The Art of Sensing and How Proprioception Unlocks Healing from Within
- Brainz Magazine
- May 13
- 10 min read
Suzette Obiana-Martina, a seasoned Cesar Exercise Therapist, combines over 15 years of expertise with a unique, supportive approach to empower people in managing and preventing physical complaints. Her passion is teaching self-reliance through precise, therapeutic movement for lasting wellness.
In a world overflowing with distractions, it's easy to lose touch with ourselves literally. We rush from task to task, chasing deadlines, caring for others, and showing up for life’s endless demands. Along the way, we tune out the quiet messages our bodies are trying to send us. A stiff shoulder, a shallow breath, and a clenched jaw are subtle signs of imbalance that often go unnoticed.
We live in our heads, while our bodies operate on autopilot.
But this disconnection comes at a cost.
The more we ignore our body’s whispers, the louder it has to speak. Eventually, tension turns into pain, fatigue becomes burnout, and discomfort evolves into dysfunction. And still, many of us keep pushing through, thinking this is normal.
What if the path to healing isn’t found in doing more but in feeling more?
Proprioception, the body’s hidden sense of self, may be the missing link. It holds the power to reconnect us with our inner landscape, restore balance, and prevent pain before it takes root. In this article, we explore what proprioception is, why it matters more than ever, and how awakening this quiet sense can lead to deep, lasting change.
While many people seek healing through action, changing diets, doing exercises, and chasing treatments, they often overlook the most essential starting point: awareness, not of what they’re doing, but of how they’re being.
Living in your head: The body’s silent struggle
Modern life encourages us to be constantly “on.” We think, plan, analyze, and perform every moment filled with mental activity. Our value seems tied to productivity, and rest is often seen as weakness. In this environment, we become experts at ignoring discomfort, suppressing emotions, and overriding signals from the body.
We adapt by disconnecting.
Many people go through entire days without noticing how they’re sitting, standing, breathing, or whether their body feels safe or tense. Screen time, multitasking, and performance pressure pull our attention outward, leaving little space for inner awareness. Over time, this disconnect becomes so normal that we no longer realize it’s there.
But the body doesn't forget. It stores what we don’t process. It compensates for what we ignore. And it quietly struggles in the background, until it no longer can.
Tension builds. Pain settles in. Fatigue lingers. And yet, we often look for solutions everywhere except within.
This silent struggle between mind and body is not just a personal problem; it's a modern epidemic. But there is a way back: through the forgotten sense that helps us feel ourselves again.
What is proprioception, and why does it matter more than you think
Have you ever walked through your home in the dark, effortlessly navigating around furniture without needing to see it? Or stepped off a curb without looking and instinctively caught your balance? Or know exactly how much force to use when picking up a delicate object?
That’s proprioception at work.
Proprioception is your body’s internal GPS, a built-in sense that tells you where you are in space, how you're moving, and how much pressure, tension, or effort is needed in a given moment. It allows you to move without constantly looking at your limbs, and helps you adjust in real time when something changes.
It’s not something we often think about until it’s missing.
When proprioception is weak or disrupted, you may find yourself bumping into things, moving awkwardly, feeling disconnected from your body, or struggling with coordination and balance. But more than that, a poor proprioceptive sense can lead to chronic tension, pain, and injury, because your body no longer receives accurate feedback about how you're using it.
So, how does proprioception become disrupted?
There are several ways:
Lack of movement: A sedentary lifestyle or repetitive patterns (like sitting at a desk all day) limit the variety of signals sent to the brain. When you stop challenging your body to move in different ways, the sensory feedback system can weaken.
Injury or trauma: Pain, surgery, or immobilization (like wearing a cast) can interrupt proprioceptive input. The body avoids certain movements, and the brain begins to lose its “map” of that area.
Chronic stress and dissociation: When the body is in a constant state of survival mode, the brain may tune out subtle sensations. Over time, this dulls your ability to feel tension, alignment, or imbalance until symptoms force your attention.
Think of proprioception like a conversation between your brain and your body. When that conversation flows clearly, you move smoothly, confidently, and safely. When it breaks down, your body may begin to overcompensate, tighten up, or move inefficiently, without you even realizing it.
In our fast-paced world, where we’re constantly in our heads, many people lose touch with this innate ability. The result?A generation of people who move, sit, and live in ways that create long-term stress on their bodies.
But here’s the good news: proprioception is trainable. And when we begin to reawaken it, we also begin to heal not just physically, but holistically.
