Pattern · Foundational · across multiple scales and disciplines
Adaptation.
Change in response to load, signal, or environment.
Overview
Adaptation is the durable change a system makes in response to repeated exposure. It is visible in tissue, nervous system, behavior, and learning. It is rarely linear and usually requires recovery.
Observed in
- Training physiology
- Daoyin
- Xi Sui Jing
- Motor learning
- Evolutionary biology
- Recovery science
Related patterns
Evidence types
- Historical
- Scientific
- Experiential
- WAMA observation
Evidence types describe the kinds of support a pattern has, not the weight of that support. Citations and counterexamples are added as they are checked.
Open questions
- What distinguishes adaptive change from accumulated wear?
- Which signals are necessary, and which are merely correlated?
WAMA lens
Adaptation reframes practice from 'doing the thing' to 'creating the conditions under which change becomes possible.'
Pattern Ecology
How this pattern interacts with others — directionality, conditions, consequences — will be added here once the Atlas has enough connected topics to ground it. Placeholder for now.