Have you ever known something was about to happen before it actually did? Maybe you had a premonition of yourself in a corner office wearing a suit while you were daydreaming at work, and the very next day, your boss gave you the good news that you were being promoted. Or you had an overwhelming sense that you were going to have a baby boy the moment you found out you were pregnant — even though the doctor said you were having a girl — and it turned out you were right.
According to the experts, everybody has an innate sense of intuition that can be developed with persistence and practice. “Psychic powers are a skill and you need to develop them,” Jenna Bowers, an energy healer and psychic in Portland, Oregon, tells DailyOM. “I think what happens is people get laughed at or told what they’re experiencing isn’t real, so they just let it go. But it’s like anything else. If you have a latent talent for painting, you have to develop that talent, right?”
Bowers isn’t alone in her theory that we are all psychic. Some members of the scientific community have come to similar conclusions.
“We are all psychic, all of the time,” says Dean Radin, PhD, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Novato, California, and bestselling author of the book Real Magic. “At some deep level of reality, everything is interconnected through time and space,” he tells DailyOM. “For most people, something dramatic or meaningful is required to bring that unconscious information up to the level of conscious awareness. Some people — those we call psychics — have natural skills that allow them to more easily dip their conscious awareness into that unconscious soup, but nearly anyone can learn to amplify their abilities through the diligent practice of meditation.”
What Does Being Psychic Mean?
Ask a dozen different people what being psychic means and you’ll probably get a dozen different answers. But Radin says the answer is actually pretty clear-cut, at least among leading scientists.
Daryl Bem, a professor at Cornell University, was one of the first researchers to make a major breakthrough with his eight-year-long study on precognition, published in 2011. It included more than 1,000 participants and reported that precognition is, in fact, real. The CIA also ran a highly classified psychic project from the early 1970s until 1995 called Stargate, in which the government recruited men and women with extrasensory perception to act as what they referred to as “remote viewers” — allowing them to read minds and help uncover military and domestic intelligence secrets during the Cold War.
“After 140 years of systematic scientific research, we can now say with high confidence that these abilities are quite real,” Radin says. “For most people, being psychic is experienced spontaneously in dreams that foretell the future or suddenly thinking about another person and receiving a phone call, text message, or email shortly afterward from them. It’s feeling an unexpected pain in the body and learning later that a distant family member was injured in the same location, at the same time. We give these experiences different labels like clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy, etc. But that does not mean that these experiences are all that different.”
Interested in learning more? Check out The Intuitive Crystal Connection
What Are the Benefits of Psychic Abilities?
The truth is, there’s a whole lot more to being psychic than what you see on TV and in the movies. You don’t need to start advertising your new abilities as a part-time business in order to reap big rewards either.
“The biggest benefit that comes to my mind is just having more trust in yourself,” says Bowers. “You’ll be able to trust your own ability for answers, which, in my opinion, is very empowering. I think that gives you more confidence because you can get a glimpse of what is really coming.”
5 Ways to Bring Out Your Inner Psychic
Regardless of whether or not you recall ever having a psychic experience, the experts say that anyone is capable of awakening their psychic abilities. This potential may be more prevalent in children since they haven’t been discouraged from believing in the paranormal yet, and, of course, some people have more natural talent than others, but just about anybody can harness their inner psychic if they’re open and willing to try.
Here, Bowers shares her favorite tips for tapping into your supernatural senses.
1. Meditate
Meditation is a great way to relieve stress, focus on being present in the moment, and create a strong mind-body connection. But did you know it can also help increase your clairvoyance? In other words, a regular meditation practice might enhance your latent psychic abilities. According to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in 2019, a long-term mindfulness practice has the potential to create paranormal abilities among advanced practitioners. That might look like extrasensory perception, a sense of expanded space and time, and meta-awareness and introspection.
“Meditation is a way to engage with stillness, imagination, and curiosity,” says Bowers. “It’s a way to shape our consciousness so that we aren't at the mercy of intrusive thoughts. The more we practice this, the more we learn to trust ourselves.”
