Interoception: Your Hidden Superpower
And how it supports better decision-making, emotional regulation, and greater nervous system health.
I spoke about nervous system health earlier this week, and I’m here to share with you the key to navigating it like a pro.
Not only your nervous system, actually, but your entire life; this is about learning to listen more to how you’re doing, and take the steps to feel better.
I actually think one of the biggest and most important skills we can build as humans is the ability to feel what we need at any given moment and respond accordingly. It’s not just with food, hydration, or sleep either. This is also about the people we spend time with, the communications we need to have with others and ourselves, the activities we say yes to, the things we spend our precious time doing and working on. The things we spend money on. The TV we watch (or don’t watch). Hobbies. Books. The mattress you buy. The colour you paint your walls. Your job. And yes, the contents of your fridge and snack cupboards.
What do you actually need right now? Not what you think you should have or do or be, what others are doing, or what you’ve been told you should do. What do you actually need and want right now?
It involves us stripping back the layers of bullshit society’s layered into our psyches, the best-intentions your parents lived by that made you a little traumatised in some way, and all that trauma you’ve lived through—heartache, death, ruin, collapse, all of it… and quietly, softly, gently, and with a heart full of kindness, learn to listen to ourselves again.
What do you truly want? What’s your body calling for right now? What—with all your layers of goodness, love, and compassion—is the right thing to do for yourself right now?
Below, I share a class that will help you learn this skill (this is the feeling equivalent of bicep curls to build muscle) and the reasoning behind it. Let’s dive in.
Put simply, the word is interoception.
What is interoception?
Interoception is the ability to perceive and interpret internal bodily sensations, like hunger, thirst, heart rate, temperature, and emotions. This sensory system helps us understand what’s happening inside our bodies and plays a crucial role in regulating our feelings and behaviours.
The world, my friend, has been telling you for so long that you need to suck it up, power on, muscle through, or even the dreaded man up; we’re told we need to ignore our emotions, physical sensations, desires, pains, whatever it might be, in order to get the job done. All the while we’re feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, emotionally-stilted, anxious, stressed as all hell, and we can’t seem to focus (is there any wonder?).
Interoception, then, allows us to learn to tune back into our internal states, helping us actually take care of ourselves in a way that’s beneficial for everyone around us.
Why do you need interoception?
Emotional regulation: interoception helps us identify and process our emotions—more of a big deal than you think. By recognising physical sensations linked to emotions (like a racing heart when we’re anxious), we can develop healthier coping strategies and respond more effectively to stressors, helping us find calm more often.
Health awareness: understanding our body’s signals can help us in the drive to take better care of ourselves. By tuning into cues like tiredness or hunger, we can make informed decisions about nutrition, rest, and exercise, ultimately improving our overall health in the long-run.
Mind-body connection: interoception helps us build a greater connection between our thoughts, feelings, and physical states. This is like the holy grail of mindfulness, which helps us live more in the present moment, understand ourselves better, and make better decisions. Which leads me neatly on to…
Improved decision-making: by being tuned-into our internal landscape, we can make decisions that align with our actual needs and desires, rather than those expected of us. Plus, when we’re making decisions from a place of calm, those decisions will be a million times better than if we’re stressed (that figure’s highly accurate).
How to build interoception
Developing your muscle of interoception involves working on your mindfulness and awareness of feedback from your body. Here are some of my favourite ways to build your interoceptive strength:
Mindfulness meditation:
Meditation is a big deal. It’s not about stillness, it’s not about clearing your mind; it’s actually about building the skill of noticing, taking some control over your thoughts, and bringing attention to your breath or other physical sensations. This will help you build, over time, the ability to notice what you’re feeling in day-to-day life, giving you the power to shift focus, and respond accordingly. Short sessions are good enough, as long as you practice them regularly.
Journaling:
Writing down your thoughts and feelings might sound like a teenage girls’ prerogative, but it’s actually a bigger deal than you might think. This practice can really help you notice patterns, can help you understand the way you’re feeling more, and can help you process things in a better way. This skill—because it is a skill, my friend—will get you more in-tune with your internal feedback system; the key for interoceptive power.
Breath Awareness:
Breath-work is obviously a huge one in the wellness space, for good reason. Practicing breath-work is one of the biggest ways to find nervous-system regulation. Try inhaling deeply for a count of four, holding for four, and exhaling for six. As you do this, pay attention to how your breath feels in your body, and notice any changes in your emotional state. (Find more breath practices inside the paid subscription of Joyful (learn more about upgrading here.))
Physical Movement:
Obviously, I can’t leave this conversation without bringing yoga into the mix. Again, yoga might have this reputation as an easy old-lady practice, or something only women do, or even of it being a religious experience. All of those ideas are wrong in so many ways. Yoga is, and should always be, a way for us to find more joy in our bodies, minds, and life in general. Fast-paced classes, slow ones, those in the middle—they all help us connected into our bodies and minds in a way regular movement sessions often skip. Come and join a class of mine inside your upgraded Joyful subscription.
Want to build your interoceptive abilities? I’ve designed a practice that my clients are doing inside Joy Unplugged, my Joyful members love, and I’ve used so regularly myself to help me stay the course, and it’s wonderfully powerful.
It’s less than 7 minutes, and it’s a training tool to help you come back into your body, regardless of what’s going on.
Come join the Joyful inner circle to get the session below and everything else (learn more about what you get here), and start to see actual shifts in your internal landscape that trickle out into your life. And you’ll get me in your corner, cheering you on.