Summary: In this bonus episode of the Hairy Chin Podcast, host Spencer Moore and guest Cathy Williams explore the theme of intuition through guided meditation, creative practices, and personal reflections. Cathy leads listeners in a meditation to connect with their intuition, encouraging them to visualize and engage with their inner guidance. She guides a creative arts practice as well as a creative writing exercise. The conversation delves into the importance of expression and journaling as tools for deepening this connection. Spencer shares her personal insights and experiences during the meditation, highlighting the transformative power of intuition in navigating life. The episode concludes with resources for further exploration of intuitive practice available as a PDF download. 

Takeaways

• Intuition is a rich resource that can guide us.
• Setting aside time to connect with intuition makes it more accessible.
• Creative practices can help express and understand intuition.
• Journaling prompts can facilitate a dialogue with intuition.
• Each person's relationship with their intuition is unique.
• Meditation can evoke powerful imagery and insights.
• Emotions are welcome when connecting with intuition.
• Intuition can manifest in various forms, such as colors or symbols.
• Trusting intuition requires overcoming fears and resistance.
• Small, incremental practices can deepen the connection with intuition.

Chapters

[00:00] Introduction to Cathy Williams and Creative Arts Therapy

[02:06] Guided Meditation: Meet Your Intuition

[15:32] Creative Arts Therapy Practice

[19:22] Creative Writing Practice

[24:14] Personal Insights with Spencer and Cathy

[32:40] Resources for Deepening Intuition

Links 

Letter To Your Intuition free PDF Download

Listen to Cathy's Full Interview with Spencer Moore

Cathy Williams/Intuitive Self Website

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The Hairy Chin Newsletter

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The Hairy Chin Website

Welcome back to the Hairy Chin Podcast. I'm your host, Spencer Moore. And today we have a very special session with Cathy Williams. She was with us on a previous interview about intuition. It's a great episode if you haven't checked it out.

Today, Cathy will be guiding us in three invitations to meet your intuition.

I'm so happy to be doing this work with Cathy today. I'm going to be doing it along with you and I will share with you at the end kind of what my process has been and I'm excited to hear about what your process has been going through this work with Cathy today.

Thank you, Cathy for coming back.

Thanks, Spencer. It's so nice to be back for this bonus episode. I really loved our conversation on intuition and sharing our personal experiences with how we've come to understand and work with our intuition as a resource. As you know, through reading my book, Body Wisdom, I'm a huge advocate for encouraging women to find and cultivate really tangible ways to creatively self-discover.

So I've enjoyed creating this process to share with you and your listeners here.

intention and purpose of the invitation to meet your intuition is to curiously play. There are three invitations. The first is a guided meditation using visualization and imagination.

The second follows on from this as an expressive arts practice to capture your intuition creatively. And I suggest you have A4 or A3 blank or coloured paper and a variety of different drawing materials to choose from, from pencils, soft or oil pastels, coloured pens. And the third is a writing practice that you can start with a journal.

And the idea here is to continue a dialogue with your intuition, which we also have a downloadable PDF resource that you can print to support this exercise.

shall we begin?

We shall.

I am all ready. I have my paper. I have my colored pencils, my Sharpies, my markers, and I'm ready to go. I'm excited.

Okay, let's meet our intuition.

So I invite you to close or lower your eyes and bring your focus inward.

Bring your awareness to your breath.

Knowing that there is nothing that you need to do or change. Simply being with your breath.

noticing the pace of your breath.

the quality of your breath.

Feel any movements and sensations alive in your body as you breathe in and out.

Allow the fullness of your breath to connect you into this present moment.

softening you into your feeling body.

into your heart.

you

Allowing your breath to awaken your curious and inspired mind and imagination for this exercise.

We are carving out this intentional sacred space to be with ourselves and offer our attention towards our intuition.

our intuition, this rich resource within, a place of intuitive knowing, of truth, of support, of guidance.

All is available to you through cultivating this relationship.

And it is in this act of setting aside time and space to be with her, meet with her.

converse with her that she, your intuition, will become ever more accessible to you and become an ally to navigate life alongside.

