We Feel Before We Think:
The Science And Somatics Of Intuition
Welcome! This is a very short essay followed by a guided practice. If you prefer to listen rather than read, there are two separate audio tracks for you below - the essay and the guided practice. I recommend grabbing a pen and paper to follow along or to jot your thoughts down after the practice.
Listen to the here:
Neuroception is the scientific aspect for the energetic phenomena we call intuition — it’s that felt sense of our lived experiences as communicated through our bodies by way of the nervous system.
We often refer to intuition as our gut feeling. In essence, this is true. The gut is said to be the second brain.
However, unlike the throughts (originatin in the brain) Intuition (happening in and through the body) tends to arise unconsciously and holistically without awareness of the stimulous or a specific trigger.
Our intuition is a very real process where the brain makes use of past experiences, along with internal signals, and cues from the environment, to help us make a decision. This process happens so quickly that it doesn't register with our conscious mind.
We feel, before we think.
As humans, Intuition is one way that we acquire knowledge about ourselves and our place in the world - particularly if we learn how to listen to and how to let it lead.
Connection to our intuition is a skill that requires practice. Its the work of self-regulation and awareness, to process our feelings and make informed decisions with the information we decipher.
Building a bridge between my understanding of the energetic concept of intuition and my scientific understanding of neuroception has completely transformed the importance I place on my somatic experience from day to day. So I wanted to share with you an exercise I use to hone the skill of tuning into my body and listening when intuition speaks and using the sensation to help guide me through life and make better, faster, and more confident decisions.
Make yourself comfortable and dive into the guided practice below. You can download the audio and keep it in your tool kit. Revisit the practice any time you need.
Journal Prompts (questions asked in this practice):
Recognizing intuition
What sensations do you notice in your physical body?
Is this a familiar or unfamiliar sensation?
If this is a familiar sensation, how consistently does that feeling arises? When it arises, what conditions do you notice are present either before or during that sensation. These conditions might be certain situations, conversations, or in the presence of certain people.
How would you generally describe this sensation - tolerable or intolerable, comfortable or uncomfortable, soft vs hard, big vs small, try not to label them with the language of our feeling but rather the experience
If you had to live with this sensation present in your body for a prolonged period of time how would you feel?
Adjust your chooses accordingly. If it’s more that you desire what choices need to be made to sustain this sensation. If it’s less that you desire, what choices need to be made to move away from this sensation?
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