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Exploring Your Body’s ESP, by Ann Todhunter Brode

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Many people haven't thought much about the connection between their body's sensory awareness and extra-sensory perception. They often consider ESP extra-ordinary and practiced only by adepts or psychics. But, it's actually available to anyone who pays attention to their inner senses. Although we're well acquainted with the external senses (sound, sight, taste, touch, and smell), the internal senses often get overlooked. In order to access your inner knowing, you'll need to become familiar with your inner senses. Let me introduce you.

Your body has four distinct sensory ways to relay information from the inside. Your vestibular system records balance and movement; proprioception registers position and location; nociception detects pain and discomfort; and interoception connects you with internal awareness and emotional feeling. Though all of the inner senses contribute to inner knowing, interoception is the direct link to what we classically think of as the sixth sense or extrasensory perception. For simplicity, let's just call this your body sense.

Because your body sense has been integral to your physical experience since the beginning, you may think of it as no big deal. But, when it comes to being intuitive, it is. Healers and sensitives have resourced their body's inner knowing for precognition, healing, and psychic ability for centuries. More recently, using imagining technology, researchers have tracked the relationship between internal sensory awareness and intuitive behavior. You may experience a bit of this when a hunch plays out or you think of someone just before they call. You may see it show up in an emotional situation, choosing to respond with your heart rather than your head. Even in a poker game, your body sense may be helping you "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." All of these could be just pure chance. But they could also be your ESP at work.

ESP has several different channels of communication. Depending on how they present, these are clairvoyance, clairaudience, claircognizance, and clairsentience. Clairvoyance, known as second sight, is the one with which you're probably most familiar. But, the other avenues for sensory perception are actually more common. Perhaps, getting a hunch is a kind of inner knowing or claircognizance. Intuiting the emotions of others could be clairsentience, and hearing an inner voice telling you lay down your cards could be an example of clairaudience. When reading the room modifies your delivery, you're definitely being clairsentient. To explore some of these avenues, all you need to do is listen in.

Listening in to your body sense is a good way to bolster your ESP potential. You can listen in while doing mundane tasks, letting go at the end of the day, or anytime you feel emotional. Listen in during romance. Listen in at work or play, Listen in when you exercise or meditate. Without judgement, observe what's going on. Notice how comfort/discomfort, agitation/calm, excitement, joy, and sorrow feel. As you listen in, observe how your body communicates. Often irrational, ridiculously literal, and rooted in imagery, metaphor, and symbol, body speak will require translation. For instance, when your body shuts down and clams up, it's saying no. When it's in the flow, so are you and all is okay. When you hear a story and you get goosebumps, pay attention. If phrases such as, "Got off on the wrong foot," "Do something half-heartedly," or, "A knee-jerk reaction" come to mind, perhaps you need to get balanced, be in touch, and calm down.

ESP Explorations:
You can have fun experimenting with your body sense. Just pose a simple yes-no question, turn inward, and pay attention to what you feel, hear, or sense. Here are some ways this might play out in real life:

• Listen to your heart. If you want to know if your heart is on board with any decision, bring your internal awareness to your heart center and ask. If the area gets compressed, blocked, or agitated, it's asking you reconsider. If it feels open and calm, the answer is yes.
• Listen to your gut. Placing a hand on your stomach, think about a project, relationship, or investment, and notice what happens. If you feel a tense, fluttering, or a sinking feeling, your intuition is saying be careful. If your belly feels soft and content, the answer is yes.
• Listen to your emotional body. If you're with someone, even a stranger, and your body gets a sudden hit of emotion, ask yourself if this is yours or not. If it's yours, it'll feel familiar and informative. If it's not, it's telling you something about the other person's emotional state.
• Listen to your inner voice. If you're mulling over a question, listen to the words that pop up. These can show up as random sayings, something overheard, or the lyrics of a song stuck in your head. Why not mine these words for meaning to get your answer?

Think how many times you've been told to listen to your heart or trust your gut or go with your feelings. Perhaps this is where ESP begins. To take it a step further, set a goal to pay attention to your inner wisdom and put it to use in everyday ways. Let it help you make decisions, fine tune communication, be self-aware, and change your mind. Don't be afraid to put it to the test. To start, let your body sense lead the way in the little things and evaluate the results. Like any work in progress, remember that you're learning as you go along. The more you use it, the more accurate it becomes. Putting it to use simply makes it get stronger. Pretty soon, you'll trust it as valued partner for the big things. When you align intuition with intention, you have a powerful combo.

