Rediscovering Our First Language – The Intelligence of Sensation

The Lost Language of Sensation

For most of us, the language of our body—sensational intelligence—has become a forgotten tongue. Like an expatriate who has lived away from their homeland for too long, we may no longer think, dream, or even realize that we once spoke this language fluently. And yet, it was the first language we ever knew.

Before we could speak words, before we could even see, hear, or grasp the world around us, we were immersed in sensation. The moment life began in the womb, we were already experiencing a world of interoception—the subtle but powerful world of bodily awareness.

But somewhere along the way, as we grew older, this language faded into the background. Our attention was pulled outward, toward thoughts, words, and external perceptions. Sensation was no longer something we listened to—it became something we ignored or numbed.

Now, through this practice, we are relearning our mother tongue.

Awareness as Relearning

This process isn’t about learning something new—it’s about reconnecting to what we’ve always known. The intelligence of sensation has never left us; it has simply been drowned out by the louder, more insistent voices of thought and emotion.

In the same way that an old language can be revived after years of disuse, we can begin to listen again to our interoceptive signals. The sensations of the body—heat, pressure, tingling, expansion, contraction—have always been there, waiting for our awareness to return.

When we practice awareness of the body, we are:

• Noticing raw, unfiltered experience before the mind interprets it.
• Reconnecting with the foundation of our emotional and mental states.
• Accessing the most direct and truthful form of self-knowledge.

It’s a listening practice—not about control, not about changing anything, just tuning in.

Sensations as the Root of Identity

One of the most profound realizations in this practice is that who we think we are—our identity—is built upon these raw sensations.

Think of a tree:

• The roots are our sensations.
• The trunk is our emotions, which grow out of the felt experience of the body.
• The branches are our thoughts, forming stories based on how we feel.
• The leaves and fruit are our actions and behaviors, shaped by those underlying thoughts.

We often focus on changing the branches—our thoughts, our external behaviors—without realizing that real change happens at the roots. If we want to truly transform, we must go beneath the surface and return to the raw data of our being: sensation.

Without this foundation, we are just reacting to thoughts about our feelings, rather than addressing the source.

Becoming Bilingual in Awareness

Today, as you go about your life, consider this an experiment:

What if you spoke two (or even three, with emotional intelligence) languages at once?

• The language of thought, which is where we normally live.
• The language of sensation, which has been speaking to us all along.

For example:

• If you feel frustrated, pause and notice what your body is doing. Is there tightness in the chest? Heat in the face? A sense of pressure?
• If you feel excitement, observe the physical sensation of it. Is your heart racing? Is there an openness in the body? A lightness in the limbs?
• If you’re eating or drinking something, pay attention to the actual experience. How does it feel? What happens when you slow down and sense the texture, temperature, and subtle qualities?

At first, this might feel unfamiliar—like trying to understand a conversation in a foreign language. But over time, this practice reawakens a native intelligence that has always been inside us.

By listening rather than forcing, we allow the body’s wisdom to emerge naturally.

Final Thought: Returning to Our Mother Tongue

This is not just about awareness—it’s about coming home to the most fundamental part of ourselves.

Beneath all the noise of thought, beyond the fluctuations of emotion, there is a steady stream of bodily knowing. This knowing is neither logical nor verbal. It doesn’t speak in words or abstract ideas. It communicates directly through experience.

The invitation is simple:

Today, listen.

Not to your thoughts. Not to your stories. But to the sensations beneath it all.

They have been speaking to you all along.