Sensing yourself from the inside
Interoception is your sense of the body's internal state: heartbeat, breath, hunger, tension, warmth. The insula, a fold of cortex tucked deep inside the side of each hemisphere, is a central hub for it. The front part of the insula is thought to combine these signals into how you feel right now. Established
Why it's in Health and Body & Habits
Those topics work on a calmer relationship with rest, food and movement. Noticing hunger, fullness and tension, without judging it, is the skill. Your sessions never mention calories, weights or measurements, and never talk about disease or symptoms. For any change to your health, speak to a doctor. Established
Whether interoception training changes health behaviour on its own is still being studied. Emerging
Sources
- Craig, A. D. (2009). How do you feel - now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(1), 59-70. doi:10.1038/nrn2555
- Khalsa, S. S., et al. (2018). Interoception and mental health: a roadmap. Biological Psychiatry: CNNI, 3(6), 501-513. doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.12.004