Beginning to Trust Yourself Through the Senses

Authored by Britnee Gare, OTA student

Do you ever start a new habit/routine for the purpose/intent of one thing and it becomes something you really love? And then you love it even more because you understand why you love it? 

Maybe for you it was taking dance lessons….

Or maybe it was something with the outdoors, like skiing….

Or maybe it was being more present with the loved ones around you.

For me, that new habit/routine was lifting weights. It began as a way to become healthier. Over the years, I began to follow certain trainers to learn about form. In the gym, I would record myself to assess my form to ensure I was having the correct form to limit the possibility of hurting myself as I put more weights on the barbell. 

While in school and out on fieldwork, I learned more in-depth about sensory modulation.


Before we get there, I highly recommend listening to Megan Floods blog post https://solidagovc.com/blog/a-conversation-with-megan-flood-two-keys-to-understanding-ourselves-and-any-human

Megan discusses our 8 sensory systems. In a quick overview, we have five sensory systems that we can see on the outside of our body—smell, taste, hear, see and touch—and we have three sensory systems within our body—proprioception, vestibular and interoception. 

Now back to sensory modulation--essentially it is defined as our ability to take in sensory information, process it and regulate our reaction to it. For example, this could be seen when someone goes to a party and the music is too loud, and they find a quiet space that feels more comfortable to them. Science wise, the sensory system of our ear is taking in the loud noise and processing it and telling the body it is too much. So the person listens to their body and finds a quiet space where they aren’t feeling overwhelmed by the loud noises. 

Why Weightlifting Works for Me

Personally, I have had issues with being able to regulate my body when I am feeling overwhelmed because I struggled to figure out what my body needed since I wasn’t listening to what my body was telling me. When I started to lift weights, I found my outlet to gaining the sensory modulation I needed to regulate my body when I was feeling stressed. I figured out my preference was deep proprioceptive input. Proprioceptive input is when you can feel pressure on your joints, as seen through a bear hug, weighted blankets or for me, it was lifting weights. 

When I lift weights, I am listening to my joints as pressure is being applied when I am holding a weight in a concentric hold away from my body. It is important for me to listen to what my muscles and joints are telling me because if I don’t, I could really hurt myself. I am practicing interoception when I am listening to my joints and muscles when I lift. Interoception is the ability to perceive how your body is feeling on the inside. This means from hunger to using the bathroom to our emotions or tightness in our muscles. 

By practicing interoception in the gym, I have been able to bring that into my other daily activities, like listening to my body when I need to move from the computer or taking a mental break because I am tired. I have learned to listen to what my body is telling me. When I walk into the gym, I can feel the confidence in myself. The trust in myself. 

What I am trying to tell you, is that if you don’t learn to listen and trust your body, it can hurt you more. 

If we begin to listen to what our body is telling us, we can begin to develop a trust that our body can tell us way more if we are willing to listen to it rather than always deciding with our prefrontal cortex. 

When we begin to trust ourselves, we are able to have confidence in ourselves that we know what we prefer. 

When we practice interoception—we are practicing listening to all of our sensory systems within one. We are truly listening to what our body is telling us, and when we can respond to what our body is telling us, that means we are trusting that our body can tell us what we need before we can even think in depth about it. 

In our everyday practice, when we listen to what our bodies are telling us, we build this trust within ourselves to know what we need to stay regulated and to have an inner ease. 

Many times we think that in order to “listen to our body” it is through practicing mindfulness by sitting on a yoga mat in a quiet space. That is a limited perspective. 

When you begin to think about listening to your body in your daily activities, whether you are sitting at a computer typing and realizing your fingers are cramping up or picking up your toddler and feeling a cramp in your back.  That is practicing mindfulness too. And when we are practicing mindfulness by listening to our body, we are building that trust that our body is communicating to us what it needs and we will be better apt to listen to it when it speaks to us. 

When we begin to trust our body, we are learning to restore the bond between the body and mind. 

So next time you are feeling angry, get curious to learn why you are feeling angry. Is it because there is too much noise or the smell of someone’s perfume is too strong? When you stay curious to detect why your body is feeling a certain way, like mad, you can utilize your sensory preferences to help regulate your body. 

When I am overwhelmed or feel the tension in my shoulders from frustration, I find a way to get proprioceptive input. Either through lifting weights or by asking a friend for a big hug. Because once I have listened to what my body is feeling and participated in an activity that I prefer—weight lifting—based on my sensory needs, I am regulated and at ease with myself. 

An Invitation to be Curious About Your Sensory Needs

Over the next week, I encourage you to listen to what your body is telling you in moments. Reflect on what activities you prefer to do to regulate your body and think of why. 

Does it have something to do with what your sensory preferences are? Because there is a darn good chance it is. 

I encourage you to think of one activity that you prefer for each sense: Touch. Smell. Sight. Hearing. Taste. Proprioceptive. Vestibular. Interoceptive.

Maybe it is the smell of lavender when you rub lotion on your hands. Or maybe it is seeing and hearing the laughter of your child that calms you. Or maybe it is turning in circles to the Tango with your partner, which is a vestibular activity. 

I encourage you to stay curious to figure out what your preferred sensory activities are within your daily rhythms to provide you with an internal ease to help you live a life well occupied.