Abstract

A video abstract introducing our article in Body & Society, utilizing sociological phenomenology to examine sensuous embodiment.

Drawing upon data from three research projects, here we explore some of the
‘sensuousities’ of ‘intense embodiment’ experiences as a distance-running-woman
and a boxing-woman, respectively. Our analysis addresses the relatively unexplored
haptic senses, particularly the ‘touch’ of heat. Heat has been argued to constitute a
specific sensory mode, a trans-boundary sense. Our findings suggest that ‘lived’
heat, in our own physical-cultural experiences, has highly proprioceptive elements
and is experienced as both a form of touch and as a distinct perceptual mode, dependent
upon context. Our analysis coheres around two key themes that emerged as
salient: (1) warming up, and (2) thermoregulation, which in lived experience were
encountered as strongly interwoven.