I am preparing to speak at a conference this month, so the word most frequently on the top of my mind as I get ready is “interoception”. With this word at the forefront of my attention, I am reminded of the power of conscious body awareness. I notice myself even more mindfully and attentively checking in with myself throughout the day, more connected to how I am feeling and more able to respond accordingly when needed.
Interoception is the brain’s ability to receive, process, and interpret data incoming from the body. With our external environments and parts of ourselves, we can take in information and interact through our senses like sight, touch, and smell (collectively known as exteroception). But we cannot interact with our internal environment in the same way, so we have to be able to sense it and feel it in other ways—that’s interoception.
My teacher, Lisa Dion, calls interoception the “How do I know?” sense. How do I know I am hungry or thirsty? How do I know I need to go to the bathroom? How do I know I am angry or excited? Particularly when it comes to emotional data, I notice many people tend to look outside themselves for the clues to answer those questions. For example, I feel angry (emotion) because I am sitting in traffic (external data/stimulus). Well, traffic is actually a neutral experience, meaning that it is not inherently positive or negative (I know, it’s hard to believe). I feel a particular set of sensations inside my body in response to traffic that I label as anger. So it’s not the traffic that lets me know I’m feeling angry; it’s the heat in my body, the tightness in my arms and jaw, and near inability to sit still that I feel that lets me know I’m feeling angry.
You with me so far?
So why does this matter? Let’s keep going with the traffic example. If I identify that the traffic is the cause of my anger, and I can’t do anything about the traffic, I don’t have a lot of choice but to feel angry. Traffic=anger. So as long as I’m stuck in traffic, I’m stuck in my anger, which often for me means I’m just going to get more angry. On the other hand, if I identify the source of my anger as the sensations in my body, now a lot more options just opened up about what I can do about it. I can take deep breaths to stretch out and release the tension in my chest and belly. I can move and relax my arms to the extent that is possible in the car. I can open my mouth wide, perhaps even let out a yell or a song at the top of my lungs to ease my jaw. I can drink some water or crank up the AC to cool down my body temperature.
Now, let’s be real. Traffic still sucks. And while it might not be the root of my anger, it’s certainly related. As long as I’m in traffic, I’m not going to be completely Zen and anger-free. But tending to the sensations in my body will help me avoid getting burned up and overwhelmed by my anger, and perhaps help me not lose myself and the rest of my day because of the experience.
This example illustrates the purpose of interoception– we need to be able to know that we are feeling something so that we know when and how to do something about it. Our brains are constantly interocepting information from our bodies to make little adjustments, such as to our heart rate or body temperature, to maintain homeostasis (a window or range of physiological optimization within the body). And then there are the more conscious functions of interoception, like body signals letting us know we are hungry and that it is time to seek nourishment. And THEN there are the often less fun functions of interoception, like sensing pain or negative emotions, which are equally as important to alerting us and compelling us to take action to get our needs met or maintain ourselves. We feel so that we can take care of ourselves.
Isn’t that cool?!?! You are designed to take care of yourself. You literally cannot help it. Interoception is constantly in action tending to and managing your being. And when we engage interoception consciously by giving mindful awareness to our internal experience, we empower ourselves to be better at knowing and meeting our needs.
I share this with you because I am on a mission to empower people to live a more embodied life, and I want to be clear that has nothing to do with how much you can or can’t do with your body, or really even what you do with your body; rather, embodiment has everything to do with your ability to be in your body, to befriend and attend to your living, moving, breathing, sensational experience, whatever it is. For reasons I have shared and for many others I have not yet shared, interoception—the capacity to connect with and know our inner world—is at the heart of embodiment.
A practice for developing interoceptive awareness: Take a moment to notice your hands. Gather the information about how your hands feel before doing anything else. When you’re ready, squeeze your hands tight for about 10 seconds. Release the squeeze, and take another moment to notice your hands. What feels different? Now, notice the part of your hand that stands out to you the most. Keep your awareness on that part, and repeat the squeeze. Release. Notice. Could you keep your awareness in the same place throughout the action? What do you notice? Before ending this brief practice, check in to see if there is anything else your body needs to close the practice for now. Maybe you notice your hands want a little shake, or that you need to take a few slow breaths. Maybe you notice other parts of your body now want a little attention. Just notice. Listen to your body signals. Look at you go! You’re interocepting!