Bowers says that meditation gets us closer to ourselves, and suggests a regular meditation practice. Do whatever kind of meditation works best for you. Bowers says she prefers guided visualizations: “I use them to help me exercise my clairvoyance. Just approach it with an open mind. Be open to the possibility that there is still plenty of mystery in the world and that we may not have it all figured out yet. With that in mind, explore your own mysterious self.”
2. Fully Experience Your Body Cues
“Learn what saying yes and no feel like in your body,” Bowers says. Ask yourself a question, then wait for your inner voice to answer. “Sit in stillness and say yes, then notice what happens,” she advises. Do you feel tense? Angry? Happy? Calm? Get in tune with your body cues and fully reflect on what feelings arise as you mull over your experiences or decisions.
Just about anybody can harness their inner psychic if they’re open and willing to try.
“Do the same with no,” says Bowers. “It will likely start out subtle and get stronger with use. It could present as movement, sensation, or emotion. Ideally, having a clearer understanding of how we respond to things, situations, or people will help us trust our initial impressions. Embodying your intuition will deepen your relationship to it.”
Another way to further understand the connection between your mind and body and tap into your intuitive powers? Psychic yoga, which explores your chakra energy centers to find clarity and clairvoyance.
3. Watch for Signs
“Develop a relationship with your spirit guides,” Bowers says. “Ask them for messages, guidance, and signs. Then pay attention. When you see signs, acknowledge them with gratitude.” There are so many ways that people receive signs — angel numbers, for example. Astrology is another, which is a “combination of science and magic,” according to Bowers.
“The science is the graphs and charts, dates, and times, and the magic is in how we interpret and use the information,” she says. “For instance, if you want to do something to celebrate the full moon, check what zodiac sign it falls in, and plan your ritual around that. If it’s in Aries, for instance, you may want to incorporate fire, self-care, and journaling. If the moon is in Virgo, maybe some sort of clearing, cleaning, and tidying ritual. Anything you do with intention, focus, presence, and thoughtfulness will heighten your psychic impressions, and astrology is a great tool for all of those.”
Another surprising way to receive messages? Technology! “Put your music on shuffle or scroll social media while you ask, and notice what songs come up or what posts catch your eye,” says Bowers. “You can also assign certain things to your guides, such as ‘Every time I see a butterfly, I know you’re watching over me.’ Then pay attention. When you see a butterfly, notice what’s going on in that moment. What are you thinking about? Feeling? Doing? Stop and notice, and say thank you. Acknowledgment, thoughtfulness, and gratitude are important parts of this. If you don’t stop for a moment to pay attention, consider the meaning, and say thank you, the signs will come less. The more we engage, the more we’ll receive.”
4. Dive Into Divination
Explore different forms of divination such as runes, tarot cards, oracle cards, pendulums, or scrying. They’re all opportunities to lean into trusting your psychic senses, Bowers explains. “I suggest you begin by asking a question and see what your first intuitive response is. Then, using your preferred method of divination, check and see what the answer is. Notice how close you were to what came through.
“I recommend always spending time checking your instincts before you look up what the written source says,” she continues. “Developing psychic powers is a journey and learning to trust yourself and listen for messages is one of the best practices to help you progress.”
5. Keep a Dream Journal
Bowers recommends journaling your dreams right when you wake up so you can remember and better understand them. “Dreams are such a mystery,” she says. “I do think that exploring our dreams through journaling, associations, and study is a tool we can use to get to know ourselves. People can certainly have prescient dreams, which is a form of psychic ability.”
Bowers says that in order for us to understand the premonitions in our dreams, we need to pay attention to them — and learn to translate the symbols we dream about. Dreams, she adds, also give us insight into our hidden desires, wounds, and gifts.
The Bottom Line
It’s okay if you aren’t entirely sure psychics are real or don’t feel certain you want to test out your psychic abilities. Just try to at least keep an open mind, even if you ultimately decide it isn’t for you. “You don’t have to believe blindly,” says Bowers. “It’s okay to be skeptical, but base your beliefs on your own experiences. Being open to transformation brings us closer to the meaning and purpose of life.”
