Interoception: The One Sense that Rules Them All

Contrary to Aristotle's view that we have five human senses, today's scientific community agrees that we have 21 human senses. Listen as Tom explains the sense of interoception, how it's the sense that rules them all, and how it plays a big part in bringing healing to mind, body, and spirit through Autonomic Healing Activation.

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Transcript

Tom Pals: 0:02

Welcome to the autonomic healing Podcast. I'm Tom Pals.

Ruth Lorensson: 0:06

And I'm Ruth Lorensson. We'll be unpacking what it looks like to activate your brain to holistically manage stress and trauma that bring healing to the mind, body and spirit.

Tom Pals: 0:17

Being free to live authentically as humans.

Ruth Lorensson: 0:21

Thank you for joining us. Let's get this conversation started. Tom, as I understand it, we can't talk about AHA without talking about the sense of interoception. You know, in the last episode that we did on the wisdom of the brain, where we unpacked Autonomic Healing Activation(AHA), we talked about how the awareness of these involuntary normalizing sensations is actually called interoception. Before you mentioned this, I'd actually never heard of this, and yet, it's an incredibly important part of how AHA works. So could you help us understand more about what interoception is, and why it's so important to normalize? Why it's so important in normalizing stress and trauma?

Tom Pals: 1:11

Ruth, if I were to ask you, what you are seeing, what would you say?

Ruth Lorensson: 1:16

Well, I'm seeing my coffee cup and my computer microphone,

Tom Pals: 1:22

And me?

Ruth Lorensson: 1:23

And you!

Tom Pals: 1:25

Okay, you can see those because of your sense of sight. Now, if I would say, what do you feel? What would you say?

Ruth Lorensson: 1:35

I would say I feel warm. I also have UGG boots on right now. It's snowing today. So I feel like I can feel the fur in my boots. And that's a strange one, isn't it, feeling. Like what does that actually mean? Is it like, physically do I feel? Or emotionally? Like what? I'm curious?

Tom Pals: 1:58

Yes. All of that and more. As human beings, we have senses that allow us to be aware not only of the world around us, but the world within us. When I'm first talking with people about what AHA is and how it works, I first talk about homeostasis. And then I talk about interoception. If I ask people to name the human senses, most people usually named five in some order that includes seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and smelling. Thank you, Aristotle, who in the 300 BC, wrote about five human senses. And we've been focusing on those five ever since. Aristotle actually put them in a very specific order, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching, and even argued that there were no other senses, than those five, and he went on to argue that the sense of sight was the greatest of all the five senses. Well, those five senses are actually the connection that we have to the external world around us. Think about it, seeing (vision), smelling,(olfaction), hearing (audition), tasting (gustation), touching(somatosensation), all are about sensing the world around us. What we now know is that they're actually 21, not just five human senses. That usually surprises people when I mentioned it.

Ruth Lorensson: 3:30

Yeah, I mean, that surprised me, I had no idea.

Tom Pals: 3:34

You can find different numbers like 5, 7, 9, 12, 8 up to 21, 22. And I even saw a list of 23. But the generally accepted number in the scientific community of human senses is usually 21. So we also have now in addition to seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling a sense of balance, movement, space, time, temperature, and on and on, those are all human senses. Now one of those human senses, interoception, is critical to homeostasis, because it is all about sensing the world within us, so to speak. Interoception lets us know when homeostasis is disrupted, so we can restore its balance. When interoception makes you aware, you require water you have a sense of being thirsty, and you drink water in some form your brain saying hello, we're needing water. or coffee, or coffee in some fashion, water in some form. Yes. When interoception makes you aware that you require food, you experience hunger and you eat. There are a seemingly infinite number of ways your sense of internal assumption, functions and it's your brain prompting you to take care of us.

Ruth Lorensson: 4:57

So, so interoception is one of those 21 senses? And is the one that allows us to be aware of who of how we are. Is that right?

Tom Pals: 5:10

Yes. A moment ago, when I asked you what you were feeling, the reason you even had an answer was because of the sense of interoception. Just as sight is a function of your eyes and the optic nerve. Sight is a human sense. So interoception is a human sense too, and not just any human sense. I like to think of interoception not just as one of the 21 senses, but as the one human sense that rules them all, like the one ring in The Lord of the Rings analogy. So, I love the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, I have since I was very young. And there were these 12 Rings of Power that were made for men and elves and dwarves, and there was one ring that was created that rule them all. And that's like interoception. And those other rings are other senses.

