Two Keys of Awareness: Proprioception and Interoception

Two essential concepts in the yoga world: proprioception and interoception. Both terms relate to a process of turning inward. Proprioception means awareness of the physical body, as it moves through space. Interoception means having awareness of the spiritual, or mind, body. Both in proprioception and interoception, rather than looking at our body we sense it. Both rely on the activity of the mind to process information about the body. They are distinct in that the sense organs that the mind relies on to interpret the internal information are different. 

The physical body relies on informaiton from the nerves attached to muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, even veins and organs. In proprioception, we have a sense of what is going on in our body to a greater or lesser extent. Yoga aims to increase that bodily awareness. In meditation we we feel the body, we perform a body scan, we breathe into different areas of the body.

Interoception is more nebulous than proprioception. Interoception relates not only to internal physical sensations, but emotional states aswell. I like to think of it as more directly connected to the mind’s eye, the internal gaze, or ajna chakra. When we become aware of stillness behind the breath, when the pulsation of the heart floods the body, when we experience spaciousness, all of these require our powers of interoception.

The two concepts combine when we confront the idea that memories and emotions are stored in the physical body. When we find the energy of a loved one near our heart space, that is using interoception, but it is at the borderline of the physical and ethereal worlds, perhaps arguing with them causes tangible heartache. The memory of that fight becomes embedded in an energetic body, hidden from the physical senses, it informs the way that we relate to them, and to others. Through yoga, we are able to clear out that stuck energy, in this case by working on the heart chakra. Through interoception, we bring things into awareness.

Most yogis practice with the awareness that the body has an aura around it. This is a relatively easy concept to grasp, however invisible to the naked eye. Akin to an electromagnetic field, all living beings have an etheral casing. This is fairly basic yogic knowledge. What’s more difficult to conceive, or at least I find it so, is that there are places where the chakras are believed to exist within the space of the physical body. Indeed, the chakras are believed to connect the many different non physical, or energetic bodies, to the physical body, all layered on top of one another. In Theosophical system it is believed that there are seven principles each pertaining to a different body; in clasical yoga there are five koshas or bodily sheaths divided into three, the astral, causal and physical bodies.

In yoga we aim to work on the physical, mental, emotional and pranic bodies, in order to access the bliss body. We use the eight limbs of yoga: asana (physical practice), ethical observances and restraints (mental/emotional), pranayama (pranic), pratyhara (mental, pranic), and dharana, dhyana and samadhi (a fusion of all the bodies through one pointed concentration). We attempt to merge with the bliss body, or access information stored in it; the akashic record or causal body.

When we practice yoga we aim to enhance our powers of both proprioception and interoception. Trauma can create barriers to understanding, or insight, as can the five obstacles to yoga [read more on the kleshas here]. Building these powers is a gradual process, and learning to discern what is gong on in our aura and chakras takes years of practice, calling on all the limbs of yoga. Yoga is not just a physical practice requiring a good level of proprioception, but it also calls on us to enhance our capacity of interoception. Cultivating an internal gaze through meditative practices including mindful asana work is key to building this kind of spiritual strength.