The Felt Sense
Growing up we’re often told that we have 5 senses, but as it turns out, that’s only part of the story. We have more than this, three more actually, and our felt sense is one of them.
I’ve been intrigued with the felt sense long before I knew there was a name for it, or that it was a legitimate thing.
“We have a sixth sense!” I would declare to anyone who might entertain the idea. I’d then invite whoever I was talking with to curl their hand in a tight first, then slowly unfurl. “Can you feel your fingers stretch from within?” I’d ask, guiding them to sense into the space between their fingers, and the webbing that connects them all. ‘What is that?!!’ I would wonder (No surprise that I ended up in this profession, doing this kind of work, I suppose!). Well, it’s no longer a mystery!
So of course there are the five senses that we are all familiar with- taste, touch, hearing, seeing, and smelling. These senses relate to how your body/mind takes in your external environment.
Your felt sense on the other hand is less about the environment around you and instead relates to the environment within you. The scientific name for the felt sense is interoception, and it’s part of a bi-directional system between body and brain.
American philosopher Eugene Gendlin coined the term “felt sense” in the 1950’s as a way to describe the observation that psychotherapy clients who greatly improved were distinctive in their ability to tap into the sensations in their body, a somatic experience. Clients who were not connected to this “felt sense” experience made less progress.
This sense is not just part of some “woo woo” spiritual practice that only folks who drink green juice or mediate for hours a day have access to. We all have this sense, though how deeply connected we are to it can and does vary from person to person. However, no matter how old or young you are or what you have been through in your life, there always lies within you the possibility to strengthen your connection to your felt sense.
So what is your felt sense? And why should care? Great questions!
The felt sense or interoception describes the quality and characteristics of your internal landscape. This landscape is constantly changing and evolving in response to what you take in externally with your other five senses, as well as from internal cues like body temperature, pain, tense or relaxed muscles, and even from our thoughts. In many ways, the awareness of your felt sense can act like a two-way street, for example, where your thoughts influence your felt sense, and your felt sense can also influence your thoughts.
This inner experience can sometimes be loud and obvious, like the anger you might feel when you are in a heated argument. However, in many cases the felt sense is actually quite soft and even vague. Imagine the feeling within when you’re in a conversation and holding onto something you want to say, but then when it’s your turn to speak it slips your mind. It was there, but then it wasn’t. You have to take a moment to search for it, and if or when it comes back, there’s a sense within as if it’s “arrived.”
Let’s try it out for a moment, shall we?
Imagine that someone looks you in the eye and says your name is (insert a name that is very much NOT yours). Feel into what swirls or comes alive in your body as someone distinctly calls you by a different name.
Now, imagine someone looks at you and says your name is (insert your actual name here). There is probably a feeling of alignment. A sense of “yes, that is correct.” Maybe it’s a feeling like when you get the combination correct on a lock. A clicking. Something you might not typically have awareness of but that is definitely there, and definitely different from how it feels when someone calls you by the incorrect name.
There are common ways you are likely connecting with your felt sense without even realizing it. Below are a few-
Noticing the sensations that indicate you are hungry, full, thirsty, or satiated.
Noticing the fullness in your bladder that tells you it’s time to use the restroom.
Noticing when your energy levels drop and you need to take it easy or get some rest.
Noticing when you feel hot or cold, and adjusting the thermostat or what you are wearing to bring yourself comfort.
These types of sensations that relate to addressing your basic needs tend to be more loud or obvious ways to connect with your felt sense. Increasing awareness of them is a great entry point into beginning to explore the more subtle layers of embodiment that exist, or “shades of emotion” as they are called.
Your felt sense is the raw data.
We don’t arrive at a felt sense through thinking and talking. It’s a process that happens through being in your body. When we connect with our felt sense, we are experiencing ourselves directly, without the constant narration or interpretation of the thinking mind.
In somatic therapy, we hold space to facilitate this “felt sense” experience in order to support you in transforming patterns that are stuck at their root, in the nervous system. Why’s that? Well, your nervous system doesn’t speak in rational, logical thought. Instead, it communicates primarily through sensation. Getting in touch with your felt sense is one way to communicate with your nervous system directly.
We can use our felt sense to better understand ourselves and what lies beneath the surface of our thoughts and emotions. It centers on the body sensed from the inside, where new things arise. In fact, simply by bringing your awareness to your felt sense, things your body has held deep within can become unstuck and make it easier to process unresolved trauma.
While connecting with your felt sense can be an enriching, enlivening experience, it may also carry with it some activation, especially if being in touch with your body is an unfamiliar experience. Remember that you always have choice about where you place your attention. Being with our internal world tends to carry with it more awareness of our emotional state. So if or when this comes too much, experiment with intentionally placing your attention on your external surroundings (noticing things like the colors, textures, shapes, etc) to act like a brake, slowing down the activation.
If you can’t tell, I love this stuff! And I’m so excited to dive into further at the Somatic Healing Retreat this November in the White Mountains and I’d love for you to join me!
Til next time, my sweet friends!
xo Amy Williams, MA, LMHC, CYT
