Interoception
Most people are taught that the human body has five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. But many neurologists identify nine or more senses, and some list as many as 21. The one that I want people to understand is that of our “Interoceptive Sense” – the ability to maintain internal stability, in other words, homeostasis.
As a breathing coach, I teach the importance of establishing a baseline breath by achieving the highest possible control pause time, thus increasing heart rate variability, increasing vagal tone, and establishing a measure of resilience. When a student or client tells me they’re experiencing chronic pain, I look to the quality of how they are breathing. If we are breathing in too much, it’s shallow (upper chest) and rapid (over-breathing), causing carbon dioxide levels to drop and allowing the body to enter a state of chronic hyperventilation, scientifically known as respiratory alkalosis. Once the brain receives a signal of pain, it activates the fight or flight response. Therefore, your ability to interoceptive feel your bodily functions drastically drops. A chronic lack of oxygen leads to pain, illness, and disease.
Did you know there is an association between identity and breathing as well as the perception of pain? We have all heard stories of friends or loved ones who fall ill from a certain type of “dis-ease”, but neglected the internal warning signals that their bodies were desperately trying to communicate. More common examples of interoceptive awareness are feelings of love, sensing danger, listening, and following your intuition/gut feelings. Interoception includes both conscious feelings and unconscious monitoring of homeostasis which can analyze safety and stability.
You get interoception from the fascia, which is the largest sensory organ in the body. It surrounds all your smooth muscles and organs. Fascia is emotion and emotion ties directly into your breath. When your body feels that you are safe, your breathing is free and easy. If the body is feeling danger, your breathing is short, labored, withheld.
For instance, let’s say you have an unstable hip. From a neuromuscular perspective, all the muscles that surround or pass through the joint lock down to protect the joint from being injured. The brain then elicits “unsafe” feelings to the motor units. When movement occurs, the brain senses pain in the joint, and you unconsciously hold your breath, which inhibits fluidity of motion. For the body to feel a “safe” joint, the breath must be low, slow, deep, and silent, allowing the deeper joint a feeling of stability. The deep muscles will then be able to do their jobs, activating in the right coordinated order. Interoceptive feelings of a “safe” joint allow the brain to elicit the proper chemical responses providing the necessary signals the joint needs to properly transfer forces, all while enhancing the distribution of oxygen to the tissues.
Our bodies are constantly seeking emotional stability. We are always attempting to describe emotional internal states that are continuously being monitored and regulated by the autonomic nervous system which has two main parts – the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest). Proper and efficient breathing helps the body to learn interoception and keep emotions under control. Flooding the brain with oxygen develops and improves our psycho-emotional awareness through observation, and we are capable of making changes to our mental state and unconscious mind at the same time we are observing it. Changes to our mental state and inner thoughts impact our outward behaviors and physical actions. This shifts how we respond to our environment and how we interact within every relationship and social setting.
For thousands of years, interoception has been known as the internal Yin state, in which healing, regeneration, and detoxification occurs. It is accompanied by increased parasympathetic tone, flow of saliva, bowel motility, slowed heart rate, and a feeling of peace or neutral emptiness. A daily practice of meditation paired with deep breathing techniques directly stimulates a parasympathetic response returning the body to homeostasis, transmuting the DNA to activate the body’s innate healing response.
Breathing is certainly the most overlooked and unappreciated aspect of our incredible biology and it really is hazardous to your health if we are not breathing efficiently. A chronic lack of oxygen is the root cause of inflammation that may lead to any type of cellular dysfunction. A safe and happy nervous system is impervious to infection, states of depression, chronic pain, and illnesses.
Our bodies have gifted us with the restorative ability to bring harmony back within the human system through the power of oxygen. Now is the time to take an active role in healing ourselves. When we can identify our emotional pain and are willing to take steps to heal our emotions, we empower ourselves in ways that will lead to our freedom.
