The nervous system grows in the womb out of the same layer as your skin. Sensing and being touched come from one origin, which is part of why threat is felt on the surface of you.

What the research says

In a randomised controlled trial, brief internet-delivered programmes teaching mindful awareness of emotion reduced problematic anger, doing about as well as programmes teaching people to reinterpret situations. Training attention on what is happening in your body holds up next to the more familiar thinking-based route. Both were supported programmes running over weeks, so this is not evidence about noticing alone with nothing else in place.

Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.