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Areas › Your body › Feeling from the inside
Sitting perfectly still and waiting for sensation is hard work if you are numb, and it often ends with the conclusion that you are broken at this. Making the sensation instead of hunting for it solves that. Slow, warm pressure from your own hand also settles most people a little, which is reason enough to keep it in.
But you, soul at peace (Quran 89:27). A hand resting on your own chest is a small way of speaking to yourself in that direction.
الفجر
يَٰٓأَيَّتُهَا ٱلنَّفۡسُ ٱلۡمُطۡمَئِنَّةُ
‘[But] you, soul at peace
Qur’an 89:27read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A review of the slow C-tactile nerve fibres in the skin argues that gentle, unhurried touch is handled as information about the state of the body rather than as ordinary touch. Speed and pressure matter to that system. It is a narrative review of a mechanism, so treat it as a good reason to go slowly with your own hand, not as a prescribed dose.
Björnsdotter M, Morrison I, Olausson H. (2010). Feeling good: on the role of C fiber mediated touch in interoception.. Experimental brain research doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Movement and touch make a stronger signal, so there is actually something there to notice.
There is a difference between watching your hand and being in your hand. See whether you can move from looking at a part of your body to living inside it.
When what is happening inside gets too loud, turn outward. Name what you can see, listen for the furthest sound, press your feet into the floor.
If you are going to bring attention to your body, start with where your body is rather than what it feels. Feet on the floor, back against the chair, the weight of your hands in your lap.