From the body to the mind: interoception and sense of agency as mechanisms of depression reduction in the Body-Mind Axial Awareness (BMAA).
Yunn-Wen Lien, Shan-Chuan Teng, Li-Yun Wei
Frontiers in Psychology April 7, 2026 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1755698 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Pre-post design with an active control group Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 71 |
| Population | University students |
| Intervention | Body-Mind Axial Awareness (BMAA) method |
| Duration | 10-week course |
| Measures | Beck Depression Inventory, Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), Sense of Agency Scale |
| Topics | Depression Meditation |
| Keywords | Emotion regulation Wellbeing Sense of agency Interoception Embodied practices |
| Key points | A 10-week BMAA course was associated with significant reductions in depressive tendencies, improvements across all interoceptive sensibility dimensions, and decreases in negative sense of agency relative to an active control group. Mediation analyses indicated that improvements in Not-Distracting, Attention Regulation, and Trusting interoception led to reduced negative sense of agency, which in turn contributed to lower depressive tendencies; the authors argue this is the first evidence that interoception and sense of agency play sequential roles in how embodied practices support emotion regulation. |
Abstract
Introduction: Psychological wellbeing among young adults has declined globally, along with rising levels of depression, creating an educational and societal crisis and highlighting the urgent need for school-based mental health interventions. In response, the Body-Mind Axial Awareness (BMAA) method-an embodied body-mind enhancement program rooted in East Asian self-cultivation traditions-was developed at National Taiwan University to promote students' mental resilience and wellbeing.
Methods: This study examined the effects and mechanisms of a 10-week BMAA course on depressive tendencies (measured by the Beck Depression Inventory), interoceptive sensibility [measured by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA)], and sense of agency (measured by the Sense of Agency Scale) in university students. To test these aims, a pre-post design with an active control group was used (BMAA: n = 50; control: n = 21).
Results: The findings showed that BMAA participants experienced significant reductions in depressive tendencies, improvements across all dimensions of interoceptive sensibility, and decreases in negative sense of agency (SoNA) compared with the control group. Mediation analyses further revealed a serial pathway in which enhancements in the Not-Distracting, Attention Regulation, and Trusting dimension of interoception led to reductions in SoNA, which in turn contributed to decreased depressive tendencies. Additionally, independent mediation pathways involving the Not-Worrying dimension and SoNA alone were also significant.
Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that interoception and the sense of agency play crucial, sequential roles in how embodied practices like 2 BMAA support emotion regulation. BMAA not only offers a feasible method for promoting students' mental health and resilience but also shows promising potential for broader clinical use in the future.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on depression, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Interoception, contemplative practice, and health Frontiers in Psychology June 9, 2015
- Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Body Awareness in Patients with Chronic Pain and Comorbid Depression Frontiers in Psychology June 30, 2016
- Testing the mindfulness-to-meaning theory: Evidence for mindful positive emotion regulation from a reanalysis of longitudinal data. PLoS One December 6, 2017
- Altered Sense of Body Ownership and Agency in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Its Dissociative Subtype: A Rubber Hand Illusion Study Frontiers in Human Neuroscience May 1, 2018
and 6 more in the library