Interoception
Interoception is your sense of the internal state of your own body: the heartbeat, the breath, the tight chest, the empty stomach. It is the channel through which physical sensations become feelings you can notice and name.
What it looks like
Realising you are anxious because you noticed your shoulders were up around your ears. Catching hunger before it becomes irritability. People vary a lot in how clearly they read these signals, and the skill can be practised: body scans, slow breathing, and simply pausing to ask "what am I actually feeling right now?" all train it.
What the research says
Neuroscience treats interoception as a genuine sensory system, with dedicated pathways carrying signals about the physiological condition of the body to the brain regions where feelings are constructed. (Craig, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2002)
The honest part
More interoceptive awareness is not automatically calmer. In anxiety it can turn up the volume on every flutter. The useful skill is noticing with a bit of distance: a signal to read, not an alarm to obey.
Solace offers calm, practical tools, not medical advice. If what you’re feeling is frequent or affecting your daily life, it is worth speaking with a doctor or a qualified professional.