Areas of the brain not available to consciousness communicate what they rate as important by way of the body.

Subconscious parts of the brain play a role in cognition by sending signals to the body.

Cognition is built on the brain’s maps, which consist of images of the real world outside the brain.

People often say that music is an “embodied” experience. What does this term, embodied, imply? On one level, it refers to physically sensing the music in our body or moving our body in response to the music. On a deeper level, it means that our experience of music is a team effort involving our brain and our entire physical being—a powerful expression of the mind-body connection. This post, Part 1 of a three-part series, will examine the neurology behind embodiment. In Parts 2 and 3, we’ll dive into models of embodiment that explain why we like (or dislike) certain songs or kinds of music.

Antonio Damasio is a brilliant neurologist who brings modern neurological science to bear upon profound questions, such as how we think and make decisions. His findings reveal not only that the brain—and, hence, the mind—is inseparable from the body, but also that our cognition (rational thinking processes) relies upon the body as well as the brain.

Damasio is not the first to explore this territory. He traces this theme back to the 17th century based upon the opposing arguments of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) and René Descartes (1596-1650). Descartes claimed that the mind and the body were separate—that cognition happened in a realm divorced from the physical world.1 Spinoza, on the other hand, held that since the brain is a physical organ, its thoughts must be based in the physical........

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