What is sensory-motor amnesia (SMA)?
Thomas Hanna described S.M.A as ‘a loss of memory about how certain muscle groups feel, and how to control them.’ This is a condition in which the sensory-motor neurons of the voluntary cortex have lost some portion of their ability to control all or some of the muscles of the body.’ Lack of sensory awareness triggers automatic responses. Sooner or later, our body becomes conditioned to react to stress and traumas in a habitual manner, with predictable muscular contractions. Just like reflexes, these habitual tensions seem to bypass voluntary control. Muscular patterns set in, creating imbalances between various muscle groups. That is how a chain reaction is established which eventually affects the way we function. What is missing from this mechanism is our latent capacity to uncheck the accumulation of these unconscious responses.
