Our endocrine-nervous system guides us to environments and experiences that are safe. We recognize safety by a felt sense of comfort and ease. When we feel comfort, we function optimally: relaxed, alert, capable of dealing with life’s challenges. We avoid environments that cause pain, because pain in unsafe. If math causes pain, math is unsafe, hence our nervous systems guides us away from math. The 2011 University of Chicago study proved that math causes pain in math-anxious people. So we need to restore a felt sense of safety around math.
If a dog comes into a cat’s environment, the cat becomes highly activated. But if the dog is friendly and non-threatening, the cat gradually relaxes. Eventually the cat is comfortable around the dog. In fact, the dog may become a source of comfort: a protector. If the same dog comes into the room unexpectedly, the cat may startle, but quickly restores itself to comfort.
That’s our goal with math: to allow the nervous system to come to a felt sense of comfort and safety around it. We want to support the sense that “the danger is passed”. Math is no longer a source of pain. We want to tell your body that “you’re safe now.”