If it feels comforting and supportive to do so, I invite you to place one hand over your heart and the other hand over your belly.

Feel this contact with your body.

the warmth and comfort available here.

and breathe into these two spaces, your heart and your gut, often the home that houses your intuition.

With your intuition, there is nothing that you need to do or be, no way that you need to show up.

Come as you are, she beckons. All parts of you are welcome here. All emotions are welcome here.

This may be a new notion to sit with your intuition, or it may be as familiar as reuniting with an old friend.

whatever your experience, encourage you to gently lean in and breathe through any rising emotion, any resistance.

Allow your intuition to become more known to you in this moment.

We are going to invite our imagination and curiosity to lead the way here.

Allowing any images to rise in your mind's eye? I ask.

you

What does your intuition look like in this moment?

if your intuition was to show itself to you.

What form does it take?

Perhaps it is a color.

an object.

an animal.

Perhaps it appears as a person or a landscape or a symbol.

Allow your imagination to show you what it wishes to show you.

not forcing.

Just allowing.

Perhaps your intuition takes the form of one of the elements.

Earth Fire Wind Water

Perhaps it is angelic or ancestral.

shamanic or nature-based.

as your intuition gently begins to appear in your mind's eye, however it wishes to show up.

you

I invite you to notice.

What qualities does it have?

Is it courageous? Strong?

you

Is it comforting?

nourishing.

How do you feel as you look upon her?

sit with her.

Soak in the essence of your intuition.

breathing.

and offering your intuition some space, some love.

your full attention.

Is there anything your intuition wishes to share with you in this moment?

allowing yourself to receive in whatever form this comes.

Perhaps you was shown a memory.

Perhaps different words come to you.

or might notice different sensations in your body.

Breathing.

noticing.

receiving this feedback.

sitting in this exchange.

Is there anything you wish to say to your intuition?

anything you want your intuition to know.

anything you'd like to know from your intuition.

sitting with your intuition for a few moments now.

And may you feel the vast, open, expansive depths your intuition is capable of.

May you nestle into her nooks and soak in the wisdom, the strength, the love that is available to you here.

May you soften into her protection.

lean into her guidance.

May you stay connected to this thread.

of taking an intentional moment to tune in with yourself and know this path that leads you to her.

May you be ever emboldened, ever encouraged, ever reassured of her presence, her care, her support.

May you return to her often.

taking a full deep breath here.

I invite you to offer thanks for whatever you have experienced, all that you have felt and been shown. Send this in your own way to your intuition.

And as you are ready, bring this exploration to a close.

Softly feeling your hands on your body

feeling the support of your chair holding you, your feet on the earth beneath you.

and taking one final breath.

for gently opening your eyes and returning to your space.

you

So this second creative arts practice follows on from meeting your intuition. So I invite you to turn towards your paper and drawing materials.

Without allowing your thinking mind to come back in too strongly, I'm going to invite you here to intuitively notice what you are drawn towards in terms of color and texture.

you

and you're going to continue your exploration with your hands onto the page.

putting different colors, lines, shapes onto the paper before you.

Perhaps there is a feeling from your intuition that you want to express.

an image from what came through that you want to capture.

Allow this to take shape onto the page.

Allow a natural flow to come through your hands.

without expectation or judgement.

Take your time doing this.

You may want to pause this recording to put on some music and give yourself space to flow before coming back.

Once your piece feels finished, put down your drawing materials and take in the full image of your creation.

become aware of what you notice.

what your eyes are drawn to.

Is there a particular feeling that's present when you look upon this image?

Is there a message that's coming through the different colours, lines and shapes?

What does it symbolise to you?

This piece can be a symbol, a connection point to remind you of your intuition, to connect with your intuition. I invite you for the next few days to hang this piece in your home, have it on your altar, to intentionally be in the space as you go about your days.

The third and final invitation is a creative writing exercise to continue this dialogue with your intuition.

So from the visualization experience and the creative art piece. I invite you to be curious about any messages that your intuition has for you in this moment.

Get a piece of paper or open your journal for some stream of consciousness style writing.

