How Science Supports the Power of Setting Intentions
“The moment you change your perception, is the moment you rewire the chemistry of your own body” ~ Bruce Lipton
Do you ever think about your thoughts? Many of us believe that our thoughts have a mind of their own, and it is often why we feel frustrated, stressed, or stuck. Training your brain to focus on an intention you have set for yourself that helps you walk in your greatest good is possible and easier than you think. The practice of setting intentions reflects the convergence of yoga philosophy and modern psychology, with backup by neuroscience.
For decades, intention setting has been treated contemptuously as an unscientific spiritual practice. However, recent findings have revealed the powerful science behind intention setting and its ability to change our human biology. This has forced us to re-evaluate the importance of intention setting in our everyday lives. Author of Science and Human Transformation, William A. Tiller, Ph.D., explains that “We as humans are much more than we think we are, and Psychoenergetic Science continues to expand the proof of it.”
Setting intentions is a way of stretching our interchangeable human biology to reaching a new purpose, life path, or emotional state. The power of intention is truly profound; it's been suggested to relieve chronic diseases, heal past emotional wounds and help manifesting our most-loathed desires. And it all starts within the space of our own thoughts.
A 2007 book, The Intention Experiment, explored the science of intention, drawing on the findings of leading scientists around the world. Author Lynne McTaggart uses cutting-edge research conducted at Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and other universities and laboratories to reveal that intent is capable of profoundly affecting all aspects of our lives. In the book, William A. Tiller, a professor emeritus at Stanford University, argues: “For the last 400 years, an unstated assumption of science is that human intention cannot affect what we call physical reality. Our experimental research of the past decade shows that, for today’s world and under the right conditions, this assumption is no longer correct.”
According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, when we set intentions “the beliefs we hold in our minds are converted into electromagnetic fields by nerve cells and the brain ‘broadcasts’ this information to all the cells within our body. Cells respond to the information in these energy fields and use it to control their behavior and gene activity.” If we set positive intentions, every cell within our body will behave in alignment with the intention we have just set and vibrate at the same positive frequency. If we are prone to negative thinking and fail to set positive intentions within our lives, our cells will respond by preparing for Fight-or-Flight, a sympathetic nervous system response.
Dr Lipton explains that “Cells, tissues, and organs do not question information sent by the nervous system. Rather they respond with equal fervor to accurate life-affirming perceptions and to self-destructive misperceptions.” The role of thought is vital in deciding the fate of our body’s health and functionality. Thus, it is evident that intention and belief have the ultimate power to act as a filter between the real environment and our own biology. By adopting the glass half-full mindset, we can control our cell's behavior in a way that enhances our biology.
The power of intention can literally change the shape of our brains. This process is known as neuroplasticity - the brain’s soft and interchangeable potential, stimulated through repetition of a particular behavior. Our brains are made up of highly complex circuits, known as neural pathways. Neural pathways are the superhighways of nerve cells that transmit messages; the more times electrical messages journey down the same beaten tracks, the more solid and shaped into our existence they become.
In the context of setting intentions, the more we repeat a positive intention or general positive behavior, the more likely our brain is to reorganize its neurons in our favor. Through cultivating healthy intentions, science demonstrates that we have the power to shape our brains in more adaptive and beneficial ways.
This week, repeat daily the intention provided or choose your own and begin to see the power of setting intentions in your own life.
Jeanne & John Adams
