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Throughout the series we're chatting about all things intuition. What it is, how people connect with it, and how it can be so much more than we often have let ourselves believe. We’ll dive deep into insights, lived experiences, and share findings from a research project interviewing over 50 highly intuitive mediums and empaths from around the world. Join along to follow the insights from these conversations with doctors, nurses, therapists, CPAs, healers, and everything in-between as they shared their journeys connecting with their intuitive abilities. Let’s dive in! Learn more about the research & stay connected at Intuitivebynature.com/podcast
Hello, and welcome to the Intuitive by Nature podcast. I'm Bonnie Castamacima,
Bonnie Casamassima:and it's incredible being here with you. In this series, Celeste Page Sample and I are gonna be chatting about all things intuition. What it is, how people connect with it, and how it can be so much more than we've often let ourselves believe. Hey, everybody. Bonnie here.
Bonnie Casamassima:Thank you so much for listening along. We're really excited to jump in to the 5th episode where Celeste and I are going to be unpacking the pattern of intuition as a practice. In fact, Celeste and I got so excited that we realized that it was pretty far into the episode before we even defined what a practice is anything that allowed complete immersion with the present moment for the research participants. And these practices included things like meditation, time in nature, mountain biking, cooking, creating art, writing or singing music, or dancing with your eyes closed, moving however your body wanted to move. While the activities of the practices were very diverse, they all created these moments of deep presence in that present moment, which then allowed people to tune in to their inner knowing and deepen their intuitive connection in the process.
Bonnie Casamassima:We're really excited to unpack this fully with you. Thanks so much for listening in. Welcome back, everyone. It's so great to be here with you hopping into Episode 5 in our series. We're unpacking all things intuition.
Bonnie Casamassima:Today, we're gonna be jumping into our second to last episode. It's hard to believe we're already almost there. And we're gonna be talking about intuition comes strongest through a practice. So so excited to dive in. But first, Celeste, hello.
Bonnie Casamassima:How are you doing?
Celeste Paige Sample:Hello. I'm good. How are you?
Bonnie Casamassima:Doing really well. So excited about today.
Celeste Paige Sample:Yes. I'm very excited about today. I have a good feeling about this one. So the key finding that we're really unpacking in today's episode is that although innate, intuition can be cultivated through education and experiences to create opportunities, clarity, and contentment.
Bonnie Casamassima:What's really fascinating with that, Celeste, is how people describe over and over and over again throughout the research that their journey was a series of ongoing trusting their nudges or trusting their intuitive experience or events. And, ultimately, it was a practice, you know, and we'll dive into what that means and what was successful about our practice and what wasn't a little bit later. But for now, I wanna take a moment and just call us back to the theory that came out of all of this research because it feels incredibly relevant here. And as a reminder for those listening along, we talked about this in a much earlier episode, but the theory that we're proposing out of all of this work is titled intuition cultivation theory or ICT. And it's defined as a response to working with highly sensitive intuitive experiences and corresponding personal conditioning as a way of both understanding and fostering intuition.
Bonnie Casamassima:So I'm excited about today. We're really diving into that focus of the response to working with intuition as a practice.
Celeste Paige Sample:And I have to say, Bonnie, this episode feels very similar to the first where I believe you started with news flash, you have this, you know, in regards to intuition.
Bonnie Casamassima:From the findings and the research.
Celeste Paige Sample:Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And so same here, like, with the findings and the research and, you know, combing throughout this data, it's like, plot twist, you're probably doing this already.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. You're probably working through some of these practices and really looking at it in your daily life. I'll I so resonate with that and love that, Celeste.
Celeste Paige Sample:And if you've been following along, which I hope you have, you know, I like a good definition. So let's go ahead and define what practice means. According to Webster, practice is to carry out or apply. It can also be defined as to do or to perform often. It is something you perform or work at repeatedly as to become proficient.
Celeste Paige Sample:And so for intuition and for this research, what we found was for some of our participants, practice was a daily thing, much like the definition, rubber band or accordion type relationship, where at times there'd be more focus on their practice and other times drift away from it a little bit just to find themselves coming back to it. So practice in themselves is a journey.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. Completely agree here where that practice, I could speak from my own experience. You know, sometimes I'll be really consistent and I like to say a daily ish practice. You know, sometimes when you're managing, you know, life and household responsibilities and kids and work, you can fall out of practice. So we're talking about what practice is.
