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The Physiology of Proprioception

The physical sensing 'organs' of your proprioceptive system are the golgi tendon organs and muscle spindle fibers. Together these provide information that is relayed to the central nervous system, enabling your brain to calculate spacial orientation of the body.

The Golgi tendon organ is a proprioceptive sensory receptor that is located where skeletal muscle fibers insert into the tendons of skeletal muscle. It provides the sensory component of the Golgi tendon reflex. The body of each Golgi organ is made up of strands of collagen that are connected at one end to the muscle fibers and at the other end merge into the tendon proper. 

Muscle spindle fibers are sensory receptors within the belly of a muscle. They are embedded in extrafusal muscle fibers (these make up the bulk of the muscle and are not inside the spindles). The spindle fibers primarily detect changes in the length of the muscle and then convey this information to the central nervous system via sensory neurons. It can then be processed by the brain in order to determine the position of body. 

The responses of muscle spindles to changes in length also play an important role in regulating the contraction of muscles; they activate motoneurons via the stretch reflex to resist muscle stretch. 

Proprioceptive Exercise Stimulates Proprioception

Proprioceptive exercise stimulates the proprioceptive sensory organs, expanding proprioception. Proprioception is defined as "perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body." The key components of proprioceptive exercise are:

1. slow motion movement & invoking a sensation of floating
2. attention to the formation of a line/area of tension
3. encouraging an elastic quality at the line/area of tension
4. bringing attention to sensations in the body, especially those of movement

As proprioception increases, perception expands. It becomes easier to feel sensations in the body and detect small degrees of movement. When you can feel subtle energies, you can learn to identify them and learn how to calibrate them consciously.

So proprioceptive exercise is not something conceptual. It is a reliable, effective method to activate the Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindle fibers. This activates your proprioceptive system and enhances physical, emotional, mental and spiritual alignment. An expanding proprioceptive awareness opens up ongoing explorations into personal, planetary and esoteric in-formation.