1. Vestibular

Have you ever been car or seasick? Then you know exactly what happens when your vestibular system is in overdrive. As soon as you look down on your phone and look up again, you immediately feel disoriented and nauseous. Our vestibular system plays a big role in how we move, stabilize, and orient our body in our environment. This is all thanks to the fluids in the semicircular canals in our inner ear signaling the brain to process: head position, balance, and stability. This sensory system is critical to our ability to eat, sleep, learn, and perform pretty much everything.​ When the vestibular system is in equilibrium, we can focus on staying on task.

Yoga and weightlifting are activities that require stability to function. You can’t hold a tree pose without balance, and it takes effort to balance movements in the beginning. We develop form through balance. ​So, a great way to start building with movement is through Yoga. It is familiar, easy to integrate during the day, and it also can be an activity you can do with people around you. When we are watching someone move, the mirror neurons fire up for the brain to make the connection and develop.

2. Proprioception

Let’s try something: I want you to close your eyes and touch your nose with your index finger. When your eyes are closed and you extend your finger out, you know where your finger is, right?  You also know where the steps are when walking down the stairs at night. You can form a downward dog and attempt to dance the tango.  The proprioceptive system plays a huge role in helping us be aware of where our muscles and joints are and how they are moving in the environment.

Yoga can help us learn where our body and its different parts are in relation to each other. ​There are so many ways to increase our body awareness in our environment. These include participation in sports, movement games, and dance. It also means using tools and strategies to increase proprioception in our system. For example, cozying it up in a weighted blanket is relaxing, holding a tough yoga posture is centering, and lifting weight is grounding. A bear hug is also considered a proprioceptive input that makes you feel present.

3. Interoception 

Anyone who has practiced fasting knows what happens to hunger when it is manipulated. Thanks to this sense, we notice that we are thirsty, hungry, full, sick, cold, hot, tired because we can feel our stomach growl, nose run, palms sweat, and eyes grow heavy. It is what keeps us internally in check and responds to whatever is happening inside our bodies. When the body is not registering or in some cases actively neglecting the threat, the potential for some medical conditions like heat stroke, constipation, and dehydration can occur. The interoceptive system has a huge influence on many areas of our lives like physical, and mental health, as well as self-regulation and social connection.

​Self-regulation and Interoception:

Emotional states have a strong interoceptive component to them. When we are devastated by something, we often refer to ‘being sick to our stomach’. We often describe the “tension in the air” when really; we sense it inside our bodies, in our “guts”. We know we are in love when we have “butterflies in our stomach”. The visceral essence of feelings is the interoceptive component. 

Your body signals are there to give you important feedback about exactly how you are feeling. Your muscles are relaxed when you are content. You will notice your tummy getting tight, your palms sweaty, and your heart beating fast when you are unsafe. In all of these cases, your interoceptive body sensations are what serve as your motivation to self-regulate, to do something that restored the comfort within your body. 

Many people with conditions or diagnoses such as autism, sensory processing issues, ADHD, trauma, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, have been found to have difficulties with understanding and responding well to interoceptive input.

If you would like to consult more about certain confusing/challenging behaviors you notice in your child, do not hesitate to contact me at YourNextdoor OT.

bengisu@yournextdoorot.com