Bonnie Casamassima:Let's go ahead and talk about the why behind all of this. You know, what were some of the descriptors that we noted in the study of how participants felt when they were, quote, unquote, in practice with connecting with their intuition? I'll kick it off. It really stood out, you know, over and over and over again. People talked about how they felt more grounded.
Bonnie Casamassima:They felt calmer. They experienced more clarity, more in flow, more expansiveness. One of the quotes is, quotes, life flows more easily. Decision making gets easier, end quote.
Celeste Paige Sample:There was another participant that shared, quote, it feels so good, so filled with love, end quote. I really like that one. I feel like it's it speaks to the idea of expansiveness and how love really makes you feel like part of you is expanding and growing, you know.
Bonnie Casamassima:Absolutely. That reminds me of this next one where the participant shared quotes, I feel more expansive and heart connected, end quotes.
Celeste Paige Sample:There you go. Bingo. There was one more I would like to share. Quote, I have more clarity in my life direction, end quote.
Bonnie Casamassima:Oh my gosh. Hearing these were really what make made me wanna shout these research findings from the rooftop. You know, people sharing over and over and over again, And when this can be such a, such a shift from maybe everyday reality for a lot of people, it's it's really beautiful to hear these experiences. People also shared that they felt more open and connected, you know, building on what's already been shared. They felt more aligned and joyful.
Bonnie Casamassima:This one person shared quotes, I feel like I'm a better parent, leader, and human, end quotes.
Celeste Paige Sample:That's definitely one. If nothing else makes you feel empowered and intrigued enough to try it. Right? At least for me. Yeah.
Bonnie Casamassima:And these, you know, while we're pulling individual quotes, these are experiences that people shared over and over and over again. And these, again, were people that had fostered an intentional relationship with their intuition. So people that, have been doing this for a little while to be able to even articulate that they had a practice.
Celeste Paige Sample:There was another I'd like to point out when you mentioned about being connected. Quote, in the shower is a big thing. I receive lots of information. I do a ritual in the shower where I'm cleaning my energetic body. I'm doing an opening and the clearing.
Celeste Paige Sample:Lots of information comes through then, end quote. Yeah. I love this one. It resonates so hard because I feel like I'm part fish, a 100%. And and I wouldn't say I have, like, a ritual per se in the shower, but I definitely go to water, much in the the native culture of going to water to process emotions and move emotion and energy.
Celeste Paige Sample:So I really loved hearing this. And as we do in every episode, we want to hold space and honor both sides of this idea of practice. So let's look a little bit into what people shared when they felt that they were not in practice. Bonnie, you wanna kick us off with that?
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. As a general overview, they shared that they felt more disconnected, more stressed, and frazzled. We pulled a few quotes here in honor of that.
Bonnie Casamassima:I'll kick it off with the first one. It's quotes, I used to feel very connected. Then I got pregnant and had 2 kids. Life got busy, so I fell off the practices. It wasn't until my son was about 10 and went to school that I was able to reconnect in an intentional level and that I could focus on my intuition again and its practices.
Bonnie Casamassima:End quote.
Celeste Paige Sample:For some reason, today, that hit me in my feelings.
Bonnie Casamassima:Right. Yeah.
Celeste Paige Sample:I I think just being a parent and, I don't know, really being able to resonate with there are these chapters in life that just becomes so, I don't know, all encompassing that it's easy to, you know, your daily ish anything can change, like, on a dime. And before you know it, it's like, who am I? What am I doing?
Bonnie Casamassima:Then you look up and 6 months have gone by. And Mhmm. When did that happen? Okay. Let me get back.
Bonnie Casamassima:Let me get back. So going back to really honoring that it can be like a rubber band experience, and, we have a lot of things we're balancing in life and to hold compassion for that, for sure.
Celeste Paige Sample:Another participant shared with us, quote, when I don't prioritize connecting daily and cutting out the noise, it gets harder and harder to tune in the dial that connection of my inner voice, end quote.
Bonnie Casamassima:Oh, I really felt this one, especially, you know, seeing the the patterns and trends that we saw within the research. If people talked often about, you know, while there were experiences where their intuition was like a sledgehammer, incredibly loud, undeniable, More frequently and more often, it was these series of subtle nudges, these series of subtle whispers or knowings or feelings. Right, or visions or hearings. Right? And to prioritize, you know, tuning in to really listen to that subtle voice when our outside world can have so much noise.
