Developing your Intuition: Is an 8 week intuitive development course the right approach?
Intuition development has always been on the secret menu when it comes to the services I offer. It's one of those things where there are so many people repping an array of spiritual gifts and seemingly simple ways to develop them that I almost don't even want to be a part of the conversation. But here I am…
The most important thing I believe is missing from the intuition development conversation is that it's not as simple as it is being branded. Intuition development for empaths, mediums, and those with raw psychic ability is essentially helping another person learn to connect to themselves on a soul level. And, there is no exact script or narrow pathway to achieving it. Learning to meditate, be more intentional, and connect with Spirit will be as daunting as rewarding. Not to mention, intuitive development should only be attempted as a part of a specific soul's purpose in this life. What I notice in the new age spirituality brand that is currently so prevalent is that everyone is demanding access. It has become another aspect of life that we are now eligible to choose to identify with as if innate spirituality and ancient wisdom have ever been available for the masses for pleasure.
What we access and what we are privy to is never merely by our own choice.
With such demand for developing intuitive abilities and learning about spirituality, few people use their spiritual gifts to serve others out of the fear of entering the unseen realms. Developing your intuitive abilities and discovering your spiritual nature is something you can't undo. But, many stick their toe in the water for the sake of experience, and they often move forward with their lives, putting their pathway to spirituality on the back burner. Even for those with natural intuitive abilities, the disregard for spirituality is just one of many reasons that it has always been a good reason to guard the most sacred aspects of life.
There is a reason why there are endless things we can't access, whether it be spirituality or monarchy, or the center of the universe. What we access and what we are privy to is never merely by our own choice.
Why should spirituality be any different?
Yoga is my prayer
You know, I said that to someone several years back, "yoga is my prayer." That person quickly responded with, "yoga isn't your prayer." The judgmental mind never sleeps! And, perhaps based on the fact that I had a religious upbringing, lead this person to believe that nothing else could move me spiritually, but that was their assumption and limiting belief to bear, not mine. The truth was yoga was my pathway to true spirituality. And understanding more about that pathway meant discovering more about my gifts as an empathic and intuitive nature. Intuitive development would become a big part of my spiritual journey, but it all started with yoga. It helped me connect the dots. All the visions and empathic feelings that I had received as a child and adolescent all came together soon after I began yoga as a spiritual practice. That still did not mean that I was ready to give anyone intuitive sessions or become a constant spiritual guide. I was opening the door to who I was and who I would become. I practiced yoga for years before I took another massive step in my spiritual development, and at that time, intuition development was not on my radar.
You see, yoga was how I began to understand why meditation was so crucial for me. Yoga forced me to keep my eyes on myself, thereby exposing my weaknesses and strengths. My shortcomings were most noticeable in my early days, but as I kept practicing and leaning into spirituality itself, I gained clarity in my strength. Clarity is the most important thing here, not active intuitive development.
Yoga served as validation for me in a lot of things. And that's precisely what spiritual practice and spiritual guidance for that matter often does. Our doors to our next level are often opening as we speak, but we focus on what looks better to us. What sounds better to others, and we often find ourselves in bad spots or creating negative outcomes before we get started down a path toward abundance or soul purpose for the matter.
Spirituality is often used to manipulate others.
Manipulation is an element of spirituality that many don't acknowledge or don't fully understand in my experience. We manipulate spirituality most often by claiming to possess what only Spirit does. The majority in our society thrives based on who is in power, and to have power; you must be the owner of it . Ownership of spirituality does not exist. Humans can only be the bearers of knowledge but not the creators of universal spiritual wisdom. In claiming to create or present information that isn't accessible to others, manipulation can occur. This deception is common in many sects of the spiritual path, both religiously and without the presence of religion.
However, those who manipulate spiritually have missed that power, not invincibility or control, which was not what spirituality was intended to be used for, but merging the two worlds to create balance.
Many intuitive development guides are seeking power over others. This is a hard truth that I learned through my personal experience and one that I almost missed. The way many intuitive development courses are branded leaves a lot of the nature of spirituality untapped. There is a lot of "do it this way." And too little of exploring the true pathway of the person seeking development. I have experienced more than one intuitive development teacher who truly only has one specific technique to teach and has a limited range in exploring the many pathways to spirituality or the ability to pick up on their clients' innate gifts. In this way, intuitive development has become less and less about developing the gifts of empaths, and mediums, and psychics with raw ability, but more about teaching techniques to anyone that will pay for them in the absence of knowledge or any sense of spiritual ethics.
Manipulation is an element of the gifts that many either don't acknowledge or don't fully understand.
