gfish: (Default)
gfish ([personal profile] gfish) wrote2003-02-15 08:31 pm

A Dorky Revelation

For about as long as I can remember, I have occasionally found myself in a very odd state. It only comes around after extended periods of meditative behavior. It is a disassociation from my limbs, which feel as if they have grown several hundred percent. The first time I remember describing the feeling was in 7th grade when I first toyed with meditation. (The description was something like 'I feel like I'm a giant stone statue floating in space.)

On the drive home from Portland, about as I hit Tukwilla, I started to feel it in my arms. It was dark at the point and I had been driving for about 6 hours total at that point. I don't like it happening when I'm driving because it is an unproductive distraction, so I forced myself to look at my arms and move them around. It was then that I realized what it is.

It's a failure in proprioception. There was a lack of sensory feedback because I was hardly moving them, and I wasn't even verifying their position visually because it was dark and I was concentrating on traffic.

This makes me very happy. Weird mysterious things are much more enjoyable with an explanation (it makes the weirdness all the more acute). More importantly, I now have an honest excuse to use the term 'proprioception'!

[identity profile] dymaxion.livejournal.com 2003-02-15 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I get the same thing, when I'm sick.  Interesting.

[identity profile] shadowblue.livejournal.com 2003-02-16 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
Very cool. I have experienced the same thing, for the same reason, although I've never known about the term proprioception. Mmm, words.

[identity profile] josefinek.livejournal.com 2003-02-16 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
Or sure, you're too cool for "disassociation".

[identity profile] vixyish.livejournal.com 2003-02-18 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
Now you have to get everybody to read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684853949/qid=1045591983/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-5543640-0396933?v=glance&s=books&n=507846).