Stay still! The neural mechanisms underlying stillness

Stay still! The neural mechanisms underlying stillness 

Why talk about stillness while talking about movement? As I was teaching my pup to "stay", I was thinking about how much of our lives we spend not moving. We reach towards our phone and stop moving, we walk to a location and stop, a cat stops moving while looking for its prey, a squirrel hops and jumps around, and then sits still on a brach, and the turtle stays absolutely still while sunning itself. 
What does stopping of movement mean in terms of brain functioning? 
The neural mechanisms of stillness are complex [1]. In the next few posts, I will look at how we stop moving, the neural mechanisms involved, and how this plays out in dance. In the meantime, check out Episode 2 of Vichaar where I talk about movement in dance, and movement in the brain. 

Citation:

1. Noorani I, Carpenter RH. Not moving: the fundamental but neglected motor function. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017;372(1718):20160190. doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0190. Link to full-text.