How to Tune in to Intuitive Guidance

Excerpted from Intuition for Starters

The superconscious, conscious, and subconscious minds all operate from different parts of the brain. By practicing the exercise we’ve learned in the last chapter, we can become more aware of which part we’re using while doing different activities. Try noticing where in the brain your consciousness is centered while relaxing or drifting off to sleep, while driving in busy traffic, or when feeling particularly joyful or uplifted.

Awareness of different areas of the brain is only a part of tuning in to the superconscious mind. The science of yoga teaches that we actually have three bodies: the physical body; the astral, or "energy" body, seat of our mental and emotional natures; and the idea or "causal" body, which operates in the realm of pure thought.

We are, of course, readily aware of our physical bodies, but we can also find evidence of the existence of the astral body when looking at Kirlian photographs. In photos of people’s hands, for example, one can see a beautifully colored image of energy radiating out from the physical form. In differing photos, the radiant image is larger or smaller, brighter or dimmer depending on the strength and quality of the person’s energy.

The astral body has seven "energy centers," or chakras as they are called in Sanskrit, that govern various aspects of our mental and emotional states. These vortices of energy are located along our "astral" spine, which is the energy counterpart to our physical spine and brain. If you’re interested in learning more about the chakras, I recommend you read Chakras for Starters, available from Crystal Clarity Publishers.

Two of these chakras are particularly important in tuning in to intuitive guidance: the Anahata chakra, or dorsal center, located in the area of the physical heart, and the Ajna chakra, or Spiritual Eye, located at the point between the eyebrows. When in meditation we concentrate at the Spiritual Eye, we’re focusing our consciousness on the frontal lobes of the brain where the superconscious mind is located.

Exercises for Greater Awareness of the Chakras

Here are some exercises to help you become more aware of the Anahata and Ajna chakras. In preparation, begin by sitting up with a straight spine, and trying to still the restless thoughts in the mind. Now practice a yoga technique called Regular Breathing: Inhale to a count of 12, hold the breath for 12 counts, and exhale to a count of twelve. Do this for six to twelve rounds. Then throw the breath out, and sit quietly for a few moments.

Now focus your attention on the Anahata chakra, located in the area behind the physical heart. Draw your shoulder blades together several times by tensing and relaxing the area of the back behind the heart. Visualize a great sphere of light expanding outward from the area of your heart. Feel this sphere encompassing everything around you-your house, neighborhood, country, the world, and all of space. Try to feel that everyone and everything is bathed in this light. Sit quietly and keeping your body relaxed, try to feel an actual sensation of warmth or energy in the Anahata chakra.

Now bring your attention to the Ajna chakra, or the point between the eyebrows. Knit your brows together several times to stimulate the energy here. Concentrate on projecting a beam of light from this point, like the light coming from the projection booth in a movie theatre. Feel this beam moving outward through space with great power, driving away all shadows of pain and sorrow. Use your will power to send this light further and further into space. Now relax and feel a radiant center of light and energy at the point between the eyebrows.

These two chakras act as sending and receiving stations for our thoughts and feelings, just like a radio transmitter and receiver. In his book, Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda says, "The human mind, free from the static of restlessness, can perform through its antenna of intuition all the functions of complicated radio mechanisms-sending and receiving thoughts, and tuning out undesirable ones. As the power of a radio depends on the amount of electrical current it can utilize, so the human radio is energized according to the power of will possessed by each individual."