Starting Sat 6th November – Inner Sense Programme
Please work your way through each video at your own pace. It’s fine to watch one video per day or all of the videos in one day.
The last video of each week is followed by a link to self-reflection questions in the form of a ‘Quiz’. Rest assured that you are not being tested on the answers to the questions. They are a simply a chance for you to reflect on the relevance that the exercises and programme content may have to your day-to-day life.
Course Content
Inner Sense Exercise Menu
(This menu stays the same for the whole 8-week programme)
We encourage you to enjoy practising inner body awareness exercises in between watching the main course content above. Please choose from the selection of exercises in the menu below.
The number of minutes shown in brackets will help you when adding up an estimate of the total time each week that you have spent bringing your attention inside of your body. A new link will be sent to you at the end of each week to enter your total.
Pause, Breathe, Feel, Reassure – Georgie Oldfield, SIRPA (1 minute of tuning in)
Georgina Oldfield MCSP, is a Physiotherapist & Founder of SIRPA which delivers Recovery Programmes for chronic pain. Georgie set up SIRPA after studying the work of Dr Sarno a Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, best known for his pioneering work on emotional aspects of chronic pain. Find out more at www.sirpa.org
Body Scan with Muscle Relaxation (12 minutes of tuning in)
Michael Scott is a meditation teacher and director at Pure Turtle, a health and wellness service that uses psychotherapy, mentoring, leadership training, mindfulness and meditation to help clients achieve a happy equilibrium. Find out more www.pureturtle.co.uk
Walking and Tuning in and Out of Your Body (2 minutes of tuning In)
Kath Burrows, known as the Body Love Alchemist, loves helping women become more confident and compassionate about their bodies by transforming their inner critic into their biggest cheerleader. She is a body confidence and mindset coach and yoga teacher. Find out more coachingwithkath.co.uk
Subhadassi – A Short Interoception Body Tour (6 minutes of tuning in)
Subhadassi worked as a freelance writer & artist for over twenty years. He teaches and runs courses on meditation, Buddhism, and creative writing. Find out more www.subhadassi.com
Pendulation – Georgie Oldfield, SIRPA (approx 1.5 minutes of tuning in)
Georgina Oldfield MCSP, is a Physiotherapist & Founder of SIRPA which delivers Recovery Programmes for chronic pain. Georgina set up SIRPA after studying the work of Dr Sarno a Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, best known for his pioneering work on emotional aspects of chronic pain. Find out more at www.sirpa.org
Sue Marcantonio – Creative Movement Inner Sense Practice (30 minutes of tuning in)
Sue has been an athlete, Physical Education Teacher, University Lecturer and Coach. Sue weaves into her work Creative Dance, Pilates, Shamanism, and the ability to read and sense peoples’ bodily holding patterns – and currently runs a Say Hello To Your Body programme. Find out more at www.spiritunleashed.co.uk
Inner Sense Exercise Menu
(This menu stays the same for the whole 8-week programme)
We encourage you to enjoy practising inner body awareness exercises in between watching the main course content above. Please choose from the selection of exercises in the menu below.
The number of minutes shown in brackets will help you when adding up an estimate of the total time each week that you have spent bringing your attention inside of your body. A new link will be sent to you at the end of each week to enter your total.
Pause, Breathe, Feel, Reassure - Georgie Oldfield, SIRPA (1 minute of tuning in)
Georgina Oldfield MCSP, is a Physiotherapist & Founder of SIRPA which delivers Recovery Programmes for chronic pain. Georgie set up SIRPA after studying the work of Dr Sarno a Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, best known for his pioneering work on emotional aspects of chronic pain. Find out more at www.sirpa.org
Body Scan with Muscle Relaxation (12 minutes of tuning in)
Michael Scott is a meditation teacher and director at Pure Turtle, a health and wellness service that uses psychotherapy, mentoring, leadership training, mindfulness and meditation to help clients achieve a happy equilibrium. Find out more www.pureturtle.co.uk
Walking and Tuning in and Out of Your Body (2 minutes of tuning In)
Kath Burrows, known as the Body Love Alchemist, loves helping women become more confident and compassionate about their bodies by transforming their inner critic into their biggest cheerleader. She is a body confidence and mindset coach and yoga teacher. Find out more coachingwithkath.co.uk
Subhadassi - A Short Interoception Body Tour (6 minutes of tuning in)
Subhadassi worked as a freelance writer & artist for over twenty years. He teaches and runs courses on meditation, Buddhism, and creative writing. Find out more www.subhadassi.com
Pendulation - Georgie Oldfield, SIRPA (4 minutes of tuning in)
Georgina Oldfield MCSP, is a Physiotherapist & Founder of SIRPA which delivers Recovery Programmes for chronic pain. Georgina set up SIRPA after studying the work of Dr Sarno a Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, best known for his pioneering work on emotional aspects of chronic pain. Find out more at www.sirpa.org
Sue Marcantonio - Creative Movement Inner Sense Practice (30 minutes of tuning in)
Sue has been an athlete, Physical Education Teacher, University Lecturer and Coach. Sue weaves into her work Creative Dance, Pilates, Shamanism, and the ability to read and sense peoples' bodily holding patterns - and currently runs a Say Hello To Your Body programme. Find out more at www.spiritunleashed.co.uk
References: Week 1 Inner Sense Programme
Performance at work and heart beat detection Kandasamy, N., Garfinkel, S. N., Page, L., Hardy, B., Critchley, H. D., Gurnell, M., & Coates, J. M. (2016). Interoceptive ability predicts survival on a London trading floor. Scientific reports, 6(1), 1-7.
