Building intuition

Here's a great Neuro Linguistic Programming NLP technique to help build intuition.

Intuition often shows itself as a feeling, or as we would say in NLP, as a kinesthetic feeling. We know something is right because our body tells us so:

• "It just felt right"
• "I got a bad feeling about it"

One of the students in our In-Depth NLP Practitioner Training in New York is a massage therapist. He is able to sense his clients slipping into an altered state as he works on their back. He was not sure he could do the same thing when leading a hypnosis client into trance when looking at their face, without the benefit of feeling their muscle tension change!

I suggested he recall the last time he was massaging a client and knew they were going into trance. When he was fully experiencing this, I asked where he felt that knowledge. After checking in with himself he indicated a triangle from his left shoulder to his throat to his solar plexus. I suggested that he could check in with this area when working in hypnosis and this would tell him when his client was going into trance.

Of course, it is not the case that everyone will know their clients are going into trance by paying attention to the same feelings in the same area. Indeed, he may find that his intuition for noticing when his clients are going into trance may show itself in an entirely different area of his body.

However, the fact is that by allowing his body, and his unconscious mind, to identify how he intuits he has begun the process of sharpening his intuition. From here he will go through a process of further refining and sharpening this intuition.

Summary of the Technique

Here is the technique:

1. Select something about which you want to build your intuition
2. Pick something else where you already have good intuition, perhaps something you do for a living, or as a hobby, or something you just feel naturally.
3. Remember a recent time when you had good intuition about something. Recall where you were, what you were seeing and hearing. As you get in touch with the memory, begin to notice your feelings, what are you feeling? When in your body do you feel it most? What are the qualities of the feeling? Is it warm or cool? Heavy or light? etc.
4. Think of some other similar times when you had good intuition. Notice again this area and these sensations that tell you you are making the right decision. Notice how the feelings are different depending upon whether your intuition says "yes" or "no", "accept" or "decline".
5. Now consider the something you want better intuition about. As you think about that issue, pay attention and notice your feelings. 

By allowing your unconscious to communicate with you in this way, by really paying attention to the somatic feelings your unconscious presents you with, your intuition will increase exponentially.

What happens if it doesn't work?

If you are unsure about the messages your unconscious is giving you, simply ask: "I am seeking guidance on this issue, should I say yes or no [or accept/decline, go/stay]". Now breathe and wait for your unconscious to answer. Notice any changes in how you feel. 

If you are still unsure, say "I am feeling a warmth in my chest, if this is the signal for me to accept this offer, please increase that feeling, if not decrease that feeling". Now once more breathe and wait.

How does this work?

Your unconscious now sends messages to you conscious mind in various ways, it can be in pictures, or sound, or feelings.

By identifying a past time when you had intuition and noting the feelings associated with that, we are communicating with your unconscious, letting your unconscious know that you are listening and understand this signal to have a certain meaning. This is the start of the process of building intuition.

Shawn Carson

NLP Training in New York