It can often be difficult to know how we really feel. With regular practice, it becomes much easier!
Interoception sensations:
Feeling of tiredness after a long hike
Sense of being alive
Hunger, thirst
How young/old you feel when you get up in the morning
How inspired you feel
Sense of tranquility
Temperature
Digestive system
Heart beat
Feeling of tiredness after a long hike
Sense of being alive
Hunger, thirst
How young/old you feel when you get up in the morning
How inspired you feel
Sense of tranquility
Temperature
Digestive system
Heart beat
Chapter 4 endnote 20, from How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
Some context is:
Any movement of your body is accompanied by movement in your body. When you shift position quickly to catch a baseball, you have to breathe more deeply. To escape from a poisonous snake, your heart pumps blood faster through dilated blood vessels to rush glucose to your muscles, which increases your heart rate and changes your blood pressure. Your brain represents the sensations that result from this inner motion; this representation, you may remember, is called interoception.
Interoception was originally defined by the Nobel Laureate Sir Charles Scott Sherrington as sensory representations of the interior of the body (sometimes called the viscera or the internal milieu), which were thought to be driven by sensory inputs that ascend from the body to the brain.[1] The neuroanatomist Bud Craig has expanded the definition of interoception to include representations of sensory input that signal the condition of the entire body.[2] His definition includes sensory inputs related to tissue damage (nociception), temperature (thermosensation), and any sensory input that is carried by small diameter sensory neurons of the lamina I spinothamalic tract and the vagus nerve. He also includes sensations from joints, tendons, and muscle movements (proprioception), as well as information about your body’s movement and position in space to communicate that indeed, your body is now standing up. Specific neurons within muscles send signals to the brain about the metabolic conditions of the body. Craig even conceives of the skin as an organ of the body (e.g., your nociceptors can be changed when inflammation due to fever causes a metabolic change in the skin).
Notes
Some context is:
Any movement of your body is accompanied by movement in your body. When you shift position quickly to catch a baseball, you have to breathe more deeply. To escape from a poisonous snake, your heart pumps blood faster through dilated blood vessels to rush glucose to your muscles, which increases your heart rate and changes your blood pressure. Your brain represents the sensations that result from this inner motion; this representation, you may remember, is called interoception.
Interoception was originally defined by the Nobel Laureate Sir Charles Scott Sherrington as sensory representations of the interior of the body (sometimes called the viscera or the internal milieu), which were thought to be driven by sensory inputs that ascend from the body to the brain.[1] The neuroanatomist Bud Craig has expanded the definition of interoception to include representations of sensory input that signal the condition of the entire body.[2] His definition includes sensory inputs related to tissue damage (nociception), temperature (thermosensation), and any sensory input that is carried by small diameter sensory neurons of the lamina I spinothamalic tract and the vagus nerve. He also includes sensations from joints, tendons, and muscle movements (proprioception), as well as information about your body’s movement and position in space to communicate that indeed, your body is now standing up. Specific neurons within muscles send signals to the brain about the metabolic conditions of the body. Craig even conceives of the skin as an organ of the body (e.g., your nociceptors can be changed when inflammation due to fever causes a metabolic change in the skin).
Notes
- ↑ Sherrington, Charles Scott. 1900. Textbook of Physiology, Volume 2.
- ↑ Craig, A. D. 2015. How Do You Feel? An Interoceptive Moment with Your Neurobiological Self. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
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Short sequence to practise for one minute each day, in order to tune in to your physical sensations, checking in with your body:
If any thoughts come up, let them pass as you bring your attention back to sounds, the body or the breath
There is no pressure to notice much or stay focus for a long time. It is not necessary to follow my words exactly - It is your experience that matters! |
Step 1: Notice your environment (sounds)
Step 2: Notice the relationship between your body and the environment Step 3: Notice your breath Step 4: Locate physical sensations (befriend them) Step 5: Notice your breath Step 6: Notice the relationship between your body and the environment Step 7: Notice the environment and get on with your day |
Longer sequence, focusing on paying attention to various parts of the face (face scan):
In the woods...
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Outer world, inner worldThe outer world is what we see, hear, feel, smell and taste. We are mostly comfortable with sensing the outer world. However, when we can't find calm inside, it can help to find calm in nature
. At the same time, there is another world within us. Do we pay it any attention? the rhythm and temperature of our breath, our food being processed by our digestive system, our heart beating fast or slowly, loudly or quietly, etc. Scan your body for sensations - there is no right or wrong. If there is nothing, that's okay too. Making the transition from the outer world to the inner world and back again takes practice. |
Slow, intentional breathing
Focus on rhythm and see if you synchronise your breathe to it - the rhythm of your heart, the rhythm of waves, the rhythm of your footsteps when you walk - whatever works for you!
The idea is to get you out of your mind and thoughts and into your physical sensations.
I suggest connecting to your own environment (sights, sounds, points of contact) before and after.
The ideal breath is 5.5 second inhalation, followed by a 5.5 second exhalation. Why not try and see if it works for you? Let me know!
The idea is to get you out of your mind and thoughts and into your physical sensations.
I suggest connecting to your own environment (sights, sounds, points of contact) before and after.
The ideal breath is 5.5 second inhalation, followed by a 5.5 second exhalation. Why not try and see if it works for you? Let me know!
Immersive Sound Experience by Sound Alchemist Laura Inserra
Scanning our body is like connecting to the consciousness of our individual cells. We are paying attention to our body, sensing both balance and well-being on one hand, and feelings of tension on the other. Scanning our body and picking up its sensations, its cues, is priming it for optimal healing.