Stop Grappling and Start Sensing: How Our Body Signals When Our Brain Needs to Shift Gears

Colleen Mizuki
Dec 10, 2025
3 min read

We're stuck on a problem.

The deadline is looming.

Our jaw tightens.

Our instinct?

Bear down.

Push harder.

Power through it.

Is there any other way?

Neuroscientists John Kounios (Drexel University, U.S.A.) and Mark Beeman (Northwestern University, U.S.A) have revolutionized our understanding of how breakthrough solutions emerge.

Over two decades of research using EEG and fMRI brain imaging (work that's been replicated by independent research teams internationally) they've discovered that complex problem-solving happens through two fundamentally different ways of thinking (neural pathways), and the path that leads to better solutions might surprise you.

Two Pathways to Complex Problem Solving

The pathway that most people rely upon is analytical problem solving, when our brains are in a state of conscious step-by-step reasoning, building arguments, evaluating options systematically, and comparing alternatives. This is all happening with full awareness of our thought processes and we can explain exactly how we arrived at a conclusion because we are consciously present for every step. Sounds reasonable and good, right?

The other pathway to problem solving is 'insight'—but it requires preparation. After we "load" the problem into our neural networks using analytical work, incubation (stepping away from active problem-solving) allows unconscious processing to continue.

In the seconds before a breakthrough, our brain reduces what we're seeing and sensing from the outside—literally quieting our visual processing to tune inward. Then, just a split second before we become consciously aware of the solution, there's a sudden burst of activity in our brain as neurons connect in a new way—the actual creation of a new idea. The solution emerges complete, arrives with immediate certainty, and often feels surprising. We can't trace the steps we took to get there because the work happened outside conscious awareness.

Both analytical and insight-based solutions involve real brain-based work. That is obvious with analytical work, but insight feels effortless, This is because processing happens outside conscious awareness. When a solution arrives with that distinctive insight experience, research shows it's more likely to be correct.

Optimal Sequence

I'm not suggesting that we ditch analysis! Research shows that incubation only works AFTER we've done the hard work of loading the problem into our brain. Without that preparation period, there's nothing for the unconscious to work on during incubation. We get our best outcomes when we combine both thinking pathways: start with analytical preparation to "load" the problem, step away from the problem (called "strategic incubation") when the brain is actively testing associations, detecting patterns, and restructuring representations.

Our Body Knows Before We Do

Here's where it gets interesting. Long before our conscious mind recognizes we're stuck, our body is sending signals. Antonio Damasio's landmark research on "somatic markers" showed that people with damaged brain regions that process body signals make terrible decisions—even when their logic is perfectly intact. Our body marks good and bad options with physical sensations before conscious reasoning kicks in.

Our jaw clenches. Our shoulders creep toward the ears. Our breathing gets shallow. Our gut feels tight or uneasy. That dull ache in our neck intensifies.

These aren't distractions. They're data. They're our fascia and nervous system telling us: You've hit fixation. More effort won't help. Time to step away. Quiet the brain.

But here's the problem: most of us never learned to listen.

The Listening Gap

We're trained from childhood to override body signals.

"Sit still."

"Focus."

"Push through."

By the time we reach leadership roles, we're so disconnected from interoceptive awareness—our ability to sense internal body signals—that we miss the early warnings entirely.

Our heart rate has been elevated for twenty minutes. We've been holding our breath without realizing it. Our shoulders and lower back tighten. Our gut is sending distress signals. But we're so locked into cognitive mode, we don't notice until we're completely stuck or burned out.

Learning to tune in takes practice. We're not bad at it because something's wrong with us. We're bad at it because nobody taught us it mattered.

The Bottom Line

The research is unambiguous: continuing to push when we're stuck produces repetition of wrong approaches, not progress. Breakthrough solutions require a different brain state than analytical thinking—one accessed through strategic incubation.

The challenge isn't whether to step away; it's recognizing when we've hit fixation before wasting hours in unproductive analytical loops. Our body signals that moment through tension, shallow breathing, and fatigue.

After years of training our analytical mind, it's time to develop the interoceptive awareness that lets us sense what our body knows before our conscious mind catches up. The next breakthrough isn't waiting in more grinding—it's waiting in the space that opens when we stop forcing the solution and start listening to the signals that tell us it's time to step away.

What would change if your team could recognize fixation before wasting hours in unproductive grinding? I coach leaders and teams to build the interoceptive awareness that turns body signals into competitive advantage.