What sensations are you aware of right now?
Interoception.
Which explanations are relevant to you?
Interoception is the sense we have of the invisible inside of the body.
We percieve the world through our senses. We are familiar with the ways we sense our surroundings through sight, sound and touch.
We also have many specialised senses to perceive what is happening inside the body. The way we sense the inside of the body is called Interoception.
Many symptoms begin as sensations in the body. For example, we sense tightness in the chest or become aware of our heart pounding.
This might seem like a straightforward process of listening to the signals that the body is sending to the brain.
But it is not!
Explore interactions
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Making sense of symptoms.
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Emotions.
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Iatrogenesis.
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Mood.
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Dissociation.
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Sensory sensitisation.
Approaches to cope with symptoms
The understanding of the role of the brain in interoception can be key to shifting how we understand symptoms.
Understanding that the experience of a symptom does not necessarily reflect the current state of the body, makes a space to do something different with our symptom perceptions.
When we anticipate pain, discomfort, or another symptom, we have two options:
1. Avoidance
One way is to suppress the discomfort of the feeling.
Many people distract themselves from uncomfortable feelings by always being busy, or reach for their phone when they anticipate an unpleasant feeling. Drugs and alcohol are other strategies to avoid feelings.
Distraction is not always not a bad thing. However, if we are always reaching for things outside of ourselves to feel better, we can lose touch with our intuition about what the body really needs.
Sometimes the things we reach for make problems worse in the longer term. We can come to rely on others who can let us down or get stuck searching for an outside fix to our problems.
2. Curiosity
The alternative is turning towards the feelings with gentle curiosity.
Curiosity is the opposite of fear.
So when we try to be curious about some sensation or something in the environment our nervous system learns that it is not dangerous.
By watching feelings arise, flow and change, we notice how sensations come and go. Learning this helps us approach symptoms in new ways.
Make a habit of checking in with your body and surroundings at regular intervals during the day.
The STOP exercise: Instructions
Start by committing to do the exercise one time a day. The exercise doesn’t need to take more than 5 minutes. You can set an alarm in your phone, or make a note to remind yourself. Once you have got used to the exercise, build the habit of doing the exercise when you take regular breaks throughout the day, like having a sensory snack.
There are 4 simple steps:
S – for Stop: take a break from what you are doing. Turn your attention inward.
T – get in Touch with the sensations or feelings in your body as it is right now. You can anchor into the body in any way that works for you. For example by following your breathing for a few inhalations and exhalations, or by placing your hand on your heart.
O – for Observe. Here you notice symptoms, thoughts, feelings and impulses to act which are present at the moment.
P – for Prioritize. Prioritize taking care and nurturing yourself in your next action. Based on what you observe, do you need to take a break, do a breathing exercise, or move your body in a particular way?
Connecting through the breath
The breath can be a great support when learning how to pay attention to body in a gentle, curious way. By watching the breath arise, flow and change, we discover direct experience.
We can use our breath to explore feelings in the body. Slow, deep breathing helps us tolerate and stay with discomfort. But the breath can also help us transform feelings.
You may already be familiar with some of these techniques. Women giving birth are shown how to breath into their contractions, to loosen up the cramping muscles.
In the same way, breathing is a resource we can use to loosen up contracted feelings.
Every exhalation is an opportunity to let go.
Breathing into a tight or contracted part of the body, we can visualize it opening up, bringing expansion and ease.
Don’t worry if working with meditative approaches in this way feels out of reach. All embodied activities (for example stretching, dancing or gardening) help us develop interoceptive skills.
Which explanations are relevant to you?
