The Inner Sense of Interoception

Every so often a piece of knowledge I have sought out to help me in my parenting becomes front of mind in my work. In August, it was an article in the Guardian by David Robson entitled “Interoception: the hidden sense that shapes wellbeing”.

I found out about interoception (which my spellcheck is determined to reset to ‘interception‘) whilst trying to understand my son’s struggles to regulate his behaviour at school. Bright, sociable and empathetic, his autism shows up in his frustrations with others, his aggressive outbursts and his continual distraction from task.

As a baby I would have to remove anything from his immediate vicinity that could be in any way interesting in order for him to submit to sleep and even in near clinical conditions he would still struggle to drift off. It was when he was a toddler that we started to notice that his behaviour would worsen significantly when he needed to go to the loo, or was hot…or cold…or hungry – and it wasn’t until he was 8 and I was reading furiously to try to understand how to help him socially, that I came across the term interoception and things started to click into place.

Interoception is the perception of the internal state of one’s body – awareness of heartbeat, balance, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, muscle tension. It is gathered by tiny sensors throughout the body and sent to the brain to enable us to regulate our bodies effectively. There is increasing evidence to suggest impairment in this network of sensors, or in it’s communication with the brain, in those on the spectrum.

Where it gets even more interesting is when you read on to find that the sensors picking up temperature, heartbeat, muscle tension etc etc…are also clues to how we perceive emotion. We recognise, identify and even differentiate our emotional experiences based on these interoceptive messages coming from our bodies. When our heartbeat races, we feel anxiety. When our skin tingles we might feel fear, or excitement. Interoception has a huge part to play in our ability to identify, regulate and manage our emotional state. In fact impairments in interoception are one of the fundamental mechanisms implicated in Alexithymia – a disorder characterised by difficulties in recognising and reporting on one’s own emotions.

For my son, this means that the end of almost every movie is characterised by rolling around, kicking out and constant movement. The muscle tension we feel in the emotional climax of the story – which we might call sadness, or excitement, or fear, he experiences as a desire to move – something he calls “fidgetysilly” – and it makes him intensely anxious because he knows his behaviour is potentially inappropriate, especially in a cinema!

Interoception is now one of the fastest moving research areas in neuroscience. Prof Manos Tsakiris, a psychologist at Royal Holloway, University of London talks of “a constant communication dialogue between the brain and the viscera”.

The vast majority of this dialogue occurs at a physiological level – not only below conscious awareness but in advance of any sense of emotion – essentially a pre-cognitive awareness. It’s only as the brain begins to interpret these messages into emotional signals that we experience what we might call a ‘feeling’ which may then inform our choices and behaviours.

Scientists are now recognising how interoception underpins our ability to problem solve effectively, to intuit and empathise, to plan and to think creatively. Within that continual chatter between body and brain are vital clues to help us monitor both our mental and physical wellbeing – from maintaining our focus and motivation, to responding appropriately to challenges from our colleagues; from building confidence to take risks, to managing stress and anxiety at work; from the amount of water we drink daily, to the number of breaks we take or the way we sit at our desks.

So paying attention to message from our inner sensors is critical – research on depression suggests that those suffering from low mood are poorer at detecting changes to their own heartbeat, perhaps explaining that sense of emotional numbness and de-personalisation associated with the condition. But alas it’s not quite as simple as that; patients identified with anxiety are fully aware of their own heartbeat changes – but where tuning in should support their mental health, they often amplify these changes and ‘catastrophise’ their significance – seeing a small change in heartbeat as bigger than it is.

So how do we flex our ‘interoceptive muscles’ and increase our effective use of this constant dialogue?
So far, research does suggest positive results from ‘interoceptive therapies” including heartbeat detection tasks, interpreting emotions in speech and mindful attention to internal sensations – but there is perhaps an easier way to build your muscle…

Researchers have found that maintaining physical fitness (particularly srength based training) can help effective interoception. When we lose fitness through lack of exercise, we experience higher heart rates (and more post exercise pain like DOMS) following any form of physical or emotional challenges than we might if we maintain physical fitness. The brain is prone to interpret these sensations as being due to anxiety – rather than to physical movement – with a resulting impact on mental health. Essentially by building a body that can cope with strain…we begin to build a mind that can do the same. The more in tune we become with our physical movement, sensations, balance and bodily needs, the more we are able to feel in charge of our emotions, behaviours and social interactions.

My son is 11 now and we are increasingly aware of how intensely he experiences physical sensations from both the external and internal environment. If we can help him to interpret and respond to these effectively I am confident he will continue to grow in his ability to manage the emotions and behaviours they give rise to. In the meantime, I’m going to go and lift some weights in readiness for helping my clients navigate their own emotional journeys.