Bonnie Casamassima:It really, really resonated for sure.
Celeste Paige Sample:Mhmm.
Bonnie Casamassima:That reminds me of another one where the participant shared quotes. When I'm not doing my practice of boundary setting, grounding, and practices, etcetera, protecting my energy from others' energy, etcetera, I start to pick up on everything and I get frazzled, end quotes.
Celeste Paige Sample:That one that one really makes you think about what you're just talking about when, you know, the outside environment being really loud. When you don't have those boundaries, at least for me, when I don't have those boundaries in place, my inner world gets really loud, and it's hard for me to hear that really soft voice because it's like I've taken on the narrative of everyone around me, you know? Yeah. I also like to add where one participant shared with us, quote, feel disconnected to myself and my intuition, end quote.
Bonnie Casamassima:Celeste, I feel like that quote is such a perfect segue into diving into what people shared throughout the research around what supported or hindered their practice. And we'll kick it off with support. The top one people shared is they were most in tune with their practices when they had a high commitment to their self. And maybe this was during periods of a lot of healing or a lot of growth or a lot of personal expansion or going through transitions in life, but they were really prioritizing their commitment to self and that connection through these practices. Also, what we just talked about with sometimes that
Celeste Paige Sample:to self. Another part of that support for practice we found in the research was both education and having mentors to support you along your journey. And for me, that resonates with our past episode about community and that external validation that is often needed for some people on this journey. And I really love how this conversation is marrying our past episodes with this overall arguing journey. Right?
Celeste Paige Sample:This idea of the need for there be commitment to self that you talked about, which, you know, leads to self acceptance. And then here again with this external validation through education and mentors and different people that build a community for you to, you know, really anchor your practices in.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. Completely agree. It was really beautiful hearing talk about those education experiences or mentors or even communities they were part of and how it anchored in their that, oh, I haven't meditated this whole week. Okay. Let me try to meditate.
Bonnie Casamassima:Let me focus on the prompts. So it created almost this time sensitivity to that commitment to self. So while they were motivated being in community, it really was also honoring their self and that commitment to tuning in to their wisdom.
Celeste Paige Sample:You know what this makes me think of? What's that? From episode 4, when you share the story of the participant who talked about their rock, the rock that they had in their pocket, and they ended up making a connection with an unexpected person at their work Yes. Who also had a rock. So you've got these 2 people who have these own their own personal practices.
Celeste Paige Sample:And because of that, we're able to build a little community.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. I that I thought that was such a lovely experience. And, it's even you calling back, to it now is putting this huge smile on my face. Yeah. Completely agree.
Bonnie Casamassima:Completely agree. How our commitments to our It's all connected.
Celeste Paige Sample:It really is.
Bonnie Casamassima:Let's go ahead and hop into the flip side the coin. In honor of the research, you know, what did people talk about that hindered their practices? And probably not surprising is when they weren't prioritizing themselves. You know, when they were, you know, maybe in survival mode or maybe they were trying to balance too many things and they weren't prioritizing their self. Another thing we saw was when people had some pretty significant life shifts, such as maybe going through a divorce or a major move or career shifts.
Bonnie Casamassima:Most often, this was something that, disrupted that consistency of practice. But sometimes, to honor that research, it was a catalyst for people diving into their practices. So, but it was something that came up as a pattern for sure.
Celeste Paige Sample:Those 2 were highlighted in the example earlier with a parent who, you know, was saying that becoming a parent, having children, their life got so busy, that life shift caused them to not be able to prioritize themselves.
Bonnie Casamassima:Another thing we found in the research that people shared that hindered their practice was when they found themselves in periods in numbing. And I know we dove deep into this in the second episode where we're talking about, different fears that people had around connecting with their intuition. But when they were engaging in behaviors or choices, you know, such as, recreational activities or, you know, overworking or workaholism or alcoholism or, really kind of, like, shutting down all of their emotional connection. They saw a direct correlation with the breaking down of those practices.
