Stephen Hawking’s Bodymind

I was posed an interesting question by one of my Holistics students the other day:

“If mind and body are so integrated how come Stephen Hawking is so clever?”

In my work body, mind, language, emotions and spirit are seen as intertwined, with health in one realm contributing to health in others. In a way it’s common sense – take the example of someone who hasn’t eaten or slept in a few days – they’re unlikely to be able to pay attention, speak articulately or be in a good mood. On the other hand there are many people like Stephen Hawking who have extremely developed intellects and disabled bodies. In a way this image matches the old notion as body and mind almost being opposites. I’ve found that the stereotype of intellectuals and philosophers as physically weak, disabled, or clumsy is appealing to many people, and those like “built” Ken Wilber who break this mold are ridiculed. A disembodied mind that speaks through a machine is the logical conclusion of the bodymind spilt upon which Western culture is based. Less body equals more mind – is the thinking to some.

My on the spot answer to the question was:

“Having an ill body doesn’t necessarily lead to having an ill mind. In respect to abstract intellectual thinking, it may even help to be disassociated from the body. In regard to the type of thinking that we do each day as we interact with each other, it probably wouldn’t.”

I don’t necessarily stand by that and I’ve also asked the opinions of a few people better qualified than me as it seemed an interesting entry point into various understandings and assumptions of body-mind connection:

“The Problem with the question is that it is still formed in the Cartesian discourse. [on the other hand] Thinking “clever” is body, body is “clever” thinking. Common sense, i.e. rationalism, says that “clever” is a mental phenomenon. There is no mental aside from the body, and no body aside from the mental. There are thoughts, images, language, action, mood, emotions, feelings, “cleverness”, within the soma.”

Richard Strozzi Heckler, leadership trainer, aikido instructor, bodyworker, author – California, USA

“That’s like saying “If you injured your right foot, how come your left hand works so well?” Though it is true that the foot injury will affect the movement of the hand and the emotional tone of the whole body self, still it is also true that different subunits can function more or less separately from each other.”

Paul Linden, Founder Being In Movement, aikido instructor, somatic educator , author- Ohio, USA


“Rather than being confined in the type of physical body we expect as humans, Stephen Hawkins has the advantage of being a truly spiritual body, inhabiting some kind of other, expansive body with which we are unfamiliar. Certainly his presence on earth and his ability to communicate with us in the way we are accustomed will be limited by the ability of his earth-suit to endure, as for us all, but he seems to have access to something else not in spite of his disability, but because of his disability. Is this related to others who seem to rise above their physical plight like Christopher Reeve and Oscar Pistorius (the amputee athlete)?”

Clare Myatt, Somatic coach and therapist – Birmingham, UK

“Who is to say that his body isn’t integrated? Integration is an internal experience. I have worked with people in wheelchairs and other disabilities – It is not how well the external works but it is a matter of whether the energy is fragmented or unified.”

Wendy Palmer, founder Conscious Embodiment, aikido instructor, author – California, USA

“Mind and body are not integrated. The question itself arises from the bias of relative thinking…dualism. Mind and body are not “integrated”,nor “unified”, nor “coordinated”…bodymind is originally ONE. The question assumes body “does” and mind “thinks”. Both are incorrect.”

David E. Shaner, Ki-Aikido Instructor; Professor; Founder, ConnectConsulting, Author – South Carolina USA

My first response was “Huh?” What’s the supposition? Is there confusion about how people with disabilities can also be intelligent? Or how someone with a supposedly low IQ could be a talented athlete? And then I thought, “Wait a minute, is the person asking the question an ex-client of mine? The client that asked,”If my damn unconscious mind is meant to be so clever, then why in the world do I still have so many problems?
Who ever said that a mind and a body ARE so integrated? The thinking mind and the body, are designed to act in an integrated manner, when and if the person is emotionally balanced and not holding onto excess energy. But even this, if anything, is an aesthetic statement, much more so than a statement of fact. All of which take me back to “Huh?”

Charlie Baddenhop, founder Seishindo, coach, NLP practitioner, bodyworker, hypnotherapist – Japan

I invite readers to post their own answer to this question.

I would also like to be very clear that nothing derogatory is being implied or will be welcomed in regard to people with physical disabilities or Stephen Hawking in particular. Nobel prizes and the like aside, Stephen has been on the Simpson’s which is the badge of true achievement so let’s show the man some respect. He discusses his disease here – inspirational. I like the dry British humour by which he describes the “only problem” of having a computerised voice as “the American accent it gives him”.