Developing Intuition
A Conversation with Shakti Gawain
by Sydney L. Murray

Introduction by Sydney L. Murray

Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain was one of the first books I read years ago in my early twenties. It's one of those books which I consider an early introduction to my spirit. Speaking with her about her latest book, Developing Intuition: Practical Guidance for Daily Life, I was encouraged that someone whom I had revered as a teacher continued to inspire and inform me.

SLM: What is intuition?

SG: Intuition is an inner sense that we all have that tells us what we need to know at any given moment.

SLM: How can you tell the difference between intuition and my ego mind chatter?

SG: That is definitely one of the most interesting questions and one that comes up often. But we must not make judgments, but remember that we have many different voices within us. Intuition has a certain energy, vibration, or feeling about it and with a little bit of practice one learns to recognize the feeling or the sense of your intuitive voice and distinguish it from the other voices. It does take a little practice. You've paid attention for awhile and you practice following your intuition and see what happens. It is not that you can always be absolutely sure but in general you get to recognize it.

There is a whole chapter in the book devoted to how we distinguish our intuitive voice from the other voices. We do all have many voices within us which you refer to as ego mind chatter, which is how a lot of people think of it. The truth is that we have many different voices within us and they are all valuable. Each one has its own job to do and its own value. So I really honor and value all the voices within me, but it is important to be able to distinguish which voice is what. For example, we often have a voice within us that tells us what we feel like we should be doing. There is value in that because there are certain things that we probably do need to handle. But sometimes the should-voice can get too loud. We need to pay attention to what feels true, what feels right, as opposed to what we feel we should do. With some work you can begin to recognize the many voices and really honor all of them.

SLM: What do you do on a daily basis to nurture yourself?

SG: I do several different things. First of all, it is very important to me to get a good night's sleep. I think that very often we try to sleep too little, not resting and nurturing ourselves enough. I try to do some good things for my body. I usually start each morning with a little yoga (hatha yoga), a little bit of meditation, even if it's only five minutes, and also walk or swim, whatever I can do to connect to my body. Getting out in nature is very important to me. But it is also really about my relationship to the earth. My sense is that we are all part of one consciousness, we are all connected to the mass consciousness of humanity. We are in an evolutionary process and learning as we go. But we are still pretty out of balance in the way we are living on this earth. We are consuming way more than we really need to be. We are polluting and littering. To me, it's a reflection that as individuals and as a culture we are out of balance. My feeling is that we can never feel whole and fulfilled unless we're connected to this earth that we live on: the natural world. You know the indigenous cultures of the world are connected to the earth and nature, but we've separated ourselves from it. I feel that one of the fundamental reasons that we are suffering in the modern world is because we are so disconnected from nature. To me, being in nature is very renewing. And, of course, I do other things, like being with people that I love and am close to.

SLM: Where does your inspiration come from?

SG: Well it certainly comes from somewhere within me. I would say that it is definitely connected with my own intuitive voice, my own intuitive feeling. When I pay attention to that and I follow that, then I'm inspired to do the things that are true and right for me to do. My feeling is that as we learn to truly follow our intuition, we are basically getting in alignment with our soul's purpose. It also helps us access our own creative talents and gifts: the things that we have to offer and share in the world. The more we are in alignment with our souls, the more we are fulfilling our life purpose. Also, the more everyone can begin to tune into themselves and become more conscious and more connected to intuition, the more we are all connected with one another in a harmonious way. For example, If I'm really doing what is right and true for me and you're doing what is right and true for you, there is a kind of synchronicity or harmony that happens for each person that is kind of in the right place at the right time.

SLM: I wonder if a complicated life and a cluttered mind get in the way of developing our intuition?

