Felt Sense, Part 1
The Lost Art of Inner Guidance
“There is a voice inside of you that doesn’t use words. Listen.”
Rumi
Over the next two weeks, I’d like to revisit a practice that has become something of a lost art: listening to ourselves. With the endless stream of information around us, we often forget that a quiet, personal wisdom lives within - an overlooked guide capable of offering us as much direction, if not more, than any external expert or authority.
To be clear, this isn’t about dismissing the value of learning from others; it’s about encouraging a deeper loyalty to the information already inside us. Our minds and bodies contain an extraordinary wealth of understanding, waiting patiently to be uncovered. We’re not ever really missing any answers; we just lack the willingness - and tools - to trust our own inner knowing.
I’ll say it upfront: I’m working on this too. For any given problem, my instinct is still to reach for a book, consult an advisor, or turn to an algorithm rather than ask myself what’s needed. But I’ve found a practice to soften that reflex, and I hope sharing it here will bring it out of obscurity and elevate it as a skill you consider worth refining.
A Few Notes
This skill is hard to convey in words alone, and I’ve chosen the work of James Turrell to help bring it into focus. His gallery pieces and immersive displays offer the ideal aesthetic companion: a direct experience of felt-perception and the human impulse towards light.1
This newsletter isn’t like the others. It’s less of a casual Sunday read and more of a guide meant for deeper work. While I love sharing reflections that bring warmth to your week, today I wanted to craft something with more substance - a resource you can return to, a tool that endures.
Before we begin, I have a small request: please set aside what you know about inward processes. This isn’t the “feeling your feelings” track or the content-free quiet of meditation. It’s something new. And while it may seem unusual at first, in time, it can become a natural and comforting part of your daily existence.
The Substance of Light, Museum Frieder Burda, James Turrell 2018
Felt Sense, Part 1
Introduction
Preparation
The Six Steps
Clearing Space
Felt Sense
Naming the Quality
Resonance
Asking for Clarity
Receiving
What’s Next
Introduction
I’ve touched on this idea before, but today we’ll expand on it in fresh detail. Here is the original thought from Essays of Encouragement:
“The truth doesn't lie outside of me. I can trust that it's within my capacity to know. If I quiet my mind enough - and transcend my ego enough - I can hear how it all really is…
…. Anything that comes up today - anything at all - can’t block me if I simply look into myself, see what I believe, and practice it. This is a path based on truth, and the ideal it leads me to becomes increasingly clear the longer I walk it.”
An emphasis on inner guidance isn’t new, but making it real - learning to live by it - is something many of us still struggle to do. We tend to stay on the surface of things, aware of our usual thoughts and feelings, yet largely disconnected from our deeper levels of awareness.
Beneath the flow of ordinary experience, there’s a hidden zone which we can enter and open. If we embrace the practice, cultivating our felt sense can become a gentle return to that buried source of direction. Rather than looking for ever-new advice outside of us, we’ll recognize that the best counsel isn’t borrowed, but born from within.
So, how do we do it? How do we make space for this inherent wisdom to reveal itself? Let me show you.
Aten Reign, The Guggenheim Museum, James Turrell 2013
Preparation
Below are the six steps for tuning in, distilled from the teachings of Eugene Gendlin. While these instructions require a small investment of your time, I’ve focused on the essentials to give you a clear path forward (without requiring the longer journey through his entire body of work). That said, if now isn’t the right time to read and practice, feel free to set a bookmark and come back when you have the space to fully engage.
When you’re ready, find a place where you can sit quietly and undisturbed. Choose a setting that feels at least slightly unfamiliar - somewhere other than your work desk or favorite chair (try another chair or lie down on the couch with a pillow). Make yourself as comfortable as you can, removing any small irritations that might distract from what your body wants to tell you. If you’re cold, put on a sweater; if your feet feel cramped, take your shoes off. The point is to find a sense of general comfort, if not total ease.
The Six Steps
1 Clearing Space
The first step is enormously important, because if it can happen, the rest will probably happen too. Clearing space is about creating an open field within you, a place where your thoughts, worries, and lingering feelings can emerge without interference. It’s not about solving anything just yet; it’s about making room for whatever wants to make itself known.
