Everyone has an infallible authority inside them that always has and always will know how to guide them to what’s right for them; this is their intuition. Some people might call it their “gut feel.” In my coaching practice, I call it your "inner oracle."

For many people, intuition just feels like a sudden knowing, or a very strong desire to choose one direction over another. The sense of knowing or the desire of one direction doesn't come with any fear or anxiety; it feels very calming. It has the "click of truth" to it -- the sense that something has settled in definitively and is as true as the fact that water is wet.

However, tapping into our intuition is something we've mostly forgotten how to do in our modern age, because we've been socialized to believe that thinking and logic is the only way to make a decision or figure out what to do about a situation we find ourselves in. That's not true! We actually have a very well-tuned instrument in our intuition, and once we know what it looks and feels like for ourselves, we can start to use it to make better decisions that are much more aligned with what we truly want and need than we can get by thinking and logic.

The reason it always knows what’s right for you is because it’s always been inside you, regardless of how much you've changed over time. Maybe you've gone from being a teacher to a bartender to a pilot to the CEO of a giant corporation -- that doesn't matter to your intuition, because it knows the true you -- the person you have always and will always be, deep inside. And because of that, your intuition tends to guide you to things you may not think you want or need, but which turn out to be just what you needed.

So, how do you know if you’re in touch with your inner oracle? You probably have a very strong intuition if you make decisions "on a whim," or do things that other people would think aren't the sensible choice, but which turn out great for you.

For example, you might be in the middle of binge watching your newest streaming obsession when you get the whim to book a trip, even though you hadn't previously been planning to. So you whip out your phone and book the first interesting destination you can find that doesn't break the bank. Then when you end up going on your trip you meet someone who becomes your new best friend, or you discover a piece of artwork that inspires you to take art classes and become an artist yourself. Things that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't 'followed your gut" and booked that trip on a whim!

Another sign that you have a strong intuition is if you regularly have ideas that just pop into your head, unexpectedly, but which solve a problem you've been puzzling over for some time without being able to work it out. You might recognize it as an "a-ha" moment, which comes to you at a time when you're not actively working on the problem, but when you're otherwise engaged in an activity that has completely taken your mind off the problem. That's because our intuition is always hard at work behind the scenes. When we can step our of our rational, thinking brain, we find that out intuition has already created a brilliant answer for us!

Because of this, I coach my clients in methods to increase their ability to tap into their inner oracle. It’s so important to listen to your intuition because it's the thing that will always be true to you, regardless of what other people think or what society says you "should" do. It will guide you to what you really need if you learn how to listen to it and trust it.

One of the best ways to learn how to listen to it is to practice mind-body awareness. That's because our body is closely tied to our intuition, and within our physical selves, we can learn to "read" the signs coming from our intuition.

A type of mindfulness meditation, a body-scan, is a great starting point. Here's how you do it: sit in a supported and comfortable position, and breathe deeply and fully from the abdomen three times, inhaling and exhaling completely. In that relaxed state, begin mentally scanning your body, from the left toes, up the left leg, through the hips and belly, down the arm to the fingers, across the chest and around the back, and down the right side the same way. Take special note of any bodily sensations that seem especially intense or noticeable and then sit with that sensation. Can you describe the color, shape and size of the sensation? Does it have defined edges? Does it have weight? How does the sensation change when you sit with it and really work to understand it? What does it want from you? What is it trying to tell you?

With this sort of regular body scanning practice, it’s entirely plausible that you’ll find your body has been trying to send you messages from your intuition for some time. And once you learn to sit with those sensations, understand and address them, you can then start to follow that innate intuitive guidance. This is just one way to get in touch with your inner oracle. If you’re interested in learning more about how my coaching practice taps into this aspect of my clients, get in touch!