How to be a psychic

Have you ever been thinking about someone when suddenly they call? Or, maybe you’ve had a dream that came true? Well, you may just be psychic. In fact, local intuitive Ann O’Brien would bet on it. Her new book, “Everyone is Psychic” is a practical how-to manual and workbook for training your intuitive muscles.

“The best way to develop intuition is practice,” O’Brien told The Sopris Sun. She came into this work as a teenager, teased as a witch for her keen interest in tarot, astrology and other forms of divination. In her 20s, O’Brien formally studied at a school for psychics and was told that she and her classmates were different from other people. Over time, she began to feel that wasn’t true. “Everyone is psychic,” she writes, “yet at that time fewer people were open to it.”

O’Brien went on to study writing and literature and travel as a musician. By 2020, her business as a professional psychic, offering personal readings and various trainings, was well established. When March rolled around and the world came to a halt, she saw a surge in interest for her online classes. As her business prospered, O’Brien thought to compile some of her materials from a decade of teaching into a useful book for anyone seeking an introduction to developing their intuitive abilities.

“Everyone is Psychic”, her second book, was released this April. The book is divided into nine sections with topics ranging from “energetic anatomy” to “energy healing and manifesting.” Energetic anatomy, for the curious, describes chakras, auras and creative rings. The book is filled with meditations and also writing prompts.

The book also delves into six kinds of psychic gifts that a person may carry with varying strength: telepathy (sending and receiving thoughts), clairvoyance (seeing mental pictures), clairsentience (feeling things), claircognizance (simply knowing), clairaudience (hearing spirits or one’s higher self) and mediumship (channeling spirits and traveling outside of your physical body).

“I felt passionate about young people getting the book, so they don’t go as long with support,” O’Brien told The Sopris Sun.

In the introduction, “You’re not crazy, you’re psychic,” O’Brien writes, “Some who are psychic and don’t know it turn to drugs or alcohol or other substances. Some live with dark feelings or mean voices they don’t know they can turn off. Others get sick or really do seem to go crazy.”

The book teaches one to trust their inner voice, release unhelpful emotions, protect from negativity, manifest abundance, discern fear and hope from true intuition and, importantly, to have fun.

“The greatest teachings are the simplest,” O’Brien said. Also an experienced Aikido teacher, she has observed that these practices work best when approached playfully, from a place of childlike curiosity. Otherwise, the mind interferes.

O’Brien is keenly aware that becoming receptive can also be a burden. For this reason, she dedicates 40 pages to “psychic self-care” early in the book. One exercise of particular importance is “clearing” which returns in many of the meditations.

Here is a simple clearing meditation presented toward the beginning of the book:

-Find a cozy place to sit with your feet flat on the floor and your spine upright. 

-Exhale, soften your body and gently allow your breath to flow all the way out. At the end of the outbreath, notice your belly drawing in toward your spine. 

-Inhale, sit taller and observe your belly, diaphragm and heart getting fuller. 

-Continue this breathing pattern at a relaxed pace, without effort. 

-Snuggle your sit bones into your chair or cushion and feel your feet. 

-Imagine a tree trunk, waterfall or beam of light connecting your tailbone to the center of the earth. Make it as wide as your hips, fully connected and rooted. Breathe, let go and feel the security of this “anchor” to Mother Earth. 

-Let your breath flow out and imagine a trap door opening at your pelvic floor. Allow gravity to draw out of you anything that is not yours to hold. That could be the stress of your day or week, your loved ones’ emotions, or energy you picked up from the world. If it’s not yours, it has to go as soon as you simply decide to release it.

-You can also release old stories, past trauma and unhelpful beliefs or pictures. Sometimes you won’t know what you’re letting go of, but you’ll feel better after the fact.

“It’s much easier to release other people’s energy than it is to process it,” O’Brien writes. “When an energy is not yours, as soon as you let it go, it’s gone. It’s like having a puzzle piece to someone else’s puzzle…”

The book is available at True Nature, White River Books and online, also as an audio book. Catch a conversation with O’Brien this Thursday on Everything Under The Sun at 4 p.m. on KDNK community radio.

You can also engage with O’Brien’s online offerings, including an intuitive community platform with events, weekly challenges and a chatroom, by visiting: www.annobrienliving.com/community/