Everyone is born with intuition, explains author Shatki Gawain. The problem is, most people learned to suppress the natural connection to their intuition and were trained to rely solely on their logical, rational mind. "Many people who are not accustomed to being consciously in touch with their intuition imagine that it is a mysterious force that would come to them through some transcendent mystical experience," Gawain writes. "In fact, intuition is a very practical, down-to-earth tool that is always available to help us deal with the decisions, problems, and challenges of our daily lives."

Like Judith Orloff's Guide to Intuitive Healing, Gawain spends most of the book emphasizing the practical uses of this seemingly mystical skill. In her opening chapters Gawain offers relaxation and meditation exercises that nurture intuitive awareness. From there she discusses how to interpret and apply the intuitive messages we receive in our daily lives. For example, Gawain shows how intuition can help readers overcome addictive behaviors, create prosperity, or heal physical ailments. It can also be used to enhance emotional stability or clarify career paths.

Gawain has a long history of writing straightforward, self-help primers that cover elusive spiritual material. Once again she has done an excellent job. Developing Intuition is a sensibly organized beginner's guide to intuition that steadily paces readers through a wealth of insight. --Gail Hudson


From Publishers Weekly
When Creative Visualization (Gawain's first book, now a New Age classic) was published more than two decades ago, no one had heard of Deepak Chopra, and seminars on creativity and intuition did not exist in the business world. Now that many of her pioneering ideas and practices have found a place in mainstream American culture, Gawain offers this collection of simple exercises for accessing and employing "a universal, intelligent life force that exists within everyone and everything" through daily meditation. Such practice, she claims, can singlehandedly "point us in the direction we need to go at any given moment," "keep us safe" and "connect us to the soul level of our existence." Unlike instinct, which, Gawain says, protects survival and procreation, intuition promotes "growth, development, self-expression, and higher purpose." She recommends balancing intellect, instinct and intuition, rather than relying too heavily on any one of them. As always, Gawain's conversational prose is clear and uncomplicated, her mood easy and low-key; and, by now, her concepts are acceptably mainstream. She shows her readers how to distinguish the "voice" of intuition, trust it, interpret its messages and receive insight on questions and problems involving work, money, health and emotional issues. This slim volume is a faster, easier read than Judith Orloff's Guide to Intuitive Healing (Forecasts, January 24) and has the potential to win Gawain back some readers in this crowded self-help subcategory. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
According to Kassy and Gawain, Americans are searching for answers to life's tough questions from self-help groups or psychic hotlines when all they really need to do is tune into themselves. Both authors are interested in using intuition as a means of achieving optimum health and life fulfillment, and both agree that the more one practices intuition, the more easily answers will arrive. Kassy, who holds a master's degree in intuition/energy medicine from Greenwich University, here writes for healthcare workers and psychologists. Like psychic healer Edgar Cayce, she requires only a name and an age on paper in order to do a reading of a client's health-related illnesses. Arguing that many maladies are caused by Americans' diet of highly processed junk foods, Kassy recommends a visit to a nutritionist. Because she believes that illness is created when our physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual natures are out of sync, she also tunes into negative patterns that adversely affect them. Intuitive power even works with animals, she asserts. Her chapters are filled with anecdotes, case studies, and readings. Gawain is self-taught, and her name has been a household word in the New Age movement since her book Creative Visualization was published in 1989. Based on Gawain's belief that everyone is born with intuitive powers that end up being suppressed, Developing Intuition is written in a workbook style, containing exercises on relaxation, breathing, and meditation techniques. Gawain's book will better suit intuition beginners, while Kassy's more detailed work will serve a wider, alternative health audience. Both are recommended for public libraries. Other authors writing in this vein are Caroline Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit, Harmony, 1996), Marcia Emery (The Intuitive Healer, St. Martin's, 1999), Mona Lisa Schulz (Awakening Intuition, Random, 1999), and Judith Orloff (Second Sight, Warner, 1997).DLisa Wise, Broome Cty. P.L., Binghamton, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
As consumers in these fragile economic times, we should spend our audiobook dollars wisely. In that spirit, Shakti Gawain's DEVELOPING INTUITION cannot be rated a best buy. While the bestselling author supplies the content of this featherweight book, her flat reading and uninspiring writing make this recording a one listen, if that. Most of the information Gawain conveys could be found in any magazine article about using intuition. If you're seeking a way to increase your intuitive ability, follow your hunch to another source. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Book Description
If embraced and followed, intuition can be an accurate force that permeates all facets of life. Shakti Gawain teaches readers how to tap their innate inner knowledge and use it to enhance their lives and attain their goals. Chapters explore the role of intuition in health, creativity, work, and prosperity. Exercises based on Gawain's workshops help readers listen to their inner guide but also evaluate the worthiness of such knowledge in the context of the real world. Stories from her clients and her own life illustrate the practical advice she gives.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Bookseller Reviews

"I had only to reproduce obediently what was made itself visible within me." Max Ernst. Sometimes we just know. Intuition informs us about a person, a message, an event, or where a line should fall in a drawing. Sometimes we feels ourselves danced. Shakti Gawain, the author of Creative Visualization, believes that such moments of inner guidance should not be rare happenstance. Exploring the role of intuition in health, creativity, work, and wealth, she instructs readers on sharpening their attentiveness to this ever-present voice.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

