A few years ago, my son prayed for help. Would the Big Guy upstairs help his team win a playoff baseball game? Well … our Bad News Bears didn’t even score. Feeling trampled, Gabe asked me how this could have happened. We smile when a kid treats God, consciousness, or the universe like a penny gumball machine: in goes the request, out rolls the gum. But in our personal lives and as practitioners, we also deal daily with the same questions when it comes to the invisible elements of healing.
We understand the desire to get an edge for our client, whether the stresses we seek to alleviate are physical or emotional. We are constantly informed about the power of belief, whether it is via the placebo or nocebo effects, positive thinking, Law of Attraction, prayer, or the word employed in this article—intention. We’ve all heard or experienced demonstrations that point to the ability of belief to make a difference. It’s just that the power seems so hard to manage or enforce.
For example, we might work on two different clients with the same basic issues and symptoms. We’re able to create a significant difference with one but nothing with the other.
We believe in our skills, and yet the outcomes are so very different. Is this because of the unique attributes of our clients? Soul issues? Blind luck? Did they—or we—have a bad day? Figuring out the basics of intention can help us better use it as a healing tool.

Intention in Practice
First, let me offer a definition of intention. I define it as “focused direction,” the act of setting our attention on a particular activity or desire. During a session, the focus could be our own mental goal, a client’s stated objective, or even the movement of our hands. Whatever we focus on will receive the full benefit of our energy—body, mind, and soul.
The “direction” part of this definition means our attention is focused in a direction that will produce the desired result. This definition allows a wide range of activities—internal and external—to support physical healing and change. We can select a specific direction, such as an anticipated or preferred outcome, or simply direct our energies toward a higher will. Not all formulas work for all people, so this definition allows for great professional latitude.
Vital to the efficacy of using intention is knowing that in many cases, establishing a focused direction actually does steer us toward a positive end. This has been validated by hundreds of studies, including those by William Tiller, PhD, a former Stanford professor of engineering who has since written extensively on spiritual energy and human consciousness.
In one study, Tiller had meditators imprint electrical devices with the intention to either raise or lower the pH of water.1 The devices were then sent to a distant location, placed next to a jar of water, and turned on. In every case, Tiller reports, the pH of the water was raised or lowered significantly. In later experiments, Tiller writes that the pH changed more quickly the more frequently the same experiment was conducted in the same space—and after a while the pH changed without any need to use the device at all.
If intention can change water, can it do the same to people? Tiller conducted a similar experiment on depressed and anxious subjects, this time sending intentions to subjects who were known to the meditators only by name and address.2 Results suggested that over time, the subjects receiving the intentions experienced significantly fewer episodes of anxiety and depression compared to the control group.
In another study, Tiller left a non-intentionalized device in the presence of a Buddhist relic, with water nearby. There was no statistical difference in the pH of the water over three months. Tiller then had meditators write an intention, asking that the loving kindness of the relic be manifested in this space so that the water’s pH could be altered. This time, the water showed a significant upswing in pH. Tiller determined that the clarity of the intention was a key factor.3
Heartfelt intentions can shift matter and emotions. Perhaps they can even transform DNA: a set of studies conducted in the 1990s by Glen Rein and Rollin McCraty had participants attempt to influence a DNA sample in a test tube to wind or unwind its helix while directing feelings of love and appreciation toward the sample. Rein and McCraty reported that, when tested after the experiment, the samples often did reveal winding or unwinding had occurred, and some participants could achieve this effect at a distance of up to one half-mile away from the sample they were asked to influence.4

