By Alex McRobs
When I was twenty five I got married. In the day leading up to us getting married I had tons of gut feelings about this - but I ignored this. I drank more and more alcohol to silence these gut feelings. Making this mistake was something I was really shameful of and I carried guilt and remorse for many years. But in the end it ended up being such a valuable life lesson for me - on gut instincts and intuition.
I felt it EVERYWHERE in my body that this was not the right direction my life was meant to take. Yet I ignored my gut instincts and went through with the marriage - because I thought it was the right thing to do.
While some people seem to have a natural gift for intuition, it is a skill that can be practiced. It’s like a flickering flame - but we have to nurture it, practice it, and develop it. And breathing deeply, and practicing stillness, can help our minds to develop it.
During the month of September, we will be focusing on learning about intuition.
Here's some of the practices we will be engaging in:
Dharma Talks: a dharma talk is a spiritual talk on a subject. The goal of a dharma talk is to inspire, educate and uplift. Each month, our members will get a new dharma talk every week on the monthly theme. The topics for September are:
An Introduction to Intuition
Gut Feelings
Activating the Third Eye
Samyama and Intuition
Pranayama: pranayama practices are practices designed to control or alter the breath. These practices can help calm the mind, balance the nervous system and develop the mind-body connection. Our practices for September include:
Sama Vritti
Dirga Pranayama
Nadi Shodhana
Brahmari
Meditation: meditation can help quiet the mind chatter, cultivate presence and awareness and develop intuitive wisdom. Our meditation practices include:
Body Scan
Gut Feelings
Third Eye
Trataka