2. Interoception and Grounding the Body

Interoception | top-down vs bottom-up regulation | sensory feedback as medicine | reclaiming agency through movement.

Interoception is the activation of the autonomic sensory system. When we ground ourselves with movement, exercise, breathing and tactile feedback from our surroundings, the midline structures of the brain and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex light up like a pre-energy-crisis Christmas tree.

We can achieve this in two ways:

Top-down regulation: - strengthening the capacity of the frontal lobe to monitor your body’s sensations. Think pilates and / or meditation.

Bottom-up regulation: recalibrating the autonomic nervous system. This can be achieved through breath work, movement and touch.

A long as trauma remains unresolved, the body secretes stress hormones, which create inflammation and are a catalyst for emotional dysregulation. Constantly fighting unseen dangers makes you exhausted, weary and fatigued.

Exercise also gives one a sense of physical control in situations where we enjoy limited agency.

In a world of chaos and unknown, where the indeterminate becomes intolerable, exercise will ground you, calm you and give you back some deeply desirable control.

My research here will be to find the ways in which movement can help people feel their body, in order to heal their brain.