Bodily Knowing

I've been reading Gendlin's Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy. My wife had it on the psychology shelves. I find him a frequently fascinating thinker, and he's often great on the subject of tacit knowledge. But there are things about him that bug me. One of those things is his insistence on saying things along the lines of "the body knows", and "that feeling in your chest is ready to tell you something".

I know the experience he is talking about. And the brain is part of the body, so, sure, in that sense, the "body knows." But that feeling in your chest - the vague one that's trying to tell you something - you may experience it there, but your brain is deeply involved in that experience - more deeply involved than your chest really is. You don't need to know that to delve into your feelings, but it's biologically confusing the way he presents it.

The brain is part of the body
And the body maps onto the brain;
What a complicated way
To generate pleasure and pain!