How to know if you have healthy intuition both physically and emotionally
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I have always been fascinated by what some refer to as a “sixth sense”. What do you call it? Intuition? Conscience? “Knowing in your knower”? “Having a gut feeling”? It can be described as an innate ability to know, to understand and to be able to act on something without needing to know how or why you are doing it. What is so fascinating about this exciting skill set is that your nervous system instigates this phenomenon in both your emotional/mental self, and your physical self. In both cases, it is meant to keep you safe and protected.
Now some may jump and squash this whole topic because they may say this conversation is going towards voodoo, superstition, mediums, or some other sort of anti-religious who-ha. Quite the contrary. This fascinating innate and mysteriously trustworthy mechanism is inside all of us, the damned and the just alike. Those of us who seek to nurture and develop it know that trusting ourselves in this way brings about right decisions, right choices, domination in our sport, or just not falling when the rug gets pulled out from underneath us (literally and figuratively). For those of you who turn your head in disgust or are aghast at what I am speaking about, know that it is still there within you, whether you acknowledge it or not. It is just waiting for you to be quiet and look within. Properly utilized, it allows your most creative, expressive, and unique self to live full, expansive, and without inhibition. It also is a God-given tool to protect yourself and others when danger is lurking, or to suddenly navigate unknown territory with grace and poise when called upon.
I like to refer to it as “proprioceptive intuition”. It is a skill set utilized by both body and mind. It only shows itself when it is needed, in the heat of the moment. I will describe what this looks like in real life. Have you ever seen someone slip on an icy sidewalk, yet catch themselves from falling? How do you explain a tennis player’s ability to toss a ball in the air to serve in the same sweet spot so the racquet connects with unexplainable consistency 99% of the time? How about when a parent drops their child at a friend’s house and 15 min later drives back to pick them up because they had a “bad feeling” that proved to be true? Or what about when someone breaks off their engagement because they just “knew” their significant other just wasn’t the one? Let’s discuss all aspects of proprioceptive intuition present in the nervous system affecting both body and mind.
What is proprioceptive intuition?
What is the purpose of proprioceptive intuition?
What is the science behind proprioceptive intuition?
How do I know if my proprioceptive intuition is healthy or impaired?
What is proprioceptive intuition of the body?
It is the awareness and the ability to sense the need to change a movement due to the environment, a change of position due to the location, or a change of force due to a change in tension necessary to produce an action successfully. In other words, can you feel the same stability standing with your feet together for 30 seconds when your eyes are open and closed? Can you maintain your footing when walking in soft dry sand at the beach, or walking on the sidewalk? If I placed an empty 12in x 12in box on the floor and told you it was 30 pounds, would you lose your balance and fall backwards when I asked you to pick it up?
What is proprioceptive intuition of the mind?
It is the awareness and the ability to maintain emotional alignment (congruency) in any given situation or environment. In other words, are you able to remain true to yourself when made to feel guilty, when shamed, when lied to, when being manipulated, or when caused to feel fear that is not yours to own and is not your truth? It can also be recognized by asking, do you have the courage and the boldness to act on what you know will bring you peace deep inside you, when all logic and reasoning don’t make sense to you? Knowing what you are sensing internally at the moment requires a maturity in knowing who you are, a peaceful calm relationship with yourself, and an ability to perceive the truth about what you are seeing. The Bible refers to proprioceptive intuition as the Holy Spirit who speaks to our inner being at all times, to steer us in the right direction.
“Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.”
I hope you are asking yourself, “Where is she going with this?” Let yourself be curious and allow yourself to look at your own skillsets with your own eyes. Let’s carry on . . .
What is the purpose of proprioceptive intuition of the body?
It keeps you safe and prevents injury due to its sensitivity to spatial awareness and balance. It allows you to maintain your center of gravity over your base of support with an efficient vestibular system (think inner ear), visual system (ever been on a boat with turbulence and told to look at the horizon to not get sea-sick?), and nervous system (think how you can walk to the bathroom at night in the dark and not trip over your own two feet). When an area of the body has gone through an injury or a surgery, this skill set needs to be relearned and rehabilitated. If you have not had proprioceptive training as part of your physical therapy program after an injury or surgery, your treatment was incomplete and lacking a very necessary and vital skill set that will give you optimal functioning in your activities of daily living or sport of choice. Frankly, without proprioceptive training, your risk of injuring yourself is quite high.1 Mobility and strength training alone is not enough, and without proprioceptive training you will be left vulnerable and unable to safely navigate and negotiate the environment at a moment’s notice.
What is the purpose of proprioceptive intuition of the mind?
It keeps you safe and prevents you from getting hurt due to its ability to sense danger in a situation or in a person. It allows you to maintain inner peace and act accordingly despite logical reasoning. Basically when your intuition has not been damaged, you are able to live life in your truth. When your intuition has been damaged, the ability to trust yourself has been hampered with and the “inner voice” that guides to protect and keep you safe only leads you towards trouble.
“And always let your conscience be your guide!”