Ruth Lorensson: 6:07

Yeah, I love Lord of the Rings to Tom. So good. So into interoception is a sense, we might have not knowingly engaged with probably because we didn't even know it excisted. But actually is incredibly important. I think it's crazy that for most people, they wouldn't even know what interoception is. But okay, Tom, let's back up a little bit, because to understand the importance of interoception in AHA and homeostasis, we need to talk about the human nervous system. So Tom, can you explain that a little bit more?

Tom Pals: 6:46

Interoception is a function of the insular cortex, insula is Island in Latin, and it's this little island piece of the brain in the middle of the skull, that is the connection with the enteric nervous system in the gut. The insular cortex allows you to be aware of what you were experiencing in your body. In other words, as Arthur Craig put it in the title of his book on interoception, how do you feel, and interoceptive moment with your neurobiological self. Your awareness of how you feel, is the sense of interoception. So the vagus nerve connects the enteric nervous system, which is down in your gut, up through the viscera, the the organs in your torso, and abdomen, all the way up to the insular cortex. And that's the pathway of interoception. Interoception is your sensory connection to so many things in your internal world, your emotions, problem solving, decision making time, health, pain, all sorts of other things, including the awareness that you even exist! The French philosopher Rene Descartes, in his discourse on method in 1637, said cogito ergo sum, 'I think, therefore I am.' My contribution to philosophy would be "I sense that I am.' Interoception allows you to sense your health and illness, physical and or mental. Researchers have identified interoception as link to your awareness of things like pain, stress, or calm, anxiety or safety, depression or hope, emotional regulation, or dysregulation, consciousness or dissociation or even derealization, the need for intake of food and water, sexual function, problem solving or confusion, decision making or wishing for do over sympathy or empathy. Now, this may sound familiar to many listeners, have you ever had an awareness of symptoms you are experiencing only to have a professional tell you that there was no explanation for them, and no identifiable reason for what you're sensing is wrong? Or your awareness of those unexplained symptoms is interoception. And the list just goes on and on.

Ruth Lorensson: 9:17

Yeah, I can identify with that. That's happened to me many times, actually. So even the awareness of homeostasis is a function of interoception.

Tom Pals: 9:31

Exactly, yeah. The key that allows homeostasis to normalize the impact of stress and trauma is interoception. And that isn't just in your body. We can also sense that in the mind or the spirit. I like to say that homeostasis is the wisdom of the brain. Our awareness of the wisdom of homeostasis is interoception. It's like in homeostasis is the sage healer and interoception allows us to be the disciple learning from the teacher. What I've discovered is that both homeostasis and interoception must happen together for the normalization of stress and trauma to occur. Each interacting with each other is essential to our nature as human beings, and allows us to be aware of threats to our well being and survive. But when we allow homeostasis and interoception to function together, they allow us to thrive.

Ruth Lorensson: 10:28

Okay, so let me get this right, Tom. I'm taking the moment here okay? Homeostasis is always happening.

Tom Pals: 10:37

Unless you're dead. Yes.

Ruth Lorensson: 10:38

Okay. So homeostasis, when it's always happening, it's the brains response to change.

Tom Pals: 10:45

Yes.

Ruth Lorensson: 10:46

But homeostasis, as in normalizing stress and trauma is different than just homeostasis that's keeping us alive?

Tom Pals: 10:54

Yep.

Ruth Lorensson: 10:54

Okay. And when that happens, it's actually healing us. And for that to happen, it's imperative that we engage with interoception.

Tom Pals: 11:06

Exactly. That is why time does not heal all wounds. Because the passing of time does that activate homeostasis, and repeatedly re experiencing the triggering of flight or fight over time, just makes matters worse. So to review briefly a bit from the episode on autonomic healing, picture a human brain, yeah, you probably just formed a mental picture of that wormy looking mass of brains cells in the skull. And that is certainly a very significant part of the brain, but it's not the most significant part when it comes to dealing with stress. Hence the reason that psychotherapy will only get you so far. The autonomic nervous system is the part that deals with stress and includes your brainstem, spine and gut, the part of your brain in your gut is the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system has three parts, the part that does the flight or fight response to sensed or perceived threat. That's the sympathetic, the part that recovers from the flight or fight response. That's the parasympathetic with homeostasis, that's the recovery. And the part that is in your gut, the enteric nervous system, which is all about survive and can be about thrive. Flight or fight, relax and recover, survive and thrive. The brain can't complete its natural function of homeostasis and that normalizing of stress and trauma to create optimum functioning without our sensory awareness of that taking place through interoception. We consciously have to use that sense. Which is ironic, because consciousness itself is a function of interoception. So the brain tries to restore homeostasis, but it can't without our being present as it is doing it. The impact of stress and trauma is often experienced in a way that disconnects us from our bodies. Think of a pendulum swinging side to side. One extreme is where we are so excruciatingly aware of the feelings associated with stress and trauma. And the other extreme is where we dissociate or derealize from what we are feeling. We don't want to be present. With homeostasis, we can not only be present, it is essential that we are present with our bodies. Interoception is the human sense that makes that possible.

