Mundane Intuition
Written for Mandala Yoga Ashram newsletter and blog:
We are often taught to look for our intuition in the third eye, the Agya Chakra. But that is not its only home. It manifests in our thoughts, our emotions, physical tension and release. It is there in the headache, the sickening feeling in our stomach, the anxiety, the dread, the guilt...or in the absence of these!
Of course there are times where these thoughts or feelings are based on some false perception (most of the time some may argue!) e.g. fear of a perfectly harmless house spider. But there are times when they are guiding us and we need to take the time to listen deeply in order to hear their real message.
I recently had a decision to make and I couldn’t make up my mind for days. Every time I tried to take the road I wanted to take, I was met by a knot in my stomach, tension in my jaw and restlessness in my mind. I swung back and forth, trying again and again to take that road, and each time I was met with the same problems. I felt confused, unable to concentrate and had difficulty getting to sleep.
So in the end I gave up fighting and let go of what I thought I wanted to do and instead went for what felt right. As soon as I did, my mind became clear, my stomach released and my jaw softened.
So let’s not write off our thoughts, emotions and physical bodies completely. They have a purpose, just like everything else in this world. This situation reminded me of the importance of taking time out, of listening, watching, hearing the messages we are being given every day, every moment. The answers may not always come instantly – we must be prepared to wait. But they will come, if we wait patiently, without fighting or forcing, but with openness and compassion.
You don’t need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Don’t even listen, simply wait. Don’t even wait. Be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you. To be unmasked, it has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka
