WEBVTT - Like a Circle in a Spiral, Part 1 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.280 My Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:14.480 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.400 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.080 today we're gonna be talking about spinning around in circles. 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:22.360 That's right, this is This is probably gonna be a 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.640 two parter. Sometimes we figure this out as we go, 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:26.279 but I believe this will be a part one in 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:28.400 a part two, and we're gonna be We're gonna be 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.479 looking at at humans spinning around in circles from several 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.279 different vantage points. You know, what is it doing? Uh 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.680 at a at a biological level, Uh, you know, a 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.080 psychological level. Um, how does it factor into various traditions 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.000 and games, etcetera. Um, this is what I'm pretty excited 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.720 to do. And the genesis for this one was a 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.880 listener email who wrote in about about spinning in um 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.680 in ballet, and we were we we had a brief 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:58.240 back and forth in a listener mail of where we 0:00:58.240 --> 0:00:59.720 talked about then we're like, yeah, we should totally do 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.080 an up. So, so here we are. But to start off, 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:03.960 I want to I want to start off somewhere where 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.959 at least my mind went to if not first, then 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.400 maybe second or third, and that is the world of 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:16.280 of of fantasy. Combat has found in science fiction and 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:20.679 fantasy films, but also especially in the video games, because 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.480 when I think of people spinning, I have to say, 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.119 I instantly think of im Bison from Street Fighter doing 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.399 his psycho crusher attack. Do you remember this one, Joe? 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:31.560 I didn't know what was called a psycho crusher, but 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.160 I remember m Bison. So if you ever played Street Fighter, 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.160 he's like the big guy in the hat. He's like 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.399 the final boss or something, isn't he Yeah, yeah, or 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.440 he tends to be. I think sometimes they, you know, 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.800 later in incarnations they introduce new bosses, but he's he's 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:47.240 the boss. He's this boss of Street Fighter. Yeah, and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.120 I think he's supposed to be some kind of dictator 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.720 or something. He's dressed up in in I don't know, 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.640 off brand military regalia. He's wearing like a like a 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.800 captain's hat that's read in some kind of uniform. But 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.560 he's also got the magic powers, and so he can 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.360 attack you by flying at you kind of like the 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.840 rad in like horizontal dive towards you. But he's spinning 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.640 around in circles. Yeah, it's and he's flaming, of course, 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.680 and also it's it's a cool attack. Um. And you'll 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.840 see various versions of that particular attack in various games. 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.240 But there's also the version that you see in the 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.560 Mortal Kombat games as a character Nam Kung Lao, he's 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.040 the guy with a the razor blade hat uh. And 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.560 you also see something similar with Baraka. But but they 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:30.680 both have attacks in some of the games where they 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.959 spin around like a top and either either it's offensive 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.680 like they're they're spinning like a top and coming towards 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.919 you with their blades, or they're spinning like a top. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:41.640 Kung Mile does this where he he's deflecting you, like 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:43.400 so if you jump at him, he starts spinning and 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:47.160 then bam, your injury. Well, it's very much child brain 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.200 self defense logic, where you think, like, if I spin 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.360 my arms around in circles, nobody could come anywhere near me, 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:55.919 right right. It's like that Simpsons been I'm gonna move 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.000 my arms like this, I'm gonna move my feet like this, 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.080 and if you get in the way, you're gonna get hit. Uh. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.280 I think there's also a Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil vibe 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.760 to certainly the the the Kung Lao style attack, you know, 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.000 where you're just spinning in one spot and you're just 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.840 spinning so fast that you become a little tornado. Right, 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.400 So there's at least an intuition people have that, you know, 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.080 you could really do some damage to somebody by spinning 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.320 at them in one way or another. Yeah, I have 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.200 to say in Star Wars, Darth City Is busts out 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:29.760 a cool psycho crusher style. I'm not sure if it's 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.280 actually an attack, but more of like an advance, like 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.880 a way to quickly get at your opponents. But he 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.040 uses this in both the Revenge of the Sith and 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.440 the Clone Wars series. Oh okay, you know, I gotta say, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.520 I I hate I know you're more of a fan 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.200 of the Prequels than I am, and I'm not trying 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:45.920 to start a fight, but I gotta say one of 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.720 my least favorite things about the Prequels is there's just 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.520 way too much spinning in the lightsaber battles, and the 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.560 Prequels way too much like jumping and flipping around the 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.680 the lightsaber battles become less dramatic and more frantic. I 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.360 like the lightsaber battle in uh the Empire strikes back. 