Interoception
Qigong practice consists of quieting the mind through mindfulness, thus enabling an enhanced interoception, proprioception, vestibular system, awareness of present moment experience, and emotional regulation. Learning to have present moment awareness of and attention to the body without distractions such as thoughts is a mindfulness skill. Interoception is the underlying neurological mechanism of mindfulness-based approaches to meditation. Clinical research describes mindfulness as the attentional focus necessary and fundamental for gaining interoceptive skills (PMC6753170). The refined ability to sustain awareness characterizes what in Qigong is called cultivating the skill of self-observation and regulating emotional responses to bodily sensation.
Interoception refers collectively to the processing of internal bodily stimuli by the nervous system and includes physical responses in body and brain representation such that the sensing of stimuli is available for reflection, insight, conscious awareness, and action. This characteristic training of awareness makes Qigong an “interoceptive awareness practice.” Interoception is such a new field of psychophysiological study that its first international conference was held in 2016. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is focusing on the multidisciplinary study of interoception science as a way to research "mind-body" practices, including Qigong.
Interoception, a key component of Qigong practice, is a representation of the body's internal state and bodily signals based on proprioception, the senses, and biofeedback pathways which include bi-directional communication between the limbic system (thoughts and emotions), the frontal cortex, the neuroendocrine system, and the autonomic nervous system. Interoception is essential for physiological homeostasis, cognition, and emotional regulation. Interoceptive awareness is a pre-requisite for emotional regulation.
Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Version 2 (MAIA-2). Measuring interocepton. PMCID: PMC6279042.
Interoceptive rhythms in the brain. PMID: 37697110.
Interventions and Manipulations of Interoception. PMC7805576.
Interoception: A Multi-Sensory Foundation of Participation in Daily Life. PMC9220286.
The Emerging Science of Interoception: Sensing, Integrating, Interpreting, and Regulating Signals within the Self. PMC7780231.
Unravelling the Neurobiology of Interoceptive Inference. PMID: 32160563.
Mindfulness, Interoception, and the Body: A Contemporary Perspective. PMC6753170.
Longitudinal effects of interoceptive awareness training through mindful awareness in body-oriented therapy (MABT) as an adjunct to women's substance use disorder treatment: A randomized controlled trial. PMC6467707.
Interoception and Social Connection. PMC6901918.
A Positive Emotional-Based Meditation but Not Mindfulness-Based Meditation Improves Emotion Regulation. PMC6448484.
Self-control is linked to interoceptive inference: Craving regulation and the prediction of aversive interoceptive states induced with inspiratory breathing load. PMID: 31330380.
The neurobiology of interoception in health and disease. PMID: 29974959.
Interoception and Mental Health: A Roadmap. This is a summary of the first international conference on Interoception, the Interoception Summit 2016. PMC6054486.
Interoceptive Inference: From Computational Neuroscience to Clinic. PMID: 29694845.
Interoceptive Awareness Skills for Emotion Regulation: Theory and Approach of Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT). PMC5985305.
Increasing Our Insular World View: Interoception and Psychopathology for Psychotherapists. PMC5359279.
Interoception and stress. PMC4507149.
Interoception, Contemplative Practice, and Health. PMC4460802.
Mindfulness meditation training alters cortical representations of interoceptive attention. PMC3541492.
The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Version (MAIA). PMC3486814.
