We're all very aware of our five senses and how we interpret our experiences on the physical level. These familiar senses include seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting, offering sensory impressions to be digested by our conscious and subconscious minds to evaluate our environments and lifestyles. 

With a more focused and practiced approach, we can experience our senses on a spiritual level as well. These different ways of sensing or receiving information is termed as 'clairs' (meaning 'clear' in French). As a result, each individual will have a natural inclination to one or a few of these clairs. These can develop further using their natural intuitive abilities to help interpret, identify, and expand their experiences far beyond our five physical senses. 

Clairvoyance

Clear or psychic vision. Specifically, how you see the world through your mind's eye. If you have a 'visual imagination' you will have a tendency toward sensing this way. When you listen to a story, you likely imagine the story playing out in your head like a dream. Clairvoyant individuals often have vivid dreams, visions, and mental images that flash into their awareness. They may also have the ability to see the colours of energy fields around beings and plants, have an amazing sense of direction, easily visualize solutions to problems, and are really good with visual-spatial issues. Job types: Painters, designers, photographers, and builders. 

Clairaudience

Clear or psychic hearing. More open to an auditory perspective, these individuals experience sounds with richness and depth of meaning. When remembering an event or situation, clairaudience folk will often recall the sounds of voices and music and the subtle meanings of the innotations rather than remembering visual context or actual smells. When sensing clairaudiently, one might easily pick up on the true meaning behind what someone is saying, may even be able to sense when someone is lying, and could potentially pick up on others' thoughts telepathically. Job types: Poets, musicians, public speakers, and writers.

The Clairs: Clairsentience

Clear or psychic feeling/sensing. These individuals tend to empathize very easily with others, in that they can truly feel what the other person is experiencing or expressing. Simply put, clairsentients are sensitive to the emotions of others around them. When sensing through this clair, individuals may get butterflies in their stomachs, chills up their spine or just have a gut feeling regarding something or someone. When someone is highly sensitive and in tune with their feelings, and also the feelings of others, this makes them great natural healers and caregivers. Job types: Doctors, nannies, therapists, counsellors, and teachers. 

The Clairs: Clairtangency

Clear or psychic feeling through touch. AKA psychometry, describes the experience of receiving information through touch. It can be a simple brush of the fingers on a wall, a hug, a handshake or sitting in a chair that was previously used by someone else. This is another aspect of clairsentience (see above).

The Clairs: Clairgustance and Clairalience

Clear or psychic tasting and psychic smelling. While these are less commonly experienced, they both work similarly in that if you resonate with either of these abilities then you would be able to taste food or a substance in your mouth when it isn't there, or when you smell something that is not in your environment. The taste and smells are subjective, and can convey different meanings to the individual depending on their own life experience. 

Claircognizance

Clear or psychic knowing. In receiving wisdom and information in the form of ideas, concepts and thoughts that suddenly come into your mind, you acquire a skill to determine what is truly claircognizance and what is your own mind chatter. Individuals attuned to this clair ability may come up with solutions to problems that they had never thought of before. This clair requires tremendous amounts of faith because there is no practical explanation for why we suddenly 'know' something. Job types: Philosophers, professors, scientists, and religious and spiritual leaders.

What is Your Clair

Find out by trying this exercise! Begin by sitting down comfortably in a space where you will not be disturbed or distracted (preferably in nature). Scan your environment, mentally noting as many details and feelings as you can for a few minutes. Then, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Breathe deeply and slowly as you mentally review what caught your attention as you were scanning your surroundings. What stood out to you? Was it the sight of something? Maybe it was the smell or sound? Did you suddenly have a thought, that almost feels like a fact, pop into your head?

You can practice this exercise to reflect on events and encounters in your everyday life. The more you practice, the more your ability will be developed, the more you can trust this form of receiving information; the same way that we trust our five physical senses.