What is interoception?
I’ve spent the last few years diving into everything I can that will support our family through the ups and downs of a home filled with neurodiversity. It can be a hot mess and you can also learn so much about yourself through ah-ha moments that fill your cup.
What you’ll read and see here on Substack is that I’m a problem solver looking for tools that will make my life, my families lives, my clients lives and your life better. Better = regulated/calm.
I don’t believe there is one solution for managing life with neurodiversity, but there are a lot of helpful tools out there and if we create that awareness in our own lives it can have a profoundly positive effect on ourselves and those around us.
So you came here for the interoception, let’s talk about it. Interoception is about awareness. It is the path between what a body part feels and the emotion triggered which can lead to developing each of our own self regulation tools.
Interoception is taken for granted by those who have a clear connection. For those of us with a neurodiverse make-up interoception can be very challenging. The message that tells anyone of our body parts what is being sensed can have a mixed or confusing message and it isn’t until we create awareness and space for the awareness that we realize the message wasn’t there before or was coming in such a loud or angry or annoying or hurtful or quiet or traumatic way that we didn’t see it for what it was.
The interoception equation is body + emotion = action. What does that really mean?
By understanding and “hearing” our senses and the emotions that those senses create we can move to a place where we have awareness that connects the dots and creates room for ourselves to be regulated.
A tip… as you start trying to work on interoception… remember none of us are perfect and we will never get it right every single time. For me interoception and the path to self regulation starts with the all important pause. If I feel dysregulated or if I see someone around me becoming dysregulated I take a moment for myself (I try to). Why? Because that pause gives you a clear moment to ask that exact question. Why is this happening? Why now? Did something change? This pause may be all you need because you might notice that you have a headache or the start of one, maybe you haven’t eaten or ate too much, maybe the person you are with is experiencing those same ailments. And see what we did right there… we became aware of our body which was connected to an emotion and we used that awareness to pause before reacting. And just like that we are starting the interoception adventure.
Need more information and don’t want to wait on the posts, you can connect with me for one-on-one coaching sessions for yourself or a family member at haystackhouse.ca. I book phone sessions where we work on each step of discovering interoception to lead a regulated life.
Haystack House is located on the traditional territory of the Lhtako Dene First Nation, in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. We are regular visitors to the coastal areas of BC and Vancouver Island.