On interoception, body intelligence, and the gentle practices that help us listen.
Originally published on https://yogaforms.substack.com Oct 03, 2025
Next week I will be leading my last Yoga for MS retreat. As I prepared, I realised that there is one key theme I want to focus on: the practice of body awareness or interoception (which for me is linked to the concept of fascia and flow). A large part of our work together will be about sensing the body more fully and learning to trust its inner intelligence.
What body awareness means
We often think of mindfulness as noticing our thoughts or emotions, but there is another layer of wisdom that lives in the body. Interoception is our ability to feel and interpret internal signals like the cues of our breath, heartbeat, muscle tone, energy, and more.
In daily life, it is easy to lose touch with this inner guidance. We push through fatigue, ignore discomfort, or override hunger and rest. And this is not good for us.
Have you heard of 28-year-old Lee Seung Seop who died after spending 50 hours playing StarCraft in 2005? Officially the cause of death was heart failure from exhaustion and dehydration, but at its core, his death was the tragic result of missing his body’s urgent signals for rest, food, and water.
Of course, we are not all that extreme but who actually listens to their body? When we learn to listen, we get invaluable clues as to what we really need!
Why it matters in the context of MS
Living with MS often means navigating changing symptoms such as fatigue, pain, fluctuations in mobility. Our body feels unpredictable, even unreliable. We don’t trust it anymore. Reconnecting with interoception can restore confidence.
When we are more attuned to the body, we notice small shifts before they become overwhelming. We can make choices based not only on thoughts but also on felt experience. We gain resilience because we recognise how stress and emotion live in the body and how to meet them with our breath and presence. Most of all, we regain a sense of being “at home” in our own skin, even when symptoms are present.
Of course, anyone would benefit from developing interoception, not just those living with MS.
How yoga and breathwork support this process
Research confirms this. A review of 33 studies on yoga and mindfulness practices found clear evidence that yoga enhances body awareness and interoception. The researchers noted that yoga’s unique combination of movement, attention, and breath provides especially rich ground for reconnecting with the body’s signals (YogaUOnline, 2025).
In yoga, we move with intention, deliberately. It gives us space to notice how each posture feels inside. The breath becomes a bridge, which guides our mind inward and helps us sense our body.
Just as important is how we pay attention. Yoga teaches us to meet whatever arises, that is comfort or discomfort, stillness or movement, with kindness instead of judgment. Even a short practice can make us more aware of the body’s signals. With time, we can develop this awareness to support us in everyday life.
You do not have to attend a retreat to begin, although of course it helps 😉 You might simply take a few moments during the day to pause, place a hand on your heart, the other one on your abdomen, and simply notice your breath. Notice how your breath moves inside your body and how it moves your body. You might also observe how your body feels different as you move through ordinary activities. The key is to restore the conversation between body and mind.
It is not always pleasant. We may come across discomfort or numbness, or places we have not listened to for a long time. But each time we turn toward the body with curiosity and compassion, we strengthen the connection to our inner wisdom.