Interoception – How Learning to Listen More Closely to Our Brain and Body Can Improve Movement, Function, and Wellbeing

Before you read on, try this:

Close your eyes and imagine you are standing in a room with 100 lightbulbs. One lightbulb goes out—would you notice?

Now imagine you're in a room with 10 lightbulbs, and one goes out. Would you notice then?

Most of us would agree: you're more likely to notice a light going out in the room with only 10 bulbs than in the room with 100.

This little imaginary exercise is an example of what’s known as the Faber–Fechner Law.

The Faber–Fechner Law (often just called the Fechner Law) comes from psychology and helps explain how we perceive changes in sensation—like pressure, sound, or movement.

What Is Interoception?

Interoception is how we sense the lights that are switched on—or off—inside our bodies. It’s our ability to sense and feel our inner world.

Examples of interoception include:

• Knowing when you’re hungry or full
  

• Feeling when your heart is racing
  

• Knowing when you need the toilet
  

• The sensation of a tight chest when you’re anxious
  

• A sense of calm or unease in your gut
  

Just as we have senses to perceive the outside world (sight, sound, touch), interoception is the sense that lets you feel your inner world—your organs, internal rhythms, and physiological state.

Why Is Interoception Important?

Interoception is key for:

Self-awareness – Knowing how you feel physically and emotionally
Self-regulation – Calming down when you’re stressed or anxious
Movement – Feeling what parts of you are working too hard, or not enough
Boundaries and pain management – Knowing when to stop, rest, or shift

Interoception is essential for self-improvement, both physically and emotionally. Especially if you’re managing anxiety, persistent pain, or mobility challenges, improving your interoception gives you more information to adapt and take care of yourself—before things get overwhelming.

Hypersensitivity (Interoceptive Sensory Over-Responsiveness)

This means a person is very sensitive to internal sensations. They might feel things more intensely or be overwhelmed by their body’s signals.

Think of it like having too few lightbulbs—any change becomes glaringly obvious and overwhelming.

Examples include:

• Feeling minor pain as very intense
  

• Becoming panicked by a racing heart or digestive discomfort
  

• Being highly aware of hunger or thirst, sometimes to the point of distraction
  

• Getting overwhelmed by emotional or stress responses (tight chest, shallow breath, etc.)
  

Hyposensitivity (Interoceptive Sensory Under-Responsiveness)

This means a person has reduced sensitivity to internal cues. They may miss or misread signals from their body.

In this case, it’s like there are too many lightbulbs—internal changes go unnoticed.

Examples include:

• Not noticing hunger or thirst until it’s extreme
  

• Missing early signs of illness or fatigue
  

• Difficulty identifying emotions in the body
  

• Being unaware of tension or pain until it becomes severe
  

• Risk of injury from overtraining
  

• Struggling to gauge physical limitations
  

How We Train Interoception in the Feldenkrais Method®

One of the unique aspects of a Feldenkrais lesson—both in private sessions and group classes—is the constant checking in with yourself to feel subtle differences.

For some, feeling these differences interoceptively can be easy. For many, it’s not. We’re rarely asked in daily life to tune into ourselves in this specific way. Often, we only become aware of changes when it’s too late and pain sets in—pain being the body’s way of asking us to change how we’re using ourselves.

Why We Slow Down

More often than not, if a movement is too fast or too big, we can’t notice the nuances of how it’s done. In this case, it’s like having too many lightbulbs—our perception gets flooded.

To really notice what’s happening—and learn how we move—we must slow down and listen interoceptively. In other words, we need to reduce the number of lightbulbs so we can feel the small but important changes.

Body Scans

The first thing we do in every lesson is check in with how we’re lying on the floor.

We notice:

• The pressure of the body on the floor
  

• Areas of comfort or discomfort
  

• How the limbs relate to the spine and centre
  

This scanning is essential training for our interoception—learning to feel how we are, not just how we think we should be.

Reference Movements

After the scan, we often do a movement that we’ll return to later in the lesson to see if it feels different, easier, or more connected.

To notice these changes, participants need interoceptive awareness.

“Different” can mean many things:

• A bigger or smaller range of movement
  

• A change in quality—lighter, smoother, more fluid
  

• A feeling of ease
  

• A new connection between body parts
  

In practices like Feldenkrais, small and subtle changes are often more powerful than big dramatic ones. That’s because when we reduce effort and simplify what we’re doing, our nervous system becomes more sensitive, and we start to notice smaller differences—which is exactly how we learn best.

A Simple Example from Class

Let’s say you’re doing a very gentle head turn while lying on the floor. At first, it feels the same each time. But as you reduce effort and begin to tune in, you might suddenly notice:

“Oh, this side feels a bit smoother.”
“That shoulder isn’t quite resting.”

That’s the Faber–Fechner Law in action:

By doing less, you feel more.

Why I Love This Concept

The Faber–Fechner Law reminds us that:

• Slowing down is powerful
  

• Subtlety is not weakness—it’s intelligence
  

• The more present we are, the more we sense
  

• Awareness grows from the inside out