Emotions can help us express our greatest joys, our deepest sorrows, and everything in between. It may seem as if these feelings don’t affect much, just existing as a way to express our response to something or someone. Yet, research tells us otherwise. Our emotional responses directly impact our body. They can even cause somatic symptoms such as aches and pains that are very real!
Emotions in our body
While our emotions might seem like they only linger in our thoughts and our actions, our body often plays a role in these feelings whether we realize it or not. Referred to as “embodied emotion”, research illustrates how our feelings are “felt” in various parts of our body.² Most research is focused on the respiratory system, cardiac system, and the gastrointestinal system (think breathing, heart and gut).² Information is constantly exchanged between the different systems in our body, causing responses and processes to happen without us even being aware. When we do start to become aware of what is happening inside our body, we can start to tap into this awareness to enhance the mind-body connection, even supporting a more adaptive, or helpful, response.
Connecting with our body
Interoception is what we perceive through our senses within our body. For example, we use interoception when we notice our stomach rumbling and then use that information to understand that we need a snack. It is how our nervous system “senses, interprets, integrates, and regulates signals from within” our own body.¹ Not only can we use our interoception to understand when we need a bite to eat, we can also use it to understand what our body is experiencing when we encounter different people, places or events. We can connect the emotion that comes up and how our body is physically responding to that emotion.
Using our own interoception
The nervous system often signals our conscious awareness to raise our heart rate, slow our breathing, among various other subconscious processes that happen all the time. It’s when these automatic processes happen in response to an event or situation and cause significant distress or dysregulation that we can use interoception to better understand our responses. For example, you might get frustrated and anxious with traffic piling up as you head to work noticing you are already late. Without even realizing it, your jaw may become tense, your shoulders creep closer to your neck, your stomach starts to tighten, and you start holding your breath. When you finally get to work, you have a headache, your stomach hurts and you feel your whole body is on edge. These symptoms are often related to how we feel, the messages we are telling ourselves that influence our perception of what is happening and how the body responds. Over time, chronic health challenges can result.
The good news is that there are therapeutic interventions that can help release feelings, identify triggers, and support mental and physical well-being. The idea is to strengthen your awareness of your unique responses to life events to support whole health – mind and body. It can be helpful in all aspects of our life to develop practices and skills to navigate and manage feelings in order to prevent physical illness, emotional distress, and interpersonal relationship challenges.
How is this helpful?
- Decreases stress response
- Increases self-compassion
- Decreases interpersonal challenges
- Increases physical health
- Decreases somatic symptoms
- Increases self-awareness
- Decreases extreme responses that put us in a cycle of guilt, feelings of isolation and negative self-view
How do we do it? Here are practices to improve interoception
- Mindful Body Scans
- Slowly move attention from head to toe, noticing sensations (tension, warmth, tingling, relaxation) without judgment.
- Breath Awareness
- Focus on the natural rhythm of your breathing. Notice where in the body you feel it most (nostrils, chest, belly).
- Yoga or Gentle Stretching
- Notice muscle tension, release, and breath as you move and hold poses.
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation
- Tense and release different muscle groups while paying attention to the contrast in sensations.
- Urge Surfing
- When you feel a craving or strong urge (food, phone, etc.), pause and notice the body sensations associated with it rather than immediately reacting.
- Journaling Sensations and Emotions
- Record what physical cues accompany certain emotions (e.g., anxiety = tight chest, excitement = fluttering stomach). Over time, this builds body-emotion awareness.
- Hydration and Hunger Check-Ins
- Pause a few times daily to ask: Am I thirsty? Am I hungry? How do I know? Notice signals before acting.
- Biofeedback Practices
- Use wearable devices (heart rate monitors, breathing sensors) as training wheels for tuning into internal states.
- Mindful Movement (Walking, Tai Chi, Dance, Qigong)
- Focus on muscle shifts, balance, and breath while moving rhythmically.
- Emotional Body Mapping
- When you feel a strong emotion, pause and identify where it lives in the body (chest, gut, jaw, shoulders).
The best part about enhancing our interoception and ability to regulate our feelings is that with support, these tools can be used at any age and stage of life.
Once we can identify and manage our own emotions, we can be more successful in all aspects of our life. From work (or school) demands, to family, even navigating traffic!
Sarah Galla, LCSW
Sources
¹ Chen WG, Schloesser D, Arensdorf AM, Simmons JM, Cui C, Valentino R, Gnadt JW, Nielsen L, Hillaire-Clarke CS, Spruance V, Horowitz TS, Vallejo YF, Langevin HM. The Emerging Science of Interoception: Sensing, Integrating, Interpreting, and Regulating Signals within the Self. Trends Neurosci. 2021 Jan;44(1):3-16. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.10.007. PMID: 33378655; PMCID: PMC7780231.
² Davey S, Halberstadt J, Bell E. Where is emotional feeling felt in the body? An integrative review. PLoS One. 2021 Dec 22;16(12):e0261685. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261685. PMID: 34936672; PMCID: PMC8694467.
