Bingo, Shoshin! As soon as I saw this thread's title I thought, "Critters and kids!" Our own "animal instincts" are the surest guide...as long as we can be in touch with them. Lately I've been hanging around a lot with my three cats -- sometimes just observing them silently while they go about being cats. They teach me so much...

Lately I am doing the most simple work -- one breath at a time. Breathing ... being aware of sensations, allowing myself to just experience them, and giving each one a name ... catching myself when I do something "autopilot" (like tear at the insides of my mouth with my teeth or hankering for a cigarette) and consciously stopping, taking a breath, and doing something else.

What is most basic...tends to be what is most wise and sure and clear (lucid).

Another way of saying it is "Listen to your gut." ... especially around the solar plexus. Apparently that area has the body's highest concentration of nerves, so it is highly receptive to stimuli. In fact, the entire gastrointestinal system is the body's most sensitive "barometer" because, overall, it has such a high concentration of nerves throughout.

One of my teachers gave me a tool: to imagine a stoplight in my solar plexus -- and whenever I needed to check in with my bodily intuition and sense of safety, he said, "See what colour the light is, and respond to that."

Fritz Perls (the creator of Gestalt therapy) insisted that "the body never lies." I agree. The "conscious" mind can bullshit from here to eternity, but our dear bodies...are jewels of immediate intelligence.

So much of post-trauma's healing work is in reawakening the body and all its marvelous sensory abilities.

"Dog sense" = beautiful! Thank you!