Inner Sense – by Caroline Williams

When a book has “the new science of” in its subtitle, we invariably ask: “is it really the new science of?”, and in this case, the answer is no, it isn’t.

However! It is “the good and useful science of”, so we’ll not count that against the book.

The case is made for interoception (the sense of what is going on inside us) being important for general health. At 10almonds we’ve written about this before in the context of mindful eating, but Williams takes it further, to extend to all aspects of life.

The trick, she argues, is in developing the skill to selectively tune out external stimuli, to focus on the internal—and then to maintain that contact, such that even if it’s not generally at the forefront of one’s mind, it can be accessed quickly and easily, and in the event of something not being quite right, we’ll generally notice sooner than otherwise.

Another way she takes it further is noting how our gut, brain, and immune system all talk to each other, and how we can best make use of that knowledge, too.

The style of the book is mostly light pop-science with pointers for papers to read to get more details on certain things.

Bottom line: if you’d like to increase your own bodily awareness, this book will walk you through it, system by system.

Click here to check out Inner Sense, and develop your inner sense!