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:05.080 You know that that's got like classic sword fight drama. Uh, 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.720 the ones where like Yoda is just doing like fourteen 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.920 somersaults in the air and these three sixty jumps and 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.760 and they're they're doing the psycho crusher and twirling around 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:15.880 like a screw. I don't know it kind of it 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.320 kind of takes me out of the Star Wars mindset. Well, 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:20.479 Yoda's shortened statue, I mean, he's gotta he's gotta do 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.360 those flips in order to combat a tower opponent. Um. 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.600 I I see what you're saying. But I do think 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.800 that the City of Spin works really well because it's 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.400 like it comes out of nowhere and then he instantly 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.640 uses more traditional attacks to to kill like three different 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.640 Jedi masters. So it seems it seems to work well 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.400 for it. You can't argue with success, Joe. I correct there. 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.360 And also I admit my ignorance because when you shared 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.320 this clip from the movie, I thought for a second 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.360 it was Christopher Lee, and I was like, oh, Christopher Lee. Okay, 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.480 but it shows what I know. Well. It does raise 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:59.800 the question, though, do we see that many full spins 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.400 in actual combat, because I suppose even with something like 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.279 a spin kick, you have to be careful, right, like 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.320 you don't want to throw off your your own balance 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.880 or present your back to your opponent. Um. Without even 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.440 getting into the magical effects that are often associated with 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.200 these attacks in movies and video games. UM. Now, I 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.160 have to say, I'm not a real fight officionado. I'm 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.280 not like in the n m A or boxing or 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.000 you know, any any of these. I tend to like 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.760 my my combat fictional and worked. Um and and in 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:31.840 those contexts, I love a good spinning kick. I love 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:36.440 a nice roaring elbow in Japanese pro wrestling. Um. But 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.719 but I was initially unsure, like does it make sense 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.520 to spin or is that just a risky flourish. Well, 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.839 it's funny. I remember asking this myself from the first 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.039 person perspective, because when I was a kid, I took 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.600 I'm doing air quotes here, tae kwondo. I guess I 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.400 took whatever like severely watered down version of this martial 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.039 art was being taught to young children in Tennessee in 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.440 the ninety nineties. You know, it's like, uh, I'm not 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.960 sure what exactly I was learning, but I took taekwondo classes, 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:09.400 and I remember thinking, even then as a child, having 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.400 questions about the practicality of the spinning kick moves, because 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.560 there would be a type of kick you do where 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.240 you would turn around, you turn all the way around 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.600 and perform a kick, And I was like, why couldn't 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:24.880 you just kick without turning? Does this do some kind 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.640 of advantage? Would this ever be applicable in a real 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.440 self defense situation? Uh? Like, even as a kid, I 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.480 remember having the thought, this feels more like a dance 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.680 move than a useful fighting technique, which I think is 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.000 kind of applicable, because at least the way I learned taekwondo, 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:45.400 it was in many ways indistinguishable from a dance class, 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.640 Like you were learning routines, like patterns of movement that 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.160 were you know, they were exercise. It was aerobic exercise, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.720 and it was I guess supposed to look good, look 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:58.160 cool from the outside. I don't know, well, I mean, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.760 there is a lot of crossover between dance and exercise 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.120 and martial art. Uh you find you you find these 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.480 these intermingled, uh to to a large extent. And I 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.160 guess also there's the psychological aspect to fight too, right, 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.280 something might be more about confusing an opponent. So I 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.080 wasn't just wasn't sure on this either, but I did 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.320 a quick glance around on YouTube to see, okay, are 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.520 legit m m A fights um ending with spin kicks? 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:27.200 And I did find this this amazing clip from I 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.840 think earlier in the summer and apparently went viral. So 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:31.320 if you're at all in an m m A out there, 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.840 I'm sure you've seen this, but it's uh Hakeen Buckley 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.600 is the m m A fighter and he busts out 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.280 this spin kick uh in the middle of this match, 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.720 and it's just a complete knockout. I'm usually not one 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.760 to find a lot of joy in UM in clips 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:50.880 of like legitimate knockout blows, but this one was pretty impressive. 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.400 I always find they make me they look kind of sickening, 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.560 like watching somebody's head snap back and then they fall 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.600 to the ground. It's like, yeah, this one is a 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.840 bit sickening, so don't don't don't look at it look 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.360 for it unless you you want to see this sort 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.040 of action. But it did answer my question, like, well, 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.320 that's a spin kick. He certainly did a complete spin 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.760 on that and just knocked a guy out, so um so, 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.360 so that initially answered my question, and I started looking 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:18.800 around a little bit more on that, and I found 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.239 an interesting post about taekwondo spinning kicks at turtle press 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.559 dot com by saying h kim and the author points 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.560 out that this apparently what spin kicks weren't a were 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.080 not a viable tactic in taekwondo until the nineteen eighties. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.480 Uh and and the author explains that this is due 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:38.920 to advances in footwork and changes in fighting stance preferences 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.000 that made it more of a viable option. Also, less 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.480 restrictive protective gear made it more of an option, as 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.360 did sort of a broadening of style to include different 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:52.000 weight classes and sort of added creativity to the style. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.120 So I found that interesting. Okay, well, I'll have to 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.160 take their word for it on that one. I I 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.199 cannot claim to have thoughts on this. Well, I'd be 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.800 interested to hear what any and martial arts practitioners out 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.240 there listening to this episode have to say. Certainly right 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.680 in and let us know, you know, within your style 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.400 or within you know, martial arts in general. So one 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.120 of the things that gets going in my brain when 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.800 I think about spinning, is that uh And and I'll 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.360 have an example to talk about a little bit later on. 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.280 Spinning around in circles as an adult is not fun, 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.439 and in fact it's it's not fun for like significant 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.080 periods of time after you're done doing it. But I 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.800 remember as a child, I love spinning around in circles 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.200 and I would just like do it. I'd just be 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:36.920 out in the yard and be like, Yeah, I'm gonna 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.480 spin around until I fall over. This is great. Yeah. 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:42.320 I think a lot of adults, and if not, most 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.600 adults can can can relate to this. Yeah, because you 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:47.720 think back on the fun, spinny things you did as 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.320 a kid, Like remember Mary got rounds. They still have 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.880 these occasionally at playgrounds, but it was a standard playgrounds 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:57.960 when when we were kids, and it would just be 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.280 kids just getting this thing going to as fast as possible, 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.640 just incredible speeds. Just write it. We had this. There 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.719 was a playground near my grandmother's house that had the 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.959 spinning aluminum death machine that I think they originally I 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:12.880 think they eventually had to take out because it was 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.360 just injury city. Every time children got on it, they'd 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.280 end up having to go to the hospital. And I 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.480 loved this thing because you could spin it so fast, uh, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.719 like it was it was human powered, you know. It 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.360 was one of those where you push it, you'd get 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.800 it going like Conan the Barbarian pushing the mill wheel. 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.200 But then you build up a lot of speed and 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.200 then you just grab hold and hang on. I can't 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.800 imagine what kind of horrific injuries came off of this thing, 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:38.880 but but it was great when I was a kid. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.199 And now now that sounds like torture to me. I mean, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.640 the idea of spinning around like I did as a 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.320 child for fun, Now that sounds about as appealing as 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.439 a kick to the groin, and it's just like, why 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.960 would you want to do that? Also, add that the 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.240 I remember the playground mary, uh, the spinning things, the 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.960 merrygrounds and whatnot. They would often have that you know, 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.440 that foot trail beat into the dirt around it, which 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.400 of course would become just a complete circular mud pit 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.920 after a rain, right exactly. Another big one is is, 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:08.920 of course, when you're a kid rolling down a hill, 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.760 like you know, where you you lay down and then 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.880 you just roll down the hill like I remember that 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:16.840 being a lot of fun. And I remember, you know, 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:18.840 I encourage that with with my own son at a 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.600 hill near our our house in a park. But as 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.720 an adult, you're like, oh, my goodness, there's a there's 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.800 a weird rock here, there's some sort of a pipe here. 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.560 All right, here's a fire ant nest, here's another fire 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.400 ant nest. And that's not even getting into the fact that, yeah, 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.520 as an adult, the idea of spinning that much, you 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.560 would just you never get up once you got to 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.920 the bottom of the hill. Yeah, And I think these, uh, 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.440 these changes in experience are not unique to us. It 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.120 seems like there's something going on where like spinning, spinning 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.600 is highly attractive to children then and it loses its 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.280 luster as the body ages. Yeah, so let's let's start 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.240 with the kids. Why did the kids love to spin? Well? 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.440 I was looking around the for information on this, and 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.840 I found a wonderful post on this at the Penn 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:04.480 State Extensions Better a Kid Care page, and they point 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.040 out that spinning, rolling, and swinging are crucial sensory and 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:14.120 motor skill inputs to help children's nervous systems mature and organize. 