Quick tips to improve your Interoception:

• Pay attention to how your body feels. Before you get up in the morning, notice your breathing. Notice where there is muscle tension or pressure in any organs or tissue. Develop a habit of tuning into your body regularly throughout the day – perhaps in each transition between activities.
• Develop a habit of regular exercise – weight or strength training is not just for body builders. It is for any age or ability. Pick up a 2l bottle of water, push an old tyre, pull a chair or heavy cushion – better still join a gym or a yoga/pilates class. At the very least start walking, cycling, moving more!
• Notice your emotions more – do some journalling of how your feelings changes over time. It doesn’t have to be an essay every day. 5 minutes of easy reflection can be a really powerful way to get better acquainted with how, when and why your emotional states fluctuate.

Open Space postponed

Based on the feedback from the Open Space survey I have decided to postpone the event scheduled for 19th November 2015.

Whilst most of the respondents who gave their views wanted the event to continue in 2015 to enable a discussion which other forums do not represent, the level of response suggested that the timing is not right for this stage of the dialogue to begin.
That said it has opened some new conversations and sparked some new activities and I do not expect this event to go away – far from it I would love to see you signed up to come along when we reschedule in Q1/2 2016. Until then – keep talking.

A question about the Ipswich Open Space event…

The intent of Open Space is to bring together people who care about a specific question to discuss, engage in and take action upon that issue. Asking the question can itself highlight some complex dynamics surrounding the issue and has done just that in our case – to my mind this simply reconfirms the complexity of the question and the need to work together to solve it.

However….I want to run an event for Ipswich that is valuable and have given my time for free to that end. I am aware that there are a number of other activities and events taking place in parallel to this Open Space and it is my sense that to continue with our own event at this time would not fit with a spirit of collaboration and an avoidance of duplication.

In the spirit of Open Space I would like to gather your views on the way forward before I make any changes. I have kept it simple and very very quick – you can share your view by clicking https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OpenSpace.

You are welcome to forward the questions to others if you feel they have a view we should capture but please only click the link if you really care about Ipswich and it’s future.

We have over 30 of the great and good of Ipswich already signed up so there is clearly energy and reason to have the dialogue…the question here is when and where.
Thank you for getting involved

Becoming a Warrior

In September my eldest son starts school.  I find it hard to believe that its been 5 years since my life as I knew it was turned upside-down and inside out by the realisation that the bus I had been driving for so long now had passengers…with views of their own!  To see him dressed up in his new uniform ready to build his own bus and start to drive it…based on observation of his newly acquired stabiliser-free cycling…is terrifying and satisfying all at once.  With my youngest bringing up the rear with constant questions and narrative about the world…I am starting to remember where I was going when this all started and am quietly pleased that in fact the holding pattern that I put in place back in 2009 has actually stood me in pretty good stead.  I am still self employed, I still have money in the bank and in the business, I am still in contact and working with many of the same clients, and in fact I have learned an awful lot about myself, emotional intelligence, resilience and mindfulness as well as leadership and organisational development along the way.  I have built new friendships and grown new skills in staff engagement, surveymonkey and bullying and harassment (training not applying!) at Colchester Hospital, been trained in Open Space facilitation and Dialogue by the amazing Sheila Marsh and Roma Iskander at the Participation Agency, designed new courses with Dr Angela Smith with some great exercises, and helped my husband set up the beginnings of a route out of the rat race.

This week I made a big step forward though…I have joined Sam Pollock’s amazing Warrior Woman programme – a weights-based, holistic, female only route to building not only my fitness, but also my commitment, courage and strength to get back to who I need to be.  I have pushed ‘prowlers’, strained towards my toes and hollered my way towards a successful pull up (yes just the one).  My goal?  To regain my own freedom of spirit.  My measure? The ability to hang from a climbing wall overhang and calmly lift my feet up to where I want them.

Talking about Growth

Yesterday I met a wonderful couple at their home south of Manchester to talk with them about their work in the field of facilitating dialogue.  Janice and Phil McNamara from Summerhouses have, over the last few years, travelled an inspiring journey together and now work together using their diverse experiences and background to help schools, colleges and organisations improve the dialogues they share.  As someone who is also passionate about this field, it seemed bordering on criminal not to catch up with them to talk.

As the tea flowed and we nattered, the openness and authenticity of our communication enabled me to reflect on my own journey and the challenges and gifts that have shaped that journey.  It brought to mind something my partner has often repeated to me in my moments of fear and growth:

“A man found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared stuck.