Celeste Paige Sample:Another place we saw a hindrance in the research when we talked about community, the flip side of that being when you're in a community that's not as supportive, or you're you're surrounded by people who can't hold that space for you, or even go so far as actual gaslighting? That was definitely a huge hindrance for people being able to find space for practicing.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. Absolutely. You know, if they didn't feel that support to tune in to what was nurturing for them and they felt like what they were doing was maybe wrong from someone who was, sharing that experience as their reality, then it really hindered that commitment to their practice. One thing that really stood out in the research around a hindrance, and I we heard this over and over and over again, and I could definitely resonate it with it personally as well, is when people put too much pressure on their practice having to, quote, unquote, be a certain way or it didn't count. So they had to meditate for an hour each day at 5 AM or it didn't count.
Bonnie Casamassima:Or I had to journal every day at 11:35 or it didn't count. Right? And Right. That was such a hindrance for a lot of people.
Celeste Paige Sample:Or not even just doing it a certain way, but having to have a certain outcome, like, the meditation just had to make like, move you to tears or visions or something extremely, you know, out there.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. If I'm not levitating by the end of this meditation, then it doesn't
Celeste Paige Sample:count. Right. Because, honestly, you you didn't do it right.
Bonnie Casamassima:These are my words. These are not the words from the research by any means. I wanna be an important note there. But also to reinforce how much pressure we put on ourselves to get it, quote unquote, right or perfect or really make sure we're following the right protocol. Right?
Bonnie Casamassima:So, again, going back to having compassion for yourself with these practices and, yeah, allowing them to not be something that's an added stress and allowing it to be something that allows you to tune in more fully to you.
Celeste Paige Sample:So we've talked about what practice is. We've talked about support around it and hindrances around it. Let's talk a little bit about what practices our participants shared with us were most influential.
Bonnie Casamassima:So what is it that you do here?
Celeste Paige Sample:Well, for me, it's definitely begins with a daily ish. Like you said earlier, I'm I'm a heavy ish girl at the daily ish practices as opposed to longer irregular ones. And I feel like that was really reflective in the research as well.
Bonnie Casamassima:Completely agree, Celeste. What we found in the research, people share that when they were able to commit most consistently to a practice, It was much more effective for them to commit to a few minutes every day versus putting that pressure on themselves to try to do that perfect meditation for 1 hour every other week. And that consistency was what helped people to build that muscle and allowed it to fall into their everyday schedule a little more easily. This is absolutely not to say that those 1 hour meditations or those 1 hour deep dive practices aren't incredibly powerful. They are.
Bonnie Casamassima:And along the journey of building up that practice, allowing yourself to have space to have it be a shorter daily ish practice can be really supportive there.
Celeste Paige Sample:And I like that even unprompted, you talked about meditation already because we hadn't listed any practices yet, but that was definitely the most talked about practice in the research was meditation.
Bonnie Casamassima:I think what's really important with this because I think meditation, while talked about very often in some circles, it can sometimes, in my experience at least, turn people off because they say like, I can't sit still. I can't sit still and quiet my mind, so I'm not good at meditating. And it And it could be, you know, dancing, sitting crisscross applesauce. Absolutely. It could be time in nature.
Bonnie Casamassima:It can be creating art. So lots of different ways that people talked about meditation and perhaps distilling this down to activities that allowed people to feel very present and connected with themselves in that moment could be a way in which we define meditation for how we're unpacking it from the research.
Celeste Paige Sample:So we're talking about practices that were most influential, and we have to know that any practice that really resonated with participant were ones that really were impactful for them. So you were talking about meditation, and I like how you brought up dance. Like, if you don't want to sit still or if that's not comfortable for you, then dance. And if you feel you've got 2 left feet, dancing just isn't your thing, and being still isn't your thing, then also practices that create awareness. Whatever allows you to create a present moment.
Celeste Paige Sample:So for some, it could be chores. When you're doing the dishes, when you're sweeping and mopping the floor, you have some movement there, but you also have an opportunity to create a moment to be really present with yourself.
Bonnie Casamassima:Feel like looking at ways that you can pull this into your daily life was what people shared regularly. You know, they talked about breathing exercises while they were in line at the grocery store or, you know, mindfulness moments where they when would they were at a stoplight, they would notice things that they saw, like, one thing at a time with each of their senses or things that they experience with each of their senses. So pulling in these mindful meditative, quote unquote, moments throughout their daily life were ways that they were able to really like tune back in, re center, and regrounds. That leads us to another point we noticed within supportive practices for people. And they were often defined as practices that created moments of quiet, stillness, and grounding.
