WHAT'S YOUR BODY TRYING TO TELL YOU?

Sometimes your body notices something before you've found the words.

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately felt uncomfortable?

Nothing particularly obvious has happened. Nobody has said anything unpleasant. There's no apparent reason to feel uneasy.

But something doesn't feel quite right.

Perhaps your stomach tightens.

Your shoulders creep towards your ears.

Your chest feels heavy.

Or you experience that peculiar sensation in the pit of your stomach that seems to say, "I'm not entirely sure about this."

Then again, perhaps you've met someone and immediately felt relaxed.

Your shoulders drop. Your breathing slows. You feel comfortable, even though you've only known them for ten minutes.

What's going on?

Is your body picking up something your conscious mind hasn't yet recognised?

Possibly.

But does that mean your body is always right?

Absolutely not.

Your body can give you useful information about how you're responding to the world. The trick is learning to listen without assuming every sensation tells the whole story.

Your body and brain are constantly communicating

We often talk about our minds and bodies as though they're two separate things.

Our mind does the thinking.

Our body does the moving.

And occasionally the body complains about something, usually involving knees, backs or the consequences of gardening.

But the relationship is far more interconnected.

Your brain is constantly receiving information from your body.

Your heart rate, breathing, digestion, muscle tension, temperature and other internal processes all contribute to how you experience yourself and the world.

At the same time, your brain helps regulate these systems in response to what it perceives.

When you feel anxious, your heart might race.

When you're embarrassed, your face might become hot.

When you're excited, you might feel butterflies in your stomach.

When you're relaxed, your muscles may soften and your breathing may become slower.

These responses are part of the ongoing conversation between your brain and body.

And much of that conversation happens without deliberate conscious thought.

Meet interoception

Interoception is the process through which the nervous system senses, interprets and integrates signals from inside the body.

It contributes to experiences such as hunger, thirst, heartbeat, breathing, fullness, temperature and other internal sensations.

It also plays a role in how we experience emotions.

For example, anxiety might involve a racing heart, shallow breathing and a tight stomach.

Excitement might involve some remarkably similar sensations.

The physical experience isn't always enough to tell us which emotion we're feeling.

Context matters.

Our expectations matter.

Our past experiences matter.

And the meaning we attach to those sensations matters.

The body provides signals. The brain helps interpret what those signals mean.

That interpretation can be useful — but it isn't always accurate.

Why do we feel things in our stomach?

Have you ever described having a gut feeling?

A knot in your stomach?

Butterflies?

Feeling sick with worry?

There's a reason so many emotional expressions involve our digestive system.

The gut and brain communicate through several pathways, including the autonomic nervous system, hormones and immune signalling.

Stress and emotional arousal can influence digestion, gut movement and the sensations we experience in our abdomen.

So when you're nervous before an important conversation, your stomach may respond.

And when you're excited about something, you might experience butterflies.

Interestingly, the same person may notice similar sensations repeatedly in a particular area of their body.

One person might experience anxiety as tightness in their upper abdomen, around the solar plexus.

Another might feel it in their chest.

Someone else might notice their jaw clenching, their throat tightening or their shoulders becoming tense.

There isn't one universal bodily map that applies to everybody.

And not every stomach sensation is emotional. Sometimes it's simply indigestion.

A rather important distinction, particularly after a large Sunday lunch.

Your body may respond before you've consciously worked things out

Here's where things become particularly interesting.

Our brains are constantly processing information, much of it outside conscious awareness.

We notice facial expressions, changes in tone, patterns of behaviour, body language and details in our surroundings.

We may not consciously register every piece of information.

But our nervous system can still respond to aspects of the situation.

Perhaps someone's tone reminds you of a previous difficult experience.

Perhaps a particular environment feels familiar in an uncomfortable way.

Perhaps you're picking up subtle signs of tension in a conversation.

You may experience a physical response before you've identified exactly what triggered it.

That doesn't mean your body has uncovered a hidden truth.

It means your response may contain information worth exploring, even when you can't immediately explain it.

The conscious explanation may come later.

Or you may discover that the response was influenced by something entirely different.

Why certain people seem to trigger physical reactions

Have you ever noticed that being around a particular person changes how you feel physically?

Perhaps you become tense before they even speak.

Your stomach tightens when their name appears on your phone.

You feel unusually alert, guarded or self-conscious in their company.

Or perhaps the opposite happens.

