What would you discover if you improved your interoceptive skills?

Interoception (another aspect supporting the larger practice of mBraining), is the ability of how we perceive our internal state of the body's internal sensations. With training and practice, we can improve our accuracy of how good we are perceiving our internal sensations. 

But what would we discover? For example, with a practice focusing on the heart, we can enhance our awareness of our heart's information and even synchronize (and sense) others' feelings. Something neuroscientist Dr Alan Watkins discovered in 2004, when he realised by focusing on the heart and breathing in a specific way, we can tune into other peoples feelings, sensing their emotions, as well as our own.

Will improving your interoceptive skill be your New Years Resolution for 2019?

The Moral

As Alan Watkins stated at TEDxOxford 2015, if we can objectify and identify our own subconscious feelings and sensations, we can control our emotions, rather than feeling a victim of others behaviours. 

If we can control our emotions, ultimately we can control our health (epigenetics). . . and, control our lives.

Try This Experiential Exercise

Take a stethoscope (or a children's toy stethoscope as long as it works), and simply sit and relax for about 10 minutes and listen to your heart beating. The first time I did this, it blew me away. The sound of my heart beating, I found was exceptionally humbling and relaxing. 

Note: if you don't have a stethoscope, you can make a DIY stethoscope with two small funnels and a piece of pipe.

Further Information

1. Why you feel what you feel | Dr Alan Watkins | TEDxOxford 2015 
2. Autistic people listen to their hearts to test anti-anxiety therapy - Guardian 14 December 2018