Poor interoception and mental health Chen, W. G., Schloesser, D., Arensdorf, A. M., Simmons, J. M., Cui, C., Valentino, R., ... & Langevin, H. M. (2021). The emerging science of interoception: sensing, integrating, interpreting, and regulating signals within the self. Trends in neurosciences, 44(1), 3-16.
Review article: Interoception and health Bonaz B, Lane RD, Oshinsky ML, Kenny PJ, Sinha R, Mayer EA, Critchley HD. Diseases, Disorders, and Comorbidities of Interoception. Trends Neurosci. 2021 Jan;44(1):39-51. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.09.009. PMID: 33378656
Free Energy Minimisation Boonstra EA, Slagter HA. The Dialectics of Free Energy Minimization. Front Syst Neurosci. 2019 Sep 10;13:42. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2019.00042. PMID: 31551719; PMCID: PMC6746971.
New Scientist Article https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632881-300-consciousness-isnt-just-the-brain-the-body-shapes-your-sense-of-self/
Body Budgeting – Lisa Feldman Barrett https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/seven-and-a-half-lessons-about-the-brain/
Brain Using 20% of energy on average van der Kooij MA. The impact of chronic stress on energy metabolism. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2020 Sep;107:103525.
Chess players as a model for response to mental stress Troubat N, Fargeas-Gluck MA, Tulppo M, Dugué B. The stress of chess players as a model to study the effects of psychological stimuli on physiological responses: an example of substrate oxidation and heart rate variability in man. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009 Feb;105(3):343-9.
References: Week 2 Inner Sense Programme
Functions of Interoception - Quigley, K. S., Kanoski, S., Grill, W. M., Barrett, L. F., & Tsakiris, M. (2021). Functions of interoception: from energy regulation to experience of the self. Trends in Neurosciences, 44(1), 29-38.
Emotions and Interoception- Nummenmaa, L., Glerean, E., Hari, R., & Hietanen, J. K. (2014). Bodily maps of emotions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(2), 646-651.
Heartbeat detection and emotion - Wiens, S., Mezzacappa, E. S., & Katkin, E. S. (2000). Heartbeat detection and the experience of emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 14(3), 417-427.
Improved interocpetion awareness and emotions- Bornemann, B., & Singer, T. (2017). Taking time to feel our body: Steady increases in heartbeat perception accuracy and decreases in alexithymia over 9 months of contemplative mental training. Psychophysiology, 54(3), 469-482.
Dr Jane Aspell’s work: https://sites.google.com/view/self-and-body-lab-aru/home
Interoceptive interventions- Weng, H. Y., Feldman, J. L., Leggio, L., Napadow, V., Park, J., & Price, C. J. (2021). Interventions and manipulations of interoception. Trends in Neurosciences, 44(1), 52-62.
Anatomy and Fascia- Schleip, R. (2013). Fascia as an organ of communication. Teoksessa R. Schleip, TW Findley, L. Chaitow & PA Huijing (toim.) Fascia: The tensional network of the human body. China: Elsevier Ltd, 77-79.