I'm going to invite you here to allow an intuitive flow of musings to rise from these prompts.

and feel free to pause the recording to allow yourself more time and space for your words to come through.

Finish the sentences.

My intuition shares with me.

My intuition exists within me as...

what my intuition needs is.

My intuition is reminding me.

From this practice, I would love to encourage you to continue this dialogue with your intuition and write a letter directly to your intuition.

You don't need to force this process. It can be as if you're in casual conversation. Starting with, hey, this feels a little weird, but I'd like a relationship with you. And see what likes to come through.

There's going to be a downloadable PDF that you can refer to for this exercise. Perhaps journaling on a prompt once a day or once a week.

and I'll share a few here now.

Dear Intuition, I haven't heard from you in a while and I wonder...

Dear Intuition, I would like to trust you more, but I struggle with...

I remember the time that you guided me and I'm grateful because

Dear Intuition, Looking back, I realise you are speaking to me when...

Dear Intuition

What are you trying to tell me that I haven't been hearing?

I to listen to you more often. Bye.

And finally.

Dear Intuition, If I were to follow your voice right now, I would.

Cathy, that was incredible. I had such an amazing time. ⁓ It was very powerful.

And it was so clear to me in the visualization. I kind of had some different images popping up. And then all of sudden, an image of the sea came up for me, of the ocean. And look, I've always loved the ocean. I'm a beach person. I love being with my feet in the sand and hearing the waves and looking at all the different ways that an ocean can be.

⁓ It can be really powerful and angry. It can be really calm and just like glass. And it became really clear to me that this connection that I've had with the sea all of my life, that I've loved it so much, it was like,

and

Hello, of course, I'm your intuition. I really thank you for that because you've really given me such a tangible connection to something that I'm not sure I ever would have connected with my intuition. ⁓ So I'm gonna share my, this is my drawing. This is my drawing of my seat, although it's not. There it is. ⁓ And so.

and

You know, I think of also the big wave, you know, the beautiful art, ⁓ the famous wave, and I think of that power of the ocean, but also the calmness. And then I wrote here, sea equals see ⁓ because you can see things with the sea. So that was really just so wonderful for me. And I have to say through the writing, the...

Yes.

the writing experience, I really loved these prompts that you gave because some really big things came up for me and kind of just jotting some things down. You said, my intuition shares with me. And I said, it shares resilience, calmness, and power, which just kind of came out. And then it says, I want to trust you, but, and I thought initially, but I'm afraid. ⁓ You you think of the ocean, for example, the Atlantic Ocean, there's sharks and there's...

Wow.

predators and there's a ⁓ fear of going into an ocean, going deep or rip tides and there's danger. ⁓ And I think that parallels very well into life and it became very clear to me as soon as you said I want to trust you but I thought of an ocean and I thought what am I scared of in an ocean? And I thought I'm afraid, I'm afraid that something could happen to me and I think that really does parallel into life.

Mm.

Mm.

For me, just a beautiful experience. I'm so grateful. Thank you so much for sharing this.

You're so welcome. I'm so appreciative of your curiosity and your trust to just dive in. And it's amazing. I'm always so delighted with what comes through when we sit and just be open to what wants to rise to the surface.

Mm-hmm.

and you know at the beginning, at one point I got kind of a little kind of, my chest felt a bit heavy.

But you know, I know through meditation and myself that I just have to work through those moments. You know, it's so easy to kind of break out, open your eyes and move around. But for me, if I just stay calm and I just kind of stay in that moment, it tends to pass. And then the calmness that comes after is much deeper, you know? It's kind of a... Meditation always makes me a little jittery.

