Soft Spirituality

Building and understanding your intuition is a really personal journey to go on. Some practices might work for some people while for others they absolutely do not. Before we talk about which practices work for me, remember that this is called a practice for a reason. Through trial and error and tweaking you’ll be able to create a foundation for your intuition to thrive, but don’t get discouraged if all practices don’t resonate with you. With that said, let’s get started…

How to Develop Your Intuition

Everyone has access to their own intuition, and like any other skill it’s something that needs to be practiced in order to really tap into it. Some people might take to a skill with more ease and others might need to work a little harder for it – but either way, everyone can increase their intuition. Intuition often manifests as gut feelings, downloads of insight, or a deep sense of knowing. In order to connect more deeply with your intuition, you’ll need to work on trusting the vibes your physical body sends you.

Intuition Development Tools

You don’t need any physical tools to begin working on your intuition but it can make things a little easier at the beginning. Having these tools can help you see synchronicities and begin to trust your own intuition when the responses of the tools match what your body was feeling.

• Tarot and/or Oracle Cards

• Pendulum

• Journal

• Your Spirit Guides

Intuitive Practices for Intuitive Development:

Here are the practices that I used most when beginning my journey to create a foundation for listening to and strengthening my intuition:

• Yes/No Exercise – This was the first intuition development practice I was taught and I still use it today. To start, close your eyes and take a few cleansing deep breaths. Once you feel centered I want you to ask yourself a question you KNOW the answer to (like what is your name, your favorite color). Something simple. While you’re eyes are closed ask a question in a yes or no format. See if you hear/see/feel a yes or no come up for you. For me I would feel into how yes and no feels in your body. For example, my name is Ariel. So I’d ask myself “Is my name Ariel?” then I’d feel into no. When I feel into the answer of no, my body shifts to the right and feels tight in my stomach. When I feel into a yes, my body shifts to the left and I feel more expansive in my upper body. Continue to ask yourself yes/no questions you know the answer is and feel what each response feels like. Practice with this until you start to notice a pattern of what you ‘true’ response is (ex. I am Ariel) and what your ‘false’ response is (ex. I’m not Ariel). As you get more comfortable with this, move on to more open ended questions where the answer might be more difficult to say a definite yes or no. Eventually, you’ll train yourself to notice the shifts your body makes when you ask these questions and you can feel into what it’s saying.

• Green Light/Red Light Exercise – This is really similar to yes/no, but if you’re more of a visual person, this might be an easier exercise for you. Do the same thing as the yes/no exercise but replace seeing green for yes and replace seeing red for no. Once you get the basics of this exercise you could add in colors to mean different things. Pink could mean not yet, blue could mean indifferent, and so on. You get to play with what colors mean to you.

• Feeling expansive/restricted in your body Exercise – Like the two exercises above, this is a different variation. This is the one I resonate with most (which is why my yes/no exercise feels more into my body than into actually seeing/hearing yes or no). When you ask your known starter questions does your body pull you into a restriction (tightness in your belly, shutting into itself) or does it feel like your aura is expanding or you notice you take a breath out?

• Daily Card Pull – Grab a tarot or oracle deck that you resonate with and each day get quiet with yourself. Ask yourself what you most need to know today, listen to what your intuition says, and then pull a card. See if the card matches what your intuition was saying (it’s ok if at first it doesn’t seem like it matches – you might have two lessons to learn today or you might not be aware yet how the card and your initial intuitive hit are related). Throughout the day be aware of how the card is unfolding. Bonus points if you journal how they day went and what card you pulled.

• Grounding – I find that through grounding a lot of messages find me without me having to do any work. Grounding can look a lot of ways; it can be having a clear mind while you’re cleaning your house, cooking can be grounding, eating can be grounding, gardening…etc. Here’s a more witchy practice for grounding. Sit your tush on the floor (or wherever you can sit), now close your eyes and imagine that your tush (or your root) has a white light attached to it. Picture that white light as a string that flows up your spine, through your crown/head and into the universe above. Then picture that white light string extend down, down, down from your root to the grass, and soil, and rock, all the way down to the core of the earth. Picture yourself sending energy you no longer want to carry down into the earth, it receiving it, and sending back that white life force into your root and through your body. Nourishing you, cleansing you, and energizing you. Repeat this as many times as you want. Then send gratitude to the earth and end your practice for this session.

• Meditation – I haven’t really done traditional meditation but what I do instead is meditation in my heart space (I have a blog all about how to create your heart space here). But this is a practice where I actually meet with my guides, walk with them, and build confidence in the messages that are coming through for me. If you’re needing more assistance getting started on a meditation practice, there’s a ton of guided meditations on youtube that can help you get started without you having to create the guided session yourself.

• Channeled Writing – This is how I do my readings for myself/clients and I love this practice because it gives you written proof later when your ‘feelings’ manifest into our reality. Grab a journal, something to write with, and a quiet spot (or I use my notes on my phone and type instead). Close your eyes, take a few cleansing breaths, then when you feel centered, ask your higher self or guides to come in and guide you. Set a timer for however long you’d like this session to go (to begin I’d start with 5-10 minutes and then see how that amount of time felt) Once you do that, put your pen to paper and write everything that’s coming to mind. Don’t control what’s coming through, just allow it to stream and let your pen write whatever is coming to mind. If you notice you’re conscious mind starts taking over, pause, take a few more cleansing breaths, get up and shake for a second, then when you’re feeling centered again, hop back to writing. Once the timer stops go back through what came up. If you’re handwriting isn’t legible, don’t worry – write any notes you want to make of what came through now that the channeled writing practice is over so you can go back and review what guidance came up. Don’t worry if this doesn’t come naturally to you at first, it was definitely a practice I needed to ahem practice quite a few times before it became my go-to for longer form guidance from my guides.

• Pendulum Questions – A pendulum is a great starter tool to ask yes/no type questions to. Hold your pendulum loosely and ask questions you know the answer to (similar to the yes/no exercise above). See which way the pendulum swings when the answer is yes, and which way it swings when the answer is no. Once you feel comfortable with the basic questions, move on to more grey response ones and see what comes up.

• Create a Language with your Spirit Guides – You are the co-creator of you life with spirit and one of the most fun ways to build your intuition is working with your spirit guides/spirit team. You get to create a language between you and your guides. One way to do this is to designate certain colors, words, animals, or symbols as something of meaning with your guides. When I first connected with my intuition and guides I decided that for my one spirit guide if I saw a monarch butterfly I’d know it was a wink from her. After making that our special symbol I saw SOOOO many monarch butterflies for months it was truly magical. Try it out and see what signs your guides send your way.

As you continue to work on your intuition, remember that it’s ok for it to take time or for it to be a trial and error process. Be patient with yourself and try not to get overwhelmed with figuring it all out today. By practicing these exercises and using these tools into your daily life, you’ll find yourself becoming more attuned to your inner knowing, making decisions with more clarity and confidence.