Why do you teach body sensing?
This week we announced our first children’s book, Powerfully You: Learning to Notice Your Body Sensations. We are excited to reach a larger audience with some of the information we teach to Providers in our Powerfully You training, but we are aware that some of that audience may get the book and wonder “Why do you teach kids body sensing?” and “How will this help my child?”
Being aware of our body sensations increases our ability to recognize what we are feeling, shift our emotions, and choose our behavior.
Emotions are created from our experience of:
· what is happening around us
· what is happening inside of us
· and the relationship we have with the people around us
In every moment, our brain is taking in all of that information and comparing it to what has happened to us in the past. And then our brain makes a prediction. Actually, it makes many predictions of what could happen next. And, without conscious awareness, we make a choice of how we are going to feel and behave. That process looks something like this:
That whole cycle happens in milliseconds, many times, EVERY second. Most of the time, that whole process is happening without us even knowing. And so, we react to what’s happening with a behavior we didn’t consciously choose.
Our brain is listening to our body sensations all the time to get information about how we are feeling. And our brain is biased towards keeping us safe. That is actually the brain’s job…to keep the body safe and conserve our energy!
Even when we don’t have practice noticing our body sensations our brain is still noticing those body sensations and making predictions that keeps us safe.
For example: When someone rolls their eyes at us, or talks to us with a harsh tone of voice, our body responds by engaging our autonomic nervous system: getting us ready to fight, flight, or freeze. We might react with angry words, tears, temper tantrums, or we might internalize feelings of resentment or shame.
If we can learn to respond, instead of just reacting, we have more control over our own behavior and emotional experience.
But how can we teach kids (or ourselves!) to do that, you might ask? Body Sensing. When we can’t change what is happening outside of us, we can notice what is happening inside of us, and just by doing that, our experience can shift.
Have you ever been “hangry”, hungry and angry? Sometimes when we are “hangry” we might not be aware that we are hungry. We might feel irritated at the person with whom we are interacting, or frustrated with our current situation, and unaware of how our physiological state of hunger is partially to blame. But if we can stop, notice our shaky hands, sense our lack of energy, and our empty stomach, we have an opportunity to respond by getting a snack, instead of blowing up at the person in front of us.
When we practice noticing body sensations regularly, we build our ability to notice, even at times that we are feeling dysregulated.
That practice needs to start at a time that we are feeling regulated and safe. It isn’t easy to do when we are upset or triggered, unless we have practiced first. Doing short body scans (20 seconds), numerous times a day, for a few weeks will start to build an awareness.
See if you can notice your body sensations, without even trying to change them. And then just move on with your day. And do it again. And again. And again. Eventually, you will notice a shift in your emotional awareness. You will likely be better able to self-regulate.
Share that practice with your child and you will learn more about their emotional experience and be better able to help them self-regulate.
It is our belief that self-regulation has the potential to change the world. If everyone in the world had the skills to sense their emotional and bodily experience, and pause to reflect and respond (rather than just react) the world would be a different place. We can spread that regulation, one person at a time, by offering our own regulation to others. Body sensing is a great place to start!
Resources:
4 Minute Body Guided Body Sensing for Kids
How Emotions are Made By Lisa Feldman Barrett (A deep dive for those who love information)