If you’ve been in my world for a while, you’ll know I’m not afraid of saying things that ruffle feathers, but one of the most polarising statements I’ve ever made is this:
Your intuition might actually be a trauma response.
I know. It’s confronting, and it goes against much of what we’ve been sold in the spiritual world. I’m not here to sell you comfort. I’m here to offer truth and to save you from the kind of pain I’ve put myself through, and the kind of pain I see so many others endure in the name of "intuition."
We’re Starting in the Wrong Place
We often begin the journey of developing our intuition with a false assumption:
That we’re ready to receive our intuitive intelligence.
I say this with absolute love, but we’re not. Intuition is innate. It’s a biological function, not a magical power reserved for a special few. However, when we try to access it through an unprepared vessel, that inner knowing becomes a playground for our unmet, unrecognised, and unrealised fears.
That doesn’t mean you’re broken. It just means no one taught you what’s actually required to be a clear channel for your intuitive intelligence.
The Time I Called Fear “Intuition”
Years ago, I was dating a man who was by every measure, everything I’d ever wanted. He was kind, patient, generous, and grounded, but I was in a deeply tender place. I’d been through a season of trauma and disappointment, and when he arrived, I couldn’t receive what he was offering me.
So I broke up with him.
I told myself I was doing it “intuitively”, that it was a knowing, that it was for my highest good.
But I was full of it. What was actually happening?
My subconscious was still clinging to the dominant belief that I was not approvable of. That story was alive and well, running beneath my conscious mind. This man, this incredibly approving, deeply accepting presence, was contradicting that belief at every turn. It didn’t feel safe so I sabotaged it.
Lucky for me, I was able to reclaim that relationship later but it took real work; deep, humbling self-work, to meet that core wound and move beyond it.
And that’s when I realised something that changed everything:
My so-called “intuition” wasn’t wrong.
It was just showing me what still needed healing.
The Difference Between Intuition and Trauma Response
This is where we get it twisted. What we often call intuition is actually a fear trying to fulfil its identity. It’s not guidance, it’s a trauma pattern. So how do we discern the difference?
We must become prepared vessels and that preparation starts in the body At the Institute, we approach this through the intersection of energy psychology, trauma-informed practice and quantum physics. This isn’t spiritual bypass. It’s spiritual maturity; the only ethical way to develop intuition.
Your Body Is the Technology of Intuition
We’ve all had that moment.
You invest $10k in a coach you can’t afford.
You leave a relationship that wasn’t actually the problem.
You make a rash decision and later call it your “intuition.”
And then you feel like your intuition has failed you. But it hasn’t.
Your intuition was trying to draw your attention to the unmet fear that lives inside you. You just didn’t have the tools to decode it. So instead of going inwards, you took action. You called it clarity. It wasn’t.
That’s why we begin at the Institute with nervous system fitness. Until the body is safe, regulated, and attuned, your intuitive knowing will be filtered through your wounds, not your wisdom.
Intuition Isn’t About Comfort. It’s About Evolution.
If you’re developing your intuition hoping to avoid discomfort, avoid mistakes, or guarantee the “right” answer, you’ve missed the point entirely.
Intuition will not keep you comfortable.
It will stretch you. It will evolve you.
It will call you home to your highest self.
It will ask you to grow beyond the parts of you that still think you’re not worthy, not safe, not loveable. It won’t let you outsource your growth to someone else. It won’t let you stay in the comfort zone. And it definitely won’t give you a quick fix.
Becoming Your Own Oracle
At the Institute for Intuitive Intelligence, we don’t teach intuition as a performance.
We don’t promise that you’ll always “get it right.” We teach you how to become your own oracle; ethically, somatically, and spiritually.
Not so life will never be hard, but so that you will know how to meet your upper limits and evolve through them.
Intuitive intelligence is rare and it’s not because it’s unattainable. We just haven’t been taught how to prepare for it.
You were born for this. It is your birthright. It simply needs the right conditions to flourish.
If this speaks to you, if something in your body recognises the truth in this, I’d love to show you how we work inside the Institute. We don’t bypass. We don’t outsource. We go in. We prepare the vessel. We become deeply, powerfully intuitive from the inside out.
If you’re done mistaking fear for intuition, and you’re ready to develop true intuitive intelligence through a trauma-informed, body-led path, then your next step begins here.
Learn how we do things differently.
Dr Ricci-Jane Adams
Founder, Institute for Intuitive Intelligence
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