Report 2
Body, Emotions and the Self: Complementary Mind-Body Approaches to Psychotherapy
by Marc Wittmann1
1Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, 79098 Freiburg, Germany
Cite as: Wittmann, M. (2025). Body, Emotions and the Self: Complementary Mind-Body Approaches to Psychotherapy. THE MIND Bulletin on Mind-Body Medicine Research, 9(3), 32-37. https://doi.org/10.61936/themind/202511177
Abstract
The subjective experience of time is closely linked to emotional and bodily states. Psychopathological conditions such as depression and anxiety are associated with altered time perception, reflecting disruptions in interoceptive and affective processing. Recent neurophysiological findings implicate the insular cortex in integrating bodily signals that shape temporal experience. Altered states of consciousness (ASC) induced by meditation, psychedelics, and Floatation-REST reveal opposing effects to psychopathological distortions: diminished self-focus, relaxation, and temporal dissolution. Empirical studies demonstrate that Floatation-REST reduces anxiety and stress while inducing ASC characterized by body-boundary dissolution, suggesting its therapeutic potential and utility for consciousness research.
Keywords: time perception, interoception, insular cortex, altered states of consciousness, Floatation-REST
The subjective passage of time is closely linked to our state of mind and attention. When we are engaged in stimulating activities—especially in good company—we hardly notice time passing; an hour can fly by. In contrast, an hour of waiting, when we have no means of distraction, can feel painfully slow (Witowska et al., 2022). What is familiar to everyone as boredom can become unbearable in psychopathological syndromes. Qualitative and quantitative studies show that psychiatric patients experience time differently. For patients with depression, for example, the present feels unchangeable, they feel cut off from the future, and time flows uncomfortably slowly (Vogel et al., 2018). Although empirical findings from objective timing tasks are inconsistent (Thönes & Oberfeld, 2015), patients with depression sometimes overestimate the duration of intervals in the range of minutes (Bschor et al., 2004). A study involving oncology patients confirmed that a lower quality of life and higher anxiety levels were associated with a slower passage of time (Wittmann et al., 2006). Similarly, drug-dependent patients in a rehabilitation unit overestimated time intervals of several minutes (Wittmann et al., 2007). Psychopathological syndromes are now understood to involve impaired emotional regulation, with symptoms linked to altered internal temporality (Fuchs, 2013). Body, emotion, and time are mutually dependent. Importantly, altered states of consciousness (ASC), induced by meditation, Floatation-REST, or psychedelics, have an opposing effect on the overrepresentation of time and self (Fort et al., 2025). This idea will be the focus of this opinion paper in that certain psychiatric populations could benefit from mind-body induction methods to alter time consciousness.
Over the past decade, neurophysiological research has increasingly supported the view that subjective time is embodied and closely connected to neural networks in the insular cortex. The posterior insula represents the primary interoceptive cortex—the cortical region responsible for representing signals from the body (Craig, 2009). For the first time, we demonstrated that peripheral psychophysiology—especially measured by the heart rate—along with activity in the insular cortex, is involved in perceiving time intervals of several seconds’ duration (Wittmann, 2013; Khoshnoud et al., 2024). Research led by Alice Teghil replicated and extended our findings, showing that sensitivity to bodily perception correlates with time estimation accuracy, and that time perception is related to resting activity in the posterior insula as measured by fMRI (Teghil et al., 2020). Thereafter, subjective time in ordinary states of consciousness is understood to be fundamentally embodied (Teghil & Wittmann, 2025). Time processing in psychiatric patients is closely tied to interoceptive function and insular cortex activation, as observed across various neuropsychiatric disorders (Vicario et al., 2020). Moreover, as will be discussed below, altered states of consciousness (ASC) act in opposition to the overrepresentation of time and self typically seen in psychiatric conditions, thereby offering therapeutic potential.
Throughout history, people have reported experiencing ASCs during meditative contemplation, while listening to music, during physical exertion, or under the influence of certain drugs—namely psychedelics (Wittmann, 2015, 2018). What ASC have in common is that the perceived passage of time initially slows down until, at the peak of the experience, it may seem to come to a complete standstill. This is accompanied by a profoundly altered sense of body and space, often culminating in ego dissolution. Because insights gained from altered experiences of time and self play a role in understanding psychiatric disorders, I will discuss methods of inducing ASCs, touching on meditation and psychedelics, but focusing especially on Floatation-REST.
Mindfulness meditation as practiced in the West today derives from the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which emphasizes nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment, thereby having the potential to leading to improvements in mental and physical well-being in the long run (Esch, 2021). Meditation practitioners often experience a slowing of subjective time, achieved through the body-centered focus of most meditation techniques (Matko et al., 2021). This increased bodily attention is associated with greater insular activity and reduced cingulate activity (within the default mode network related to the narrative self), as demonstrated by Farb and colleagues in an fMRI study of novice and moderately experienced meditators (Farb et al., 2007). For experienced meditators, however, the state of slowed perception of time changes, and it is often reported that the session felt much shorter than it actually lasted (Berkovich-Ohana & Wittmann 2017, Droit-Volet & Dambrun 2019).