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.600 So they really need these sorts of big body movements 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.800 in ways they really make our tendency to isolate them 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.559 in desks or in front of teleschool computers and so forth, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.960 you know, more than a bit ridiculous. I think maybe 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.240 there's less of that now. I I know that education 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.160 has has has evolved somewhat and they understand the need 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.480 for big body movements and and and so forth. And 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.080 then they understood it to a certain extent when I 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:41.760 was a kid. You know, you would still have p 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.880 and whatnot. But yeah, kids need to spin around. You 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.480 You know, when a child spins in circles, it's because 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.120 their body craves it. And the same goes for rolling 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.800 around on the floor, standing on their heads rhythmically swaying. 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.040 Uh So they need a space to do these things. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.040 I mean it seems in a way it's information gathering, 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.360 your your your celebrating the system, like you have to 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.840 do with your phone. When the gyroscope or whatever gets 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:05.760 you know, out of whack, you've got to do some 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.800 exercises to get it back on track. Yeah. So in 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.800 this extension article, the Penn State Extension article that they 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.400 point out there are some very specific ways that spinning 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.800 helps children. So, first of all, it gives them a 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.400 sense of body awareness, establishing their center for improved coordinated 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.199 movement across both sides of their bodies. UH. It also 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:31.479 improves shore surefootedness, which is something that might seem counterintuitive 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.360 sometimes you think, oh, this kid is just spinning around 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.719 in circles. You know, they're falling all over the place, 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.000 they're gonna run into things. But it's actually helping them 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.240 become more short surefooted. UH. It has also been shown 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:45.000 to improve concentration in the classroom, and they point out 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.920 that a two thousand five study from Choir, Frick and Frick, 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.679 two different fricks, UH found that the centrifugal force of 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:57.440 many spinning activities and experiences activate the fluid filled cavities 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.839 in the inner ear. And these are sensors that help 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:03.679 the brain orient the head quote which develops grounding and 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:08.000 sustaining attention to task. And then overall it's a boost 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.560 to the vestibular system, which controls balance, posture, gaze stabilization, 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.120 and spatial orientation. And and there's also apparently a link 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.080 to impulse control. Fun fact, right after I finished researching 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:21.880 this section, I went off to get some coffee and 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:26.320 was immediately attacked by my son with imaginary lightsabers, and 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.080 oh yeah, yeah he has. He has a pair that 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.320 he he he really likes a Soo Katano and she 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.720 has to uh two lightsabers, so he's made two of 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:41.640 them out of uh tinfoil um cardboard tubes. And uh So, anyway, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.440 he was attacking me, and I observed quite a bit 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.440 of spinning in his attacks, and I tried to do 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.400 one spin and I nearly fell down, uh and then 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.000 he cut my head off. But but but I I 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.280 looked around, and I've noticed that that there are actually 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.320 lightsaber exercise classes for kids out there that they can 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.640 do like virtual and i't tempted to sign him up 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.560 for one, especially after learning more about the importance of 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.360 spinning around in circles. That's genius. I would have done 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:11.120 that as a kid. You have exercise, get that energy out. 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.680 You just pretend to have a lightsaber. How has nobody 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.120 thought of this before? Yeah, yeah, that's brilliant. I mean, 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.520 my my only hesitation is is what what is it 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.360 going to mean for the lamps and the televisions in 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:25.080 your house. You gotta have a good space for that, 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.640 I imagine. So let's come back to the adults for 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.880 for most of us, Why does spinning around in circles 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:36.160 make us dizzy? Why when a yoga instructor on a 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.480 yoga video asked me to spin around just like three 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.760 or five times, why did I have to lay down 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:45.560 for like ten minutes after that? Yeah? This is funny 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.320 because this is a question that I expected to have 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:53.800 just a single, totally straightforward physiological answer, and instead I 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.440 found a strange variety of answers to this question without 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:01.200 a lot of acknowledgement that that there was variety in 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.480 the ways people are answering this. So I'm not sure 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.400 if I've stumbled on something that's actually controversial or different. Uh, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:12.160 different sources are just emphasizing different aspects of of vertigo 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.520 induced by spinning. But in any case, the answer to 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.720 this question definitely ended up taking a shape that I 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.640 wouldn't expect. But before we get to the direct answer 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.720 of like why spinning in circles makes you dizzy? I 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.880 think we have to meet a fascinating and important element 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.440 in this discussion. When you just mentioned a mintigo, which 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:34.080 is the human vestibular system. Uh, so interesting. Fact number one. 