To begin, settle into stillness and allow yourself to relax. Gently turn your attention inward, to your whole being, and ask, “How is my life going today? What is bothering me right now? Why am I feeling less than wonderful?” Resist the urge to dive in or fix anything. Stand back and greet each inner response without analysis. Give each of them a little airtime and room to settle.
Note 1: At any given moment, there are perhaps a dozen or more problems that keep you tense inside: romantic troubles, career questions, concerns around money and health. Sense what comes up for you and let it rest at a distance. Don’t move in on any one answer - lean back and give them all a little space. Keep doing this. Ask what else is there, wait again, and sense. Stack up all of the inner responses in a pile and mentally set them aside.
Note 2: You aren't escaping anything. The mess will still be there, but by organizing it, you make yourself capable of handling it more effectively. Think of it like making a to-do list. The list doesn’t finish the tasks, but it eases the panic and helps you approach the core problem with calm and order.
Ganzfeld, MASS MoCA, James Turrell 2019
2 Felt Sense
After clearing space and distancing yourself from your stack of concerns, you’re ready for the next step. This is where you invite the “felt sense” to come forward - a subtle, whole-body awareness of something in your experience that feels significant but isn’t yet clear. It’s not a concrete thought or feeling; it’s more like the texture of a concern, an aura of what’s unresolved.
Begin by asking which issue feels the worst right now. Ask which one hurts the most, feels the heaviest, the biggest, the sharpest - the one that feels the most bad in whatever way you define “bad.” Rather than analyzing or studying it, just let yourself sense it. Ask, “Where do I feel it? In my chest, my stomach, somewhere deeper?” Notice it without moving too close.
Note 1: As you sit with this issue, sense its full form as best you can, even if it’s foggy or uncertain. Try not to rush or pin it down. Think of it as a shape that’s just beginning to take form, or a nameless weight pressing down somewhere within. Let the whole feeling be there, in all its ambiguity, and allow it to settle naturally. Hold onto that ambiguity, let it rest there for a while.
Note 2: This felt sense may seem elusive, but that’s part of its nature. Just let it be, and be felt. The murky-area is exactly what we’re trying to connect with. Don’t try to decide what’s important about it. Don’t try to decide anything. Simply staying present with it, without the need to interpret, is enough. With a minute or so of awareness, you’ll start to feel a richer connection to it - a quiet recognition of what’s been unspoken but ready to be known.
Ganzfeld, MASS MoCA, James Turrell 2019
3 Naming the Quality
Once you’ve welcomed the felt sense, the next step is to gently invite it into clearer focus. This is where we search for a quality - a single word, phrase, or image that resonates with the essence of what you’re sensing. The quality doesn’t have to capture everything; it’s simply a way to touch the core of what’s there, to give shape to what’s been nameless.
Allow yourself to sit quietly with the felt sense and notice what arises. Maybe a word like tight, stuck, or unresolved comes to mind, or perhaps a phrase such as “in a box” or “crunched up.” You might even picture a heavy ball or a big blank. You’re looking for something that feels fitting, but remember, don’t force it. Let this quality emerge from the sense itself, as if it were offering you a name for what it’s carrying.
Note: Finding a quality isn’t about intellectual understanding; it’s about allowing your inner experience to speak in its own way. By giving the felt sense a name, you give it a voice, and as you hold the quality closer, you’ll find that something new and clearer begins to emerge from within.
Constellations, Pace Gallery, James Turrell 2019
4 Resonance
Once you’ve found a quality for your felt sense, the next step is to refine the connection. The process of resonating involves moving gently back and forth between the word (phrase or image) and the felt sense, to see if they’re in harmony. It’s a patient act of fine-tuning that brings clarity and precision to the inner experience.
Begin by softly repeating the word, phrase, or image you’ve chosen, and then turn your attention back to the felt sense itself. Ask yourself, “Does this word capture the essence of what I’m experiencing? Does it feel right?” Notice if there’s a small signal from within - a subtle “yes” - a small shift or feeling of relief, when the quality aligns just right. If it doesn’t quite fit, set it aside and wait for another to come. Allow it to shift until it resonates more fully.
