Excerpts from The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living from Inner Wisdom published by Beyond Words, 1997.

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Ask people how they recognize intuitive guidance and some will say they depend on their sense of good or bad "vibes," while others swear by their "little voice." Many suddenly have a "flash," "get the picture," or "see the light." Still others, though more rare, rely on their sense of taste, like the chairman of the board of Sony Corporation, who solves problems by pretending the potential solutions are pieces of food, then tries to "eat" them. Though receiving insights via the five senses is a large part of intuitive perception, you can pick up cues from your internal and external worlds much earlier in the game. When intuition first speaks to us, it's in a language that is preverbal, nonlinear, and often so deeply sensual that we can't even hear the little voice or see visual images. Just as animals sense an imminent earthquake, your body knows what's happening in the world long before your mind does and it transmits instinctual signals directly to your reptile brain. Learning to recognize these primitive body messages can give you the edge in knowing who to trust, what's true for you, or when it's time to take action.

Intuition, contrary to popular belief, doesn't usually descend from above. I experience it almost always occurring in the body first, then percolating up into consciousness. I jokingly tell the people in my classes that "your mind is the last one to know"! So if you're boxed in by rational thinking, as I was a couple years ago when I was writing my book The Intuitive Way, you may need to look to your deeper animal nature to jumpstart your creative, intuitive process. Back then, I needed a snappy anecdote to open a new chapter, something that would demonstrate the body's important link to intuitive ability. My impatient mind wanted the perfect story to instantly appear out of the recesses of my brain and march in an orderly progression onto the page. After a prolonged period of staring blankly at my computer monitor, I realized I was actually daydreaming about a special hiking trail near my home. Managing to overcome my "shoulds," I took a break to play hookey for a few hours.

It wasn't until I was three quarters of the way through what had become a truly magical nature walk that I realized I was once again totally alive and absolutely involved with my world. By noticing my body's immediate responses to the environment - sometimes attraction, sometimes repulsion - and by allowing myself to become engrossed with the elements of nature I encountered - the delicately-marked baby snake on my path, the regal, high-stepping waterbirds, the sound of the dry grasses in the wind - my body was giving me a message. It is only through deep connectedness and a personal, physical resonance with life that we know what is real and true for us, that we derive our sense of direction. Lose your body's live connection to the world and intuition and creativity stop. No wonder my creativity was blocked sitting at my computer - my body was literally bored to abstraction! As you begin to open your intuitive perception, or your "direct knowing," the first rudimentary messages will always come to you from your body, your instinct, and your reptile brain. Learning to pick up data at this earliest stage of perception can save you time, energy, and worry. When you learn to trust your first responses to new people, situations, places, and ideas you'll discover an important truth: your body never lies to you. "First thoughts," as writing teacher Natalie Goldberg calls them, are fresh, accurate, and full of genius.

EXERCISE: LET YOUR BODY DECIDE
The next time you go out to dinner, pick three or four different possible restaurants. Head off in the general direction of food, without deciding which one you'll go to. Let your body and natural instinct make each choice along the way. If one restaurant is to the north and the others are south, when you get to the intersection where you must turn, see which way your body wants to go. At the next juncture point, perhaps you'll find yourself not being able to get off the freeway at the exit that would take you to the Chinese restaurant. Continue on, realizing that it's probably the Mexican restaurant downtown that your body prefers tonight. Yet, as you park the car and start toward the restaurant, you might happen to notice a cozy little cafe down the block that you've never seen before, and as you do, your body perks up with enthusiasm. Go for it! And thank your intuition for leading you to a brand new experience.

TRUTH AND ANXIETY SIGNALS
How do you know when something is really right for you? Or when you hear the truth? How do you know that you want to do something, and that you're actually going to do it? Conversely, how do you know when someone's lying to you? Can you tell when timing is off? When a situation is being forced? When there's a high possibility of failure or danger?

