There is so much noise in modern life.
From the moment we wake, our attention is pulled outward, messages, notifications, opinions, news, endless information, endless comparison. Our senses are constantly engaged and overstimulated. Even in moments of rest, many of us are still consuming, scrolling, reacting or planning what comes next.
Over time, this constant movement can disconnect us from something quieter and deeper within ourselves.
People often say, “listen to your heart,” meaning follow your feelings, desires or excitement. But there is another kind of inner knowing that is far more subtle than emotion and far quieter than thought.
In the Sanskrit tradition, this is called pratibhā an intuitive inner knowing.
pratibhā
Pratibhā does not shout. It does not argue, persuade or demand immediate action. It rarely arrives with certainty or intensity. More often, it feels like a quiet undercurrent beneath all the noise. A simple sense of “yes… this.” A gentle but steady pull toward something that feels deeply aligned.
This is very different from the voice of emotional urgency or mental chatter. The mind often speaks in stories, fears, preferences and justifications. Our emotions can be reactive, intense and changeable. But pratibhā is quieter than both. It simply offers itself and waits patiently to be noticed.
The challenge is that many of us are rarely still enough to hear it.
When the nervous system is overstimulated and the mind constantly occupied, this deeper signal becomes drowned out. We begin living only from reaction, reacting to pressure, expectation, fear, comparison or external validation. Decisions become confusing because we are trying to think or feel our way through life without ever pausing long enough to truly listen.
And this disconnection affects us deeply.
Without moments of stillness, we can lose our sense of inner coherence. We may feel restless even when life appears full, exhausted despite rest, emotionally reactive, uncertain, disconnected from ourselves and from what truly matters. We may find ourselves constantly seeking clarity outside of ourselves while neglecting the quiet wisdom within.
This is one of the reasons yoga matters so deeply.
Learning to hear the wisdom
Yoga is not only physical movement. It is a practice of remembering how to listen.
Through breath, movement, stillness, meditation and awareness, we gradually begin refining our attention. The noise settles, even briefly. The body softens. The mind becomes less dominant. And in those moments, we may begin to sense something quieter underneath it all. Not dramatic, not loud, not performative. Just a subtle feeling of alignment.
Over time, we learn to recognise the difference between urgency and truth, between excitement and deeper knowing, between what the ego wants and what genuinely nourishes life.
This quiet listening changes the way we move through the world. Decisions become less of a battle between head and heart and more an act of attunement. We begin to move with life rather than constantly against it.
In a world that constantly asks for our attention, perhaps one of the most important things we can practice is the ability to pause long enough to hear the wisdom that has been there all along.
Explore the theme of Inner Knowing throughout June
Yoga classes in Colchester
Soothe: an anchored, somatic style yoga flow, Thursdays 6pm-7pm
Glow: an enlivening & dynamic yoga practice, Thursdays 7.15pm – 8.15pm
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Please note that subscriptions take a few days to activate. Sign up by 25th of the month to make sure your subscription activates before the first class of the month.
