Leia é sensível à força e, embora ela nunca tenha treinado para se tornar um Jedi, ela usou a Força várias vezes.
No livro de Star Wars, Aftermath: Life Debt , Leia percebe que seu filho é um menino, assim como o lado sombrio:
"...Her thoughts reach for her wayward brother like a living thing, like branches seeking he sun. I need you here. I need your help. Luke sometimes had a farm boy's naïveté, yes, but right now she feels she could use a little of that. Her mind is a tangle of thoughts. The complexities of politics, the love of (and anger over) Han, the loss of Luke, and above all else the ever persistent worry about the life she carries--- Her skin tingles. Her mind feels suddenly unmoved from the rest of her. Leia feels dizzy enough to fall over. Oh. Oh, my! There! There it is. Washing over her and through her---and awareness unlike any she's ever felt before. A pulsing glow, flickering and strong. It's not the plant. It's not Luke. It's not even Han. It's her child. This isn't just a mother's recognition of the life inside---that she already knows....This is something separate from her. It isn't a physical feeling. It is all around her.....As such, she is suddenly aware of her child's mind and spirit: She senses pluck and wit and steel blood and a keen mind and by the blood of Alderaan is this one going to be a fighter! Wait. He? It's a boy. It's a boy. Her hands fly in front of her mouth as she both laughs and cries at the same time. This, she thinks, is the light side that Luke always goes on about---the promise of light, the promise of a new life...and then, the black edging of the dark side encircles her bliss like a noose. Because what rides swift on the heels of hope but fear--a fear that stretches out far and wide like a growing shadow....."
Através de vários quadrinhos canônicos, Leia é vista lutando com um sabre de luz e ela também vê a volta de protrait de Padme e olha para ela. Ela também sente a presença de Maul no palácio de Theed, de onde ele estava anos atrás.
Em outro livro canônico de Guerra nas Estrelas, Bloodline , há outros exemplos de sensibilidade à força de Leia:
Bloodline , p49
"...Leia mentally cataloged that name for later. Maybe her curiosity had only seized upon a random group of people, frequent gamblers who would naturally visit a world like this often, calmer than most. Her suspicion of them was only a hunch, but her hunches often proved to be right. Luke said those strong instincts of hers served as proof of the Force, evidence that it was working through her all the time..."
Nos filmes, várias cenas mostram a sensibilidade à força de Leia:
Leia doesn't give away where the plans for the Death Star are located, despite interrogations and pain (Episode IV)
She knew the Millennium Falcon was being tracked (Episode IV)
Leia senses something is wrong in Cloud City and is distrustful of Lando (Episode V):
LEIA: Something's wrong here! No one has seen or knows anything about Threepio. He's been gone too long to have gotten lost.
Han takes Leia by the shoulders and gently kisses her forehead
HAN: Relax. I'll talk to Lando and see what I can find out.
LEIA: I don't trust Lando
Leia hears Luke's SOS call through the Force (Episode V)
Leia remembers her mother (presumably through the Force) (Episode VI)
Leia always knew Luke was her brother (Episode VI):
LUKE: Yes, it's you, Leia.
LEIA: I know...somehow, I've always known
Leia senses Luke left the Death Star and is alright (Episode VI)
In The Force Awakens novelization, Leia senses the deaths on Hosnian Prime as the system is destroyed
She senses some light in her son, Kylo Ren (Episode VII)
She senses Han's death (Episode VII)
Em The Last Jedi , os poderes de força de Leia são expandidos e nós a vemos:
11. save herself by using the force to pull herself back to the command ship after the bridge she was in was exploded by the First Order. She senses Luke when he opens himself up to the Force again on Ahch-To while in her coma and later admits that she knows that her son is gone. Finally, Leia senses Luke's death along with Rey at the end of The Last Jedi
Pode haver mais exemplos, no entanto, esses são os principais que eu posso lembrar. Leia é sensível à força, no entanto, é mais sutil do que a de Lucas, só porque ela escolheu um caminho diferente do seu irmão. J.J. Abrams afirmou que eles estão deixando a porta aberta para o personagem de Leia, dizendo que é "nunca é tarde demais" para o personagem perseguir um caminho Jedi.