Social distancing has given us time to slow down and pay attention close at home. Why not take some time and explore something old to find something new? All you have to do is direct your attention inward and be a curious observer. Exploring a bit of ESP is no longer fringy, esoteric stuff. It's literally part of who you are.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

Do you believe that everyone is psychic, or at least has the potential to be? If so, is there any reason someone should not pursue the development of their abilities, or any preparation one should undertake before doing so? I've been interested in this subject for a long time, and am thinking about developing my own psychic potential, but am a little nervous of getting in over my head and not knowing what to do. Thanks!

David

Susyn:

Everyone has psychic abilities or at least the potential to develop them. Some people ignore or explain away their abilities for the exact reason you cite: They have no one to advise them in this arena, and they feel nervous exploring this realm alone. Many people's psychic gifts show up at an early age. How the people around them react to this often dictates whether they embrace their gifts or try to repress them. If they end up repressing or ignoring them, their abilities may reemerge later in their adult lives.

Luckily, these days learning to nurture and promote your psychic abilities is much easier than it used to be. There are endless websites, internet forums and local communities through which you can get guidance as you explore the world of metaphysics.

I recommend you make a list of different methods available for people who want to explore and expand their psychic gifts. Pay attention to which ones you feel drawn to. This will give you clues as to which avenue of psychic development you'd like to pursue. For example, you may be drawn to tarot, but shy away from channeling. You may have had experience with intuitively knowing what is going to happen next, but not much luck trying to interpret dreams. Once you zero in on your personal skills and interests, you can narrow down the field of study you should concentrate on first.

Although you can work to develop your talents on your own, I don't recommend it, for it will limit your growth and can also lead you down some unsettling paths. When we open up our psychic abilities, we also naturally open up to the spirit world. If we're lacking in knowledge and preparation for this sort of interaction, we're inviting trouble.

As you begin to explore your psychic gifts, the first and most important thing you must learn is how to protect yourself. Most psychics begin by surrounding themselves with a bubble of white light to raise their vibration and energetically align with only the highest and best experiences. One common mistake people make when first starting out is assuming that all psychic information comes from themselves. It takes knowledge and training to tap into a specific source of psychic information.

There are many good books on the subject, but it would be much better for you to find a mentor or group of spiritual seekers who can walk with you through this process. They will be able to share their own personal stories and validate what you are experiencing. Like any area of study, the more you learn, the more you will be able to develop and effectively use your psychic gifts. Good luck to you!

*****

Oceania:

No two people are exactly alike, not even identical twins. When it comes to abilities of any kind, each of us embodies a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses. Being psychic falls on a spectrum, just like being creative or athletic: some people demonstrate the ability early in life, others develop it over time with training and practice, while still others struggle or take no interest.

To be psychic is to have keen intuition, which is a combination of awareness, sensitivity, empathy, receptivity to input from the the unconscious and Spirit, and seeing from a holistic perspective. You can begin to exercise your intuition in small, simple ways. When the phone rings, guess who it might be. Before glancing at a clock, guess the time. Before someone speaks, guess what they might say. The idea is not to think, but to merely notice what enters your awareness.

You might choose a tarot deck you feel drawn to and gaze at the imagery on the cards. Notice how each card makes you feel and what message it conveys to you. I recommend you also work with the great spiritual tools in Kajama's Spiritual Toolbox, for the better you get at entering and working with this level of awareness, the more you will be able to consciously access intuitive guidance.

You mentioned that you're afraid of getting in over your head and not knowing what to do. It's true that developing your psychic abilities can lead to some rather unusual moral dilemmas. For example, aspiring psychics sometimes ask whether they should share unsolicited advice with others. If your aim is to be of service, then you should focus on attraction, not promotion: if someone sees you as a role model of how to live a wonderful life, they will proactively seek your input and advice.

You might be similarly worried about getting in too deep if you were developing scientific, business or political power to the point where you could help or do harm to others with it. You can relax and feel confident about moving forward if you commit to using your abilities within the context of your own spiritual values, assuming that you desire whatever is for the common good.

I believe psychic abilities are enhanced when we live by the principle of ahimsa, which is Sanskrit for do no harm. This means avoiding violence in thought, word and deed. Do your best not to impose suffering on your fellow earthlings. To participate in harm, even indirect harm, requires denial and turning off your empathy. I believe your studies will be enhanced if you consider them a sacred journey, and practice ahimsa as your guiding principle.