Ruth Lorensson: 13:34

Wow, I find this so fascinating Tom. So interoception is the one sense that allows us to sense all of the other senses in our body. So is that correct? Interoception allows us to be present when the enteric nervous system is activated, and that then in turn brings us into homeostasis, where our brain normalizes the impact of stress and trauma. And that feels healing. We sense and we sense that healing taking place in our body and sense in the healing is interoception.

Tom Pals: 14:14

Yep. And because the activation in the enteric nervous system, the gut functions like a switch, we can and often do take short breaks during the four to six hour homeostasis process. During the later stages, as the parasympathetic, relax, recover and restore homeostasis function is much more the norm than the sympathetic flight or fight early in the AHA session, I have people assess their sense of the body parts. Now, why it does what I'm about to share, I really don't know but there seems to be an organizational pattern to the way and the where that stress and trauma are stored in our bodies. Like Bessel Van Der Kolk put in his book 'The Body Keeps the Score', it's where the score is tallied or noted by the brain, the phrase I like to use is the brain also evens the score with homeostasis. So, there is an observable pattern to the organization with the head, storing paternal stress, the neck storing stress or trauma from childhood, the hands, arms and legs during relational stress, like siblings, friends, frenemies, partners, etc. The torso, storing general life stress and the stress we cause ourselves and the feet, thank you Mom storing maternal stress,

Ruth Lorensson: 15:31

Wow! This is just like it is actually blowing my mind a little bit because I think for me, one of the one of the biggest revelations for me in my own journey was understanding how the body, you know, the body does keep a score, it does store trauma. But this is like a whole other level of, not only does it store, but there's some, I think there's just some indication of where it stores trauma. And I guess you find that out just from just doing so much work with so many clients?

Tom Pals: 16:01

There is an observable correlation between the stress that people have experienced and where they sense it in their bodies. Wow. And that's very consistent. So during one session, a client shared what they had been interoceptively aware of during a break from focusing on their body. And this was when homeostasis had been nearly completely restored. Ruth, would you share what that person said?

Ruth Lorensson: 16:27

Sure. They said,'I feel weird, it feels good. I think just very different. During this last bit, I was very aware of the weight of my head, how it felt and the tension in my jaw. I sense that my body was in homeostasis, but the neck and the head was not and isn't yet I feel relaxed, tired, but very relaxed, I feel floppy.'

Tom Pals: 16:54

And after a few minutes break that person close their eyes focused interoreceptively on their body, again, activated homeostasis in their gut. Ruth, would you pick up what the person said, from there, please?

Ruth Lorensson: 17:06

Sure. 'It feels like sand blowing in the wind inside my body. I feel the flow. When I focus on my feet. I sense them internally. Now, not externally. Like before they feel cool, it's a nice feeling. I sent them attached to my legs, and seeing them as a very brown, very brown in color.'

Tom Pals: 17:27

At this point, I had the personal recall for a moment any unresolved unresolved feelings about the stress and relationship with a mother or a mother figure and activate homeostasis, and the person then shared,

Ruth Lorensson: 17:40

'I don't feel a maternal stress now. And I see my feet as pink, and sense them internally. And I'm seeing blood vessels and bones that's so strange.'

Tom Pals: 17:49

When the person looked interoceptively, with eyes closed, and sensing, seeing their legs, hands and arms, the comment was,

Ruth Lorensson: 17:58

'I'm seeing my own blood vessels in my legs, and they feel like they are working well. Looking at my hands. I sense the fingers pulsing breathing with life. My arms are flowing and free. And I'm strangely seeing bones and tissues.'

Tom Pals: 18:12

When I had the person shift their sense of interoception to the torso to assess any remaining general life stress or stress they were causing themselves, they commented,

Ruth Lorensson: 18:22

'I sense my torso internally as calm, relaxed and free flowing lights. But there is a green light,'

Tom Pals: 18:29

Which is an indication of a lack of homeostasis, since it is not just the body that is being sensed as a body. So I had the person connect with the unresolved general life stress and stress the person's causing themselves and to activate homeostasis again. And the person then said after a few minutes,

Ruth Lorensson: 18:47

'It's not there. I'm not seeing the green light. Now I'm seeing organs and tissues.'

