Highly flexible continuum arms have been investigated thoroughly. Materials and actuators employed include cables, pneumatic muscles, and also shape memory alloys (SMAs). SMA is a smart material that can be applied to continuum robot due to their intrinsic compliance. It can elongate or contract by applying external forces and return to its original shape when given appropriate current. However, control of the SMA actuated robot is still a challenge. This paper takes inspiration from octopus neurophysiology and designs a hierarchical controller for the SMA based continuum robotic arm.