In my years as a healing practitioner, I've found Reiki to powerfully enhance intuition in a variety of ways. For starters, during a Reiki session, whether administered by yourself or another, it's quite common for insights to flow with greater clarity and ease. This makes sense, considering that Reiki treatments are akin to flushing out your energetic "pipes," dissolving any blockages, filters, and other obstructions that may have accumulated over time. Our natural state is one of connection with both our inner, personal guidance and to the larger web of universal or divine guidance, and Reiki helps us remember and reconnect with these sources (which can be easy to lose sight of amidst the ups and downs of day-to-day life).

I've also found that, when used consistently over time (for example, I give myself Reiki for a few minutes, multiple times each day), Reiki will keep these intuitive channels running free and clear, giving you greater access to inner and cosmic wisdom on a regular basis. Let's talk about some different ways that you can work more Reiki into your day, specifically with the aim of supercharging your intuition so you can feel more confident in your ability to make purposeful, soul-led choices.

1. Brew a Magickal Tea
1 tablespoon black tea of your choice
1 tablespoon mugwort
1 teaspoon eyebright
1 teaspoon lemon balm

Place the black tea and dried herbs in a tea ball or sachet, and brew in hot water for 3-5 minutes. While the tea is steeping, hover your hands over the mug and allow Reiki to flow into the cup. Ask Reiki to help you partner with the plant spirits, perhaps calling on each by name, to aid in connecting with the intuitive guidance that is correct and good for you. Thank Reiki and the plant spirits for their assistance.

As you drink the tea, feel its energy dissolving anything that obstructs you from clearly receiving and understanding intuitive wisdom, and, if you have time, spend 5 to 10 minutes in meditation, hands placed over your belly and/or your heart space, allowing Reiki to flow. Ask to receive any guidance that is relevant for you right now, and maintain a state of open curiosity. You don't need to strain and force, which can dampen the flow of information; simply trust that insights will come through at just the right time.

When I do this practice, often I'll get a little nugget of guidance during the meditation, but the real magic happens throughout the day, after I've set the stage by ritualistically brewing tea and opening myself to insights. Do your best to stay curious and receptive to guidance as you go about your day, knowing that the more you intentionally pave the way for your intuition to communicate with you, the more it will flow, and the easier it will become for you to recognize and understand its messages.

2. Decode Your Body's Messages
The body is a miraculous repository and communicator of intuitive wisdom; however, most of us have forgotten how to speak its language, thus the body's messages remain unheard or misunderstood. The first step in remembering this language is to acknowledge that it exists—that the body can and is communicating with you all the time, even if you don't yet understand the conversation.

The next step is recognizing that the body's native tongue is the language of symbols, metaphors, and archetypes, which is also the language of the unconscious. And this is precisely why these messages so often go unheard, because the conscious mind feels out of its element in this non-linear, nonsensical-seeming realm, dismissing it as meaningless. The key is in relearning how to decode these messages so you can translate them into content the conscious mind can absorb.

One of the simplest ways to do this is to look at whatever you're experiencing in your body metaphorically instead of literally. Here's an example. Let's say you're experiencing tension in your shoulders and upper back, and it feels like you're lugging an incredibly heavy backpack around. As you breathe into these sensations and allow your mind to think more figuratively, the phrase, "The weight of the world" comes to mind, and you see the connection between this tension and feeling like everything rests on your shoulders, that you have to do everything yourself or it likely won't get done, and that you can't ask for help, because no one else will be able to carry things out the way you want them to. I find Reiki to be a potent ally in helping me shift from an overly literal to a more symbolic view, and using the above example, if I identified the tension in my shoulders, I might place my hands over these areas of tension, allowing Reiki to flow as I call on Reiki to assist me in seeing the hidden messages contained within the tension.

