Written by Leigh Marsden, Yoga Teacher
Leigh Marsden is a registered yoga, breathwork, and meditation teacher, published author, and silence advocate. She has extensive experience in silence practices, and silent retreat facilitation.
Do you walk around with background tension in your body? Would you notice if you did, or has it become normal for you to carry tension unconsciously? What if you could observe your inner state with calm, non-judgmental awareness and then release unnecessary tension, leaving you with a softer, more easeful, and relaxed baseline? You can! Read on to find out how.
What is interoception?
The ability to sense and interpret one’s inner state is known as interoception. Examples of interoception include feeling hot, feeling an increased heart rate, sweaty skin or feeling anxious, feeling tense muscles, rapid breathing, and tightness around the chest. Interception is required in many simple bodily functions, like knowing when to use the toilet, or more advanced states, like recognizing when you’re becoming angry through bodily sensations. Interoception is a key part of self-awareness and is very important for keeping the body in balance physically and emotionally, and for keeping the nervous system regulated.
Why do I feel tense all the time?
It's hard to be a modern human. Life is loud and busy, and we are continuously stimulated. As a result, many people are constantly in a fight/flight/freeze state, even when there is no imminent danger. This is due to an over-active stress response, with no opportunity to reset to rest/relax/digest.
You can read more about bringing more Deep Silence into your life in my Brainz article: Going Deep – How Can I Bring More Deep Silence In My Life? Or, read on to try a Conscious Softening Meditation that can help release deeply held chronic tension.
The body also holds the memory of past events, which can manifest as a felt experience months or even years after the event. You can read more about the body’s memory in Besel van der Kolk’s seminal work, ‘The Body Keeps the Score’, published in 43 languages. Best-selling Trauma Research Author | Bessel van der Kolk, MD.
Why can’t I feel my inner state?
Interoception skills vary from person to person. Some people have a naturally strong sense of body awareness and the various exposures and influences in their environment have led to their prioritizing body awareness, or at least considering it equally alongside the mind.
From a young age, many of us are taught that ‘Mind is King’ and that our thoughts are the most important part of us. This may lead to a person being less practiced in feeling their body or trusting what they feel. They might have their meals by the clock, for example, rather than eating when they are hungry. They might not notice or trust their ‘gut feeling’ about a person in a job interview and exclusively believe the person’s spoken words and resume instead. Or, they may not notice the bodily signs that tell them they are becoming angry, such as raised heart rate, increased temperature, for example, and erupting into an explosive state without being able to self-regulate first. A person may also have learned to dissociate from their body sensations due to trauma.
Interoception and PTSD
People with PTSD and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) may have lower interoceptive skills. Interoceptive-based therapies such as Trauma-Informed (or Trauma-Sensitive) Yoga can help people to reconnect with their inner state, offering the opportunity for a felt sense of being ‘at home’ within the body, agency over their body, and an improved ability to regulate emotions and the nervous system.
3 steps towards internal ease
Being able to feel the body and then release habitual internal holding is a powerful way to develop a natural state of being that is loose and soft, encouraging rest, relaxation, and digestion. Here is a meditation that I often offer at the start of my yoga classes and retreats.
Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Close your eyes or soften your gaze. Bring your awareness inward to your internal state. Notice and feel the sensations of your body. Observe whatever you find with an equanimous eye, without judgement or analysis. Try not to add any story to your sensations.
Bring your awareness to an area that feels tight or tense. Notice the boundary of the sensation: tense here/spacious here. Take a deep breath in. With your exhale, feel the area soften or melt just a little. Release any expectation that all the tension should be gone, or of how you should feel. Remain in neutral observation of what is. Repeat the exhalation with conscious softening a few times.
Repeat step 2 in a different area. Continue for your desired length of time, or until you feel you have released all you can for now.
Leigh Marsden, Yoga Teacher
Leigh Marsden is yoga teacher and a leader in the silence movement, offering enriching silence practices within her yoga teachings along with multiple silent retreats and events each year. She is passionate about helping others find more silence in their lives.
