Listening To and Cultivating Intuition
by Miriam Lelah Moussaioff

Ever have a gut feeling grab hold of you in the belly? Or have a funny feeling or hunch about something or someone?  Start paying attention.   These messages may be the voice of your intuition speaking.   When it comes time to step into the unknown, understand what is happening in your life or your body, or make a decision about which road to take, your intuition has something important to say.

I n t u i t i o n  is a wellspring of knowing and love that exists within each human being.  Intuition is your sixth sense, an essential part of your being that can help you heal, grow, and create what you deeply desire in life. 

As Frances Vaughan writes in Awakening Intuition, “At any given moment, one is conscious of only a small portion of what one knows.  Intuition allows one to draw on that vast storehouse of unconscious knowledge that includes not only everything that one has experienced or learned either consciously or subliminally, but also the infinite reservoir of the collective or universal unconscious, in which individual separateness and ego boundaries are transcended.”

Because intuition is a non-rational way of knowing, sometimes it is difficult to trust or explain intuitive hunches.   When I teach people how to reconnect with intuition and deepen trust in this amazing resource, I start by helping them quiet the mind and connect with what is happening in their body.  Tuning in to your body’s messages, signals, and sensations makes it easier to know when something feels right or not.  I believe that being present in your body is the foundation for opening to intuitive wisdom and, ultimately, for embodying your spirit.

Often it takes practice for people to discern the difference between the voice of fear, anger and/or wishful thinking and their deep inner knowing.   Intuition may speak in the language of symbols or as a little whisper in your ear.  Intuitive knowing comes through different pathways for different people.  With practice, you can begin to discover your own intuitive pathway and let intuition become a natural part of daily life.

Here are some things you can do to cultivate intuition:

• Quiet the rational mind so you can hear what your intuitive voice has to say.    This means, in essence, practicing some form of meditation.  (If you are new to meditation, it may help to practice with the support of a teacher or group).
• Ask for and be receptive to intuitive guidance through meditation, dreams, writing, and daily life.  Pay attention to whatever arises no matter how simple or irrational it seems, including hunches, feelings, inklings, mental images, dreams, and/or synchronicities. 
• Ask with the expectation that you will receive guidance. Stay neutral.  Try to listen to whatever arises without judgment or mental interference.  Let go of fear and wishful thinking. 
• Pay attention to how your body feels. Notice first impressions. Inner guidance often expresses itself through mental images, body sensations and responses. Is your belly tightening? Does your heart feel light?  Be aware of your personal boundary, of where you begin and end so that you stay centered and in your own space.   Over time you will learn to trust your body’s messages and know when something feels right or not.
• Intuition speaks to each person differently. Explore your own intuitive pathway, e.g. body sensations, images, sounds, direct sense of knowing, or precognition (perception of future).
• Let yourself experiment; test your intuitive guidance. The more you use your intuitive sense, the easier it is to trust.

Cultivating intuitive clarity takes practice.  Learning to trust your intuition and body’s wisdom can be an amazingly powerful and healing journey.  To me, one of the beautiful benefits of  listening to intuition is that the more you use this tool, the more available it becomes.

In my work as a professional intuitive, bodyworker and teacher, I have come to believe that intuition is an essential resource for healthy living, one that that can guide us through the unknown and help us reconnect with our true essence or spirit.  When there is a willingness to listen deeply and follow intuition, the possibilities are endless.

Don't go outside your house to see flowers.
My friend, don't bother with that excursion.
Inside your body there are flowers.
That will do for a place to sit.
Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty
inside the body and out of it,
before gardens and after gardens
 - kabir

Miriam Lelah Moussaioff is a Professional Intuitive with a Masters in Intuition Medicine. She teaches classes and maintains a private practice in Berkeley, CA. She offers intuitive consultations and will be teaching at Spirit Mountain Retreat in Idyllwild, Ca, April 28, 2007. See details at www.spiritmountainretreat.org or call 951-659-2523.