Bonnie Casamassima:And I wanna take a moment here and note that stillness doesn't mean that they were physically frozen. Again, people talked about when they were in dance and they felt in that complete flow, they felt that inner stillness, that inner connection, that inner knowing. So it doesn't mean that we have to be still in meditation to create this connection. Some of the things that people talked about quotes, daily practices, such as yoga, meditation, etcetera, are essential for me. Or another person noted, cutting out the noise.
Bonnie Casamassima:Finding quiet time is essential. I think it's very easy to lose the sound of your own voice. We're so bombarded with others' voices via text, messages, news, etcetera. It can be easy to listen to those latter ones as a priority, end quotes.
Celeste Paige Sample:Another participant shared, quote, I gained access to my intuition when I quiet my mind and make space for it to emerge, end quote.
Bonnie Casamassima:That one, I feel like has so much to it. You know, making space for it to emerge, like reinforcing that our intuition, that connection with what we found in the research is that it's always there. It's something that's deep within us or runs powerfully through us. It's our opportunity based on what people shared in the research to tune in with intention, to allow that information to emerge and allow us to hear those whispers a little bit stronger.
Celeste Paige Sample:When you talked about creative moments of quiet, stillness, and grounding, it made me think about my passion for running. I think it's really important to note it here because for me, running is a practice where I'm able to quiet my mind. Right? So there's stillness within my mind even though my body is very much hidden the pavement, but I love that too because I'm literally grounding myself, you know, and it it creates space. You know, and it it creates space within me.
Celeste Paige Sample:I'm I'm moving energy out and so I'm able to create space where I can process. So running running, I always looked at as therapy for myself. But once I started my intuitive journey and really connecting and really honing my skills, I realized how much of running was actually a practice for me.
Bonnie Casamassima:That's such, incredible example where we're talking it creates this inner stillness, but the activity itself isn't still. It doesn't have to be still. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. That reminds me of a final quote I'll share here around this theme. And they said, quotes, when you quiet down and settle in, you open up.
Bonnie Casamassima:Nervous system regulation and meditation, end quotes.
Celeste Paige Sample:That's a really beautiful segue into the next section where we wanna talk more about specific examples because we've talked a lot about meditation. But another thing that came up in the in the research was time in nature, and that how deeply supportive time in nature was. I know I mentioned being part fish earlier. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a Capricorn there, you know, have go and have fish, but definitely the the time in nature be it. I'd like to go for hikes or, you know, submerging in water, but and like I mentioned, the practice of grounding and running, but really being able to connect to nature.
Celeste Paige Sample:However that is for you, can be so supportive to finding the stillness to hear that really quiet voice.
Bonnie Casamassima:I completely agree with you, Celeste. You know, time in nature can be so nurturing. And people talked about how when they were in nature, it almost felt effortless to connect with themselves. It was as if the mere act of being immersed in nature was their meditation practice. They felt more connected with themselves, with all the life that was around them, and more calms.
Bonnie Casamassima:And I know that being in nature is something that's heavily researched around the stress reduction properties and the meditative properties with it. So it was really beautiful to see this come up within the research as well. Time in nature being supportive for people was mentioned, like, over 30 plus times in the open ended responses. So it's really beautiful to see that.
Celeste Paige Sample:Another practice that was very supportive was yoga. I feel like you can't talk about intuition without talking about yoga.
Bonnie Casamassima:One of the beautiful focuses within yoga is to prepare us to connect for a meditative practice. A practice for tuning into that inner wisdom, that information, that intuition that we're deeply connected to. A lot of people actually mentioned that yoga teacher training specifically was a huge part of their awakening to jump into your intuition, but we did see a really strong connection with it. People also talked about practices with breath work, being really helpful for their practice of tuning in to their intuition.
Celeste Paige Sample:I feel like this is one where I really push myself and question, am I doing it right? Am I doing it right? And I can't help but think about this movie. It's it's a it's a comedy, The Lost City. Right?
Celeste Paige Sample:So 2 main characters, and one is really stressed out, and the other character asked them, do you smell that? Do you smell that? And she's, like, sniffing around. And he was doing all that just to get her aware of her breath, just to get her to slow down a bit. And I'm like, it's so cheesy, but I so love it.
Bonnie Casamassima:I love that, and what a great reminder, you know, whenever I feel like, I feel like that's something that I can hold on to. Yeah. When I'm stressed, I'll just act like I'm smelling things. So thank you so much for sharing that.