You feel calmer, lighter and more at ease when someone walks into the room.

Our relationships can become associated with emotional and physiological responses through experience and learning.

If previous interactions with someone have involved criticism, conflict or unpredictability, you might begin anticipating those experiences.

Your body may respond to that anticipation.

Equally, people associated with comfort, warmth and reassurance may become cues for feeling more relaxed.

But there's an important distinction.

Feeling uncomfortable around someone doesn't automatically mean they're dangerous, dishonest or bad for you.

Your response may reflect the current interaction.

It may reflect past experiences.

It may reflect your own uncertainty.

Or it may involve several factors at once.

Rather than jumping straight to a conclusion, you might ask:

"What happens in my body when I'm around this person?"

"When did I first notice this response?"

"What have I actually observed about their behaviour?"

"Could there be another explanation?"

That's self-awareness rather than fortune-telling.

Your body isn't a lie detector

There's a popular idea that you should always trust your gut.

Sometimes that's helpful advice.

But it's incomplete.

Physical sensations can be influenced by anxiety, stress, fatigue, illness, medication, hunger, caffeine, hormones and previous experiences.

A racing heart might mean you're frightened.

Or excited.

Or you've had three strong coffees and walked briskly upstairs.

A tight stomach might signal worry about a conversation.

Or it might mean you ate something that disagreed with you.

Feeling uncomfortable in a situation might mean an important boundary has been crossed.

Or it might mean you're doing something unfamiliar that challenges an old fear.

A feeling is real as an experience. But the explanation you give it may not be accurate.

That's worth remembering.

Our bodies don't provide infallible verdicts about other people, our relationships or the future.

They provide information that we can consider alongside our observations, reasoning and experience.

And your conscious thoughts aren't always right either

Here's the other side of the equation.

We can become so focused on whether our bodily feelings are accurate that we forget something equally important.

Our conscious thoughts aren't necessarily accurate either.

We might think:

"Everyone thinks I'm incompetent."

"That person doesn't like me."

"I'm definitely going to fail."

"Something terrible is going to happen."

These thoughts may feel convincing.

But feeling convinced isn't the same as having evidence.

The brain is constantly interpreting information, making predictions and filling in gaps.

Sometimes those interpretations are helpful.

Sometimes they're distorted by worry, assumptions or past experiences.

So perhaps the goal isn't to decide whether we should trust the body or the mind.

Perhaps it's to become more curious about both.

What am I feeling?

What am I thinking?

What do I actually know?

And what might I be assuming?

The difference between intuition and anxiety

People often describe intuition as a quiet sense of knowing and anxiety as something louder and more urgent.

That distinction can feel useful, but it isn't scientifically reliable.

Intuition isn't always calm.

Anxiety isn't always dramatic.

And there isn't a simple physical test that tells us which one we're experiencing.

A better approach might be to explore the response rather than immediately label it.

For example:

"I'm noticing tension in my stomach when I think about accepting this job."

What might that mean?

Perhaps the role genuinely doesn't suit you.

Perhaps you're afraid of change.

Perhaps you're worried about disappointing someone.

Perhaps the salary isn't enough.

Perhaps you're excited and nervous at the same time.

Your physical response might be the starting point for an important conversation with yourself.

But it doesn't have to be the final answer.

Sometimes the body tells us we're reaching our limits

One of the most practical applications of body awareness is recognising stress.

Perhaps you've been pushing yourself for weeks.

You're managing work, family responsibilities, relationships and an endless collection of things that need doing.

You keep telling yourself you're fine.

But your shoulders are permanently tense.

You're getting headaches.

Your sleep is disrupted.

Your stomach feels unsettled.

You're increasingly irritable.

These symptoms aren't proof of one particular psychological problem, and persistent or unexplained physical symptoms deserve appropriate medical attention.

But they may be clues that your current demands are affecting you.

Sometimes we become so accustomed to being busy that we stop noticing how we're feeling.

Body awareness can provide an opportunity to ask:

"How am I actually doing?"

"Am I giving myself enough rest?"

"What might I need right now?"

And perhaps the answer isn't another productivity technique.

Perhaps it's a day off.

What a revolutionary concept.

Can we become better at noticing these signals?

Yes, although there's an important balance.

Practices such as mindfulness, gentle movement, breathing exercises and body scans can help some people become more aware of physical sensations.

For example, you might notice how your shoulders respond during a difficult conversation.

Or how your breathing changes when you're rushing.