Remember Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio? The blue fairy called upon Jiminy and officially gave him the role as being the honorary conscience of Pinocchio. To be his “guide” all throughout his life. To protect Pinocchio and to keep him safe from danger. Some of us did not get that blue fairy to visit us growing up. Some of us were abused and the most influential way to abuse a young person with a developing conscience is to tear him/her down emotionally. Abuse causes one to turn him/her against themselves by distorting their intuition which causes them to not know how to trust their own heart and mind. How is this accomplished? Several ways, but let’s just gaze upon just one for the moment. When a child’s voice or opinion has been slammed shut by shame, humiliation, or punishment they are left feeling voiceless, empty, and without the right to express how they feel. Essentially, their nervous system has been programmed to “self-abandon” whenever the need to “choose the best path” or “make the right decision” arose. Early on in life they were taught to not be at peace with how they felt, and they don’t have the right to an opinion. Years later as adults, it only makes sense that their nervous system is conditioned to understand that their very existence is wrong, and that they don’t deserve what is best for themselves. So we make wrong choices, and give up great opportunities because it is all we know.
“If every time a child comes up with an opinion, he is squelched and put in his place, he learns that it is “right” for him to be a nobody, and “wrong” to want to be a somebody.”
-Maxwell Maltz “Psycho-Cybernetics”
What is the science behind proprioceptive intuition of the body?
Internal proprioception to step off this high step happens intuitively.
First, what does proprioceptive mean anyways? Well, first off it is related to kinesthesia, or touch. It is one of the 5 main senses of the body: visual (sight), auditory (sound), kinesthetic (touch), olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste). It is related to having a “sense” when movement, environment, or position needs to change in the act, at the drop of a hat, and without warning. There are sensors in the body located in the nervous system (brain and spinal cord), soft tissues (muscles and tendons), nerve endings (skin, inner ear, joints), and the eyes. The brain organizes and integrates all the information it has gathered in the sensors and coordinates with the various parts of the body to adapt to the environment. It is miraculous how this happens in an instant, without a conscious thought needed in that moment. Your system knows how to adapt to pick up a heavy object, how to land a jump, walk in the dark, step off a high curb all safely and with skill that doesn’t require the smallest forethought.
What is the science behind proprioceptive intuition of the mind?
The mind will utilize all 5 senses of the body:
visual (sight)
auditory (sound)
kinesthetic (touch),
olfactory (smell)
gustatory (taste).
It also uses various portions of the brain including the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala. Sensors in the nervous system are located in the gut-brain axis, and the heart-brain axis. Yes, a healthy microbiome in our gut allows us to have a healthy intuition. Also, living in coherence with healthy HRV (heart rate variability) allows your conscience to operate accurately, without hesitation, and without sway. The brain organizes and integrates all the information it has gathered in your 5 senses and coordinates subconsciously programs your thoughts and feelings to either have a sense of peace due to recognizing safety, or a sense of dread/unease due to recognizing danger. Someone might process and integrate these thoughts and feelings by saying, “I want to see how I feel about that”. (Visual – Kinesthetic) “I have to see if it sounds right”. (Visual – Auditory) “I need to think about how I feel about that”. (Visual “Construct” – Kinesthetic) Each of us have a strategy we use when we are activating our programmed way of being proprioceptively intuitive.
How do I know if my proprioceptive intuition in my body is healthy or impaired?
Healthy proprioceptive intuition is physically present when the body has skill sets that are evident in challenging situations. These skill sets include balance, coordination, reaction time, agility, adaptability, and having less risk of injury. It can be said that remaining active well into our senior years maintains our proprioceptive ability. Have you heard the latest research about sitting?3
“Sitting is the new smoking.”
The more you sit and let the muscles become deconditioned, the more you are reducing the frequency in which they have to communicate with the brain, resulting in a decreased ability to sense and respond accurately and appropriately. They simply “forget” how to operate effectively, from lack of use. This is how the elderly become a “fall risk”, and easily lose their balance in a familiar environment like their own home. Just moving from a sitting position to a standing position allows the spine to communicate with the pelvis, which communicates with the hips, knees, ankles, etc. due to the bearing of weight on these joints. We, as a species, were meant to move, change direction, navigate, and challenge the body. Today’s world of computers, technology, and sitting also muffle our God given gift of proprioception within our body, and its internal sense of posture.
“Use it or you’re gonna lose it!”
It can also be said that the younger we are at learning a skill, the easier it is to develop. That is the beauty of youth, and our amazing human bodies. Have you heard it said, that age 29 is too old to learn how to play an instrument? Some would agree to disagree. Either way, watch a pianist glide their fingers effortlessly across the keys without a glance at their fingers. Most likely, they have been playing since childhood and those pathways from brain to ears to fingers is so deeply ingrained, they don’t even need to see their hands to navigate the keys. Proprioception is just fascinating to me. For those of you well past 29 years old, and don’t play an instrument yet, don’t worry! Neuroplasticity is an evidence based discovery that proves we can learn a new skill, even as an adult!2 You may require more practice and training, but it definitely possible. Learning to play music also changes the shape and development of the brain in a positive way. Just watch a person with dementia or early Alzheimer disease listen to a favorite song that has meaning or a memory for them. Music, the ears, and the brain have deeply ingrained interconnected pathways.
