Sharpened intuition is a natural byproduct of forest bathing.
When you come into full awareness in a natural setting, you prime your intuition.
But intuition is a rather esoteric concept, isn’t it?
Let’s talk more about what intuition is, how to hone it, and ways forest bathing hones it.
Watch the video version here:
Definition of intuition
Here it is, straight from dictionary.com:
Intuition [in-too-ish-uhn] n.
- A direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process
- Immediate apprehension
- A keen and quick insight
Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately without conscious reasoning. It’s an inner knowing without knowing why you know it.
Intuition might manifest as “a gut feeling” or a “shift in energy.”
Your intuition may signal something like:
- Someone’s watching you
- You need to get out of here
- A person gives you an eerie feeling
- You feel compelled to connect with someone
- There’s something more going on beneath the surface
Intuition is a mix of a little bit of this and a little bit of…
- Awareness of your immediate and peripheral surroundings
- Observation
- Emotional intelligence
- Instinct (versus rational thought)
- Gut feeling
Esoteric yes, but we all have some understanding of how intuition works. And we all have it.
So, how does forest bathing play a role?
How forest bathing hones intuition
The factors that make forest bathing the perfect environment for intuition building include:
Stillness and quietness:
A relaxed quiet is the best environment to access intuition. You cannot hear your inner knowing over the noise of distractions, thoughts, media…the world. Shinrin-yoku puts you into that quiet, receptive state.
Awareness:
The mindfulness aspect of forest bathing puts you into a state of conscious awareness with all five+ senses. The more you build your conscious awareness, the more your unconscious can work.
What this means is, you might be sitting in the woods and suddenly feel someone else approaching. Your peripheral awareness may pick up a slight shadow or a tiny twig crack that your consciousness didn’t notice.
Natural setting:
Our ancestors primarily lived out of doors. All of our natural instincts, our capacity for intuition, were built upon our natural heritage in nature. Nature is what honed our intuition to where it’s at today. Intuition and nature are so inextricably linked, you can’t separate them.
Journaling:
Nature journaling gives you an opportunity to process your experiences and put them into words. If you just think through your experiences in nature, those thoughts never stick in your memory and tend to trail off. Thoughts are ephemeral. Journaling is concrete. Writing it down gives you practice in capturing your gut feelings. Processing and capturing those thoughts gives you better insight into your intuition.
But why should you care about intuition?
Benefits of Intuition
Intuition is a huge gift that we’ve been given naturally. Intuition is a wise guide that:
- Helps you avoid trouble or unsafe situations
- Provides relief knowing you can trust your gut to make the right decisions
- Gives comfort knowing the right answers are inside you
- Lets you know who you can trust and who you can’t
Our entire survival as a species has depended on intuition. Certainly it can make your life easier to navigate.
Other ways to hone intuition
Slow down and connect mind, body, and spirit: Any practice that gives full attention to your whole self makes your inner guide easier to hear. Practices like yoga, prayer, singing, etc, enhance your inherent guidance system.
Get into a natural environment: Like we talked about before, nature and intuition go hand-in-hand, so any way you can get into nature gets you in better touch with your natural instincts.
Get clear on your values: Write them down and review them, daily. The more focused you are on your values, the easier you’ll be able to recognize when something is “off.” Your values are your conscious guidance system while your intuition is your unconscious guidance system.
Practice: Practice using your intuition on small things, like small decisions. Which path to take at a fork, which meal to choose at the restaurant, which person to start a conversation with. Practice what your gut tells you, before you have a chance to rationalize. With practice, your intuition will get stronger and stronger and you’ll be able to hear it better.
Meditate: Any practice that gets you into stillness and awareness puts you into direct contact with your intuition.
Solitude and introspection: When you’re with other people, you’re often concerned with their needs, paying attention to verbal and nonverbal cues, and can feel inhibited. In solitude, you can be completely uninhibited. Uninhibited introspection provides space for intuition to show her beautiful crown.
Creativity: The creative mind and the intuitive mind are attached. The same unconscious mechanisms that spawn creativity promote intuition. Sometimes your intuition even comes through in your art. Play with your creative side, whether that’s painting, gardening, wood whittling, or origami to get in touch with your intuition.
Journaling: I have to mention it again, because I can’t recommend journaling enough. Stream-of-consciousness journaling is one way to really explore your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It gives you insight into why you think the way you do. By decluttering your mind and getting more acquainted with your thoughts, you can start to decipher what intuition is telling you.
Listen to your body: You know how you can develop a craving for salty food when your body needs sodium? Well, the same force that tells you that your body needs a certain mineral tells you not to get into that car. Your “cravings” and your “gut feelings” are part of the same network, so when you practice one, you practice the other.
As you get more aligned with and aware of your intuition, it will get stronger. Like muscles, it takes practice and strengthening to grow. And as your intuition grows, it gives you more helpful guidance.
Well, that’s it for today. I hope this information has given you some epic insight into intuition and how to hone it.
I’d like to hear from you:
Have you noticed an improvement in your intuition since you’ve started forest bathing? What gifts has intuition given you?