The man decided to help the butterfly and with a pair of scissors he cut open the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shrivelled wings. The man watched the butterfly expecting it to take on its correct proportions. But nothing changed.

The butterfly stayed the same. It was never able to fly. In his kindness and haste the man did not realise that the butterfly’s struggle to get through the small opening of the cocoon is nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight.

Like the sapling which grows strong from being buffeted by the wind, in life we all need to struggle sometimes to make us strong.” – from Ack Paul Matthews

The description of my day that I had given to my partner which prompted him to repeat this wisdom once more was “somedays it feels like I am standing on a bar-stool trying to pin something to the ceiling!”. Those days are tough days to get through and I find myself testing all my resilience capabilities to find the courage and faith to move forward. I equally find that I learn more in those days than I could ever have imagined – and meet the most amazing people travelling similar paths.

To stick with the butterfly metaphor, each time I feel the urge to cut the cocoon and take the easy way, I reach out and connect with new travellers; I beat more blood into my wings and it reinforces my sense that I am travelling the right way…both in direction and in pace.

A weekend filled with Dialogue!

I am exhausted!! I have just finished my first module of the ITS NLP Coaching Certificate. Having been coaching for several years and started to see the slowly constricting legislative belt around the practice, I felt it was long overdue to get myself the tick in the box. More importantly, it has been a little while since I immersed myself in the intense, eye-opening, warm embrace of the ITS training programmes and I wanted my fix. I certainly got it 😉

ITS is the only NLP certification programme I know taught to 100+ pupils at one time using 1/2 speakers and around 7 assistants. When I first did my Practitioner training back in 2001 (my my is it that long ago?) I found it not dissimilar to my first experience of Glastonbury – the requirement to become close to and form some kind of bond with a vast array of faces in a very short space of time. It was exhausting. The model is based on the concept that the presence of such a large group both extends greater potential to learn from others, and broader experience of the wealth of human diversity. I still have many good friends from those weekends in the Polish Centre in Ravenscourt Park – and a huge store of good memories too. Whilst the course has its critics (often non-ITS trained Practitioners – loyalty in these courses grows fast!) I went back in 2004 for my Master Practitioner and on Thursday I re-entered the fold and began my route to ICF Certification. After 5hrs a day of listening, watching, feeling and practicing, plus an extra 2 hrs spent networking, co-creating and generally meeting an endless stream of new faces I have a to do list as long as my street and a buzzing energy to move forward…coupled beautifully with the desire to sleep for about a week 😉

And just in case I had not spent enough time during my days in focussed attentive learning, I chose to spend my tube journeys reading the full text of David Bohm. This has by contrast to the ITS sessions required the dislocation of my normal attention to detail and the ability to let my mind enter the wide and fast flowing stream of consciousness that is David’s way of writing. To attempt to correctly position every concept and each connection is to condemn oneself to eternal mental spaghetti…which given my days’ activities is not far from my state anyway!!

So for all those with whom I interact and connect with over the next couple of days…my profuse apologies if my eyes seem a little glazed and my handshake a little flimsy…I am still hearing you and I am still with you – its simply the fluffy clouds of exhaustion I am peering through. 😉

On Dialogue

David Bohm – “On Dialogue” and “Thought as a System” are by my bed along with William Isaacs “Dialogue and the art of Thinking Together”. Yet another example of the guide appearing just when the pupil is ready, I picked up these books just when I need them most for both my personal and professional life.

David Bohm: “..the general tacit assumption in thought is that it’s just telling you the way things are and that it’s not doing anything – that ‘you’ are inside there, deciding what to do with the info. But you don’t decide what to do with the info. Thought runs you. Thought, however, gives false info that you are running it, that you are the one who controls thought. Whereas actually thought is the one which controls each one of us. Thought is creating divisions out of itself and then saying that they are there naturally. This is another major feature of thought: Thought doesn’t know it is doing something and then it struggles against what it is doing. It doesn’t want to know that it is doing it. And thought struggles against the results, trying to avoid those unpleasant results while keeping on with that way of thinking. That is what I call “sustained incoherence”.

William Isaacs: “..When I learned physics in high school I was taught to think of atoms as a set of microscopic billiard balls zooming past one another and sometimes colliding at high speeds. That image seems to fit the way most people interact when they’re talking about difficult issues. They zoom past each other. Or they collide abruptly and then veer away. These collisions create friction…..we respond to it by tryng to cool things down, to at least get to “maybe”, to compromise. We never learn to live over time in close context with the heat…”

Both Bohm and Isaacs have worked across a huge scientific community in search of a means by which they can address what they both see as a fundamental flaw in current communication practices – the lack of true open dialogue between people. I cannot agree more….and am reading on.