Understanding Perception, Body Awareness, and Breathing
Perception and Sensations
Perception is the awareness of the external environment and internal organs through receptors that transform stimuli into sensations.
Types of Sensations
- Exteroceptive Sensations: External stimuli received through the senses (hearing, sight, touch).
- Tactile Sensations: Stimuli received through the skin and pressure points.
- Thermal Sensations: Stimuli related to temperature changes.
- Proprioceptive Sensations: Information about the body’s position in space, muscle and tendon tension, and joint movement.
- Interoceptive Sensations: Signals from the body’s internal environment, such as hunger, pain, and other internal states.
Body Awareness and Development
Body Schema
Body schema (Maurice Pieron) is the mental representation of one’s body, serving as a spatial reference based on sensory information.
Body Awareness
Body awareness is the knowledge of one’s body at rest and in motion, and how to use it. This awareness develops gradually through bodily experiences.
Body Concept
Body concept is the knowledge of the various components of the human body.
Laws of Development
- Cephalocaudal Law: Development progresses from the head to the limbs.
- Proximodistal Law: Development progresses from the body’s axis (trunk) outwards.
Muscle Tone
- Muscle Tone: Constant tension in muscles at rest or in motion.
- Resting Tone: Minimum muscle tension at rest.
- Active Tone: Tension developed by muscles for movement.
- Hypertonicity: Excessive muscle tone.
- Hypotonicity: Muscle tone below minimum.
Body Types and Tone
- Endomorph: Individuals tending towards overweight, with hypotonic features and a dislike for physical activity.
- Mesomorph: Athletic individuals with higher than normal muscle tone, enjoying movement and sports.
- Ectomorph: Thin individuals, often hypertonic, who may enjoy physical activity.
Laterality, Breathing, and Spatial Perception
Laterality
- Laterality: Effective use of the right or left side of the body based on cerebral hemisphere dominance.
- Lateral Dominance: Preferred side for performing tasks.
- Directionality: Understanding right and left in space.
Breathing
- Breathing: Intake of air (inspiration) and expulsion of air (expiration).
- Apnea: Retention of air in the lungs.
- Dyspnea: Dysfunction of respiratory movements.
- Clavicular Breathing: Upper lung area breathing.
- Chest Breathing: Central lung area breathing.
- Abdominal Breathing (Diaphragmatic): Lower lung area breathing.
Relaxation
Relaxation is the voluntary loosening of muscle tone, accompanied by a feeling of repose.
Spatial Perception
Spatial perception is the collection of information about the space where individuals live and perform activities, including shape discrimination and recognition of areas and volumes.
- Orientation: Using self-relations with spatial properties.
- Structuring: Mental representation of space.
- Organization: Combining orientation and spatial structure.
Temporal Perception
Temporal perception is the awareness of existence based on irreversible events and changes, represented by order and duration.