Interoception: Getting to know thyself
You may have heard the term ‘proprioception', the ability to know where your body is in space. Generally, you will be able to know where your right foot is or what your hands are doing without having to think about it too much. So if proprioception is basically feeling the outside of your body then ‘Interoception’ is the ability to feel the inside of your body.
What are we supposed to feel?
You practice interoception every day although sometimes we may not fully connect to these feelings circulating beneath the surface. In some circumstances, we learn or program ourselves to disconnect from our emotions, feelings and inner workings of the body. Over time this can create an inability to pick up subtle cues from the body. Practising connecting to ourselves can improve our emotional, physical and mental wellbeing in numerous ways with some fascinating studies on the effects in relation to depression, anxiety, phobias, social connection, emotion response and sleep disorders.
Consider the following questions in your day to day practices and see if you can pick up how readily your bodies internal environment is available to you.
How or what do I feel?
Is my body warm, hot, cold?
Where is there discomfort or pain?
Where does it feel good?
How is my energy? Am I tired or full of energy?
Do I feel sluggish or light on my feet?
Does this food make me feel good?
What environments make me feel safe?
How do I feel or react in this interaction?
Where does interoception come from?
Our ability to feel inside can also be related to ‘gut sense’ or ‘intuition’. We can look towards the complex workings our nervous systems; most notably here the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and enteric nervous system (ENS). Let’s begin from the inside out. Our ENS is embedded in the lining of our gastrointestinal tract from the oesophagus to the anus. Exposed on the front line to the internal environment of the gut, the ENS can be influenced by changes in our microbiome, foods, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, stress and emotions. This information gathered by the ENS makes its way up through the ANS that controls most of our involuntary functions (think heart rate, respiratory function, digestion) and with that can continue to influence the brain and peripheral body by signalling pathways and responses in our sympathetic (fight/flight), parasympathetic (rest/digest) and central nervous system.
Nervous systems and the complexity of it aside, the bottom line is if we can learn to tune in with the body and its reactions to our environment, emotional and physical triggers, we can be one step ahead of the game in responding to its needs.
Great, so how do we connect deeper to our interoception abilities?
The million-dollar question.
It takes patience, time and practice. Bet that’s not what you wanted to hear right!
Let’s take a look at some ways you can practice connection and ‘getting to know thyself’ in your day to day life.
Write it down
Grab a scrapbook/diary whatever feels safe and easy for you and start by jotting down a few simple words on how you feel. Simple as this may seem, it can actually be quite hard when feeling disconnected with your body. Start simple. Today I feel……, my tummy feels….., my head feels…..
Keep track on how you feel day to day, what improved or worsened these feelings/sensations. You may start to see a pattern form over the weeks of continuing this practice and pinpoint some underlying triggers, wants/needs of the body.
Practice slow, mindful movement
The concept of slow, mindful, somatic movement is to take the time to feel the movement. Practices such as yin yoga, pilates, somatic movement therapy, tai chi, qi gong and the Feldenkrais method all aid in bringing more awareness and connection to our body.
Moving slow and focusing on our movement allows us to sense the movement, its effects (good/bad), and make the unconscious conscious. We may experience a sore or tight hip from time to time but do we really know where that feeling is coming from? You may feel it in the hip but during some movements may a feel a connection in the lower back or knee you didn’t feel before. Continuing this practice allows for you to pick up important cues your body is sending you.
Take note of what your body likes and doesn’t like
A simple “uh-ha” moment in everyday situations or practices can give you pieces of the puzzle in figuring out what makes your body sing and what doesn’t. Sure, writing it down as previously suggested is great but if taking notes pen and paper style is not your thing then start a mental checklist. For example, let’s say you went for a walk on a sunny day surrounded by trees and plants and you noticed that your mood has improved, you feel full of energy, and your mind feels motived and inspired. Great. That’s a big positive tick on your like list. Now let's say you went to an exercise class and you performed a movement that caused pain in your back. Instead of pushing through, you take a moment to stop and sense where that pain is coming from and why that is now a tick on your doesn’t like list. Of course, these lists will change but it is a good starting point to then ask some open questions to your body about what is going on.
Tune in to the breath
There are many reasons why the breath is focused on during movement and holistic practices. It allows for movement. I am not talking about movement of air or your ribs/diaphragm but the movement of energy. With energy, we can also think of emotion. Emotion is energy in motion. When we breathe, we encourage expansion, flow, transformation, and release. Our breath is interconnected with our complex nervous systems we spoke about before. Your internal and external world is tightly regulated so that simple manipulations on either end can have a flow-on effect to other parts of the body.
When connecting with and/or releasing inner emotions, the breath will be one of the first signs to take note of to get an idea of how your body is initially reacting. From here you can use it to shift stuck energy (emotion) and allow the body to release what it no longer needs.
The most important idea to take away with you today is that your internal world is constantly trying to talk to you whether you listen or not. It is forever regulating you, keeping you safe and trying its hardest to keep the bad guys away. It is your job to invite this world into your consciousness. Find your own way to do this as well as my suggestions above. Whatever you choose, over time you will pick up on the cues and be able to provide some intervention or support to guide your body back to homeostasis and start a life long connection to your inner world.