Or whether you feel physically more relaxed after spending time outdoors.

Pilates, yoga and other mindful movement practices may also offer opportunities to pay attention to posture, breathing, muscle tension and movement.

However, more body monitoring isn't always better.

For people who experience health anxiety, panic symptoms or certain trauma-related difficulties, focusing intensely on bodily sensations can sometimes increase distress.

The aim isn't to scrutinise every heartbeat or stomach rumble.

It's to develop a flexible, compassionate awareness of how you're feeling.

And to recognise when it's more helpful to direct your attention outwards.

What does the psychology and neuroscience tell us?

Research offers several useful insights.

Interoception: Scientists recognise that sensing and interpreting internal bodily signals plays an important role in emotion, bodily regulation and our sense of self.

Emotion and the body: Emotional experiences involve interactions between brain processes, bodily changes, context and interpretation.

Nonconscious processing: The brain processes some information without conscious awareness, and this can influence physiological responses and behaviour. However, a bodily response doesn't prove that an unconscious judgement is correct.

Learning and associations: Previous experiences can influence how we respond emotionally and physically to particular people, places and situations.

Body awareness: Mindfulness and related practices can influence how some people attend to and interpret internal experiences, although research findings vary and these approaches aren't universally beneficial.

The key message is that bodily sensations can be meaningful without being infallible.

A little coaching reflection

Think about a recent situation in which you noticed a strong physical response.

Perhaps a conversation, a decision, an interaction with someone or an unfamiliar experience.

1. What did I notice in my body?

Tension, warmth, tightness, butterflies, heaviness, changes in breathing or something else?

2. Where did I feel it?

My stomach, chest, throat, shoulders, jaw or another area?

3. What was happening at the time?

What was the situation, and who was involved?

4. What thoughts accompanied the sensation?

What story was I telling myself?

5. What might my body have been responding to?

Stress, excitement, uncertainty, a previous experience, an unmet need or something else?

6. What do I actually know?

What evidence supports my interpretation? What other explanations might be possible?

7. What would be a helpful next step?

Do I need more information, a conversation, rest, reassurance, a boundary or simply time to reflect?

Try this: Pause, notice, explore

The next time you experience a noticeable physical response in an everyday situation, try this short exercise.

Pause.

If it's safe and comfortable to do so, take a moment before reacting.

Notice.

What physical sensations are present?

You might say to yourself:

"I'm noticing tightness in my stomach."

"My shoulders feel tense."

"My breathing has become quicker."

Name, tentatively.

What emotion might be present?

"I'm wondering whether I'm anxious."

"Perhaps I'm feeling pressured."

"Maybe I'm excited."

Explore.

What might have triggered this response?

What evidence do I have?

Could there be another explanation?

Choose.

What would be a useful response?

Perhaps asking a question.

Taking a break.

Setting a boundary.

Having a conversation.

Or simply allowing the sensation to pass without needing to do anything about it.

Remember, you don't have to solve every feeling.

Sometimes noticing it is enough.

A final thought

Our bodies are extraordinary.

They're constantly responding to what's happening within us and around us, often without our conscious involvement.

They can tell us when we're hungry, tired, excited, stressed or physically uncomfortable.

And sometimes they may draw our attention to an emotional response before we've found the words to describe it.

But they're not crystal balls.

A knot in your stomach doesn't automatically mean something bad is about to happen.

A racing heart doesn't necessarily mean you're afraid.

And feeling uncomfortable around someone doesn't, by itself, tell you what kind of person they are.

What these sensations can offer is an invitation to become curious.

To notice.

To reflect.

To ask questions.

To recognise that our emotional lives aren't confined to the thoughts running through our heads.

Your body doesn't always know the answer. But sometimes it helps you discover the question.

And occasionally, of course, what it's trying to tell you is simply that you need lunch.

It's worth checking that possibility before making any major life decisions.

Sources and further reading

• Khalsa, S. S. et al. (2018). Interoception and Mental Health: A Roadmap. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(6), 501–513.

• Craig, A. D. (2002). How Do You Feel? Interoception: The Sense of the Physiological Condition of the Body.Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3, 655–666.

• Critchley, H. D. & Garfinkel, S. N. (2017). Interoception and Emotion. Current Opinion in Psychology, 17, 7–14.

• Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. Putnam.

• Mehling, W. E. et al. (2012). The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). PLOS ONE, 7(11), e48230.

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