Episode 143: INTEROCEPTION: TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO FEEL

WHAT'S HAPPENING INSIDE

Interoception is the sense of the internal state of the body: your heartbeat, breath, hunger, temperature, muscular effort, tension, and pain. It sits alongside exteroception, our perception of the outside world, and proprioception, our sense of where the body is in space. Every person has a different level of interoceptive awareness, and the good news is, it is a trainable skill. A yoga class is one of the best environments there is for developing it. This episode defines interoception clearly, explains why it matters especially for students managing pain or injury, and gives you specific, usable strategies for building it into any of your classes.

• Why Interoception Matters
• Five Ways to Teach Interoception
•  Questions for Teachers to Consider

1. How much time do I actually leave for students to notice anything?
2. Am I being specific about what to notice?
3. Does my language invite curiosity or evaluation?
4. Have I told students that not noticing much is okay?
5. And how confident do I feel when a student tells me what they noticed?

Your Scope of Practice

Yoga Journal article: Yoga Teachers, Here's How to Support Students With Injuries Without Giving Medical Advice 

Teaching interoception often leads students to disclose more about what they are experiencing, which can raise questions about where a teacher's role ends. My article in Yoga Journal addresses this directly.

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