Tom Pals: 18:53

Next, we focused on the neck and the person commented,

Ruth Lorensson: 18:56

'I sense my neck internally now, the strength and sinew holding up my head,

Tom Pals: 19:01

Which was an indication of the resolution of childhood stress and trauma, which there had been a lot of, finally I had the person focus on their head. And the comment was,

Ruth Lorensson: 19:10

'I see lots of electricity, energy blue and red lights,'

Tom Pals: 19:14

Which again, because the person is not seeing their body was an indication of a lack of homeostasis in the relationship with a father or father figure and had the person connect with that and activate homeostasis. Focusing on the head and the person commented after a moment.

Ruth Lorensson: 19:30

'I can't connect with father stress now, it's like I know what happened, but I don't sense a reaction to what happened now.

Tom Pals: 19:38

What we are beginning to understand is that dysfunction in the sense of interoception may be a critically important aspect of many mental health problems. What I've observed is that interoception itself allows us to align with homeostasis in the normalizing of stress and trauma.

Ruth Lorensson: 19:58

You mentioned Tom interoception, and just closing your eyes and describing the involuntary activity. And you've had people share their experiences of this as well, haven't you?

Tom Pals: 20:11

At the end of every AHA session I have people share about their experience. So here are a few examples of what other people have commented, after homeostasis was restored, one person said,'I can definitely see my body internally, I see the nerves communicating to my brain and my spirit. picture myself not just flesh and bone, but more than even that, like a network of neurons and tissues, but the communication as well between them, almost like a supernatural sense of myself. ' Another person shared this which was just brilliant. 'Normally, I feel a lot. And during this process, there were many sensations. There was an energy or a feel that was running through me and the body naturally responded. For a while there was almost like a spasmodic twitching. And there were periods of sensations in different parts of the body, like in my head. I'm not sure when that was, but it was on the right side and there was a prickling in the right armpit. Immediately after that, in the right base of the skull, I could feel a tingling shivering sensation was a lot of twitching especially that initiated from the lower abdomen and the energy shot up through my torso. I felt it going through the solar plexus, like a surge of energy, and then adjustments with periods of soft gentleness, like floating or like being suspended in a solution with a sense of peace, balance and harmony, and a sense of expansion. Even now I can feel really feel that energy, I feel much, much greater energy to those greater than my physical body, I feel my breathing is much more than the body itself somehow, like a pulsing rhythm. How do I feel? It's not obvious, but I feel more space and flow going all the way up through the torso and up to the crown of my head. With a recall of the stressful events in my life. There's now an indifference and a gentle warmth. This is pretty amazing, especially the vitality and clarity. In the early portion of the session, the session there was twitching. Now it's just calling and I don't feel any aching in my body like before.

Ruth Lorensson: 22:30

That's so cool. Let me read when this person says, That's wild. I just felt like I was being rocked back and forth. Like I was on a boat. But my body wasn't moving, it started started forward and back and side to side. It was really cool because I grew up on boats. And I find that very calming and peaceful, let's say nice. And then they continue, I felt very, very comfortable and felt a lot warmer. And then there were no waves. Now I feel very quiet. I am feeling very calm, very still, and very, very relaxed. I haven't experienced this in a long time. It's like I'm feeling nothing and feel feel very zen like my chairs completely aligned.

Tom Pals: 23:17

And this isn't just about the body though. As human beings, we aren't just a body, we have a mind and a spirit as well. All of which can and is impacted by stress and trauma. Autonomic healing activation is a holistic experience where we can be in terror receptively aware of the involuntary homeostasis activity, not only in our bodies, but in our minds and even in our spirits as well.

Ruth Lorensson: 23:43

Yeah. Thank you, Tom. I think this episode has been really fascinating on the part that this sense, that, you know, the one sense that rules them all, plays in autonomic healing activation. And as we continue with this podcast, we will be looking at how AHA I know you've mentioned this before, but how it can be applied to the mind, which is what you call AHA problem solving, and also the spirit AHA spiritual formation, and how you discovered this whole thing in the first place.

Tom Pals: 24:18

You've been listening to the autonomic healing podcast.

Ruth Lorensson: 24:21

Join us next time as we continue in our conversations with Tom. If you're interested in pursuing your own autonomic healing journey and what to find a practitioner, visit our website inner workings.org. See you at the next episode.