Research on how the brain represents the world of things and people suggests that the body holds a unique status, being both a subject and an object of perception. The term bodily self-consciousness (BSC) refers to the complex integration of sensations, feelings, and memories that shape one’s sense of their body in space (self-location), the perceived origin of one’s viewpoint (first-person perspective), the feeling that one’s body belongs to oneself (ownership), and the sense of being the initiator of one’s actions (agency). Beyond classical studies in healthy and brain-damaged individuals exploring multisensory modulation of BSC, this article discusses findings from immersive virtual reality (VR) research. Specifically, we examine whether users who embody avatars in virtual social spaces — such as those in the metaverse — show behavioral, physiological, or neural changes as a result of incorporating the body of an artificial agent. We discuss how BSC interacts with psycho-neurophysiological mechanisms of avatar embodiment and the attribution of cognitive and emotional traits to virtual agents — known as the Proteus effect. This discussion highlights the potential of immersive VR to deepen our understanding of behavioral plasticity and transformational learning, both at individual and societal levels. As metaverse technologies evolve, the transformation of bodily representation will likely become central to multidisciplinary dialogues about the future of human–technology interaction — a topic that is central to both science and humanities.