Your body communicates with you constantly, giving you feedback about the relative safety and appropriateness of every option you consider. Its messages contain either survival information that comes from the body's rapport with the natural environment, or higher guidance about your optimal self-expression that comes from your soul and the collective consciousness of the planet. Most of us never take the time to know how we know or what we know; we just act. Yet our bodies are speaking volumes - just not in a language we immediately recognize. To develop intuitive skill, we need to be able to decipher our body's information cues, to know quickly and directly, without taking time to "figure things out."

The body's language is a simple binary one - there are only two modes, two "words": yes and no. You will recognize these messages through feelings of expansion or contraction in your body. When a choice or action is appropriate and safe, you'll experience expanding energy: you may sense energy rising, becoming active or bouncy, or perhaps you'll "warm" to an idea, get "light-headed," or feel flushed with enthusiasm. Have you ever had the "hots" for someone, or had "butterflies" of anticipation, or been "up" for a new adventure? Perhaps you've felt magnetically drawn toward someone or a new situation. Have you ever said, "I'm leaning toward this option"? The body's yes often feels like health and vitality, even good luck: "I'm rarin' to go; let me at it!" When I ask people how they know something is true for them, and exactly where they experience the feeling in their body, many describe a warm, spreading sensation across their chest. Others feel energy bubbling up from below their diaphragm into their chest, or from their chest into their throat. Some even feel it bubble up further, resulting in tears of happiness. Some feel the blood rush to their neck and face, making them blush. Still other people describe a variety of "clicks and clunks" as if something out of alignment suddenly snapped or dropped back into its rightful place. These feelings most often occur along the vertical center line of the body and seem to be related to that other oft-described sensation of something "ringing true," where the body silently "gongs" like a huge reverberating bell. One of the other most common truth signals is the sudden movement of energy up the spine or along the arms and shoulders, giving the sensation of "chills" or gooseflesh.

But what about when something is not true or not appropriate for you? When the body answers no, the message is unmistakable. In fact, most people are more aware of their anxiety signal than their truth signal. When an option or action is unsafe or inappropriate, you'll experience contracting energy: you may feel energy drop, recoil, darken, or tighten. Maybe you'll act coolly, even coldly, to someone, or get a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. When something is not true for you, your body will try to withdraw and back away. You may feel repulsed, or become "leaden" or "turn to stone." Instead of blushing, you may blanch as the blood drains from your face. You may get tired, feel gray, blue, even depressed. You may actually feel pain in a specific area of your body. Common anxiety signals are: a stomach ache or nausea, a "pain in the neck," chest pain, headaches, or a feeling like a tight fist in the solar plexus area. Yet another anxiety signal is a prickly feeling of the "hair rising" along the upper spine and neck.

Why is it important to know your truth and anxiety signals? First, you need a fail-safe way to discern which options in life are best for you, to be able to make authentic choices, straight from your soul's wisdom. Truth and anxiety signals are your inside pipeline to the highest knowledge. Second, by learning to discriminate clear answers more quickly and directly, you won't waste so much time, energy, and so many opportunities for happiness. Third, by learning to absolutely trust your body's first response, you will soon find the guidance you get is of a very high quality. Goethe said these deceptively simple words: "Just trust yourself. Then you will know how to live."

EXERCISE: YOUR TRUTH AND ANXIETY SIGNALS
1. Start a journal or diary, and write about the different ways you know when something or someone is true, safe, or purposeful for you. Where in your body do you experience the signal? Does the signal move from one area of the body to another?

2. Write about the different ways you know when something or someone is false, unsafe, or not purposeful for you. Where in your body do you experience the signal? Does the signal move from one area of the body to another?

3. Notice the truth and anxiety signals you get today and write about them.

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Penney Peirce is the author of The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living from Inner Wisdom, The Present Moment: A Daybook of Clarity and Intuition, and Dreams for Dummies. She is an accurate expert intuitive and a trainer in the art of "skillful perception." She has worked with individuals and organizations throughout the US, Japan, and Europe since 1977. Her website is: www.intuitnow.com.