Intuition: How feeling the feels can liberate and guide you

You are walking in the woods. It's quiet, dappled light mottling the leaves and forest floor around you. Along your path, a creek rushes over moss-covered rocks, and in the brush nearby, you spot a doe quietly grazing on the lush greenery. She hasn't spotted you yet, but her eyes dart around as she chews. When you step on a fallen branch, a soft crack sounds. The deer startles, staring at you for a split second, then she turns quickly, flashing the white of her tail as she leaps in the opposite direction. The woods are quiet again.

Other animals have been evading you on your hike as well. Salamanders slithered under rocks, small mice flitted into burrows in fallen trees. The instinct to stay safe is paramount. Like animals, humans have the instinct to survive as well. Unfortunately, we've largely learned to ignore these instincts and opt instead to turn to outside sources for information about our surroundings. In the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, it's reported that animals ran to higher ground long before people understood what was happening in the water just off shore. Like our doe, animals use their senses to understand and interpret changes in the surrounding environment. They trust in their innate feelings and act in the best interest of survival.

In response to stimuli in the environment, we will also fight, flee or freeze. Unfortunately, we have been taught to check the weather, listen to the news, and hear from others about our surroundings instead of tuning in to our own senses to learn about our immediate circumstances. We are also so barraged with stressors, our nervous systems interpret a full inbox as more of a threat than an impending natural disaster capable of obliterating our homes and lives.

And more than just instincts that help us avoid danger in our world, we also have innate feelings or belief without reasoning--that sometimes fuzzy knowing called intuition. We talk about intuition when we say, "I have a gut feeling," or "something feels off about...." Instincts and intuition work hand in hand to help us navigate a complex world, to enable us to make decisions that not only keep us safe but also allow us to laugh, love and maximize the joy we can grab out of life. With these skills, we can surround ourselves with good people, work fulfilling jobs, and play with lightness and ease.

Some of us are blessed with a firm trust in our inner guidance system. If nurtured when you're young, you can grow into a truly intuitive person, open to interpreting energy from different sources and allowing it to inform decisions and guide actions. These people are aligned internally, heart and head. They may make decisions from the gut or from the heart. Opportunities appear to open up for them magically, in perfect time for them to take advantage. No matter what, they always seem to be thriving.

Though some may be more inclined to operate in the world using this sixth sense, it's entirely possible to learn to be more intuitive. The basis of both instinct and intuition is sensing and feeling. Here are some practical tools to help you hone your senses and better align with your innate sense of knowing:

1) Get into your body. While you likely spend lots of time in your head working on getting things done, your best tool to harness your intuition is to focus on what's going on in your body in the present moment. Take 5 minutes each day to sit in a quiet, comfortable place and focus on what's happening inside your body. Start by following your breath, slowing your inhales and exhales and imagining the breath traveling to all of your different parts, from lungs to fingertips and toes. Then, try some heart breathing. Inhale as if the breath comes directly into your heart and exhales out of your heart. This helps you get into a state called coherence-- where your heart, brain and nervous system are working in harmony. In coherence, you're more receptive to subtle energies. Kick it up a notch: do a daily body scan. Start with your head and work down to your toes, acknowledging each sensation you feel as you travel south. Note any feelings, vibes, aches, tingling, twinges, twitches, and itches you experience, but don't judge. They're neither good nor bad, they just are--all perfectly valid.

2) Ground yourself. Take time each day to connect to the earth. This can be bare feet in the grass or copping a squat under a tree. It can be walking through a stream, working in your garden, or soaking up morning sun on your porch. When grounding, negative ions from the ground neutralize positive charges we accumulate from pollution and stress. It works on the same principle as the ground wire of an electrical outlet. Off-loading the positive ions relieves tension, and improves energy and mood. If you can't find a way to touch natural surfaces, you can even imaging the grounding. This is great because you can do it before starting work as you plunk down in front of your computer each morning. Close your eyes and commit to stillness for 5 minutes. Deepen your breathing, and imagine a long root growing from your tailbone and extending deep into the enter of the earth. It can also be experienced as a laser beam or a waterfall. Take a moment to feel the energy from the earth rise up into your body--strong, stable, and supportive. Inhale deeply, gathering up all feelings, emotions, stressors, traumas, memories, and judgments you no longer want to hold on to. As you exhale, image these releasing out of your body through your grounding connection. Take a moment to gauge your body after this exercise. Do you feel lighter, a little more free?

3) Practice reading your senses. While out and about your day, take in the environment with your senses. When you're sensing, you're not in the past, reliving events and traumas, nor are you in the future, imagining worst-case scenarios. You're in the present, assessing what's happening around you. Not only is present-mindedness a powerful way to avoid stress, it also helps you make the most of each moment's opportunities as they're opened to you. While you're at the farmer's market, take in the bursting colors of beautiful fruits, vegetables, and handmade items. As you walk your dog, see if you can make out the scent of different flowers in bloom, fresh-cut grass, and the wood from newly trimmed branches. When eating dinner, try to distinguish which herbs and spices characterize your favorite dish. Listen to the sounds of the birds in the morning as they mesh with the wake-up signals coming from around your house--the coffee maker dripping, water running from someone brushing their teeth, a dog barking in your neighbor's yard. The more you're aware, the more awareness you'll be capable of.

4) Play the question game. We all have things in our lives we'd like to have answers to. We may be uncertain about which path to take or what we'd like to see happen in a particular circumstance or relationship. In a small notebook, write a short list of questions you'd like to have answered. Then run down the list writing the first answer that comes to mind for each question, not thinking or lingering on any particular question. We usually know how we're leaning on the issues in our lives, but when we overthink, we become uncertain. This game helps us see what our gut instincts are telling us. Don't stress over what you've written. If the answer doesn't sit well with you, revisit the question at a later date. You could be more aligned with your original answer by then, or you could feel entirely different about that question with a new mindset.

Practice these exercises for the next month. See if you're more attuned to your surroundings, more aligned with your inner guidance, more aware of unspoken messages from others, and more open to new opportunities. Ask yourself what your inner soulful self would like you to know each day and be open to unlikely answers. These are sometimes the most life-changing illuminations we receive.