Body-Based Intuition
&
Embodied Decision-Making
Knowing your authentic self and learning to trust the body as a reliable guide
What Is Felt Sense or Body-Based Intuition?
Felt-sense intuition refers to the subtle, non-verbal signals through which the body communicates authenticity, meaning, direction, and truth.
These signals are often experienced as a felt quality of unease, constriction, openness or knowing often experienced in the chest, abdomen, throat, or breath, though they can arise anywhere in the body.
This is sometimes called gut feeling or body-based intuition.
Body-based intuition is carefully evaluative and so is not only useful in getting to know your authentic self, it is also extremely useful in complex decision-making.
Body-based intuition is not:
led by impulse or emotion
or by guesswork.
It is not “going with your gut” in a reckless way.
When developed properly, body-based intuition is:
often subtle rather than loud
calm rather than urgent
grounded rather than impulsive
steady rather than reactive
Body-based intuition offers a holistic quality of knowing that precedes words and concepts.
It takes logic and facts into account but often carries more accuracy than thinking alone—especially in complex or uncertain situations.
Why Thinking Alone Is Often Not Enough
Most of my clients are highly capable thinkers.
They are able to:
weigh options
consider consequences
and think through situations very carefully.
And yet, when it comes to important life decisions such as:
relationships
purpose, direction and meaning
and complex work decisions
Thinking alone often leads to:
hesitation
doubt
overthinking
and a sense of being stuck
And, it can even lead to feeling anxiety, stress, sleep disturbance and a loss of confidence.
This is not a failure of intelligence.
It is a limitation of logic.
Some of the most reliable information about what is right, true, wise or aligned for us does not arise primarily through thinking.
It arises through the felt-sense in the body.
Why This Capacity Needs to Be Cultivated
Most people are not naturally skilled at listening to their bodies.
Our education system actively discourages and disparages it.
Years of over-reliance on thinking or emotion tend to blunt and distort subtle bodily signals.
Common difficulties that people tend to have with body-based intuition include:
mistrusting the validity of body-based intuition itself
the overriding of bodily signals with logic, expectation or obligation
confusing excitement, anxiety, fear or desire with the signals of body-based intuition
sensing subtle bodily sensations but not knowing how to interpret them
acting too quickly or dismissing sensations as meaning “nothing”
Learning to work with felt-sense intuition requires:
slowing down
learning to stay present with bodily experience
distinguishing intuition from emotion
developing trust through repeated, careful inquiry
Using the guidance of body-based intuition and embodied decision-making are skills that can be learned.
Why This Work Must Be One-to-One
Learning to become highly skilled at embodied decision-making requires one-to-one work with a skilled practitioner:
someone to help you notice subtle shifts in sensation in your own body
someone to help you separate emotions and other responses from body-based intuition
someone to help you stay with uncertainty and discomfort rather than rushing to conclusions
someone to gently challenge your misunderstanding of your body’s signals
someone to help you to test, and thus learn to trust in, your own inner authority
This cannot be automated or taught effectively through generic exercises or courses.
This is subtle work and it requires insight, presence, safety and careful feedback
—something that can only happen in individual, person-to-person work.
How I Work With This
In our work together, we explore the subtle signals in your body so that:
you align more easily with what feels authentic, wise and true for you
You are far more easily able to make complex decisions
To achieve this I help you to:
learn how to notice subtle bodily signals without forcing meaning onto them
how to stay with sensations long enough for clarity to emerge
how to distinguish felt sense knowing from impulse or emotion
how to practise decision-making in real situations
how to integrate bodily knowing with a psychologically sophisticated and pragmatic understanding.
Over time, clients typically report greater confidence, steadiness, and trust in their own inner authority—without becoming impulsive or rigid.
Where Body-based Intuition is Invaluable
For these situations, body-based intuition - together with facts and logic - is the optimal tool:
relationship choices and boundaries
career direction and transitions
complex work decisions
situations where logic produces no clear answer
patterns of overthinking or chronic doubt
moments requiring courage, honesty, or restraint
questions of timing or readiness (“now or later?”)
Rather than seeking certainty, the work supports integrity—acting in a way that is internally aligned and sustainable.
Who This Work Is For
This work is best suited to people who:
are thoughtful and reflective
are willing to slow down
want depth rather than quick fixes
are open to learning through lived experience
are ready to take responsibility for their choices
It may not be suitable for those seeking reassurance, constant guidance, or purely technique-based solutions.
Working Together
I offer a free initial conversation to explore whether this work is a good fit.
Ongoing work takes place one-to-one, allowing this capacity to develop through lived experience over time.