The missing link between pain and awareness
Pain is often seen as the enemy, something to fight, numb, or avoid. But what if pain is not just a problem to solve, but a message to understand?
In many cases, chronic pain doesn’t appear suddenly. It develops gradually, built on months or even years of unconscious habits: the way you sit, how you walk, how you carry stress, how you breathe. Small misalignments repeated day after day slowly overload certain muscles, joints, and tissues until the body can no longer compensate.
Here’s an example: A woman who sits for hours behind a laptop with her shoulders slightly raised and head subtly tilted forward may not feel discomfort at first. But over time, these unconscious postural habits begin to tighten her neck, weaken her core, and limit her breathing. Months later, she starts experiencing daily tension headaches and back pain, without realizing that her body has been whispering all along.
Now consider this: A man who unconsciously shifts his weight more onto one leg when standing, perhaps due to an old ankle injury, gradually develops a subtle imbalance in his pelvis and spine. His proprioception doesn’t pick up on this asymmetry because it’s become his “new normal.” As a result, his coordination declines, he starts tripping more often, and eventually develops knee or hip pain on one side.
These examples highlight a deeper truth: When proprioceptive awareness is low, our body becomes a collection of disconnected parts, instead of a fluid, responsive whole. We stop feeling the early signs of imbalance. We adapt in ways that lead to compensation, stiffness, and reduced function. And we only start paying attention once symptoms appear.
It’s not just about movement, it’s about presence.
Most people only become aware of their body after the damage is done. By then, pain has become the body’s last resort to get your attention.
This disconnection between what we feel and how we move is the missing link in so many pain stories. And it’s why true healing often begins not with doing more, but with becoming more aware.
Train your inner GPS: The science of feeling yourself again
Proprioception is more than just a physical sense; it’s a form of body intelligence. Proprioception is your body's internal sense of position, movement, and force. It works through specialized sensory receptors located in your muscles, tendons, joints, and skin that constantly send messages to your brain about how your body is moving. These signals are processed in the cerebellum, motor cortex, and somatosensory cortex, allowing you to adjust posture, maintain balance, and move with precision, even without looking.
Scientific studies show that reduced proprioception is linked to chronic pain, poor posture, slower injury recovery, and a higher risk of falls, especially in older adults. Pain itself can interfere with proprioceptive processing in the brain, creating a blurry “map” of the body and leading to further movement issues.
The good news? Proprioception is highly trainable. Through slow, conscious movement and sensory-rich activities, the nervous system can rewire itself, a process known as neuroplasticity. This makes proprioceptive training a powerful tool in rehabilitation, injury prevention, and long-term well-being.
Here are a few simple ways to train your proprioceptive system and rebuild that mind-body connection:
1. Slow, mindful movement
Practices like tai chi, yoga, Pilates, or therapeutic movement bring awareness to how you move and where you are in space. The slower the movement, the more feedback your brain receives. Try moving with your eyes closed to increase the challenge and deepen your internal focus.
2. Barefoot time
Going barefoot, especially on natural, uneven surfaces like grass or sand, activates thousands of receptors in your feet and ankles. This not only improves balance but also enhances the brain’s ability to track your posture and stability.
3. Unstable surfaces
Exercises using a balance board, wobble cushion, or simply standing on one leg force your body to fine-tune its coordination. Your brain becomes more engaged in the feedback loop, recalibrating movement in real time.
4. Sensory attention
Take a moment throughout the day to “scan” your body. Where do you feel tension? Which muscles are working perhaps unnecessarily? Can you release or shift something? This type of check-in begins to rebuild proprioceptive awareness, one moment at a time.
You don’t need complex routines or fancy tools. What you need is presence. When you learn to move with attention, your brain rewires how it communicates with your body. You begin to recognize the signals you’ve been missing, and movement transforms from automatic to intentional.
The science is clear: neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change and adapt, works in your favor. With consistent practice, even long-lost body awareness can be restored. And with it comes more than just physical control; you regain a sense of ownership over your body and your well-being.
Reconnecting through movement: The role of therapy and touch
While proprioception can be trained through self-guided movement, the process is often faster, deeper, and more effective with the right guidance. That’s where therapy and therapeutic touch can play a transformative role.
As a Cesar Exercise Therapist, my work focuses on helping people become aware of their movement habits, many of which are unconscious and contribute to chronic tension or pain. Through personalized movement analysis, I guide clients to observe how they stand, sit, walk, and breathe. We don’t just look at what they’re doing, but how often, how automatically, and how mindlessly they’re doing it.