Celeste Paige Sample:Of course.
Bonnie Casamassima:One person shared a mantra that they a specific mantra. Many people talked about mantras as their practice. If maybe they're a little more vocal with what they resonate with. And their specific mantra was a simple one, but they asked it of themselves throughout their day, every single day. They were very specific to talk about every single day for the past, like number of years.
Bonnie Casamassima:They would wake up and ask themselves, how am I doing today? And that seems so simple, but they shared how profound that was for them really taking a moment to tune in. What am I noticing? What am I noticing with my body? What am I noticing with my breathing?
Bonnie Casamassima:What am I noticing about my energy levels? And they shared throughout the day, they would ask that same question. You know, how am I doing in this moment? And really tuning in. And they talked about how that was such a beautiful practice for them to drop in to themselves, but also really be aware of their needs and honor those needs to be really powerful.
Celeste Paige Sample:And talk about another daily practice. Another thing that our participants talked a lot about was journaling. 1 participant said, quote, I have a morning journaling practice where I journal to God every morning. I literally write, dear God. I write whatever is true for me, then I write a letter back to me from my intuitive self.
Celeste Paige Sample:This practice has been one of the most profound tools to align and connect with my intuition. It's been profound in getting grounded in it. I practice this every day as part of my morning routine. I have for years. It's essential.
Bonnie Casamassima:I love that practice, and I love how you're allowing they're allowing themselves to really tune in and allow it be this two way conversation and for it to have that, that physical component of writing. I know people talked about when they were able to marry their thoughts or their questions or their mantras with some type of physical activity in their practice. It helped them to anchor it in more fully. Yeah. This was such a beautiful one.
Celeste Paige Sample:It really is.
Bonnie Casamassima:To hit some of these other ones that people specifically mentioned as supportive practices, they talked about dancing, moving however their body wanted to move, turning on their favorite song, closing their eyes, and just tuning in to anything that their body wanted to do in that moment. They also talked about things that allowed them to create. So maybe this was art via painting or sculpture or pottery or gardening, creating vegetables and the act of working with the soil tying back to that connection with nature. Or maybe doing things like creating music, playing an instrument, or even singing. These were really powerful practices that people use to tune into that present moment and that powerful inner wisdom.
Celeste Paige Sample:So just a few more things to wrap up here with specific examples of practices that were most influential. We have to mention gratitude practice, And that is just simply the practice of being grateful. And what that could look like for people could be 1, incorporate it into their journaling. It could be also incorporated into meditation. There are beautiful meditations where you send love to yourself, and then you send love to someone in your life that is, a bit more challenging character in your life, and also to people who are very supportive in your life.
Celeste Paige Sample:But it's it's a it's a really beautiful exchange recognizing energy exchange in people.
Bonnie Casamassima:One final thing that people talked about with being connected in their practice was practices that allowed them to be very present with their emotions and ones that honored their needs. So this could be a whole episode in the amount of information people shared within the importance of really tuning in with how are we feeling in the moment. You know, going back to that person's mantra earlier, how am I feeling today? And then how am I feeling in this moment? That emotional awareness and then the subsequent honoring of needs from that awareness were really powerful takeaways that people shared from their practices.
Bonnie Casamassima:I pulled a few quotes here to really anchor this in, and the first person shares quotes. I've had to learn how to be with the full range of emotions. I've had to learn to be with the success and celebration. I've historically not been able to easily be with people in anger, especially when that anger has been directed at me. It's been incredibly transformative to be with the full range of emotions.
Bonnie Casamassima:End quotes. And in looking at how people looked at that emotional awareness as a tool to tune into what their needs were and honoring what those needs were. This other person shared, quote, acknowledging what we need. If I'm being a channel for someone else, that channel needs to be clean. There's a very purposeful and active role I take to keep that channel clean, removing what's not mine, seeing what is, and processing it.
Bonnie Casamassima:End quotes. Again, I think we could talk about the importance that emotions and the regulation of that and the processing and honoring of that in a whole episode or maybe even a whole series. But we'll keep it here as part of why those practices were really powerful. It allowed people that deeper awareness of themselves and in doing so, that connection with their intuitive wisdom.
Celeste Paige Sample:So, Bonnie, today, we've really talked about practice. We've defined it. We've talked about descriptors. We've shared what our participants found as supportive and hindrances within their practice, types of practice. And really what all of this is is we were able to distill that practice being something that creates space for increasing a state of being versus a state of doing.
