Spirituality and interoceptive awareness

This research, funded by the Open Science of Religion Project, explores the relationship between spirituality and interoceptive awareness (the perception of one's own body). The interaction between body and mind plays an important role in many spiritual and religious experiences.

Previous studies dealing with embodiment in the psychology of religion have mainly focussed on the motor system (e.g. effects of prayer postures on religious feeling). In the present project, it is not the "exterior" of the body that is to be investigated, but the inner, subjective side of bodily experience, the so-called interoceptive awareness.

Basic research has shown that interoception plays an important role in cognition, emotion and well-being. In the current project, we will use established instruments to measure spirituality and interoceptive awareness and compare data from large samples of Christians, Buddhists and Muslims to investigate possible differences between religious groups in the relationship between religiosity, spirituality and interoceptive awareness. We will make all aspects of our research (materials, raw data, analysis code) transparent and publicly available.