When Sensations Speak
Building mind-body awareness when you check-in
Did you know that emotions live in the body? Emotions are physically felt and expressed through the body, appearing as changes in heartbeat, breath, muscle tension, facial expressions, and in the unconscious and conscious movements that follow. When you build mind-body awareness, you’re really uncovering a new path to insight about your emotional state. That’s why we’re introducing a practice that helps you map body sensations and translate them into clear emotional insights. This feature is available now when checking-in on How We Feel for iOS. If people like it, we’ll add it to Android too!
Body Sensation Mapping
A new component attached to your check-in that invites you to scan for physical signals (tight shoulders, fluttering stomach, lightheadedness.). By tuning into these sensations, you cultivate deeper self-awareness and open space for compassionate self-talk.
Why It Matters
To connect your body and mind: Our mental and physical states have a bi-directional relationship, meaning our thoughts can influence our physical health, and vice versa. Understanding this connection helps you process the emotions of daily life.
To build your self-awareness: Noting even faint body-based signals can help you turn muddled feelings into clear understanding, opening you up to the quiet wisdom within every sensation.
To help you regulate your emotions: Psychologist Eugene Gendlin discovered that clients who paused to note their “felt sense," were able to unlock new insights and, leading to a "felt shift," including the release of tension.
How It Works
Start a check-in
On the view where you apply tags, scroll down to add physical sensations
Tap to plot a sensation on the body
Add tags to describe the sensation
Save the body sensation map
A Mini-Guide for Daily Use
If you’re curious about the connection between your emotions and your sensations, pause and explore the practice in moments like these:
After a long day, what is your body saying? Notice any tightness in your back, jaw, or belly that you may have been ignoring to get through the day.
When you taste success, where does it show up? Pay attention to the warmth, lift, or buzz that accompanies achievement in order to recognize it the next time it shows up.
Heading into a tough conversation, what signals arise? Acknowledge the fluttery nerves or tight chest showing up in the moment.
As you drift toward sleep, which hidden tensions can you release? Scan from head to toe and observe lingering strain or comfort.
Research from Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor has shown that emotions release a series of chemical reactions in the body that last around 90 seconds. Checking in with the body map gives you a way to tune in to the sensations without judgement, allowing them to release naturally.
Try it Today
We’d love your feedback!
Ready to listen to what your body’s been telling you? Open How We Feel, start a check-in, and add a sensation. We’d love to hear how this feature shapes your self-understanding and wellbeing.
Here’s to more self-awareness, one sensation at a time.
I really hope to see this on Android soon.
Something I struggle with is how sensitive I am body sensations, (sounds too), so much so I feel my heartbeat all the time. Connecting these sensations to specific emotions would be so incredibly helpful.
I love this feature! It’s very useful. I hope that in the future, the app can also suggest how to regulate each felt sensation in the body. But for now, this is brilliant. Cheers!