Why Do INFJs Feel Disconnected From Their Bodies?

I once told a group of friends that I’d love to have a robot’s body: no need to eat, sleep or exercise. Imagine how much time and energy that would free up for the things that truly matter! My friends stared at me, baffled, as if I were already a robot for even suggesting something so inhuman. But if you’re an INFJ, you can probably relate.

It’s common for INFJs to feel quite disconnected from their bodies. Just read the comments under the YouTube video INFJ Disconnected from body and you’ll understand what I am talking about. One woman wrote: “I have often said I would be just fine if my brain were in a jar. Just a brain, thinking my thoughts.”

With so many INFJs reporting similar feelings, there’s clearly something about their personality make-up that makes them feel untethered from their own physicality. Let’s look at what that might be, why it creates problems, and how to restore the INFJ body connection. 

From Literal Cry Baby to Withdrawn Adult

We are all made of flesh and blood, but how our bodies respond to the world around us differs from person to person. And those differences start much earlier than you might think: right after birth, as developmental psychologist Jerome Kagan showed in 1989. In a groundbreaking study, he observed that around 20% of babies got more upset than others when confronted with new stimuli, like a balloon popping. These babies cried harder, they pumped their limbs more and their hearts raced faster. 

Based on his observations, Kagan made an interesting prediction, namely that the “highly reactive” babies would grow into introverted adults. Today, it’s widely known that introverts, including INFJs, tend to be more sensitive to stimuli than extraverts. Some even play with the idea that all INFJs are Highly Sensitive People.

Let’s go back to how you experienced the world as a child. How did you like crowded birthday parties, fanatic ball games, or playground noise? For many INFJ children, those experiences were too much, too intense. Maybe you naturally retreated to a quiet spot—no wonder bathrooms are the go-to hideout for introverts.

But there is another place that is even more shielded from intruders: your own mind. By withdrawing into your own head, you distanced yourself from the turmoil of the outside world and started to develop your dominant function, Introverted Intuition (Ni), which seeks patterns and deep meanings. 

However, every hour spent in your head hampered the development of Extraverted Sensing (Se), which focuses on the present moment and real, sensory experiences. All that Ni and so little Se is the root of the mind-body disconnect.

Losing Touch With Your Body 

If you grew up in a home where things were unpredictable or tense, your tendency to withdraw became, most likely, even stronger. If you don’t feel safe, you naturally keep your thoughts and feelings inside. Some of us ended up being the “calm and easygoing” one in the family, always going along with what others wanted. If your caretakers praised you for being so adaptable, you might have come to believe that hiding your feelings was your safest bet.

But here’s the thing: emotions aren’t just in your head—they show up in your body, too. Fear makes your heart race, just as anger tightens your muscles. When I was a teenager, my hands would shake every time there was a heated argument at home. My entire body was tense, but my reaction was to try and suppress my stress and shaking hands. 

Over time, this can become a habit: not listening to what your body is trying to tell you and not acting on those feelings. Do this for many years, and you’ll eventually lose touch with your body and start to see yourself as the “intellectual type.”

The Body as the Shadow

Now, you could argue that this is just the way it is. Who cares if the INFJ prefers to read a book over playing sports. But is it really as innocent as it sounds? I ask that question because the things that we repress generally don't just disappear. They become part of our unconscious mind, or the shadow, as it’s called in analytical psychology. Our shadow is made up of traits and aspects of ourselves that we repress or deny, because they don't fit into our ideal self image. Take vulnerability. People who see themselves as strong and confident, often don’t allow themselves to feel weak, fearful or insecure.

In the same way, could it be that you, as an INFJ, by detaching from your body, made it part of your shadow? Our cognitive functions seem to support this idea. At least, that's what Elaine Schallock Drenth writes in her insightful book Beyond Rare: The INFJ's Guide to Cultivating Growth & Self-Awareness.

Drenth explains that we generally focus on the first four functions of our personality. In the case of the INFJ these are dominant (Ni), auxiliary (Fe), tertiary (Ti) and inferior (Se). But Jung actually proposed that each person has a total of eight functions that influence how we perceive and interact with the world. The last four functions are our "blind spots," they are so underdeveloped that using them feels out of character, almost foreign. 

For the INFJ, the most underdeveloped of all eight functions is Introverted Sensing (Si). Si is all about storing bodily sensations and experiences, like smells and sounds. People who lead with Si, like ISFJs and ISTJs, have an incredible inner database of sensory information. These people just need to smell a fresh tomato to bring them back to the garden of their childhood. INFJs, on the contrary, have trouble remembering the smell of a tomato, right after they ate one. Now you know why: your Si is stuck at toddler level. 

