12/05/2025
Ever feel on a bad body image day you’ve wanted to crawl out of your own skin? Because, same! Interoceptive confusion happens when your body sends sensations (tightness, heaviness, buzzing, warmth) and your brain mislabels them as body-image problems. These sensations rarely reflect how your body looks - they’re usually signs of stress or emotional activation.
Common sensations & what they may actually mean:
• Heaviness in stomach → anxiety, sadness, slowed digestion
• Tight chest → worry, panic, holding your breath
• Buzzing/jittery → adrenaline, overstimulation
• Warmth/flushing → embarrassment, anxiety, hormones
• Heavy limbs → fatigue, low mood, shutdown
Why somatic skills actually work:
Somatic tools change how your nervous system is functioning.
• Orienting helps your brain reorient to the present and signals “I’m safe.”
• Grounding sends sensory input that pulls you out of overwhelm and back into your body.
• Naming sensations helps your brain map the feeling accurately instead of defaulting to “my body is the problem.”
• Movement + shaking discharge excess adrenaline so the intensity drops.
These skills calm the system, which decreases the urge to interpret sensations as body flaws.
Somatic skills to try:
• Name the sensation, not the story (“My stomach feels tight” vs. “I feel gross”)
• Orient to your environment (look around and let your eyes land on something grounding)
• Ground through your senses (feet on the floor, feel the chair, hold something warm/cool)
• Release activation (shake your hands, bounce your knees, stretch, walk)
When your nervous system settles, the sensations settle - and the body image thoughts lose their power.
Share your thoughts below! ✨