The Attention Economy, Douglas Ruskkoff https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-03-14/douglas-rushkoff-weve-disabled-the-cognitive-and-collaborative-skills-needed-to-address-climate-change/
Week 3
Basic understanding that your body is constantly changing Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2007). Introduction to the Human Body (7 ed.), USA: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Introduction to neuronal plasticity Zilles K (October 1992). "Neuronal plasticity as an adaptive property of the central nervous system". Annals of Anatomy = Anatomischer Anzeiger. 174 (5): 383–91
Helpful and unhelpful plasticity Cabib, S., Campus, P., Conversi, D., Orsini, C., & Puglisi-Allegra, S. (2020). Functional and dysfunctional neuroplasticity in learning to cope with stress. Brain sciences, 10(2), 127.
Stress and plasticity Juruena MF. Early-life stress and HPA axis trigger recurrent adulthood depression. Epilepsy Behav. 2014 Sep;38:148-59. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2013.10.020. Epub 2013 Nov 20. PMID: 24269030.
Trauma and plasticity Danese A, McEwen BS. Adverse childhood experiences, allostasis, allostatic load, and age-related disease. Physiol Behav. 2012 Apr 12;106(1):29-39.
Pain and plasticity Melzack, R., Coderre, T. J., Katz, J., & Vaccarino, A. L. (2001). Central neuroplasticity and pathological pain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 933(1), 157-174.
Movement and plasticity Cassilhas, R. C., Tufik, S., & de Mello, M. T. (2016). Physical exercise, neuroplasticity, spatial learning and memory. Cellular and molecular life sciences, 73(5), 975-983.
Mental Health and Plasticity Pittenger, C., & Duman, R. S. (2008). Stress, depression, and neuroplasticity: a convergence of mechanisms. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33(1), 88-109.
Recovery from stroke Dimyan, M. A., & Cohen, L. G. (2011). Neuroplasticity in the context of motor rehabilitation after stroke. Nature Reviews Neurology, 7(2), 76-85.
Meditation and plasticity Treadway, M. T., & Lazar, S. W. (2010). Meditation and neuroplasticity: Using mindfulness to change the brain. Assessing mindfulness and acceptance processes in clients: Illuminating the theory and practice of change, 186-205.
Meditation and plasticity Farb, N. A., Segal, Z. V., & Anderson, A. K. (2013). Mindfulness meditation training alters cortical representations of interoceptive attention. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 8(1), 15-26.
Plasticity beyond the brain Geuna S., Giacobini-Robecchi M.G., Raimondo S., Fornaro M. (2010) Plasticity and regeneration in the peripheral nervous system, in IJAE : Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology : 115, 1/2
Effects of slow breathing Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, Garbella E, Menicucci D, Neri B, Gemignani A. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Front Hum Neurosci. 2018 Sep 7;12:353.
HRV and slow breathing (RSA) Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, Garbella E, Menicucci D, Neri B, Gemignani A. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Front Hum Neurosci. 2018 Sep 7;12:353. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353. PMID: 30245619; PMCID: PMC6137615.
Week 4
Cannon, W. B. (1929). Organization for physiological homeostasis. Physiological reviews, 9(3), 399-431.
Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2007). Introduction to the Human Body (7 ed.), USA: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Corcoran, A. W., & Hohwy, J. (2017). Allostasis, interoception, and the free energy principle: Feeling our way forward.
Sterling, P., and Eyer, J. (1988). “Allostasis: a new paradigm to explain arousal pathology,” in Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health, eds S. Fisher and J. Reason (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons), 629–649.
Guyenet, S. (2017). The Hungry Brain. UK: Vermillion.
Biofeedback Training https://www.bcia.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3524
Sterling, P., and Eyer, J. (1988). “Allostasis: a new paradigm to explain arousal pathology,” in Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health, eds S. Fisher and J. Reason (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons), 629–649.
Kolacz, J., Kovacic, K. K., & Porges, S. W. (2019). Traumatic stress and the autonomic brain‐gut connection in development: Polyvagal theory as an integrative framework for psychosocial and gastrointestinal pathology. Developmental psychobiology, 61(5), 796-809.
Schleip R & Stecco C: Fascia as a sensory organ. In: Schleip R et al.: Fascia in Sport and Movement. Handspring Publshing, Edinburgh, 2nd edition, 2021, page 169-179
Smith, M. M., & Bryant, J. L. (2002). Mind-body and mind-gut connection in inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology Nursing, 25(5), 213-217.
Woods-Giscombé, C. L., & Black, A. R. (2010). Mind-body interventions to reduce risk for health disparities related to stress and strength among African American women: The potential of mindfulness-based stress reduction, loving-kindness, and the NTU therapeutic framework. Complementary health practice review, 15(3), 115-131.
