Protected within your cranial vault is a 3lb organ called the brain. It has 4 lobes, 2 hemispheres and almost limitless neuronal interconnections that allow it to process and command your daily living in a smooth and coordinated fashion.Many areas have been identified in the brain that relate to specific functions like sight and speech, but from an embryological and evolutionary developmental perspective there are four main areas of brain function to consider.

The Brain Stem – the Reptilian Brain
This is the oldest of the four cranial brains, it is found in all animal species, and develops first in the human embryo in the first trimester.

The brain stem is comprised of the sensory – motor system and the primary neural control systems in the heart. The brain stem is where the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) lives, which regulate health and the daily activities of survival, breathing, digestion, organ and gland function etc. It is a cause and effect, real time regulatory area that deals in quick, reflexive, patterned activities. The ANS represents the peripheral nervous system of the subconscious mind, and this is the level of ‘Action’.

The Limbic Brain – the Old Mammalian Brain
Next to develop is the limbic system which deals with those behaviors and capacities that are common to all mammals such as nurturing of young and establishing relationships.

This ‘Emotional – Cognitive’ brain colors the primitive reflexive behavior of the reptile and is a mediator between instinctive reaction and the logical, rational workings of the third brain. The limbic system creates a ‘context’ for the action of the brain stem and this is the center for ‘Feeling’.

The Neocortex – the New mammalian Brain
This higher level is thought of as the ‘thinking’ brain. This is the brain that humans revere the most, the ‘Verbal – Intellectual’ brain. This is where language and thought live, imagination and creativity. This brain coordinates and interprets the activities of the other levels, and as a result of the hundred billion neurons and their vast interconnected networks, takes up five times more space in the skull than the other two levels combined.

The Neocortex can easily interchange between logical, rational thought and imaginative creativity. This gives the human being unlimited capacity for growth and development, but at the same time is a double edged sword allowing the owner to become addicted to the endless creation of new thoughts, leading to unnecessary stress and noisy chatter. This is the level of ‘Thinking’.

The Pre Frontal Cortex – the Higher Intellect Brain
The Pre Frontal Cortex is an area behind the brow and in front of the neocortex. Neuroscientists generally attribute this area with the higher human virtues of love, compassion, empathy and understanding, as well as the higher intellectual capacities of reasoning and deduction. In this respect it is interesting to note that the location of this brain is analogous to the Eastern reference to the spiritual center known as the ‘third eye’

While these four areas have been described separately they all work together, with and through each other. Signals from one area excite and inhibit another area and behaviors and processes are constantly initiated and modified by the ongoing interaction between the various parts, the principle of Coherent Entrainment TM at work.