Course Objectives:

1. Students will become familiar with the basic structure and function of the central (CNS), peripheral (PNS), and autonomic nervous systems (ANS), including the neuroanatomy of neurons glial cells, and neurotransmitters.

2. Students will be able to describe the brain’s three meninges; the dura, arachnoid, and pia mater, and their functions. They will be introduced to the functions of cerebrospinal fluid including regulating/cleansing/protection/and buoyancy for the brain.

3. Students will be able to visualize, understand, and describe the role of the vagus nerve in psychobiological regulation of the ANS sympathetic and parasympathetic branches.

4. Students will be introduced to the basic structure and function of specific brain regions, within the low “body” brain, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex. Students will be able to identify brain the cerebellum, reticular activating system, medulla, thalamus, insula, amygdala, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, hippocampus, rhinal cortex, and specific regions of the frontal lobes, including sensory association areas, language processing, analytical planning, sequencing, and the corpus callosum and right/left hemispheres.

5. Students will be able to understand and describe to the role of five primary neurotransmitters that impact emotion and energy including gaba, glutamate, serotonin, noradrenaline, and dopamine, as well as the hormone oxytocin.

6. Students will be able to understand the interrelated functioning of sensation, perception, memory, and emotion from a neurobiological perspective, and be able to articulate the clinical relevance of implicit and explicit memory and awareness.

7. Students will be able to understand and discuss the concept of somatic markers and describe physiology underlying the experience of emotion, including fear, anger, joy, and love.

8. Students will become familiar with psychobiological attunement and be able to describe its relationship to the mind’s development, including the experience of self, other, and capacity for intersubjectivity.

9. Students are introduced to dance/movement therapy experiences which support the nervous system and learn how to impact neurological functioning through deep relaxation, relational attunement, and socially engaging stimulation.

10. Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the potential of dance/movement therapy to impact the brain to stimulate, psychobiological regulation, and encourage optimal brain functioning through strategic clinical interventions.

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