There are many intuitive skills and types of empaths, but regardless of what kind of empath you are, the ability to sense and feel beyond what others do can go from a curse to a blessing, to a manipulation quickly. Walking the line between telling people what serves them and their soul purpose versus just being hyper-critical of their choices, or even knowing how much to share about their possible futures requires a delicate and mindful approach. In the wrong hands, these talents can be harmful to self and others.
Intuitive development is deeply personal.
You can't truly help someone on the journey without inviting them into your energy and circumstances. Standing on the outside of the experience doesn't allow you as the guide to invite them into their subconscious. Also, no matter what spiritual gifts you possess, everyone has a different pathway to using their talents, raw psychic ability, mediumship, and developing intuitive gifts. And, also everyone has a learning curve. It still baffles me that there are so many offering such short-term solutions for psychic development.
Here's why 8-week psychic development programs don't work:
Learning to use your gift of intuition in whatever form it manifests within you is very similar to learning a foreign language. But instead of learning to roll your r's like in Spanish, you are learning to listen to Spirit, and it's many voices. This is extremely difficult. More than that, the most significant task here is turning down your internal dialogue so you can hear more deeply. This means that for the majority of these 8 weeks, you will be learning to meditate properly. Learning to hold the connection and remove your fear; this is a skill in itself.
Discernment takes time. The distinction between your thoughts and the spiritual message of another person it's not so linear. Sometimes it's cut and dry, and sometimes it isn't. Again, part of the intuitive development process is understanding how Spirit will speak through you. The best way to start to discern is to have experienced significant spiritual guidance yourself. Intuitive development is not something you sign up for and start doing. It is the process of developing your spiritual nature to ready yourself for your unique pathway to your natural spiritual gifts.
You need more than one spiritual influence. This is an area where I see the most manipulation in intuitive development. Many spiritual teachers require or strongly suggest that you use their method exclusively. And, I believe that the learning process should be isolated to one modality at a time to limit confusion and blending before you are comfortable and have developed your style. However, your development should include different teaching techniques and modalities to understand where you are aligned and gain more knowledge. Again, one modality at a time.
Your spiritual guide can only take you as far as their strongest gift. Naturally, your most vital gift might not be your guide's strongest gift. If that's the case, then 8 weeks with them isn't necessarily going to get you to your highest point. Also, your intuitive development guide is most likely not even teaching the method in which they learned to develop their gifts. Not to mention, our most potent ability is the one that needs the least amount of development. Many of these 8-week intuitive development programs focus on giving a performance and reducing your anxiety in delivering your messages but not developing your spirituality, spiritual ethics, or removing or energetic roadblocks. And these are all necessary before you pose as someone else's spiritual messenger, guide, or psychic medium.
There is no easy pathway to intuitive development.
Even the awareness that you are spiritually gifted or have raw psychic abilities doesn't mean that you are ready to share that gift with others. It also doesn't mean that you have gained maturity in your spiritual journey. And if you haven't already realized it, spiritual maturity will not come in 8 weeks. Intuitive development is not just about opening doors but helping the student understand what could potentially be on the other side of the door and how to manage it, connect to, and extract your distinct soul purpose from it. Unfortunately, the New Age world of spirituality has overcommitted us to the Light. Perhaps we are guilty of being naive to think that Light is the only aspect of the unseen we will encounter, even if that is our intention. Many have underestimated the presence of Spirit in all its forms, but most never turn those experiences into self- help options that we fill our Amazon carts with; I'm not sure that would be very marketable at all.
More importantly-- as above, so below. As we inhabit the earth, we attract the energy we possess. Considering spirituality, we are often fearful of stepping into the unknown. This fear translates to attracting lower vibrational energies, and that's why the first step in anyone's spiritual journey should be emotional clarity. Our lack of mindset and fearful intentions must be set aside before we can even begin to wield our gifts into something that would offer a sense of clarity and healing to others.
My intuitive development approach encompasses emotional clarity, connection, trust, purpose, and perseverance.
What is your pathway to spirituality?
Finding your pathway to spirituality is cracking the code on your soul purpose and maintaining balance with the connection to your higher self. Seeking this way is more critical than any intuitive skill you could pick up in an 8-week psychic development course. Your pathway to spirituality may be different from another person but not any less valid. How your gifts come into play will be a huge part of this, but trying to force yourself to manifest gifts that were meant to be developed over a lifetime is a bit counterproductive. Connection to spirituality and Spirit itself comes through many forms because Spirit is in all things. Whether it be religion, nature, moving meditation, prayer, silence, or something else, your pathway cannot be denied.
"If you are ready to embark on a soulful journey to the ultimate truths, to harness Light for the greater and universal good? Then schedule some time with me, and let's see if we can travel this road together."
And, check out these episodes of the Life of an Empath podcast:
Navigating Evolving Relationships Pt. 1