Interoception: The Sense Most of Us Were Never Taught

If someone asked you right now what you’re feeling in your body, could you answer straight away? Not what you’re thinking — what you’re actually feeling, physically, in this moment. For a lot of people, that question is surprisingly hard to answer. That’s interoception, and it’s genuinely one of my favourite things to talk about in sessions, because so few of us were ever taught it.

So, what actually is it?

Interoception is your ability to notice and make sense of signals coming from inside your own body — things like hunger, a racing heart, tight shoulders, a lump in your throat, or that vague, hard-to-name feeling that something’s not quite right. We’re taught about our five senses constantly growing up — sight, sound, taste, touch, smell — but almost nobody teaches us this one, even though it might be one of the most important.

Some people have quite strong interoception and notice these signals easily. Others — often people who’ve had to override their body’s signals for a long time, whether through trauma, chronic busyness, or simply never being encouraged to check in — can find it genuinely difficult to feel what’s going on inside them at all.

Why this matters more than it sounds

Here’s the thing: your emotions aren’t purely mental events. Anxiety isn’t just a thought — it’s also a racing heart, shallow breathing, tight shoulders. Anger isn’t just an idea — it’s heat, tension, clenched hands. If you can’t sense these physical signals, it’s much harder to catch an emotion early, before it’s already taken over.

What weak interoception can look like day to day

It’s not always dramatic. It can look like:

• Not realising you’re hungry, tired, or unwell until you’re quite far into it
• Being genuinely surprised by your own anger or tears, as if they came from nowhere
• Struggling to answer “how are you feeling” honestly, because you’re just not sure
• Pushing through physical discomfort for a long time without registering it

If any of that sounds familiar, please know it’s not a personal failing. It’s often a learned pattern, and like most learned patterns, it can be gently unlearned.

How this shows up in counselling

In session, I’ll sometimes slow things right down and ask what someone’s noticing in their body — not to be clinical about it, but because that information is often more honest and more immediate than what our thinking mind comes up with. Over time, this kind of gentle noticing can build interoceptive awareness, almost like strengthening a muscle you didn’t know you had.

This isn’t about becoming hyper-focused on every bodily sensation. It’s about building enough of a connection to your body that it can tell you things early — before overwhelm, before burnout, before you’re too deep into a feeling to see it clearly.

Where to start, in your own time

If you want to start building this on your own, it can be as simple as pausing a few times a day and asking, without judgement, “what am I noticing in my body right now?” No need for a perfect answer. Just the noticing itself is the practice.