Intuition is our metaphorical GPS which is powered by our body’s innate energy systems. Our mindful presence connects us to the signal.
Intuition is our mode of connection and our communication system with the energy that infuses our minds, bodies, emotions, and everything in this physical world.
Intuition happens when we are tuned in beyond the physical.
Deepak Chorpa has talked about intuition as an interesting extension of intelligence going beyond or bypassing the rational mind. He explained that during an intuitive experience the pre-frontal cortex (the part behind your forehead) is active. This is the part of the brain that is involved in higher analytical thinking. Brain scans of long-time meditators also show higher activity and development in the pre-frontal areas. Other brain structures often associated with intuition are the pineal and pituitary glands.
I saw this headline just the other day (1/8/2017, Lion’s Roar online magazine) Leading neuroscientists and Buddhists agree: “Consciousness is everywhere”. Neuroscientists are discovering evidence of Universal Consciousness.
They are developing techniques that help discern consciousness like whether someone is awake, asleep, or anesthetized. Koch & Tononi study Integrated Information Theory (ITT) which is recognized as the leading theory of consciousness. Essentially, it provides evidence that plants, animals, plants, the body’s cells, viruses & bacteria, and maybe even subatomic particles are conscious beings. Click the title above to read the full article.
I think that everyone has intuitive experiences and typically we write them off as non-events unless they involve a significant premonition or multi-sensory experience. But really, whenever we have a “gut feeling” or “just know” something or “it just feels right (or wrong)” or “get a vibe” about someone, we are tapping into our emotional or intuitive guidance system.
It is every bit as powerful as that GPS in your car and perhaps more so because it has the potential to guide you to health, healing, and joy. If we do not listen to and honor our emotional intuitive guidance system we typically end up sick, poor, lonely, and depressed.
This is the guidance system that aligns us with our highest Self or Soul. It’s the thing that gets us on our path, helps us attract our soul mates, helps us make great decisions, and gets us doing our important work in the world with joy.
I believe everyone has access to their intuition. Some people allow themselves awareness of it more than others do. These people tend to be the 15-20% of individuals who are classified as Highly Sensitive. They have a highly sensitive nervous system and body. Some people connect with their intuition as multi-sensory experience. We usually call these people empaths or psychics which can sound strange and intimidating. Empaths and psychics are highly sensitive and skilled at feeling subtle levels of energy in themselves, others, and the universe. Remember, consciousness is everywhere and we can tune into it. It is possible for you to develop this sensitivity yourself.
We will explore these ideas about intuition in much more detail. I will review some of the relevant scientific explorations into intuition and psi. Psi is the term coined by Robert Thouless, a psychologist, in 1942 as a neutral reference to psychic phenomena (Radin, 2006). We’ll explore the psi research because of its close relationship to intuition and, in part, to help demystify what is natural human phenomena.
We can only sense and engage our energy systems and receive the unlimited information available through our intuition if we are in a state of aware presence or mindfulness. These are not things we think about but they are ways of recognizing and experiencing our actual existence.
Inis LaMothe, PsyD 