Challenging the myth of "the body knows”
The notion that "the body knows" or has an inherent "wisdom" is something we quite commonly use within the modern “healing space” of different types of somatic therapies, yoga, or mindfulness practices. And while leaning into the body's inherent resources for self-regulation and self-healing is most definitely an important part of healing from many chronic somatic symptoms, studies in neuroscience and psychology suggest that relying too heavily on bodily sensations as absolute truth can be misleading. This is because the body is heavily influenced by learned responses and predictive models shaped by the brain.
The brain does not simply react to the world as it is; it predicts it. How do past body memories affect our bodily state in the present?
The brain is constantly interpreting signals from the body, such as heart rate, gut sensations, and muscle tension. But as the brain strives to conserve energy, instead of analyzing every heartbeat or stomach twist from scratch, it predicts future events based on past experiences (body memories) to anticipate how the body should feel. Therefore, what we feel "here and now" is often a compromise between the brain's best guesses and the actual incoming sensory data. Therefore, what we often consider as the objective truth of our bodily sensations or as the inner wisdom of the body is actually the brain's predictions, shaped by past experiences, rather than a true reflection of the current moment.
Body memory refers to the collection of past bodily experiences stored in our memory, shaping our behavior. These experiences encompass a wide array of sensations, such as touch, movement, body awareness, pain, and internal signals, alongside the emotions they evoke. Although articulating our bodily experiences in daily life or during significant events can be difficult, these memories can still influence our physical state at any time, especially during emotional experiences, and therefore always affect our moment-to-moment bodily experience in some ways.
The fallacy of the “wise body” myth
The myth of the “wise body” suggests that our bodies inherently know the truth, but this isn't entirely accurate. Our brains don't just wait for sensory input; they actively anticipate and initiate it based on predictive models. In chronic pain, this can lead to maladaptive patterns, where pain is generated from past experiences rather than current physical damage. By overly trusting bodily sensations as absolute truth, we might end up prioritizing these conditioned responses, which are echoes of past experiences, over our present state.
Instead of seeing the body’s wisdom as ultimate truth, somatic practices grounded in scientific research recognize the role of prediction errors in challenging old body memories. They introduce new sensory information to create these errors. When real-time sensory input doesn't match the brain's threat predictions, it prompts an update of the pain-inducing predictive models, leading to the healing of symptoms.
If you are interested in Somatic work rooted in the understanding of how the brain predicts bodily states based on past body memories, then check out my package for somatic and movement coaching: https://app.paperbell.com/checkout/packages/212634
-Ansku
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