How about the soccer player that can dribble the ball, maintain composure, navigate which team member is open for a pass, defend the opposition at the same time? Ok, that sounds great if I am a professional musician or a professional athlete. How about when I just sprain my ankle or tear my rotator cuff?
After an acute injury the body protects and heals the area by sending “inflammation”. This swelling and pain immediately cause the body to lose strength, mobility, and proprioception. The joint is not able to navigate a changing environment or unstable surface due to inflammation causing inhibition of its sensors.
Neurological cases produce pathways from the brain to the body to misfire or fire erratic or too late. Examples are MS (multiple sclerosis), Parkinson’s disease, and after a stroke. Have you ever seen someone with an intentional tremor? Mentally the brain tells the hand to reach out and pick up a glass of water. Tremors are present the moment the brain is intent on grabbing that glass of water with the hand. Tremors are not present when the hand is at rest.
How about when under the influence of alcohol or some other substance? This will affect your body’s ability to sense where it is in space. Have you ever seen a drunk person try to walk in a straight line when pulled over by a cop? If their alcohol level is high enough it will be evident right away when they lost their balance. They might step off of a familiar curb and fall like a heap right to the ground. Under the influence your body’s ability to connect to the brain and integrate what the sensors are picking up is delayed and inaccurate, making you less aware of your surroundings, affecting your ability to navigate your environment safely.
How do I know if my proprioceptive intuition in my mind is healthy or impaired?
Healthy intuition emotionally and mentally is evident when you subconsciously feel “safe” within because your inner child knows that you can be trusted to maintain that safety by acting in your best interest. This comes from practicing “self-connection” and not “self-abandoning”. Self-connection feels like being calm, having clear thinking, ability to make choices/decisions in your best interest, having optimal digestion with a healthy microbiome, and having an efficient immune system.
When your inner child feels safe and protected, you are self-connected and able to live and move effortlessly and accurately from your best self.
How about when you were in the process of making a business deal with a partner, and you felt “off” all week long. You felt bloated all week long, saying to your wife “I’ve just had a bad case of gas”, and you even came down with a sore throat and headache. You just couldn’t relax, felt on edge, and just couldn’t settle yourself with the deal that he presented to you. Deep down you sensed your partner had an ulterior motive. You couldn’t put your finger on why you didn’t have a peace about it. You had known him over 20 years, the numbers worked, everything looked good on paper. Despite your inner turmoil, you ended up reasoning and using logic as to why you “must” go ahead with the deal. Now thinking back, you cringe when you are reminded of how “shady” your partner was at masterfully manipulating the situation and “pulling the wool over your eyes” causing you to end up losing everything financially.
A healthy intuition is most evident in innocent little children. Did you have a strong personality as a little one, and remember being forced by adults to shake hands, say “thank you”, and “mind your manners” when your intuition told you this person was “bad”, “dangerous”, and “not to be trusted”? You might have run behind your Mommy’s leg, climbed into Daddy’s arms, or hid your face? Parents often don’t pick up on this and force the child to fall in line with orders, ignoring their intuition, end of story. This is often a beginning of “learning to not trust your gut”. We unlearn what our Creator gifted us at birth by being forced to obey authority in order to avoid punishment and condemnation. Our innate intuitive ability to navigate how we feel at a given moment, is now muffled. We were taught in this very instance to go against ourselves and “self-abandon” who we are, what we think, how we feel, and what we sense within. To survive our environment, we subconsciously buried our intuition with a false sense of autonomy, often with people-pleasing behaviors. Giving an innocent little one permission to have the space to express what they feel is so important (within reason of course) can be very healthy. Listening to what they are feeling gives them a sense of agency and empowers them to trust themselves, and to grow a greater trust in you, their protector. It is our job to protect these precious innocent lives. So when they give you a heads up and their little sensors pick up on something you didn’t, remember these words you read today, bend down on a knee at their level and just listen to what they are saying and feeling. By picking them up, forgetting “what it must look like” to whomever is in front of you, and bringing that child to where they feel safe is an opportunity for you to be their hero.
If you are all grown up and realize your proprioceptive intuition is impaired, you now can relearn new pathways to self-connect vs self-abandon and respond safely when your grounding suddenly becomes unstable. It is God’s will for you to be whole, with a healthy nervous system to protect and keep you safe. You can be your own hero, nurture your inner sensors and inner child, and re-develop your pathways from body to brain via neuroplasticity and retraining. It is possible to create a sense of safety within yourself to navigate the unknowns in life fully empowered and without doubt or hesitation.
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1. Aman, J. E., Elangovan, N., Yeh, I. L., & Konczak, J. (2015). The effectiveness of proprioceptive training for improving motor function: a systematic review. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, 1075. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.01075
2. Olszewska, A. M., Gaca, M., Herman, A. M., Jednoróg, K., & Marchewka, A. (2021). How Musical Training Shapes the Adult Brain: Predispositions and Neuroplasticity. Frontiers in neuroscience, 15, 630829. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.630829
3.Baddeley, B., Sornalingam, S., & Cooper, M. (2016). Sitting is the new smoking: where do we stand?. The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 66(646), 258. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp16X685009