If embraced and followed, intuition can be an accurate force that permeates all facets of life. Shakti Gawain teaches readers how to tap their innate inner knowledge and use it to enhance their lives and attain their goals. Chapters explore the role of intuition in health, creativity, work, and prosperity. Exercises based on Gawain￯﾿ﾽs workshops help readers listen to their inner guide but also evaluate the worthiness of such knowledge in the context of the real world. Stories from her clients and her own life illustrate the practical advice she gives.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

When Creative Visualization (Gawain's first book, now a New Age classic) was published more than two decades ago, no one had heard of Deepak Chopra, and seminars on creativity and intuition did not exist in the business world. Now that many of her pioneering ideas and practices have found a place in mainstream American culture, Gawain offers this collection of simple exercises for accessing and employing "a universal, intelligent life force that exists within everyone and everything" through daily meditation. Such practice, she claims, can singlehandedly "point us in the direction we need to go at any given moment," "keep us safe" and "connect us to the soul level of our existence." Unlike instinct, which, Gawain says, protects survival and procreation, intuition promotes "growth, development, self-expression, and higher purpose." She recommends balancing intellect, instinct and intuition, rather than relying too heavily on any one of them. As always, Gawain's conversational prose is clear and uncomplicated, her mood easy and low-key; and, by now, her concepts are acceptably mainstream. She shows her readers how to distinguish the "voice" of intuition, trust it, interpret its messages and receive insight on questions and problems involving work, money, health and emotional issues. This slim volume is a faster, easier read than Judith Orloff's Guide to Intuitive Healing (Forecasts, January 24) and has the potential to win Gawain back some readers in this crowded self-help subcategory. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

According to Kassy and Gawain, Americans are searching for answers to life's tough questions from self-help groups or psychic hotlines when all they really need to do is tune into themselves. Both authors are interested in using intuition as a means of achieving optimum health and life fulfillment, and both agree that the more one practices intuition, the more easily answers will arrive. Kassy, who holds a master's degree in intuition/energy medicine from Greenwich University, here writes for healthcare workers and psychologists. Like psychic healer Edgar Cayce, she requires only a name and an age on paper in order to do a reading of a client's health-related illnesses. Arguing that many maladies are caused by Americans' diet of highly processed junk foods, Kassy recommends a visit to a nutritionist. Because she believes that illness is created when our physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual natures are out of sync, she also tunes into negative patterns that adversely affect them. Intuitive power even works with animals, she asserts. Her chapters are filled with anecdotes, case studies, and readings. Gawain is self-taught, and her name has been a household word in the New Age movement since her book Creative Visualization was published in 1989. Based on Gawain's belief that everyone is born with intuitive powers that end up being suppressed, Developing Intuition is written in a workbook style, containing exercises on relaxation, breathing, and meditation techniques. Gawain's book will better suit intuition beginners, while Kassy's more detailed work will serve a wider, alternative health audience. Both are recommended for public libraries. Other authors writing in this vein areCaroline Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit, Harmony, 1996), Marcia Emery (The Intuitive Healer, St. Martin's, 1999), Mona Lisa Schulz (Awakening Intuition, Random, 1999), and Judith Orloff (Second Sight, Warner, 1997).--Lisa Wise, Broome Cty. P.L., Binghamton, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Foreword

Whether it's called a hunch, a "gut feeling," or simply an inner sense, intuition is a powerful guiding force for weighing options, choosing a path, and making sense of decisions. The use of intuition, however, is not honored in western culture. The complexities of modern life bury the intuitive sense under an avalanche of responsibilities, multiple options, and the pressure to "get things done."

In Developing Intuition, Gawain, author of the bestseller Creative Visualization, crafts a down-to-earth guide to opening the door to inner guidance, showing in no uncertain terms that one needn't retreat to an ashram in order to nurture, access, and use intuition. Intuition is a practical tool that anyone can use. The author states, "Intuition is seldom dramatic, grandiose, or particularly mystical." It is a sense that is always available to help people choose a path that works.

Gawain offers a no-nonsense series of meditations and exercises to develop intuition that people can use in their everyday lives. From the simple tool of the relaxation exercise to the more elaborate "inner guidance meditation," she shows how the intuitive sense can be engaged. Her instructions are clear and filled with examples of how intuition works in her own life and in the lives of people who took her intuition workshops. She even has a "quick intuitive check in" exercise that can be done in the midst of activity, a tool to ground and center the awareness, allowing access to intuition while one is working, cooking, or running errands.

The benefits of trusting the intuitive sense are numerous. Gawain presents case after case of situations where people followed their intuition, showing how the choices they made enriched their lives. One woman found her life's work" helping troubled teens" after her intuition prompted her to turn down a lucrative position, a job that would provide material wealth, but would strangle her soul. Another woman did not pay attention to her inner guidance telling her to balance her work life with relaxation and rest. This woman put in so many hours at her job that exhaustion led to an automobile accident that forced her to stop working so hard.

The benefits of using intuition are clear. Gawain, however, states, "Listening to, trusting and acting on your intuitive inner guidance is an art." Once the gate to inner guidance is opened, following intuition becomes a new way of life, an "on-going process in which we are always being challenged to move to a deeper level of self-trust." It is a journey that is well worth the risk.

AudioFile