A core part of my work with my clients involves guiding them to observe and feel more of their bodies—whether in motion or stillness.
For example, I might direct my client’s attention to the weight on her wrists and shoulders while doing a plank or pushup. I might ask another client to observe the tension in their muscles as they squat and name where they feel the most tension.
The one practice I love most is to notice how my breath alters distribution of force through my joints in any static/isometric hold like downward dog, or plank or a basic forward bend.
Understanding Kinesthetic Awareness
Our senses constantly feed us data about our bodies and surroundings. The kinesthetic sense handles movement specifically—it’s our conscious perception of body actions.
Kinesthetic awareness means tuning into your body deliberately during motion. It doesn’t work alone: proprioception (unconscious joint positioning) and the vestibular sense (inner ear balance) provide essential support.
We all possess it, but dancers, athletes, and musicians hone it deliberately. A pianist, for example, relies on kinesthetic sense and tons of practice to glide fingers across keys without looking.
Why Body Awareness Matters
Only you know your body’s unique feedback—from visual and tactile cues to vestibular, kinesthetic, interoceptive, and proprioceptive signals.
The more you feel of your body, the more effectively you can use it—and vice versa.
Strong body awareness is key to balance, coordination, injury prevention, and recovery. It helps you stay upright, spot subtle shifts early, and respond before problems escalate.
My elderly neighbor who is tall and statuesque gradually started hunching over. She noticed almost 2-3 years ago that her blouses weren’t fitting her the way they used to. And her husband, who was alive at the time also pointed out to her that she was hunching. 5 years later she suddenly had nerve pain in her back running through her leg. Her doctor told her that although the pain was sudden, it’s cause lay in prolonged poor posture.
Bodies endure stress quietly—until they don’t. That’s why it’s important to have a consistent and holistic movement practice that keeps your sensorimotor system functioning well.
Building Body Awareness
Your intention to become more aware of your body is the first step to building body awareness.
Here are some additional tips:
- Move more and vary your movements— e.g. change the pace, change the terrain.
- Slow down to notice details—e.g. walk bare feet and notice the feeling of your feet on the ground or walk in slow motion
- Check your posture in a mirror or record yourself (a trick athletes love)
- Observe others engaging in a physical activity—non-judgmentally watching other people can be a good learning experience for you
- Practice exercises and poses specifically tuning into internal sensations.
- Work with a coach to spotlight your form.
Attention: The Stretching of Awareness
Awareness is a passive, ever-present noticing without reacting or analyzing.
Attention is the active ‘stretching’ of our awareness toward an object. Directing our attention to something means we are analyzing, evaluating and engaging with it or trying to problem solve.
We rely on focused attention to learn skills, reflect, and practice. For example, when learning to do a pushup, you focus your attention on your form, practice the movement, check-in with a coach/trainer or instructions, reflect and repeat. All of this is you paying attention to learn a skill.
You can’t be in ‘attention’ mode all the time. It will be exhausting. We usually return, now and then, to our default state of relaxed, diffused awareness—with our senses humming in the background.
Awareness and Attention Beyond Movement
When we are awake, we are always shifting between the two states of awareness and attention.
This applies to both in a movement context and life.
We often hear that increased body awareness and mindfulness through movement has benefits beyond the proverbial ‘yoga mat’.
As someone who has practiced ‘mindful’ movement, i.e. yoga since I was a child and has had struggles with anxiety and attention; the benefits of a mindful, physical practice or having a keen kinesthetic sense didn’t automatically spill over to my emotional/mental health.
Learning and understanding the difference between awareness and attention and practicing the difference is what has given me some relief from my rumination and anxiety.
Finding harmony for me lay in wisely participating in this dance between awareness and attention—whether with my body or my mind.