We all have access to that inner voice. Some say intuition Carl Jung’s collective unconscious, others say it is years of accumulated knowledge being accessed by your subconscious and brought to the forefront of your mind. Regardless, through years of stress, poor diet, disconnection from what brings us joy and taking the modern approach of overriding our intuition for “rational thinking”, a lot of people have lost their ability to listen to what their body and spirit is asking for. This post will be broken down into 5 parts to allow you to implement positive changes slowly and to help you get out of your head and back into your body and spirit for a more fulfilling life and enhanced flow
- Connect with yourself
There are many ways to connect with yourself so you can start listening to the wisdom your body is telling you. If you already have a daily meditation practice you’re ahead of most! If you can find the time to incorporate 15-20 minutes a day to be still with yourself, focus on your breath and pay attention to the signals from your body you will notice your inner voice becoming stronger in only a few weeks. Of course for many of us the prospect of finding an additional 20 minutes a day to ourselves can be a daunting. There are many 5 minute exercises you can adopt to help train your subconscious to start listening to your body. Try this: next time you are waiting in line, instead of running through the mental “to-do” list or scrolling on your phone, take that time to check in with yourself. What are you feeling in your body? What is the sensation of your feet on the ground like? How is your breathing? Are you hungry, thirsty or tired? Is your body calling on you to care for it in some way? Check in with your emotions. Are you anxious and flustered or calm and content? Check in with your thoughts, what keeps popping up in your mind? Are you constantly telling yourself you really want to start that yoga class or you should reach out to that old friend? Observe everything coming up for you and just begin the process of being aware.
An amazing resource is the “Insight Timer” app. This free app allows you to track your meditation, set a timer that ends in a pleasant gong, provides meditation music if desired and allows you to connect with other people meditating at the same time. There are paid features with all sorts of information and guided meditations if you want to go that route.
2. Focus on healthy eating
The gut/brain relationship is becoming mainstream knowledge, we’ve all heard about having a “gut feeling” or been told to “go with your gut”. Dr. Zach Bush says that not only does our gut help with serotonin production and digestion, but that the state of our micro biome indicates the state of our personal boundaries as well as the boundaries occurring within our bodies (think autoimmune diseases). In Chinese medicine theory, the small intestine is responsible for discernment and deciding what we allow in, the large intestine is responsible for letting go. Pretty important stuff! This under appreciated part of our anatomy needs some love with glyphosate targeting not only our crops but our internal bacteria as well. While we can’t all afford to rush out and start consuming strictly organic food, there are many things we can do to aid our body in getting back into balance.
– Try to eat a little fermented food with every meal. Sauerkraut, kimchi, miso and sugar free yogurt are all ways to improve our gut bacteria naturally. These things can be made at home or purchased at a health food store. Just be mindful you are getting a true fermented food and not a processed substitute. Dr. Bush also suggests being mindful of over supplementing with probiotics. Our gut is home to millions of different bacteria and taking the same 4 strand probiotic for months on end can lead to an overgrowth of that bacteria and throw off our natural balance. Nutrition through food is best.
– Don’t forget the prebiotics! Our friendly bacteria need something to feed on to grow and do their jobs. The good news is garlic is an excellent prebiotic. Onions and leeks also help to feed your micro biome and if you can get your hands on some dandelion greens they are a helpful addition as well.
– Local, organic produce is ideal. The best way to improve the gut biome is to, well, eat dirt. Indigenous peoples consuming food fresh from nature have a significantly more diverse gut biome than those consuming our standard western diet, but even in this modern world gardeners are shown to have greater biodiversity than people who do not garden. While I’m not suggesting we go out and eat handfuls of dirt, if you can buy local food grown in soil you trust, getting the produce from the farm to your table in only a few days means the bacteria living on the food will still be alive by the time you consume it. Not only are you getting more nutrients and supporting local, but your gut is happy too!
While nutrition is a broad and complex subject, these 3 things will be the most beneficial in helping heal your gut and improving your relationship with your intuition.
3. Connecting with what brings us joy
Do you ever observe children playing outside in a pure joy state? They are not thinking about the chores they need to do or if they look goofy spinning in circles, they are simply present in the moment feeling their joy. All of us had passion as children. Think back to when you wanted to be an artist or a dancer – those desires were your inner voice telling you what kind of gifts you could bring to the world. Over time many of us have chosen to redirect our energy towards pursuits that are more beneficial to our family and responsibilities but it’s important to listen when the urge to pursue joy comes up in us. Sing in the shower, dance in the kitchen, touch, laugh, play! These urges are our inner voice directing us towards what is going to give us fulfilment. When you pursue your passion it is easy to find yourself in the flow state and that’s where the magic happens.
4. Trust your first reaction
Most of the time when you are making a decision the first reaction is the right way to go. How many times have you talked yourself out of the right answer on a multiple choice test? We’ve all had endless experiences where our intuition knew the way and we overrode that voice with logic and “facts”. Get into the habit of listening again, try following your gut reaction and see where it takes you. Over time you will build trust in yourself and that internal voice will be a valuable tool in decision making. One caution I have for this approach – be really clear on your personal weaknesses and know the difference between intuition and desire. As an avid crystal collector I find I can talk myself into any stone. The problem is (and this is especially prevalent in the crystal community), it can be easy to tell yourself, “I want this crystal, this must be my intuition, I will spend too much / over consume this resource / whatever justification because my intuition told me to.” If your intuition is telling you to take a different route to work, trust it. If you intuition is telling you to give into your vice, it’s more likely your ego talking. It can take time to discern the difference.
5. Get acupuncture!
That’s right, acupuncture is a fantastic way to tap into your inner knowing. Adequate movement of qi in all directions will make sure the signals can flow to wherever they’re needed, whether from your gut to your brain or your brain to your heart, when qi is moving freely our body can communicate with itself and us. Acupuncture can also ensure clear yang is rising to the head to keep our mind and thinking fresh. It will nourish the downward moving yin to ensure we feel grounded in our bodies and confident in ourselves when we are making choices. Also, the custom dietary advice you will receive will help balance your gut and the mindfulness practice when you sit with your needles in will help incorporate some of the things we discussed today to get you on track for trusting your intuition and creating the life you desire.
We covered a lot in this post and it can sometimes seem daunting trying to figure out how to make all these changes. I always suggest to my clients that we start small. To bring in 100 new habits in a month is a sure fire way to get overwhelmed and do none of it. So look this list over, pick the one small thing that feels the most manageable to you and commit to trying it for 30 days. Check in with yourself often and see how it’s making you feel. We have our entire lives to work on ourselves and grow in exciting ways, the most important thing is to appreciate the process. Getting out of your head and into your body and intuition is something that can take years to master. Be gentle with yourself as you become acquainted with this new version of yourself, treat your inner voice as you would treat any new friend you are excited to get to know.