SG: (hearty laugh) We all have complicated lives, so welcome to the club. I guess most of us also have cluttered minds, too. Welcome to the club, this is the human experience. Life is complicated and we have many, many challenges on many levels and we have to work with that. Most of us tend to be very focused on the mental realm and are overly developed in that area, which can make it more difficult to relax into a quieter, deeper place. But again, with some practice we can do that. People can learn ways to relax their bodies and minds. Many people have trouble just sitting and meditating because their minds are so busy. What I advise is to do something physical like walk, run, or put on some music and dance until you feel kind of tired. That in itself can be a meditation. Walking, running, dancing, or any other physical activity can often be a meditation if you just let your mind go and focus on what you are doing. Often times inspiration will come through or you'll start to feel calmer. Or you could just move very vigorously until you feel tired and sit down and relax and then the mind gets quieter.

SLM: Exactly, I've always thought that my bike rides up Mt. Soledad (San Diego) and my runs on the beach are moving meditations. I get these amazing inspirations and hits of information as I move.

SG: The whole book is filled with meditations and exercises. The basic one that I use is to have people get in a comfortable position, breathe slowly and deeply, relax the body and mind, and let their awareness move into a deep, quiet place inside. Then in that deep place, just assume that you have a connection to your own inner wisdom and ask for whatever you want or need at that point. For example, you can ask, 'What do I need to be aware of right now?, Or 'What do I need to do about this problem?' You can ask for direction or clarity, anything you want, you can ask. Then just kind of sit quietly and watch what comes to you as a thought, a feeling, an image, whatever. Be with whatever comes to you after you ask the question. Several things may happen when you do this. You may actually get a feeling, a response, that feels like the right response to your question. Or you may get something, but not quite understand it, which is fine, just be with it for awhile. Or you may feel like you don't get anything in the moment, but a day or two later you may wake up with a certain insight or inspiration, or a week after that you might walk into a bookstore and just happen to pick up a book and open it and read a paragraph that may be just the right thing you needed to hear right then.

SLM: We often hear about a "woman's intuition" ? Do you think women are more intuitive than men?

SG: I think that everybody is born intuitive and men are as intuitive as women naturally. However, in our culture women have been more supported, traditionally, to be in touch with their feelings, their emotional and intuitive feelings. Women have had more support and permission from our culture to look inside and be in touch with ourselves and our feelings. So we are more likely to be intuitive, Men have been taught, traditionally, to cut themselves off from their inner feelings and just focus on the outside world. However, lots of men are very intuitive. If you use the word hunch or gut feeling, which are two words I like to use to relate to intuition, then men can be described as intuitive, because many men follow their hunches. Many very successful men trust their gut feelings and act on them? It's the same thing.

SLM: How has your understanding of the power of visualization deepened since you wrote Creative Visualization?

SG: It has certainly been confirmed many times in many different situations in my own life. At the time I wrote Creative Visualization I was consciously practicing it on a very regular basis. Every morning I would take a few minutes to visualize or imagine whatever my goal or goals at the time. I would often do that again in the evening. I don't do that anymore as it now is more a part of my consciousness. Every once in awhile I will sit down and do an actual meditation/visualization about something. It feels like now it is more integrated into my life. Creative Visualization was my first book and after that I moved to many other different things. Each of my books is a way of sharing a particular piece of what I have learned.

SLM: What is your current focus?

SG: Well, this gets into a whole other realm, but I would like to mention, as I had mentioned earlier, that we have all these different voices or selves within us ? that an important part of our consciousness is to become aware of different parts of ourselves. To actually learn to balance and develop all aspects of who we are and our relationships give us an incredible reflection or mirror of that process. Basically our main relationship in life is with ourselves. All the other relationships are mirrors and reflections that can help us become much more conscious of our relationship with ourselves.

SLM: You are a prolific writer. How do you sustain your ability to remain centered and focused over a long period of time?

SG: (laugh) I donıt stay centered and focused over a long period. I get rattled and hassled just like everybody else does. I think a lot of it is actually accepting that fact and not having this idea that somehow we ought to be perfectly centered. One of the most important things for humans to understand is that we have our limitations, our shortcomings and our flaws. Weıre imperfect, but we are here on this incredible adventure of learning and development. Have a compassionate attitude toward ourselves. We do get thrown off by a lot of things, pushed and pulled and stressed out when we try to do too much and we canıt do it all. To me, in a certain way, staying centered has to do with being willing to not be centered and to love myself through it all.