Frontiers in Psychology
June 9, 2015
Norman A. S. Farb, Jennifer Daubenmier, Cynthia Price et al.
630 citations
Interoception, the sense of internal bodily signals, is essential for embodiment, motivation, and well-being but remains poorly understood. This review integrates perspectives from neuroscience, clinical practice, and contemplative studies, introducing an expanded taxonomy of interoceptive processes. It argues that many of these processes can be explained by a predictive coding model of mind-body integration, which describes tension between expected and felt body sensations. This model parallels contemplative theories and links interoception to affective and psychosomatic disorders. Maladaptive interpretation of bodily sensations may underlie many contemporary maladies, and contemplative practices may reduce these biases, restoring a sense of presence and agency.
Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine
January 1, 2011
Wolf Mehling, Judith Wrubel, Jennifer Daubenmier et al.
465 citations
Body awareness is a key element in mind-body therapies such as yoga, Tai Chi, and mindfulness meditation, yet its meaning across these approaches is not always clear. Through focus groups with leading practitioners and their patients, the study finds that body awareness is understood as an inseparable part of embodied self-awareness, realized through action and interaction with the environment. It is seen as an innate tendency of the organism toward self-organization and wholeness. Patients experience a progression toward greater unity between body and self, mirroring a philosophical concept of embodiment as a dialectic experienced at distinct developmental levels.
Frontiers in Psychology
June 30, 2016
Marasha De Jong, Sara W. Lazar, Kiran Hug et al.
200 citations
Chronic pain and depression are linked to reduced body awareness. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) increased certain aspects of body awareness—specifically self-regulation and not distracting from bodily sensations—more than treatment as usual in 31 patients with chronic pain and active depression. The improvement in depression severity was partly explained by the increased ability to not distract from bodily sensations. These results offer preliminary support for the idea that mindfulness interventions can enhance body awareness in this population and highlight its clinical importance.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
November 11, 2022
Binyu Teng, Dan Wang, Conghui Su et al.
38 citations
A Chinese translation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2) was developed and tested in 627 participants. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 7-factor model after removing 6 items, and confirmatory factor analysis showed good model fit. The total scale had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.822, with subscale alphas ranging from 0.656 to 0.838. Convergent validity was supported by correlations with the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (r = −0.342 to 0.535), and discriminant validity by negative correlations with trait anxiety (r = −0.352 to −0.080). The Chinese version is a valid and reliable tool for assessing interoceptive awareness in Chinese populations.
Kinesiology Review
August 1, 2020
Wolf Mehling
24 citations
A key mechanism in mind-body movement approaches is the maturation of bodily awareness, an experiential learning process with distinct phenomenology and neurological underpinnings. This report focuses on assessing changes in bodily awareness, crucial for documenting this learning in research and clinical settings. Objective lab-based assessments are briefly reviewed. Qualitative methods include interviews, focus groups, and second-person observation of movement. Additionally, several systematically developed and validated self-report questionnaires are now available and presented here.
Scientific Reports
November 6, 2025
Isaac N Treves, Ya-Yun Chen, Caitlyn L Wilson et al.
5 citations
A meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials with 2,191 participants found that mindfulness-based interventions produce a small-to-medium improvement in self-reported interoceptive awareness (g = 0.31). Mindfulness-based programs showed the largest effects (g = 0.41). Improvements in interoception were similar in size to improvements in self-reported mindfulness and were linked to reductions in psychological distress. No evidence of publication bias was detected, and no other factors such as practice dosage or clinical sample significantly moderated the results. These findings suggest mindfulness interventions can positively alter how people subjectively experience bodily sensations, which may contribute to better mental health.
Journal of Pain Research
January 1, 2025
Wolf Mehling, Carrie E Brintz, Wendy Hartogensis et al.
4 citations
A modified mindfulness program for chronic low back pain, called Mindfulness-Based Pain Reduction (MBPR), was developed and tested in 58 patients. The curriculum added mindful interoceptive exposure to pain, pain neuroscience education, and yoga postures for low back pain. Participants attended 80% of sessions, and two-thirds of those receiving MBPR showed clinically meaningful improvements in pain intensity and interference scores (PEG scores improved >30%). The program was feasible and acceptable, warranting further testing in a randomized controlled trial.
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
October 23, 2024
Wolf Mehling
2 citations
Bud Craig's elegant studies established the structural neural basis for interoception and redefined pain as a homeostatic emotion, an experience based on inferential brain processes within prediction processing. This chapter reviews how Craig's work provides the background for understanding mind-body therapies—such as meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and Tai Chi—which are now first-line non-pharmacological approaches in clinical guidelines for chronic pain management. Craig's research highlights the key role of interoceptive processes in these therapies and has led to new directions for clinical and neuroscientific research on managing chronic pain.
Research Square
June 4, 2025
Isaac N Treves, Ya-Yun Chen, Caitlyn L Wilson et al.
Mindfulness-based interventions produce small-to-medium improvements in self-reported interoceptive awareness, according to a meta-analysis of 29 randomized controlled trials involving 2,191 participants (77.8% female, mean age 32.8 years). The overall effect size was g = 0.31, with mindfulness-based programs showing the largest effects (g = 0.41). Improvements in interoception were similar in size to improvements in self-reported mindfulness and were linked to reductions in psychological distress. No evidence of publication bias was found, and no other moderators—such as practice dosage or clinical sample—were significant. The findings suggest that mindfulness training leads to adaptive changes in how people subjectively experience bodily signals, which may contribute to better mental wellbeing.
PLoS One
January 1, 2024
Wolf Mehling, Irina A Strigo, Veronica Goldman et al.
A 2-minute mindful attention exercise guided by a smartphone app, repeated several times daily for 8 weeks, helped people with chronic low back pain. Pain intensity dropped from 4.8 to 3.1 on a 0-10 scale, and a combined measure of pain intensity and interference (PEG score) improved from 13.7 to 8.4. Twenty-one of 29 participants had at least a 30% improvement in PEG score. Participants reported becoming aware of their usual avoidance of pain, were surprised that pain sensations varied over time, and found that focusing on pain reduced its threat. Many described pain in 3D shapes with changing colors, temperature, and density. The approach may be a beneficial alternative to ignoring or distracting from pain.