Novices also report that the meditation session feels shorter in retrospect (Sedlmeier et al. 2023). Since patients with depression exhibit increased self-focus accompanied by increased activity in the default mode network (Hamilton et al. 2015), meditation as a complementary therapy could interrupt the narrative circling around oneself and thus reduce symptoms. The reduction in mental rumination and a temporary increase in bodily awareness could be the decisive factors in why various meditation programs and related body-oriented techniques (yoga, tai chi, qi gong) are successful in people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety syndromes (Bringmann et al. 2021), as well as in mitigating stress-related health risks (Michaelsen & Esch, 2023): The rumination of the narrative self is reduced and a pleasant, relaxed bodily experience is accompanied by a faster subjective perception of time.
Taking psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, or ayahuasca induces profound and multifaceted changes in thinking, feeling, and perception (Fort et al., 2025). Individuals can undergo psychodynamic phases that alter self-concept and often carry spiritual dimensions (Nour et al., 2017; Ritchie, 2021). Subjective time becomes noticeably altered, as shown in systematic studies of time estimation and temporal control of motor performance (Wittmann et al., 2007). Different phases during drug experiences produce varying temporal experiences, including extreme time dilation. Peak experiences are often described as timelessness and ego dissolution—the self becomes one with the world, and distinctions between past, present, and future disappear (Shanon, 2001). Validated questionnaires have shown that these temporal distortions are accompanied by feelings of unity with the world and a sense of disembodiment (Studerus et al., 2010). The first successful studies have shown how psychedelics have a positive impact on patients with depression showing marked reductions in depressive symptoms for the first weeks after one-time exposure (Carhart-Harris et al., 2018; Erritzoe et al., 2024).
In Floatation-REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique), individuals float weightlessly in body-temperature salt water within a soundproof, light-free tank (Huber et al., 2025). The body is fully supported, and external sensory input is almost entirely eliminated. The boundaries of the body blur, leaving only inner bodily sensations—breathing, muscle tone, and internal processes. By focusing on bodily awareness and minimizing external stimuli, Floatation-REST creates conditions similar to deep meditative states typically reached only by experienced meditators (Pantazis & Wittmann, 2025). Along with profound relaxation, participants often underestimate session duration or lose their sense of time altogether (Kjellgren et al., 2008).
Justin Feinstein and colleagues (2018) exposed 50 patients with anxiety- and stress-related disorders—including PTSD, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and social anxiety—to a single Floatation-REST session. Most patients reported reductions in stress, muscle tension, pain, depression, and negative affect, alongside increased relaxation, happiness, and well-being. Given that these effects followed a one one-hour session, changes in consciousness were likely moderate compared to psychedelic-induced states. The effects are more comparable to those achieved through meditation, where bodily self-awareness and the sense of time gradually diminish.
In a recent study, my colleagues and I further explored the relationship between altered states of consciousness and affective changes induced by Floatation-REST (Hruby et al., 2024). Fifty participants experienced 60 minutes of Floatation-REST and, on a separate occasion, 60 minutes of Bed-REST—a control condition involving lying supine on a warm waterbed in a dark, quiet room. Both REST conditions reduced arousal, tension, anxiety, and stress, but Floatation-REST led to significantly greater relaxation and lower anxiety. Moreover, it induced stronger experiences of body-boundary dissolution and subjective time distortion. The loss of body boundaries was linked to decreased anxiety, suggesting a novel mechanism by which Floatation-REST exerts its anxiolytic effects.
Given the limitations of current treatments for depression and anxiety disorders, there is growing interest in complementary approaches. Floatation-REST may offer such an alternative, with minimal or no side effects. Floatation-REST is a safe method for inducing altered states of consciousness and provides a valuable tool for exploring the mechanisms underlying conscious experience (Schiffer et al., 2025). Extraordinary states of consciousness were long ignored or dismissed by mainstream science—but this is beginning to change. Moreover, as a scientifically validated method for inducing ASCs, Floatation-REST may become an established tool for studying the foundations of phenomenal consciousness.
To sum up, the experience of time is intimately tied to emotions and self-perception. Bodily processes shape our immediate experience of time passage in every moment. Understanding these connections helps explain why subjective time sometimes seems to pass quickly or slowly. ASCs, induced through psychological or pharmacological means, are characterized by a subjective loss of both self and time. The induction of ASCs may hold therapeutic potential for treating psychiatric conditions characterized by an overrepresentation of self and time.
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