Once you've interpreted the body's message, you can start to address the underlying issue the message has revealed. Above, we saw that the shoulder tension is, on one level, muscular, and bodywork could help, but underlying this tension is a need to do everything yourself, rejecting support and assistance. No amount of bodywork will address that piece of the puzzle, so it's up to you to begin shifting this pattern of hyper self-sufficiency. Here again, Reiki can be immensely helpful. Now that you know what needs to be addressed, ask Reiki for guidance in your first step. As with the tea-brewing ritual, you can simply sit in meditation for 5 to 10 minutes, hands on your belly and heart, allowing Reiki to flow, as you open to insights. I find it most helpful to focus on just my next action step, rather than trying to download the entire map in one sitting. You might say to yourself, "Reiki, please show me my next step in healing the pattern of trying to do everything myself." In my experience, once I start to implement this first step, after a time, I'll get an intuitive nudge that it's time to seek another step, and I'll repeat the meditative process to uncover the next breadcrumb on my path. This intentional oscillation between carving out space to receive guidance and then taking action on what you receive is a potent dynamic that can create massive shifts in your life, so don't be deceived by its simplicity. This is powerful stuff!

3. Balance Your Chakras and Aura
Your chakra system and your aura are vitally important facets of your energy system that have a big impact on your ability to connect with your intuition. By taking some time to balance them with the help of Reiki, you can keep the pipeline to inner wisdom free and clear. To understand how this works, let's look briefly at the function of the chakras and the aura and how they relate to your intuition.

The chakras are bodies of energy within your energy field, similar to organs within your body. You can think of them as areas where your personal energy is more concentrated and organized around a specific function. The chakras as a group are responsible for processing energy that comes into your energy field, much like the digestive system is tasked with taking in nutrients and making them available for various functions within the body. So, too, the chakras help you take in energy and process it into forms that can be used for a variety of energetic functions. Each of the chakras processes a slightly different form of energy, and when they're functioning optimally, you're able to assimilate all of the different forms of energy required to survive and thrive.

The aura, while often spoken of in the singular, is actually composed of multiple layers, which I perceive as being connected to each of the chakras. For example, the innermost auric layer is connected to the first, or root, chakra, the next auric layer is connected to the second, or navel, chakra, and so forth. Similar to the chakras, the auric layers help us interface with the energy in our environment, and their primary tasks are attracting energy to us and broadcasting energy outward. In other words, they're much like gatekeepers that dictate what energies go in and out of our field.

To understand how the intuition relates to the aura and chakras, imagine that each and every time energy interacts with an auric layer or one of the chakras, a description of this activity is recorded in a file. The intuition can read those files and translate these data into messages pertaining to our energetic health, including areas of imbalance and what is needed to return these areas to a state of harmony. Throughout our day-to-day life, the aura and chakras can become clogged or otherwise impaired, and this can alter the clarity of the information recorded in the files. Thus, by partnering with Reiki to clear and balance these energy systems, we can improve the accuracy and clarity of the intuitive messages.

While many techniques exist for balancing the chakra and auras, I find this simple method to be quite effective. Sit in a comfortable meditation position, and take a few rounds of deep breaths to calm and center yourself. Visualize a bright, white stream of Reiki descending from above, entering your crown chakra, just above your head. At whatever pace feels comfortable for you, allow Reiki to flow down through your entire chakra system—crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, navel, and root—clearing and balancing these energetic centers as it does so. Allow the stream of energy to continue down from the crown and out through the root, and see as this column of energy starts to expand outward, filling your entire body. When it reaches your skin, it continues to expand, filling your aura. I like to expand this even further, visualizing the energetic egg of my aura and seeing Reiki extending beyond its borders, as if the egg is glowing. When this process feels complete, slowly allow the imagery to fade and set the intention that your aura and chakras are in a state that is correct and good for you on all levels. I like to do this practice once a week, although you can certainly use it more often if you're going through a challenging time and need to ensure that your energy system remains strong and healthy.

These are just a few of the ways to incorporate Reiki into your regular spiritual practice, and the more you interact with Reiki, the more connected to your intuition you will feel, and the easier it will be to interpret its messages and translate them into purposeful action. Our innate or "default" setting is a state of intimate connection with inner and universal knowing, and Reiki helps us remember this birthright and access this wisdom when and where we need it most.