Many people are surprised by what they discover.
Simple movements they perform every day, getting out of bed, reaching for a bag, and standing at the sink, can reveal patterns of misalignment, compensation, and holding. By slowing these movements down and bringing attention to posture, muscle tone, and breath, we begin to retrain the proprioceptive system and create new, sustainable movement patterns.
Therapy isn’t just about “correcting” something; it’s about reconnecting with your body’s natural intelligence.
Complementing this, my work as a massage therapist adds another layer to the healing process. Therapeutic touch not only helps release muscle tension and improve circulation but also restores a sense of safety and presence in the body. For many people, especially those living in chronic stress or pain, massage becomes a gentle way to bring awareness back to areas they’ve disconnected from physically and emotionally.
Massage enhances proprioception by:
Stimulating skin and muscle receptors
Improving body mapping in the brain
Increasing relaxation and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) activation
Encouraging mindful stillness and self-awareness
When used together, exercise therapy and massage create a powerful synergy: Movement teaches awareness. Touch invites feeling. Together, they awaken connection.
Every client is different. Some need to learn how to move with less tension. Others need to feel what it’s like to fully relax. Some need to rebuild trust in their own body after years of ignoring it. That’s why personalized care meeting the person where they are is essential.
In the end, it’s not just about posture or flexibility or pain relief. It’s about giving people the tools to live inside their body again with confidence, ease, and presence.
A new way of healing: From automatic to aware
True healing doesn’t begin with fixing; it begins with feeling. In a world that celebrates speed and performance, slowing down to sense yourself may seem radical. But it is in that slowness, that awareness, that something powerful happens: You return to yourself.
When you begin to feel your body not just when it’s in pain, but in the in-between moments, you reclaim agency. You move with purpose instead of habit. You recognize your limits before they become symptoms. You shift from survival mode into presence.
This is not about perfection. It’s about paying attention.
Whether you're recovering from pain, trying to prevent it, or simply longing to feel more grounded in your own skin, the path forward is the same: reconnect with your body’s wisdom. Your proprioception is not lost; it’s waiting for you to come home to it.
Call to action: Reconnect, reclaim, rise
Are you ready to move differently, not just through space, but through life?
Start your journey toward deeper body awareness today. Whether you're curious about coaching, looking for personal guidance, or want to experience The Curaçao Escape, our transformative full-body treatment designed to restore your proprioceptive connection, we are here to support you.
Have questions? Reach out. Let’s talk about what your body needs.
Share this message with someone who needs to hear it because healing multiplies when it's shared.
Your body is not a machine to push through life. It is your home, your ally, your guide.
Let’s move with intention. Let’s heal from within. Let’s feel fully and freely again.
Read more from Suzette Obiana - Martina
Suzette Obiana - Martina, Cesar Exercise Therapist
Suzette Obiana-Martina, a licensed Cesar Exercise Therapist with over 15 years of experience, empowers patients to modify daily habits that contribute to their physical complaints. She provides quality time and tailored solutions to improve their personal and professional lives. Her mission is to make people self-reliant, equipping them to manage their own well-being. With extensive training in corporate exercise therapy, foot therapy, coronary diseases, psychology, and psychosomatics, Suzette connects deeply with her patients. By fostering positive encouragement, Suzette helps patients achieve more than they ever thought possible.
Sources:
Effects of Task-Specific Training after Cognitive Sensorimotor Exercise on Proprioception, Spasticity, and Gait Speed in Stroke Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study
This study explores how combining cognitive and sensorimotor exercises can improve proprioception, reduce spasticity, and enhance gait speed in stroke patients.
Read the full article on PubMed Central
Effects of Core Stabilization and Strengthening Exercises on Proprioception, Balance, Muscle Thickness, and Pain in Subacute Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
This research compares the outcomes of core stabilization versus general strengthening exercises in patients with low back pain, focusing on balance, proprioception, and pain levels.
Read the full article on PubMed Central
Development of a Taxonomy to Describe Massage Treatments for Musculoskeletal Pain
This paper introduces a structured framework to categorize different massage techniques and their application in managing musculoskeletal pain.
Read the full article on PubMed Central
Multi-System Physical Exercise Intervention for Fall Prevention and Quality of Life in Pre-Frail Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
This study highlights how a holistic, multi-system physical training program can reduce fall risk and improve overall well-being in pre-frail elderly individuals.
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