Hi Everyone! I’m Kelly Mahler, occupational therapist, and today I want to talk about how to get the most out of interoception activities—activities that help nurture connection, understanding, and trust in our internal body signals.
Below, I’m sharing five tips designed to make interoception activities more effective, inclusive, and meaningful for the people we’re supporting—whether that’s your clients, students, children, or even yourself on your own interoception journey (like me!).
Let’s dive in!
How Do I “Teach” Interoception Effectively?
One of the most common questions I get is: How do I teach interoception effectively?
Here’s the thing—interoception isn’t something we can “teach” in the traditional sense. That’s because each person’s inner experience is deeply personal and unique. Instead, we can offer structured interoception activities that invite exploration, helping each person learn more about their own body signals in a supported and meaningful way.
Many of my favorite interoception activities are part of The Interoception Curriculum, a flexible framework for noticing, understanding, and regulating body signals. Whether you’re new to the Curriculum, have been using it for years, or are following your own interoception path, I hope the tips below offer helpful guidance for your journey.
Tip 1: Ditch the Emotion Words—For Now.
Tip number one: ditch the emotion words… for now.
What do I mean by that? Emotion words are abstract—and they’re not a universal construct. While they may have made sense to you growing up, and may even match your inner experience, that’s not true for everyone. Many people—especially neurodivergent folks—share that emotion words often feel too vague, too limiting, or just not quite right for describing what’s happening inside.
That’s why one of the most helpful starting points in interoception work is shifting the focus away from emotion words and toward body signals—how the body actually feels.
This is the heart of interoception: noticing how our hands feel in different moments, how our feet, chest, or lungs send us messages. We spend time getting curious about these signals—what they are, how they shift—and eventually, we can begin to use them as clues. Clues to what emotion we might be feeling, yes, but also more importantly, clues to what our body might need.
That’s the real goal: building enough awareness of our body signals that we can respond with regulation, comfort, and self-care—on our own terms.
Tip 2: Narrate your own body signals—out loud.
Tip number two: start by narrating your own body signals out loud.
If you’re offering interoception activities to clients, students, or your own children, this is a powerful first step. By talking openly about how your body feels, you’re modeling two important things:
- That you have an internal experience and
- The language you use to describe it.
For example, you might say:
“Oh wow, my hands feel so cold. I think I’ll run them under warm water.”
Or:
“These lights are really bright—they’re making my eyes hurt. I’m going to dim them.”
Or even:
“Hmm, I feel a funny sensation under my belly button… I wonder if I have to pee. I’ll try the toilet and see if that helps.”
You’re noticing your own body during interoception activities and sharing it out loud—in a way that feels authentic and meaningful to you. You’re putting interoception vocabulary out into the world without any pressure or expectation—just modeling what it can look like to be curious about your own internal signals. And over time, our learners may soak in that modeling and begin exploring their own body signals too.
Tip 3: Be Attuned to All Forms of Expression—And Stay Curious Without Expecting a Response.
Tip number three is about creating space for all forms of interoception expression—and staying gently curious without expecting a response.
When I offer interoception activities, I often wonder out loud about what someone might be noticing in their body—without putting any pressure on them to answer. For example, I might say, “I wonder how your hands feel when you put them under the water,” or “I wonder what you notice about your body when you sit on the wiggle cushion.” These statements are gentle invitations. They model curiosity and signal that it’s okay to tune inward in whatever way feels right.
At the same time, I stay attuned to all possible forms of expression. Interoception isn’t always expressed with words. A person might push something away, reach for more, pause, shift their body, or make a face that says “no thank you.” These subtle moments are meaningful communication—and they deserve our full attention.
Sometimes we see a response. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we hear one. Sometimes we don’t. What matters most is that we stay present and open, holding space for exploration without expectation.
Tip 4: Be Patient with the “I Don’t Knowers.”
Tip number four is to be patient with the people who say, “I don’t know.”
When I offer interoception activities—especially in the beginning—it’s very common to hear responses like, “I don’t know,” or, “My hands feel fine.” Sometimes it’s “fine,” “calm,” “normal.” And these answers often repeat across sessions. But rather than brushing them off, I see them as valuable—and important—starting points.
There are so many reasons why someone might respond this way.
They might genuinely not know how their body feels.
They may be living in a body they’ve been forced to mask, suppress, or disconnect from due to their lived experience.
And reconnecting with that body—safely—can take time.
We often talk about how interoception work involves a lot of undoing before doing. For many people, we need to undo years of invalidation, trauma, or compliance-based conditioning before they can begin to trust and explore their internal experience.
Other times, a person might be on a quest to give us the “right answer.” And with interoception activities, we know—there is no wrong way to feel. But so many of my clients, because of past experiences, are under the impression that there is a correct answer. That when we do an interoception activity, there’s something specific they’re supposed to say.
They’re scanning for cues, trying to figure out: What answer does the adult want? What should I be feeling right now?
And that’s why it’s so important that we meet every response with validation—even if it’s not what we expected. The more we affirm their experience, the more we help them unlearn the pressure to perform and begin reconnecting with their true internal world.
Tip 5: Use flexible, creative ways to support expression.
Tip number five is about expanding the ways we support interoception expression—and embracing creativity while we do it.
The more options a person has to express how they feel inside, the better. Not everyone will describe their body signals using traditional words or formats. Some people might connect their internal experiences to things like weather systems, animals, colors, foods, music, or movement. For example, a person might say their stomach feels “stormy” or their chest feels “like jazz”—and that metaphor might capture their felt experience more accurately than any standard emotion word ever could.
And the way someone expresses those ideas matters too. Some might prefer light-tech supports like visuals, paper-based choices, or drawing. Others might use high-tech tools like AAC devices, texting, or searching for the perfect GIF. Gestalt language processors may express body signals using longer, meaningful scripts or echolalic phrases—and honoring those forms of expression is key.
As always, modeling is essential. Show your own body signals in different ways during interoception activities—use metaphors, music, colors, or even gestures. Every time we model flexible expression, we invite others to do the same in whatever way fits them best.
At the heart of it all is connection and curiosity—our ongoing commitment to understanding someone’s internal world, on their terms.
Until next time!