The Embodied Mind

As groundbreaking synthesis that promises toshift our understanding of the mind-brain connection andits relationship with our bodies.We understand the workings of the human body as a series of interdependent physiological relationships: muscle interacts with bone as the heart responds to hormones secreted by the brain, all the way down to the inner workings of every cell. To make an organism function, no one component can work alone. In light of this, why is it thatthe accepted understanding that the physical phenomenon of themind is attributed only to the brain? InTheEmbodiedMind, internationally renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas R. Verny sets out to redefine our concept of themindand consciousness. He brilliantly compilesnew research that points to themind's ties to every part of the body. TheEmbodiedMindcollects disparate findingsin physiology, genetics, and quantum physics in order to illustrate the mounting evidence that somatic cells, not just neural cells, store memory, inform genetic coding, and adapt to environmental changes—all behaviors that contribute to themindand consciousness. Cellular memory, Verny shows, is not just an abstraction, but a well-documented scientific fact that will shift our understanding of memory. Verny describes single-celled organisms with no brains demonstrating memory, and points to the remarkable case of a French man who, despite having a brain just a fraction of the typical size, leads a normal life with a family and a job. The Embodied Mind shows how intelligence and consciousness—traits traditionally attributed to the brain alone—also permeate our entire being. Bodily cells and tissues use the same molecular mechanisms for memory as our brain, making our mind more fluid and adaptable than we could have ever imaged.