Celeste Paige Sample:That's really where the magic happened with understanding, fostering, and building, and connecting to intuition.
Bonnie Casamassima:Along that journey of really tuning in to the practices, feeding that state of being versus doing, People talked often about that correlation with surrendering to the process versus that chasing energy. And the more that they were able to surrender to what felt aligned for them in that moment versus chasing what they were trying to create, they shared over and over and over again, the more easily that intuitive information and insights came through to them. But obviously this releasing to the surrendering can be so hard sometimes, right? Especially in a world that often reinforces that chase, that go, that achieve. Right?
Bonnie Casamassima:So the tuning in to the being versus doing and the tuning in to that surrendering is such a powerful opportunity. A fun way we can talk about this is in correlation with dating. Right? So if you are dating someone and you go on the first date, you're probably not going to call them on, you know, the way home and say, hey, what are you doing for the rest of your life? Maybe.
Bonnie Casamassima:Maybe you are.
Celeste Paige Sample:I mean, maybe.
Bonnie Casamassima:Maybe. And maybe that's beautiful and I support whoever does that on their journey. But you really it's this beautiful dance and balance of allowing yourself to be connected and present and then also surrendering to that process versus that chasing energy. We can synthesize how people talked about that being in that state of receiving and surrendering in a similar way.
Celeste Paige Sample:I feel like that's a really nice transition to one of the key final points we wanted to mention in this episode specifically, and that's that this is not a linear process. You talked about that chasing. It's like, really makes you think of a straight line, but nothing we're talking about is linear. Mhmm.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. It's such a, you know, yo yo rubber band. Some, you know, there's so many chapters to it. I love this point, Celeste.
Celeste Paige Sample:So this whole episode, we're really dedicated to practice and it being a response. And again, we want to reiterate that is not a linear process. Really feel like one way to look at the theory that was distilled from this research, intuition cultivation theory, you can kind of look at it as in 4 phases. The first being self identification. We really talked about self acceptance and community acceptance, but that self identification is the place in life where you really start to admit and believe that I receive information from the outside of myself that's beneficial to me.
Celeste Paige Sample:There's also a phase of resources where we intentionally seek out ways of finding knowledge and understanding along our journey to go along with that community. Also, again, seeking out ways to find fellowship and connection with other people along your journey. Another phase would be discovery, which what me and Bob like to think of as the continuous seeking of understanding when you have that self actualization and you continue to build possible connections and knowledge along your journey. And you can cycle through any and all these phases in any order. It's very cyclical.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah.
Celeste Paige Sample:So, really, being committed to this intentional journey of self identification, resources, community, and discovery is in my opinion, the most important practice. And it's really when connecting to intuition becomes so integrated that it is your way of life.
Bonnie Casamassima:You know, going back to that anchoring in of it was a a practice and then it became a state of being. It was just how people were. You know, even though it rubber band and expanded and contracted throughout the journey, it'll ultimately, for those that had developed an intentional relationship with it, became a way of life. It became a point in their decision making process. Just how they see the world and experience it.
Celeste Paige Sample:And we also wanna reiterate that these practices that we've been talking about today, these are tools. These are tools for you to add to your your tool belt, for you to be able to maintain and, you know, along your life's journey, switch them out, find different things. So it's very much a la carte. Again, it's not linear. It's what you need when you need it the way you need it.
Celeste Paige Sample:So don't be afraid to explore and expand. These tools can be used to connect with and even set boundaries with your intuition.
Bonnie Casamassima:Yeah. Ultimately, you know, making these tools a way of life. And again, to echo what you shared, Celeste, is allowing those tools to expand and flow depending on your needs for that chapter of your life, regardless of what that chapter is. Today, we dove deep into intuition as a practice. And as we move into our 6th and final episode, we're going to be unpacking 2 interesting outliers within the research.
Bonnie Casamassima:1 around age and the other one about environment. So join us in that final episode where we'll dive into those.
Celeste Paige Sample:Have you experienced any practices that hinder or support your intuition? If so, we'd love to hear about it. Share with us in the comments anywhere you receive this podcast or shoot us an email at podcast at intuitivebynature.com.
Bonnie Casamassima:Thanks so much for listening along today. We're so excited to see you in our next episode. In the meantime, keep being your newest Jews. Toodles.