Thank

Mmm.

that I kind of always, it's an ebb and flow for me. It's not just you go into this deep calm. It's something that I kind of, I think a lot of you have to work at. It's not just handed to you. You have to really work at kind of putting your body into that state, going through those levels to get there, to that calm. And it's a process.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. There's so many fears and hesitations and apprehensions that I had going into creative arts work and what would be there and you know I had my own sort of journey with expectations or blockages and barriers to sitting and just being curious with and so even the practice of being open and just allowing is one that I think that we can be

Mm-hmm.

go really gently and compassionately with. there's so many possibilities with this work when we do our best to sit and allow and try and remove any expectations and remove any, know, it should look this way or it should be this way or should feel this way. And I guess the beauty of this work and what I really want to encourage is that

your relationship with your intuition is completely unique to you. And this practice is a very sacred and private one that you can do throughout your days and throughout your weeks. And you can do this incrementally in really gentle, small ways of sitting with her, seeing what's there. And even if it's just five minutes a day, just starting a conversation or seeing what wants to come through in the mind's eye.

or being there with some coloured papers or choosing one of these prompts. It's all available to create and grow over time.

Yeah, I really think it's been such a beautiful practice. I feel like I've been given a gift, honestly. I really feel like I've been given something that, you're right, it's very personal, it's mine, it's nobody else's. Or even if somebody else has their intuition as an ocean, I have my visual of it, I have my connection to it, and I love that. It really does feel like it's kind of your advocate. It's your person that's in you.

⁓ And so I love that.

Yes.

That's so beautiful. And now you can like, can sit and close your eyes and see what version of the ocean is presenting to you at any given time, you know? And I think that there's, there's real gems in there. I definitely, as I shared in our previous episode, you know, my intuition came to me as a fire and it changes every time that I sit with her. And I love that because that's, that's telling for me.

And I really loved what you were saying about, you know, sometimes we sit with the ocean and it's calm and other times it's got big thundering waves. Like there's so much in that and I'm really keen for you to explore that now.

I am, I am. I'm very excited to write a letter to her. I will absolutely continue on that process. I like the idea of having a journal ⁓ to write to your intuition. for me, sometimes journaling, feels, don't know, sometimes it doesn't flow very well, but I like the idea of journaling and talking to somebody, creating that dialogue to strengthen that connection.

You're right, it's nice ⁓ to have an intention with your writing. Like sitting down and opening a blank page can feel really intimidating sometimes. And I think when we have these prompts that can just kickstart us and then we can be open to any stream of thoughts that want to come from that place.

Right? And I find that when journaling sometimes, even just if you take one prompt, like your prompt that you said, which I really liked, was, want to trust you, but. So even if you just take that one prompt, but then you ask questions afterwards. Like, I'm such a curious question word person. I'm the kid that asks why over and over again, and the parent is like, be quiet. That's me, always.

Thank you.

you

So I think even just taking that one prompt and turning it into a whole journal entry of why are you afraid? What are you afraid about? When are you afraid? How are you afraid? The question words can expand everything in such an easy way that I don't feel like puts more pressure, right? Because sometimes too many questions, you just can get a little overwhelmed with that. I don't want to continue this. It's making me feel something, which I think is easy to shut down when you have feelings. So I find that helps me.

Yeah.

Yes.

with journaling and writing also.

Yeah, really good point. And I really hope that, you know, if there is one prompt that people resonate with that they can take that further and be inspired by our conversation today.

I would love for you, Cathy, as we're winding down to share with the listeners where they can find more from you because you are such a wealth of resources and experience and knowledge in this type of practice and connecting. So please share with us where our listeners can find more.

Amazing. Thanks Spencer. So my website is intuitiveself.com.au and my Instagram is intuitiveself double underscore. On my website I've got a hub with different meditations. My body wisdom book is available in ebook or paperback or audio. I've also got a accompanying journal workbook that goes with the body wisdom book and in that

it dives deep into other practices and is a printable journal which is great. People can book in a one-on-one free discovery session with me where we can sit down and discuss all the things that they might be navigating through in that season of life that they're in and see how I can support them and guide them with these practices. And I also have different

online workshops and professional development webinars that I offer to practitioners and anyone in the space wanting to weave in more movement and art therapy into their existing work with clients and different groups.

That's wonderful. I really encourage the listeners to really dive deep into Cathy's

Thank you Cathy so much for being here. It's been a wonderful

Thanks, Spencer.

I'm so glad. I'm so glad we've been connected.