Neuroscientists have discovered evidence for the neural basis of a mind-body connection.
They have identified the neural networks that connect the cerebral cortex to the adrenal medulla, which is responsible for the body’s rapid response in stressful situations.
Specifically, the findings shed new light on how stress, depression, and other mental states can alter organ function, and show that there is a real anatomical basis for psychosomatic illness.
The research also provides a concrete neural substrate that may help explain why meditation and certain exercises such as yoga and Pilates can be so helpful in modulating the body’s responses to physical, mental, and emotional stress.
“Our results turned out to be much more complex and interesting than we imagined before we began this study,” says senior author Peter L. Strick, chair of the neurobiology department and scientific director of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute.
Tracing networks of neurons
In their experiments, the scientists traced the neural circuitry that links areas of the cerebral cortex to the adrenal medulla (the inner part of the adrenal gland, which is located above each kidney).
The sheer number of neural networks they discovered surprised the scientists.
Other investigators had suspected that one or, perhaps, two cortical areas might be responsible for the control of the adrenal medulla. The actual number and location of the cortical areas were uncertain.
In the study, the Strick laboratory used a unique tracing method that involves rabies virus. This approach is capable of revealing long chains of interconnected neurons.
Using this approach, Strick and his colleagues demonstrated that the control of the adrenal medulla originates from multiple cortical areas.
According to the new findings, the biggest influences arise from motor areas of the cerebral cortex and from other cortical areas involved in cognition and affect.
Fight or flight or something else
Why does it matter which cortical areas influence the adrenal medulla? Acute responses to stress include a wide variety of changes such as a pounding heart, sweating, and dilated pupils.
These responses help prepare the body for action and often are characterized as “fight or flight responses.”
Many situations in modern life call for a more thought-out reaction than simple “fight or flight,” and it is clear that we have some cognitive control (or what neuroscientists call “top-down” control) over our responses to stress.
“Because we have a cortex, we have options,” says Strick. “If someone insults you, you don’t have to punch them or flee.
You might have a more nuanced response and ignore the insult or make a witty comeback. These options are part of what the cerebral cortex provides.”
Another surprising result was that motor areas in the cerebral cortex, involved in the planning and performance of movement, provide a substantial input to the adrenal medulla.
One of these areas is a portion of the primary motor cortex that is concerned with the control of axial body movement and posture.
This input to the adrenal medulla may explain why core body exercises are so helpful in modulating responses to stress.
Calming practices such as Pilates, yoga, tai chi, and even dancing in a small space all require proper skeletal alignment, coordination, and flexibility.
Conflict and mess-ups
The study also revealed that the areas of the cortex that are active when we sense conflict, or are aware that we have made an error, are a source of influence over the adrenal medulla.
“This observation,” says Strick, “raises the possibility that activity in these cortical areas when you re-imagine an error, or beat yourself up over a mistake, or think about a traumatic event, results in descending signals that influence the adrenal medulla in just the same way as the actual event.”
These anatomical findings have relevance for therapies that deal with post-traumatic stress.
Additional links with the adrenal medulla were discovered in cortical areas that are active during mindful mediation and areas that show changes in bipolar familial depression.
“One way of summarizing our results is that we may have uncovered the stress and depression connectome,” says Strick.
Overall, these results indicate that circuits exist to link movement, cognition, and affect to the function of the adrenal medulla and the control of stress.
This circuitry may mediate the effects of internal states like chronic stress and depression on organ function and, thus, provide a concrete neural substrate for some psychosomatic illness.
The National Institutes of Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Health supported the work, which appears early online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Re-imagining Childbirth & Empowering Mothers in the 21st Century
Internationally-known Imagery Expert and Psychologist Dr. Catherine Shainberg will share how positive imagery can transform the journey of childbirth, from pre-conception to motherhood. The publication of her new book DreamBirth marks a sea change for mothers-to-be and birthing professionals in their approach to each stage of pregnancy, delivery and bonding. DreamBirth lives up to its subtitle, “transforming the journey of childbirth.” It accomplishes this with imagery.

Dr. Shainberg has 161 precise, yet elegant imaginal exercises for every possible situation that could arise in the process of birthing a newborn. From conception through the first, second and third trimester, labor, delivery, post-partum and bonding — are all included. Each DreamBirth exercise contains imagery that speaks directly to the body and results in actual physical or emotional change. While other techniques, like Lamaze, try to manipulate the mother away from her experience – DreamBirth brings the woman deep into her dreaming, which is her experiencing. When fully immersed in dreaming the mothers enter a state that athletes call “the zone.” In the zone the body does its job effortlessly, painlessly.

The exercises allow the expectant mother to take control of her unique birthing experience. “Focusing our intention lets us consciously begin the process of dreaming forth a new life,” Dr. Shainberg states.
The book was created as an essential resource for mothers, fathers, doulas, midwives, and all birth care professionals.

Dr. Catherine Shainberg is an internationally known expert in the uses of Imagery for transformation on all levels. She has designed and developed, in over 40 years of experience, modern applications for ancient science which have proved effective in thousands of cases. Whether the field is physical, mental or spiritual, her methods work quickly, simply and efficiently. Her method, Reversing, has proven results in areas ranging from childbirth to business management—including the successful use of Imagery for combat-related injury, PTSD, cancer and mental illness.

She has written two books on the application of her techniques: Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming, and DreamBirth. DreamBirth will be available in 2014 from Sounds True, as a book and an audio series. Her upcoming publications will include books on Dream Opening and the uses of Reversing for trauma and risk management. Her published audios include: DreamBirth: Conception, DreamBirth: Pregnancy, DreamBirth Labor: Before, During and After, Imagery for Surgery, and Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming Guided Exercises. Her first book is available in Japanese, German, Russian, Spanish, Czech and Romanian, with translations into other languages in production. Her audio series is also being translated into Russian, German, Spanish and Japanese.

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