So —this is based on the theory that emotions are names for body states. Ie it’s not I am thinking about a test and feel anxious and then I get nauseous. Instead how emotions work is basically brain which already knows about the test is sending out various chemicals that are increasing your heart rate, increasing gut motility etc—and as a very small child you learn to name that feeling as fear. Your body is sending out chemical signals etc before you KNOW you are scared.

So you ought to learn “ everything in the gut is going at a normal rate, no changes in blood flow or digestion”= a peaceful state, contentment etc

Same with cardiovascular responses: your heart , diaphragm, lungs etc responds to things and you learn to name the response in some way—sadness, excitement etc.

Depending on your brain chemistry and your upbringing your name for the response may or may not be congruent with what is really happening in your life. For example I had an abusive childhood and was afraid a LOT. I learned that it’s “fear” and “bad things are going to happen” if my heart rate increased, stomach motility increased etc.Now when I am excited about something like a vacation, I will initially name the sensations in my body as “fear”—-sometimes to the point of wanting to cancel the thing I am excited about. I had. To do a lot of body centered therapy to rewire my names for my body’s responses and I had grown up in a dangerous environment so I tended to interpret any kind of arousal as a negative emotion.

It sounds like they are saying that people who ruminate negatively a lot have become insensitive to their bodies messages. So even though their stomachs are calm, heart beating normal, all the things that say things are ok in the world—-they cognitively are still feeling life is going badly. They aren’t receiving the messages from their body saying everything is actually pretty ok right now

Of course it’s really pretty complicated but if you struggle with anxiety or negative emotions interoception is very interesting to read about.