Interoception Is An Essential Leadership Skill
Here's how to use it.
Todays newsletter at a glance:
Interoception is such a deep and involved topic, I wanted to focus solely on that.
Humming to relax and increase the very important metric of Heart Rate Variablity (HRV).
What if I told you that you have this special sense that would allow you to make better, more intuitive decisions, feel energized or more relaxed, and be happier and live healthier?
The good news is that you, like every other person on this planet has this sense and it’s called interoception.
Interoception is like having a golden key that opens the door to experience the inner landscape of your body.
Most have never heard of the word, nor are familiar with it.
Fortunately, with the rising popularity of things like breath work and mindfulness practices, it’s starting to penetrate the lexicon of our culture.
But most people are just scratching the surface when it comes to their ability to use intercoception as a navigational tool for their life.
The good news is that with a little bit of directed intention this “sense” can become a superpower that will give you access to the some of the most important information you could ever perceive.
Interoception in Practice
Let’s say you’re stuck in your head about something that’s been bothering you.
The thoughts rush in at a million miles an hour.
All the stuff you have to do, the little fires you have to fight, the commitments you’ve made, the project with the due date coming up, all fighting for space while you think to yourself “How am I ever going to get all that stuff done?”
You feel overwhelmed.
So you grab another cup of coffee and get to work.
As you work through the day the thoughts become more intrusive.
“I’m not being a good parent.”
“I should be getting outside and exercising more.”
“Unfortunately, I’m the only person who’s going to be able to do this work and do it right.”
“I just need to make it through this week.”
So you push yourself harder, working late into the night.
When you do finally lie down for rest, your sleep is neither deep nor refreshing.
You wake up the next day, and do it all over again.
You know that this isn’t the optimal way to operate but you just need to get through these next two weeks then you’ll be able to relax, at least for the weekend.
Until then, it’s pedal to the metal and you’ve resigned yourself to the consequences.
If behaving like this is simply a one off for a major push, it could be considered a temporary sacrifice.
But if this is the type of behavior that you’ve gotten used to, it could be called burnout.
But what is the ultimate cause of burnout?
Is it just that you’re overwhelmed with tasks and commitments?
Or is there something much more insidious, and if so what is the root cause?
Because every system in your body is geared towards homeostasis, if you pay attention to your nervous system it will signal exactly what your body needs.
The answer to burnout, overwhelm, anxiety, decision paralysis and every “problem” in your life is the ability to feel inside yourself.
Let’s look at the Pyramid of Experience to help us understand what exactly is going on inside us.
Every experience you have takes place within the context of general conscious awareness.
Conscious awareness is that thing inside you that is you that knows it exists.
If I ask you if someone is in there you would say “Of course, and it’s me.”
That’s conscious awareness and every experience takes place inside of it.
There are the stories you tell yourself about everything that has happened, is happening or might happen.
Below stories is the constant train of thoughts you’re having.
Below thoughts are the emotions you experience, many of which are caused by your thoughts.
At the deepest level are the sensations that you can feel inside your body.
The ability to sense inside yourself is interoception.
If your relationship to these sensations is not well developed you’ll react to them at the level of emotion, thought and story instead of understanding what your body is telling you.
When your energy is low, instead of resting, you’ll choose to push through.
When you’re angry, instead of understanding it, you’ll strike out at someone or something and/or become passive aggressive.
When you feel joy and appreciation, instead of expressing those feelings you’ll keep them to yourself or express them in an awkward way that might not be well received.
When you’re energized and inspired instead of going after what you really want, you’ll simply daydream or think about doing it in the future, or kill it with “paralysis by analysis” overthinking.
Most of people were taught to ignore the sensations of their body, and instead were told or figured out that that the way you get ahead is to “buckle down, man up, push through , get tough, have grit, increase our willpower, and make it happen no matter what.”
What if there was an easier way to do life?
Humming or Singing to Relax and Increase Resiliency
If you want a quick way to chill out or just generally feel butter, humming is a powerful tool.
Humming can increase parasympathetic activity by stimulating the vagus nerve and help you to remain calm and increase your resiliency.
The vagus nerve is actually a bundle of nerves that influences the involuntary part of your nervous system and controls things like digestion, heart rate, respiration, and vasodilation.
No, you don’t need to be good singer, or have any experience singing at all.
Simply by humming and playing with different tones you will stimulate the muscles in your throat that influence your entire nervous system.
It also does some other really cool stuff such as:
Increase Nitric Oxide
Nitric oxide (NO) is a neuro-transmitter gas that sterilizes airborne pathogens in the air your breath.
It also increases oxygenation in the arteries, reduces blood pressure, and increases endurance.
That’s why athletes have known for decades that nasal breathing is superior to mouth breathing in athletic events.
Improve Heart Rate variability (HRV)
Heart rate variability or HRV, is a super important bio-metric that indicates how well you’re able to deal with and recover from stress.
Humming increases parasympathetic dominance (rest and digest vs. fight or flight) and has been shown to increase your HRV.
As you age, HRV begins to fall and as a result you’re less able to deal with stress on the body and mind.
So every year make sure to hum and sing a little more than the last.