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The Awesome Power Of Intention

And How To Use It In Your Healing Work



I write a lot about the  power of intention. Here are some specifics about what it is, how to set a powerful intention, and how to use intention in healing work.



Photograph from Hubble Space Telescope

Our Thoughts Are Real--And They Shape Our Lives

In a culture like ours that considers only material things real, it's hard to see that thoughts and feelings are real things, too, just like matter is real.  And being real, they have a significant impact on us.


In very real ways, our thoughts shape our lives. In a universe in which all things are  already existing in a potential state, our thoughts "select" specific potentials and sort of shepherd or pull them through into the manifest world.


One commonplace way of putting it is that "you find what you look for."


As you can see, what sounds like a very esoteric principle boils down to something simple that you already knew. That's true for a lot of the principles of energy healing. They sound woo-woo, but really aren't.


You can put the power of thought to use in your life and also in your healing practice. The most focused way to do that is through the power of intention.

The Power of Intention

Simply put, an intention is a super-charged thought that we can use to influence our external reality, a kind of interface between the physical and subtle realms.


Deepak Chopra, in The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, describes intention as:  ". . . a seed in consciousness … If you pay attention to it, it has within it the means for its own fulfillment. Intention has infinite organizing power, orchestrating countless details simultaneously."


To me, setting intentions has a lot to do with getting very clear about the highest reason, desire, calling or drive behind/underneath your actions or plans. It's kind of like a mission statement, kind of like a prayer, kind of like a dedication. It's the aspirational aspect of what you want to achieve.


In reality, everything we do has an intention at its inception, but unless we are conscious about it, that intention will most likely be nebulous, blurry and possibly at cross-purposes with other vague, unarticulated intentions you hold. Intentions like that don't channel a lot of power.


But when you consciously set an intention, it focuses your energy and sets it in motion. How does it do that? Articulating an intention puts you in touch with your highest aspirations and purposes. It keeps you tapped into your higher self throughout whatever action, process or plan you're involved in. Throughout your undertaking, this steers your choices, large and small, toward your highly calibrated desires and purposes. And the choices you make shape the outcome of your endeavor.


That's the practical side of intention. But as Deepak Chopra says, there's more to it than that, something that feels more like magic. That I can't explain, but I've felt it work many times in my life.

How To Create An Intention

You can create intentions about anything and everything you do. You can set intentions about significant events in your life, for example that the house you are buying will be a place of love, harmony and growth for all who enter. 


But you can set intentions about smaller, more every-day things, too: that you will see something you've never seen before on your daily walk; that your time with a friend will be light-hearted, restorative and fun; or that an upcoming business meeting will turn out for the highest good of everyone involved.


Deepak Chopra has spent a lot of time thinking about intention. Here are some steps for setting powerful intentions, based on his work.

  • Quiet your mind with meditation or some other calming practice.
  • Place your intention in your heart and ask "What do I want?" Listen to the answer and articulate your intention. Ideally it will be stated in a positive way ("I WILL make a healthy dinner for my family tonight," rather than "I WON'T feed my family mac and cheese for the third time in a row tonight.")
  • Stop thinking about your intention and let it go. Say "thank you" to the universe for all the abundance you enjoy, as well as for the manifestation of your intention, which is on its way to you from the realm of potential.
  • Remain confident and centered, but detach from the exact outcome, the exact way your intention will manifest into the physical world. Allow room for something even better than you can imagine.
  • Don't force it or overthink it. Let the universe orchestrate the particulars.
  • Periodically revisit your intention. Update it if it is no longer germane.
  • That's it. Nothing hard about it.

Using The Power Of Intention In Your Healing Practice

No matter what form healing takes, intention is an important component. Our intentions are much more important than any specific energy healing techniques we use. Here are some ways we can use intention in our healing sessions.


  • Before a session begins, affirm the power of your thoughts and intentions. Set an intention to serve your client's highest good and the highest universal good.
  • Teach clients how to set powerful intentions if they don't know how.
  • Have your client set an intention for the session. Support this intention, lightly. You don't actually have to know what it is, so they can tell you or not.
  • Use intention more specifically to work with or shift energy. As I've said, techniques are only tools. It's the intention behind the techniques that's the real engine. So if you're not sure how to "do" something, just INTEND it. For example, if you want to be very specific and support someone's liver, just INTEND that. A specific method may come to you as part of that intention or you may just hold the intention mentally without "doing" anything. Either way, energy responds to intention.
  • Have fun working with the power of intention and seeing how things turn out!



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