Intuition, the Sixth Sense
-- A tool for healing --

by Carol Ritberger, Ph.D.

I am often asked to explain what intuition is. People are curious about what it feels like, and they want to know how it expresses itself. They also want to know when they are using it. And, most important, they want to know how they can develop the trust in it that is necessary to follow its direction. I find that describing intuition is easier than trying to put it into definitive terms, because it expresses itself differently in each person. We are so conditioned to using our five physical senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell), that we expect intuition to be something equally tangible. We expect it to be black and white, and it is not. Intuition is the sensory process that reveals its information through the pictures it paints in our minds and the quiet inner voice that we hear throughout our body. The five physical senses are easy to understand and relate to. Intuition, the "sixth sense," requires us to trust, not to know.

Are You An Intuitive?

Every single one of us is an intuitive being. A person does not have to be psychic to be intuitive or to use their intuition for the purpose of diagnostic analysis of the body. Intuition is one of our natural instincts and is a critical part of our mental processing. In fact, it is so integral that most of the time we take it for granted or are not even aware that we are utilizing it. Intuitive mental processing is usually associated with right-brain functioning. However, it is really whole-brain thinking. We utilize our intuition as a means of providing a different way to look at situations, as a means of getting a well-rounded perspective on what is happening.

Intuition is a like a weather gauge. It tells us what the current conditions are and alerts us when change is in the air. It is the vehicle through which our spirit expresses itself to our external world. It sees the situations and challenges that life throws our way from a holistic point of view. It is the conceptual part of our thinking and is what allows the mind to create ideas. Its spark kindles the flame and fuels the fires that drive us to manifest our dreams. Its energy provides the inspiration needed to encourage us to follow our visions. The use of intuition encourages us to look at possibilities and explore the unknown.

Intuition can often provide the answers to problems when the conscious mind cannot. It does not express itself through the five senses or the left part of our brain, but rather through the pictures, dreams, memories, feelings, and impressions that are stored in the right brain. Intuitive information reveals itself to the conscious mind in the form of emotions, which are then chemically communicated to the physical body through reactions such as hunches, gut feelings, sudden bursts of insight, or flashes of awareness out of the blue. For example, have you ever known someone was going to call even before they do? Or got an idea and just knew that it was a sure-fire winner? Or struggled with a problem only to find the solution in a dream? That was intuition in action.

How to Develop Intuitive Skills

Another question that people ask me is what can they do to develop or hone their intuitive skills. The first and most obvious answer is to create an awareness around it. Pay attention to how it expresses itself. Then practice integrating it into your daily life so that you will become comfortable with it. The more you use it, the more you will trust it, as well as the information it provides. Another important element in the development of your intuitive skills is not to work hard at being intuitive. Intuition is not something that can be accessed when your mind is active or outwardly focused. It requires a relaxed mind and a relaxed body. Your focus must be internal and introspective. The information it can provide must be allowed to flow freely. It requires time and lack of expectations so it can look at the situation or problem from all perspectives.

The integration of intuition into your daily life heightens your sensory awareness. It empowers you, and it expands your consciousness. It opens up a whole new way of looking at life and prepares you to cope with change. It reduces the amount of anxiety and fear in your life. They are two of our most powerful emotions and capable of creating stress in the physical body and imbalance in the energy body. They are precursors to the creation of illness.

Become Your Own Diagnostician

The energy system is very effective in communicating its state of health. With a little practice, you can perform your own diagnostic checkup. How? The fastest way is by learning to let your hands read your energy field. The hands, and particularly the fingertips, are very sensitive instruments that can scan the physical body to feel where imbalances are occurring. If the energy system is strong and vital, then you will feel an overall warmth over the areas being examined. However, if there is congestion or energy depletion, then you will feel cold spots or there will be areas where you can barely feel any heat at all. If there is chemical overstimulation of an endocrine gland or an energetic protrusion, then the affected area will feel very warm or hot.

Let me share an example to help you understand how the energy system and the physical body affect each other. Let's say you are in a conversation where you are trying to express your thoughts on a particular topic. The problem is that the person you are talking to cannot seem to understand what you are trying to say or cannot appreciate the importance of the point you're trying to make. The more you try to get your point across, the more frustrated you become. As your frustration increases, so does your stress level. This emotional reaction causes the energy system to sound the alarm and warn the body that the reaction is in fact having a negative impact on the physical body.

Now, let's say your frustration turns to anger. The more angry you become, the greater the severity of chemical imbalance in your body. The physical result is that your throat tightens up. The minute this happens, you begin to have difficulty swallowing -- perhaps you cough or choke or your voice breaks. These physical reactions are the energy system's way of trying to tell the body to shut down what is creating the imbalance. If you were to scan the throat area at the time this was happening, you would feel a large hot spot (protrusion) of energy in this area. Then, as the emotional reaction subsided, the energy in this area would return to normal and you would just feel a warmth around the throat.

I believe that each of us can become an intuitive diagnostician to some extent. All that is required is that we evolve our intuition to the point where it allows us to read the energy system for the purpose of gathering information and perceiving any malfunctions in the body. With some practice and patience, any person can hone their intuitive skills in such a way that they can accurately read where energy imbalances are occurring in the body. However, there is one important element that you must adhere to if you are to become an accurate diagnostician, and that is the ability to emotionally detach from the person you are reading -- not an easy thing to do, especially if the person you are trying to read is yourself. Yet, without the ability to emotionally detach, you contaminate the quality of the information your intuition provides. You will distort the information so it feels safe, or negate what it is telling you as not being valid.

This article continued on the next page:
     * The Best Way to Start;
      * Diagnostic Keys;
      * Body Scanning.

This article was excerpted with permission from the book "Your Personality, Your Health", by Carol Ritberger, Ph.D., published by Hay House Inc., Carlsbad, California, USA. www.hayhouse.com.

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About The Author

Carol Ritberger, Ph.D., is a medical intuitive, bioenergetic diagnostician, and nationally renowned lecturer who holds a doctorate in theology. She helps people understand how emotional, psychological, and spiritual energy can lie at the root cause of illness, disease, and life crises. Carol can literally "see" the human energy system to identify where there are blockages that affect the wellness of the physical body. She may be contacted by email at carol@ritberger.com  and through her website at www.ritberger.com.