How Our Bodies Communicate (and Why Logic Isn’t Always Enough)

We live in a world that prizes thinking.

We plan. We analyze. We try to make sense of things.

But somewhere along the way, many of us forgot how to listen—

Not just with our minds, but with our bodies.

The Body’s Language

Because the body has its own language.

Older. More primal.

It speaks in feelings, tension, stillness, unease—and quiet knowing.

What we often call intuition.

And when life shifts—through grief, transition, or quiet disconnection—that voice becomes even more important.

Not louder, but more insistent.

As if asking us to remember how to listen.

What Neuroscience Reveals

Cognitive neuroscience suggests that about 95% of how we act, decide, and feel happens beneath conscious awareness.

“Around 95% of how we act, make decisions, feel, and behave occurs at the non-conscious level of unobserved processes.”— Accessing the Inner Self: Beliefs, in Pivoting (Clancy & Binkert, 2016).

This isn’t a detour from logic—it’s a return to deeper insight.

To the quiet intelligence of the body.

To the subtle signals we often overlook.

Listening Differently: The Role of Embodied Listening

Embodied listening, like Focusing, offers a way to tune into what your body already knows.

Not through effort or analysis, but through attention.

It invites a shift from thinking about experience to sensing it—directly, gently, and without judgment.

This kind of listening attunes us to the Felt Sense:

A subtle, trustworthy awareness that lives beneath words.

Especially when words fall short.

The Iceberg of Awareness

“Most of what we know lives beneath the surface—our body’s quiet signals and deeper awareness.” Photo adapted from Charlotte Howorth & Rod Francis.

This image makes the distinction clear:

• Above the surface (5%): Everyday consciousness—the part we can name and explain. Thinking, feeling, perceiving. Logical, linear, and easily overwhelmed.

• Below the surface (95%): Implicit knowing—the body’s quiet signals, emotional nuance, and deeper truth. This is where the Felt Sense lives. It communicates in metaphor, image, memory, and sensation. Non-linear, complex, and quietly powerful.

Like an iceberg, the visible tip is only a fraction of the whole.

Real insight often comes from what’s underneath—what the body knows before we can put it into words.

The Felt Sense isn’t just a passive signal.

It’s a doorway. A bridge.

A way to dip into the 95% of non-conscious processes—and return with something fresh.

A word. A gesture. A shift in perspective.

Not extracted by force, but received through presence.

What the Felt Sense Feels Like

As Eugene Gendlin describes, the felt sense is not a mental experience but a physical one.

A bodily awareness of a situation, person, or event.

It arrives not in thoughts or words, but as a single, often fuzzy and complex feeling.

Like a taste. Or a musical chord.

It encompasses everything you feel and know about something, all at once.

And it doesn’t usually appear on command.

It must form.

You let it form by attending inwardly, gently.

And as it comes into focus, it can shift—revealing new meaning, new clarity.

This is how we begin to re-learn the body’s language.

To tune in.

To develop a trusting relationship with our body and intuition—not as a mystical gift, but as a natural capacity.

When Insight Doesn’t Come Right Away

Sometimes, even when you pause and listen, no clear answer emerges.

You sense something—but it’s vague. Unformed.

And the not-knowing can feel unsettling.

That’s when anxiety often sets in.

Not because you’re doing it wrong, but because your system is wired to seek resolution or control.

What if, instead of rushing to resolve, you could lean into the space of not-knowing—treating it as part of the process rather than a problem to fix?

Embodied listening, like Focusing, teaches us to hold space for the not‑knowing when insight doesn’t come right away—staying present without forcing resolution.

It doesn’t promise instant clarity, yet it helps you build trust in the process, even when the outcome isn’t visible—inviting you to rest in the unfolding, to sense that clarity ripens slowly, and that the not‑knowing itself can be part of the wisdom that emerges.

Why This Matters

Whether you're navigating change, seeking clarity, or simply wondering what’s next—your body may already know.

You just need a way to listen.

Embodied listening is one such practice.

Focusing is one gentle pathway within it.

It meets you where you are.

No fixing. No rushing. Just a quiet invitation to reconnect with what’s already alive inside you.

To remember the language your body has always spoken.

And to trust that it’s still speaking—right now.