So with Si buried deep within your subconscious, it comes as no surprise that INFJs often respond to whatever arises from the dark with suspicion and fear; common responses to the shadow. Let’s zoom in on a few unhealthy ways in which INFJs tend to react to bodily sensations: 

• Health Anxiety 

Let’s take the example of a stomach ache. Usually you have it because of something obvious, like that sandwich you had for lunch. But what if there’s no clear reason? 

INFJ coach and author Lauren Sapala explains in her YouTube video INFJ Health Anxiety that many INFJs tend to overanalyze and fear unexplained bodily sensations. A simple stomach ache can spiral into worrying about serious conditions like cancer. “Instead of trusting that our stomach knows what it is doing, we panic and think something’s terribly wrong,” she says. “Health anxiety happens when we don’t trust our body or its healing process”. The more we worry, the worse the symptoms can get, creating a vicious cycle that is impacting our health.

• Pushing the Body Beyond its Limits

Another common shadow reaction is to ignore discomfort and pain, and push through instead. Author Elaine Schallock Drenth writes in Beyond Rare that INFJs can be real slave drivers to their bodies. “INFJs often push their bodies beyond reasonable limits, sometimes as a response to a breakdown caused by neglect,” she writes. When the body fails to function properly, they are 'whipping it back into compliance'. 

I experienced this during a tough mountain hike many years ago. Frustrated that I wasn’t as fit as I wanted to be, I didn’t take the breaks that my legs needed and eventually injured myself. 

• Projection: How We Treat the Sick

Just like a real shadow, we also cast our psychological shadow on our environment. This is called projection, a defense mechanism where we attribute negative traits to other people. How do you react when a friend is sick or hurt? Do you become overly compassionate or overly critical? 

If someone’s condition is serious, Drenth writes, INFJs will often go all-in with sympathy, getting upset about how unfair it is, even blaming "the universe". But if the health issue seems minor or undiagnosed—like a cold or a pressure on the chest—INFJs can get impatient, considering the person attention-seeking, weak or a hypochondriac. 

How to Reconnect With Your Body as an INFJ

If any of the things we discussed resonates with you, you might be wondering how to turn the tide and get back in touch with your body. A lot of INFJs seem drawn to practices like yoga, meditation, qigong, and breathwork. What is interesting is that these aren’t just physical activities; they are mind-body practices focusing on bringing the body and mind in alignment. Let’s explore how these practices can help.

Cultivate Awareness

To reconnect with your body, the first step is cultivating awareness of its sensations. Throughout your daily routines, pause and notice how your body feels. For example, do your shoulders tense up when you're under pressure? Pay attention to these subtle cues. An exercise you can try is the Body Scan: start at your toes and slowly move up, mentally noting any areas of tension or discomfort. This practice helps you tune in to your body’s signals.

Regulate Your Nervous System

Some breathing exercises can help calm the nervous system, which can be especially helpful when you feel overwhelmed. A simple practice is Mindful Breathing: sit comfortably, close your eyes, and focus on how your breath feels as it enters and exits your body. TRE, on the other hand, uses the body’s natural tremor response to release stored tension, stimulating the vagus nerve and calming the fight-or-flight response.

Express Emotions

Theater and dance are powerful ways to express emotions, allowing you to move beyond intellectualizing feelings and tap into a more instinctive, physical response. They help you get out of your head and into your body, letting you express emotions through movement or performance. It’s a powerful way to reconnect with yourself and release feelings you might not even realize you’ve been holding onto.

Reclaim Power and Trust in Your Body

Rebuilding trust in your body is essential and sports can really help with that. Martial arts, like taekwondo, can build confidence by teaching you to defend yourself and feeling strong. INFJs can also learn from more physical types, like Se and Si dominants, who don’t overthink pain and discomfort but instead handle it with a more practical mindset. When Se dominants get injured or ill they often focus on immediate, practical solutions—like getting the right treatment. Si-dominants might rely on past routines that have helped before, like staying active through light movement. 

Conclusion

I believe reconnecting with our bodies is essential for a healthy INFJ. By becoming more aware of our physical sensations and exploring practices like mindfulness, breathing exercises or even martial arts, we can learn to trust and nurture our bodies once again. After all, our bodies are our closest companions—it's time to build a stronger bond with them.