Wolever, R. Q., Bobinet, K. J., McCabe, K., Mackenzie, E. R., Fekete, E., Kusnick, C. A., & Baime, M. (2012). Effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of occupational health psychology, 17(2), 246.
Gharbo RS. Autonomic Rehabilitation: Adapting to Change. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2020 Nov;31(4):633-648. doi: 10.1016/j.pmr.2020.07.003. Epub 2020 Sep 8. PMID: 32981583.
Marti, A. R., Meerlo, P., Grønli, J., Hasselt, S. J., Mrdalj, J., Pallesen, S., . . . Skrede, S. (2016). Shift in food intake and changes in metabolic regulation and gene expression during simulated night-shift work: A rat model. Nutrients, 8(11), 712.
Garcia-Saenz, A., Miguel, A. S., Espinosa, A., Valentín, A., Aragonés, N., Llorca, J., . . . Kogevinas, M. (2018). Evaluating the Association between Artificial Light-at-Night Exposure and Breast and Prostate Cancer Risk in Spain (MCC-Spain Study). Environmental Health Perspectives, 126(04).
Zubidat, A. E., Fares, B., Fares, F., & Haim, A. (2018). Artificial Light at Night of Different Spectral Compositions Differentially Affects Tumor Growth in Mice: Interaction With Melatonin and Epigenetic Pathways:. Cancer Control, 25(1), 107327481881290.
Week 5
Emotion and Predictive Processing Seth, A. K., & Critchley, H. D. (2013). Extending predictive processing to the body: emotion as interoceptive inference. Behav. Brain Sci, 36(3), 227-228.
Pezzulo, G., Maisto, D., Barca, L., & Van den Bergh, O. (2019). Symptom perception from a predictive processing perspective. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 1(4), 1-14.
Bissell, D. A., Ziadni, M. S., & Sturgeon, J. A. (2018). Perceived injustice in chronic pain: An examination through the lens of predictive processing. Pain management, 8(2), 129-138.
The Polyvagal Theory Porges, S. W. (2003). The polyvagal theory: Phylogenetic contributions to social behavior. Physiology & behavior, 79(3), 503-513.
Interoception, vagal tone and emotion regulation Pinna T, Edwards DJ. A Systematic Review of Associations Between Interoception, Vagal Tone, and Emotional Regulation: Potential Applications for Mental Health, Wellbeing, Psychological Flexibility, and Chronic Conditions. Front Psychol. 2020 Aug 5;11:1792. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01792. PMID: 32849058; PMCID: PMC7419655.
Sullivan MB, Erb M, Schmalzl L, Moonaz S, Noggle Taylor J, Porges SW. Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory: The Convergence of Traditional Wisdom and Contemporary Neuroscience for Self-Regulation and Resilience. Front Hum Neurosci. 2018 Feb 27;12:67. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00067. PMID: 29535617; PMCID: PMC5835127.
Vickhoff, B., Malmgren, H., Åström, R., Nyberg, G., Ekström, S.-R., Engwall, M., . . . Jörnsten, R. (2013). Music structure determines heart rate variability of singers. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 334-334.
Paulus MP, Feinstein JS, Khalsa SS. An Active Inference Approach to Interoceptive Psychopathology. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2019 May 7;15:97-122. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050718-095617. PMID: 31067416; PMCID: PMC7280559.
Scatliffe N, Casavant S, Vittner D, Cong X. Oxytocin and early parent-infant interactions: A systematic review. Int J Nurs Sci. 2019 Sep 12;6(4):445-453. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnss.2019.09.009. PMID: 31728399; PMCID: PMC6838998
Week 6
Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C.H.M., Potts, H.W.W. and Wardle, J. (2010), How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 40: 998-1009.
Orbell, S., & Verplanken, B. (2015). The strength of habit. Health psychology review, 9(3), 311-317.
Walker, I., Thomas, G. O., & Verplanken, B. (2015). Old habits die hard: Travel habit formation and decay during an office relocation. Environment and Behavior, 47(10), 1089-1106.
Week 8
Details of Resting Cell Membrane Potential - Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2007). Introduction to the Human Body (7 ed.), USA: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
United State Association for Body Psychotherapy https://usabp.org/Somatic-Psychology-Education-and-Training
The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association https://ismeta.org
Somatics and Pain Network https://twitter.com/SomaticsandPain
Trauma/Tension Releasing Exercises (TRE) - https://traumaprevention.com
UK Centre For Biodynamic Body Psychotherapy https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/organisations/centre-for-biodynamic-body-psychotherapy/