Originally published March 10, 2026
Explore the ABCs of interoception with 26 short, practical ideas for understanding body signals, regulation, safety, communication, and daily life.
Interoception is often described as our sense of how the body feels on the inside. Sometimes called the body awareness sense or the eighth sense, it helps us notice signals coming from inside the body. Interoception shapes so much of our daily lives, including communication, safety, regulation, trauma support, participation in everyday activities, and how we respond when someone is struggling. Understanding body signals is one of the most important parts of this process. Let’s explore this sense from A to Z.
The ABCs of Interoception
Interoception impacts many aspects of everyday life. The examples below highlight 26 ways
body signals, curiosity, safety, and support can shape how we understand and respond to
what is happening inside the body.
A is for Automatic Interoception Communication
Behaviors like screaming “no,” pushing something away, running from the room, or biting a hand can be forms of automatic interoception communication, the body innately expressing discomfort, overwhelm, fear, pain, or confusion. These signals deserve belief and curiosity (not compliance!) so we can better support what the body might need.
B is for Body Signals
We all have different body signals. For example, when thirsty, some people notice dry lips, headaches, dizziness, or scratchy throats, while others may not notice thirst signals until thirst becomes extreme. Some people may not notice any signals at all.
C is for Curiosity
Curiosity is at the heart of interoception. Many people spend years being told their feelings are wrong, too big, too small, or should look a certain way. When we get loud about the truth that there is no wrong way to feel, however, something shifts, and people can begin exploring their body signals and discovering their own unique inner experience.
D is for Distress is Data About the Environment
Distress is often treated as a problem inside the person, but frequently it is interoceptive data about the environments surrounding them. When we widen the lens to consider the inner, immediate, and systems environments, we often uncover new paths for support.
E is for Emotions & Alexithymia
Alexithymia is usually defined as difficulty identifying and describing emotions, but I sometimes wonder whether it actually should be difficulty identifying and describing emotions in a neuronormative way. Many people know something is happening inside, but need more time, space, or different supports to understand and express their inner experience.
Let’s be clear, this process can be very hard for some people, so this comment in no way seeks to minimize that. But for others, is the difficulty really in identifying emotions or is it in the differences in how one comes to do this?
F is for Felt Safety
The body needs to feel safe before it can focus on noticing itself. When adults offer felt safety, they communicate something powerful: your needs are accepted, your experience is valid, and it is okay to express what your body is communicating.
G is for Give it Time
When someone says, “I don’t know how my body feels,” or “I feel fine,” or “my body feels okay,” it does not mean they are not trying. Often, interoception work requires undoing before the doing. Undoing pressure, disconnection, and environments where inner experiences were dismissed or ignored.
H is for Honoring Hard Days
Our body’s capacity changes from day to day, influenced by sleep, stress, illness, sensory input, and environment. Interoception invites a shift toward noticing body signals, respecting limits, and building systems where bodies can be honored instead of overridden.
I is for “I Wonder”
“I wonder” statements help us move away from assuming what someone else is feeling and toward curiosity about body signals. They invite exploration in a way that can fit each unique person and moment.
J is for Justice
Epistemic justice is about believing people when they describe their inner experience, spoken or unspoken. When body signals are repeatedly denied or corrected, people can begin to doubt their own internal experiences, which is why interoception asks us to honor the knower and believe the body.
K is for Keep the Body in Mind
Behavior is visible, but the body is underneath it. Interoception keeps the body in mind, gets curious about the source of distress, and invites supports that do not force someone to endure discomfort.
L is for Language & Interoception
People describe their inner experiences in many different ways. Body signals may be expressed through images, animals, textures, movement, or stories. The body has many languages, and they are all valid and correct.
M is for Modeling
Interoception modeling helps adults narrate their own Body-Action process out loud, which makes an invisible process visible for children. It also often leads adults to their own epiphanies about just how hard interoception work can be!
N is for “No”
When a child’s body says no and we override it with compliance, we rehearse a dangerous lesson: Silence your inner warning system. Interoception reminds us that “no” is often protective. It is a signal of discomfort, fear, overwhelm, or a need for safety.
O is for Occupations Need Interoception
Interoception is not just about emotions; it helps guide participation in many everyday occupations, including: toileting, eating, sleep, sexuality, parenting, leisure, school, work, healthcare management, etc. Body signals provide clues that help us adjust, care for our bodies, and participate in daily life.
P is for Playful Experiments
One of the foundations of The Interoception Curriculum is exploring body signals through playful Focus Area Experiments. These playful moments create opportunities to notice body signals, build understanding, and grow trust in inner experience without pressure for a “right” answer.
Q is for Questions That Encourage Body Curiosity
Curious questions can open the door to noticing body signals. These questions can be offered without expecting an answer, simply to create space for someone to notice their body in their own time.
R is for Regulation & Fair Expectations
Many self-regulation goals depend on the interoception bridge: the ability to notice body signals, understand what they mean, and recognize what the body needs. Without that bridge, the expectation becomes unfair, and compliance pressure often gives the child the exact opposite of what their body needs.
S is for Suppression
Sometimes what looks like progress is actually suppression. When distress becomes less visible because a child has learned to survive compliance by hiding it, the body may stay quiet for a while… But eventually, it screams.
T is for Trauma Lives in the Body
Trauma leaves its mark not just on the brain, but on the nervous system and body sensations. Research shows that trauma can affect interoceptive processing, which can influence emotion awareness, regulation capacity, and the sense of safety inside the body.
U is for Unique
One of the most important things we learn about interoception is that each body is unique. People can do the exact same experiment and notice completely different things (or nothing at all!) and every response is the right answer for that body.
V is for Validation
Validation is one of the most important parts of interoception work because it lets someone know their inner experience is heard and believed. It can look like repeating what someone shared, writing it down, following up with curiosity, allowing refusal, or letting someone keep exploring.
W is for Work
For many people, interoception is real work. Noticing how the body feels, feeling safe enough to explore those signals, and sharing those experiences with others can be vulnerable, intimidating, and effortful, and that deserves validation.
X is for eXperiments
A core part of interoception work is Focus Area Experiments: structured opportunities to practice noticing body signals. Because coming up with experiment ideas can be hard, we created ready-to-use resources filled with interoception experiments for therapy, classrooms, and home.
Y is for Your Inner Experience Is Correct and Valid
Many people grow up learning to question, hide, or override what their body feels. Interoception invites a different starting point: your inner experience is correct and valid, and your body’s signals are worthy of curiosity and validation.
Z is for Zoom Out
Potty learning is one clear example of why interoception matters, because noticing fullness, pressure, or urgency is only one piece of the puzzle. When we zoom out and listen to both the body and the environment (noise, privacy, predictability, comfort, and safety), toileting struggles often make much more sense.
What the ABCs of Interoception Teach Us
When you step back and look across these ideas, one thing becomes clear: interoception is not just about noticing hunger, thirst, or emotions.
Interoception shapes how people experience safety, communicate discomfort, understand their needs, and participate in everyday life.
For some people, body signals are easy to notice and understand. For others, they may appear late, feel confusing, or go unnoticed entirely. And sometimes body signals make perfect sense once we zoom out and consider the environments surrounding a person.
This is why interoception work is not about teaching people the “right” way to feel.
It is about:
- believing body signals
- creating felt safety
- honoring differences in how people experience their bodies
- adjusting environments when distress appears
- and approaching inner experiences with curiosity instead of compliance.
When we begin to understand body signals this way, new paths for support often emerge.
Until next time, Kelly.
