01/07/2026
Interoception and self-attunement are related, but they are not the same thing.
Interoception refers to our capacity to perceive and interpret signals arising from within the body.
Not simply noticing a sensation, but developing awareness of internal experiences and the information they may carry.
Self-attunement is the process of turning towards those experiences with curiosity and awareness.
Rather than immediately explaining them away, overriding them, judging them, or disconnecting from them.
For many people, particularly those who have experienced trauma, chronic stress, caregiving roles, discrimination, or environments where authenticity carried a cost, this relationship with internal experience can become disrupted.
The challenge is often not that nothing is there.
The challenge is recognising, tolerating, and making sense of what is there.
Developing greater interoceptive awareness and self-attunement can support emotional awareness, boundary recognition, decision-making, self-trust, and a more integrated relationship with ourselves.
Sometimes the work is not learning something new.
It’s rebuilding a relationship with parts of ourselves that we learned not to hear.