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.200 We've talked about this on the show many times before, 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.120 but maybe you're new the show. Humans actually have way 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.520 more than five senses. I think it's funny when when 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.800 people end up talking about the five senses. I guess 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.880 you could maybe call them the big five senses. They're 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:51.320 the most obvious as senses, you know, site, hearing, taste, smell, touch, 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.000 But we have other ways of getting information from the 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.920 outside world and coordinating that within the brain. And one 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.520 of my favorite examples of a lesser known but extremely 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.080 important sense distinct from the big five is appropriate reception. 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:08.119 It's the sense that informs you where the different parts 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.679 of your body are. So, how is it that you 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.280 can type without looking at the keys? How is it 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.399 that you can close your eyes and you still know 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:19.760 where your hands are. You know whether they're at your 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.280 sides or over your head, even if you're blindfolded. We 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:27.640 have a sense that's constantly updating the brain with information 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.480 about the position and orientation of the rest of the body. Yeah, 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.920 that's one that I can't help but feel that it's 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.240 it's so invisible to us because it is so constant. 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.200 It's not as easily disruptible, you know, in the sense 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.760 that we can close our eyes, we can sort of 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:49.080 stopper our ears and so forth. But but in terms 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.920 of turning off appropriate exception, um, not so easily done. 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.600 And then also it's just so it's so close to us. 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.240 It's you know, this is very much you can't see 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:00.960 the forest for the trees situation. Yeah, yeah, that is 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.360 very interesting. It's harder to turn that one off than 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.800 it is some of the other senses. But in a way, 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.680 I feel like that's part of them. When people go 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.480 for sort of like a sense deprivation or certain types 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:16.320 of meditation that are that try to ignore sensory stimuli 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.160 or just focus on one particular sensory stimuli, I think 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.479 one of the difficult things is ignoring that like feeling 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.480 of where your body is, and that I think that's 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.639 one of the important reasons why meditation often requires you 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.240 to be in a position of rest, because it's easier 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.679 to ignore the position of your body if you're not 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.720 really doing anything active with your body. Yeah. Yeah, And 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.960 definitely it's the case with float tanks where if it's 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.320 calibrated correctly, you're you're floating in water that's about the 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.080 same temperature as your own body. And yeah, it's it's 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.080 about sort of losing a sense of of your physical self. Yeah, 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.520 thank thank But they're all kinds of senses. Some some 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.440 bleed more silly into others, or you can make the 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:03.679 argument that they do. Like you can make arguments that 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:08.199 they're different types of touch sensations, you know, feeling of 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.760 tactile pressure versus feeling of heat. You know, you can 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:16.360 talk about that. Another interesting one is chronoception, the sensation 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:20.119 of the passing of time and judgment of duration. That 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:23.879 actually is a sense of the external world. And there 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.920 are types of nervous system conditions that can affect your chronoception. 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.560 In fact, not just conditions as in diseases, but chronoception 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.320 changes as you age, for example. But here's where things 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:40.280 get even weirder. The ear is not only responsible for 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.840 the sense of hearing. There are other senses that are 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:48.120 located within the ear. Organs in the human inner ear 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:53.840 are also responsible for one major component of equilibrioception, or 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:58.000 the sense of balance, and these organs together in the 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.360 inner ear, are known as the vestibul alert system. If 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.200 you get a chance, you should look up an illustration 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.960 of the human vestibular system. It is like a chambered 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:12.680 nautilus or an alien squid snail. It's got one section 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:17.720 which curls, and this is less related to the equilibrio sception. 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:22.040 That's the cochlea, the swirling snail shell part. But then 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.240 coming out of the head of the swirling snail shell 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:29.520 of the cochlea, there are these strange tentacle things, these 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:35.400 three looping canals, each one like a semicircular tube snaking 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.440 back on itself. And then you've also got these two 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:43.760 tiny organs below the position down below the bases of 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.600 these three semicircular canals. These two tiny organs are known 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.520 as the utricle and the saccule, and together the utricle 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:54.840 and the saccule are what's known as the odo lith organs, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:21:00.000 which literally means ear stones or ear rocks uh all 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:03.240 so in the realm of cool names, this whole complex 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.560