of work around the idea that thinking is “embodied”, which is to say that our physical body—our whole body, not just our brainparts—influences and takes part in our thoughts.

Activities like walking and working with your hands can help you to think. “Taking a break” by doing some “mindless” task, like washing the dishes for the 4th time today, because somehow being at home all the time creates dirty dishes beyond all proportion, can sometimes lead to breakthroughs in problem solving. Some might say that the mind is working in the background while you wash dishes; proponents of embodied cognition (fancy nerd-speak) might say that you’re simply bringing your body to bear on the problem as well as your brain.

I’m not really sure how it all works, but consider this: if thinking is helped or changed by our body then perhaps our knowledge is, too. When we know things “in our bones” or we have a “gut feeling” about something, it might not be just in our head. Maybe our bodies know something we don’t.