Note 1: Remember, you’re not forcing an understanding, but rather inviting a clearer fit between the felt sense and its expression. Allow the felt sense and quality to evolve together until there’s a subtle unity between them - an alignment that feels true and signals you’re reaching a deeper understanding of what this inner experience wants to show you.
Note 2: Resonating is a practice of composed and gentle attention. If it feels strained at any time, remind yourself that there’s no need to be rough about it. Reinstate a friendly and curious attitude. Tell yourself, “Hey, it’s okay if it doesn’t fit right away. There’s no rush. Let’s stay calm and open. We’ll find the right fit when it’s ready. We’re new to this, that’s all.”
Constellations, Pace Gallery, James Turrell 2019
5 Asking for Clarity
Now that you have a quality that resonates, the next step is to gently inquire into its meaning - its “why.” This process of asking involves inviting your felt sense to reveal a little more and help you understand what lies within that quality. It’s a quiet, open-ended way of allowing insight to emerge.
Start by asking, “What is it about this issue that makes it feel so [named quality]?” Stay in your body and in the felt sense. When the sketches begin to surface, hold them lightly: “It’s all about anger or something…”, “there’s a kind of heavy discouraged feeling…” - whatever they are, take what comes.
Keep in mind, this isn’t about finding solutions; it’s about letting your felt sense unfold at its own pace. Asking gently and listening with patience allows what’s deeper to reveal itself naturally. At first, the question to the felt sense may not get down to it, but the second or third time you ask, it will. The felt sense itself will stir, and from this stirring a better answer will emerge.
Note 1: If something comes up immediately, let it pass. This is likely old information, and it isn’t useful. Return to your felt sense and let it come alive vividly (not just remembering it from before). Ask again and wait for something fresh. When a genuine response arises, you’ll feel a noticeable shift - a soft release or sense of relief, as though a hidden layer has come to light.
Note 2: There’s a distinct difference between forcing responses into the felt sense and letting them flow out of it. Forcing responses to fit prevent the felt sense from reveal its true nature. But when you let responses flow, you’ll feel it - those words and images will make you say, “Yes! That’s what it’s all about.” You’ll know because the inner shift feels good.
“When the message is received, heads nod, fingers tap and feet move.”
Constellations, Pace Gallery, James Turrell 2019
6 Receiving
The final step is to receive whatever comes with openness and kindness. This process of receiving involves allowing any response or shift within you to settle, without rushing to interpret or change it. It’s an act of simply holding onto what’s emerged, giving it the space to be fully felt and acknowledged.
You don’t need to do anything with what the felt sense might be telling you. You only need to receive it with a gentle curiosity. Sit with it for a moment; let it settle without moving forward. It’s important that you protect this first form of life-direction and let the actions that follow it wait. Keep this small sense of direction clear and don’t worry about the form it will eventually take.
Note 1: I’d offer examples, but doing so might steer your experience in ways that aren’t truly your own. The attitude to assume is that you’re glad your body spoke to you, regardless of what it said. Whatever comes from listening, welcome it openly, free from judgment, expectation or agenda.
Note 2: When you’re ready, say to yourself, “Alright, well at least now I’m a little more clear about where the trouble is.” And if your mind jumps to asking, “But what if I can’t change it?” - protect the shift from that negative voice.
Note 3: Trust that the process will continue naturally, in its own time. If you are willing to receive this message in a friendly way, there will be others that follow it. For now, just make mark this spot in your inner landscape, because once you know where it is and how to find it, you can leave it and come back to it another time.
Perpetual Cell, Pace Gallery, James Turrell 2014
Afterword: What’s Next
I know listening in this way can feel strange, mysterious, and generally a bit much. So let’s pause here for now. I’ve created a short form you can print and use to practice the steps at your own pace. Approach it with a friendly attitude; give yourself permission to play with the process.
If you’re having trouble making contact with the felt sense, or if translating that fuzzy, preverbal awareness into a clear expression feels elusive - don’t worry. We’ll dive deeper into these and other challenges in Part 2. For now, just give it a try - see what emerges and let each small shift be enough.
If you’re fortunate enough to live near one of James Turrell’s installations, consider giving yourself the gift of experiencing felt sense there. For practices like these, any support is a welcome ally.