---
title: Body Sensations Inventory
description: The foundation of self-awareness is knowing what we're feeling, and building the vocabulary of body sensations is key to be able to name what's happening
---

self-awareness

# Body Sensations Inventory

Nalani Rodriguez November 26, 2025

2 min read

The foundation of self-awareness is knowing what we're feeling - both emotionally and physically in our bodies. Without the right language to describe what we're feeling, these experiences live in the abstract. We can't change what we can't name. 

Below is an inventory of body sensations to practice building your vocabulary of what you feel in your body.

 

Texture

Soft → Rough

- soft
- fluffy
- squishy
- spongy
- mushy
- doughy
- fleshy
- gelatinous
- pulpy
- bumpy
- smooth
- satiny
- glassy
- velvety
- rounded
- curved
- angled
- pointy
- prickly
- bitter
- spicy
- stinging
- coarse
- rough
- sharp
- cutting
- piercing
- searing
- raw

Energy & Movement

Fast → Still

- fast
- fleeting
- racing
- rapid
- brisk
- pulsing
- creaking
- bumbling
- slow
- still

Open → Closed

- open
- expansive
- ample
- spacious
- airy
- expanded
- full
- light
- relaxed
- narrow
- constricted
- closed
- contracted
- small

Hot → Cold

- hot
- burning
- scalding
- steamy
- tepid
- sweaty
- warm
- cozy
- cool
- frozen
- cold
- shivery
- shaky
- trembling

Energized → Constricted

- activated
- breathless
- buzzy
- electric
- energized
- floating
- radiating
- tingling
- twitchy
- pulsing
- explosive
- fiery
- tense
- tight
- throbbing
- suffocated
- numb
- knotted
- clenched
- congested
- constricted
- blocked
- armored
- frozen

Intensity & Charge

Full → Empty

- full
- strong
- heavy
- intense
- powerful
- airy
- weightless
- burdened
- weighted
- hollow
- untethered
- vacant
- draining
- weak
- empty

Painful → Healing

- painful
- achy
- bruised
- open
- piercing
- prickly
- raw
- sensitive
- sore
- dense
- knotted
- burning
- firey
- explosive
- clenched
- constricted
- touched
- warm
- aglow
- tender
- soothing
- grounding
- clarifying
- calming

Alive → Dead

- alive
- vibrating
- electric
- radiating
- pulsing
- vivid
- shimmering
- active
- bubbling
- bright
- shiny
- still
- spacious
- dull
- shapeless
- dormant
- withered
- limp
- sluggish
- dead

 

 

self-awareness

![Nalani Rodriguez](https://nalanirodriguez.com/hubfs/Round%20Headshot%20(Lauren)-1.png)

#### Nalani Rodriguez

Nalani is an executive coach supporting start-up and tech leaders with big jobs and little kids.

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