“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.”
– Billy Wilder
Aside from our occasional experiences of “déjà vu” and our kudos to an accurate “gut feeling”, we rarely give our intuition any credit at all. In Tantra, learning to use your intuition when making decisions is just as important as using your intuition when making love! No matter what the situation, being able to make intuitive decisions about your next move requires a great deal of insight. Tantra can teach you how to use your intuition to make this insight more accurate and reliable every day.
Taking in Intuition
Experts in the field claim that there are several different kinds of intuition, based on the source of the information you are using to make your decision, which range from the very personal and abstract to the very concrete and reality-based. What kinds of input can you think of that leads you to make intuitive decisions?
The most abstract form of intuition is labeled as “spiritual” and it can take a lot of time and devotion to experience these synchronistic moments. The more time you spend in your peaceful place, the closer you will get to the kinds of knowing and understanding that seem to appear, fully formed, from nowhere. Environmental intuition is similar, with a more physical aspect – like a book falling from a shelf as you walk by, just urging you to read; or a block in traffic that requires you to reroute, allowing you to arrive at just the right time to find an empty parking space with a meter that’s already been paid!
Emotional and mental intuition have to do with your ability to read and understand situations, whether through the facial expressions and tone of voice your partner is using, or simply through your ability to “reason through” the possible outcomes of your decisions and choose the best option. Both of these are incredibly important, especially when the decision you need to make is “What do I say next?” Being able to predict how your words and actions will affect not only yourself, but your loved ones, is a great feat of intuition.
Finally, physical intuition is the most immediately and reliable of the bunch, especially when it comes to making love. Learning the ways of your lover’s body, how she responds to certain kinds of touch and stimuli without needing her explanation will show her that you are not only an incredible lover, but an attentive one, someone who pays attention to her needs and desires, no matter how subtle they may be.
Dreaming Your Reality
One of the best ways to improve our intuition is through the close attention to our dreams. Even if we assume that our dreams are simply our unconscious mind attempting to sort through all of the day’s input, since this “input” is the stuff which leads to intuition, learning to recognize the symbols and stories in our dreams can give us more information that we can’t always see or understand while awake.
Ritual is by far the best way to condition your mind to take in and remember meaning from your dreams. The mind appreciates repetitive actions, so it may take you a while to build up to reliable dream memory. Start by placing a note under your pillow every night before bed which reminds you when you read it in the morning to remember your dreams. Keep a notebook and pen beside the bed so you can write or sketch down any details or images that pop into your mind when you wake.
When you are used to remembering your dreams, try taking some time before bed each night to think about any major symbols or themes from your day that have significant meaning to you. Try writing down short lists before bed to help facilitate your dream imagery as you sleep, allowing your mind to use these recognizable symbols in your nightly processing. Don’t rely on books about “dream symbols”, although as your interest deepens, you may want to research Jungian dream theory in depth. When you are first starting out, what is important is what you believe these symbols mean to you personally. Books on the subject are only guidelines, and while it can be fun to see what others think on the subject, your personal experience is what matters.
