the long body

The long body is a Native American term which refers to the individual body plus the life support systems around it. It is a much bigger conception of the human body than we have in western culture, and considers the body continuous with the larger environment.
The perception of our bodies as isolated units is dangerous because it doesn’t take into consideration that organisms live in context. We co-evolve with our habitats over many millions of years.
We think we have nervous systems to regulate our bodies- and we do- however the nervous system has other functions- for humans in particular -  it's purpose is to learn habitat and our social environment too.

-- Frank Forencich over at Liberated Body