Why Do Results Differ?
Does intention always create an effect? Do prayers to a higher power always result in baseball wins? The short answer is no. Intention doesn’t always result in change—at least not measurable change.
Consider the large-scale experiments on intention conducted by author Lynn McTaggart. In her book The Intention Experiment (Free Press, 2007), she revealed that intention significantly altered reality in several cases—but not all. Many of the experiments showed inconclusive results or no change at all.5
As we’ve seen in our own lives, setting an intention can sometimes yield an obvious result. Understanding intention can help us figure out the secrets behind “the secret.”
According to Tiller, intention works because reality is actually an extension of our consciousness. He proposes a model of reality in which several layers of interconnected frequencies are tightly packed into microscopic nodal structures, which are organized in geometric, harmonic grids, and these nodal structures convert consciousness into energy.
High-frequency intentions make relatively quick changes, while low-frequency thoughts or attitudes take longer to manifest change. Love may be the highest frequency of all, as divine love creates consciousness, which forms energy, which then turns into matter.6
McTaggart describes how intention works by explaining that all beings exist interconnected within a quantum field. Tiny, subatomic particles and energetic forces bend and play throughout this field, zipping between the seen and unseen universes, “sewing” physical form as they go. Within this elusive and complex world, a person affects what he or she is observing—altering, and thus creating, the concrete world. Something as simple as an intention can potentially shift subatomic matter, determining the next state of affairs.7

Embracing the Power of Intention
What, then, are the keys to creating, forming, and actualizing high-frequency intentions—those that can really make a difference?
My own analysis of dozens of studies and writings about intention include work presented by William Bengston, PhD, who has spent 30 years studying energy medicine; Daniel Benor, MD, who has compiled hundreds of studies about energy medicine; and Larry Dossey, MD, who has reviewed more than 130 studies on the efficacy of intention and prayer.8 Based on the research of these individuals, as well as suggestions made by McTaggart and Tiller, among others, I suggest that you can embrace the power of intention in your life and work in these ways:
 
1. Start with compassion. Positive emotions often evoke the most change. They also help you bond with clients and share your ability to believe in the best outcome with them.
2. Assume that health is the natural order. Studies often reflect a return or shift to a healthier state in plants or people. Why not simply ask for the natural order?
3. Use “full service” focus. If possible, state an intention within your mind while also verbalizing it. Create a visual image representing the intention and share it with your client. Holding an intention on every level often seems to produce the most change.
4. Embrace proof. The more often we expose ourselves to successful intentions, the greater the chance our own intentions will work.
5. Saturate your space. As shown in the studies conducted by Tiller, space can conform to intention. Think of your professional office as a true healing space and support your clients in perceiving it the same way.
6. Embrace your spiritual beliefs and encourage your client to embrace theirs as well. Whatever our religious or spiritual convictions, standing on tradition lends power to our intentions. If needed, phrase your intention in such a way that the client can also embrace it according to his or her own beliefs.

In the end, it comes down to the wisdom offered by spiritual teacher Wayne Dyer: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Of course, when it comes to youth baseball, there is always the trip to Dairy Queen after any game, win or lose.

Cyndi Dale is an internationally renowned author, speaker, and intuitive consultant. Her books include the bestselling The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy (Sounds True, 2009), The Complete Book of Chakra Healing (Llewellyn Publications, 2009), and Advanced Chakra Healing (Crossing Press, 2005). To learn more about Dale and her products, services, and classes, please visit www.cyndidale.com.

Notes
1. W.A. Tiller et al., “Towards Understanding Long-Range Broadcasting of Specific Intentions,” Institute for Psychoenergetic Science, accessed April 2014,     www.tillerfoundation.com/White%20Paper%20XXVIII.pdf.
2. Ibid.
3. W.A. Tiller et al., “The Buddha Relics and Evidence of Physical Space Conditioning with Unimprinted Intention Host Devices,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 18, no. 4 (April 2012): 379–81. Accessed April 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22515797.
4. Institute of HeartMath, “Emotions Can Change Your DNA,” accessed April 2014, www.heartmath.org/templates/ihm/e-newsletter/publication/2012/winter/emotions-can-change-your-dna.php.  
5. Lynne McTaggart, The Intention Experiment (New York: Free Press, 2007), 224–33.
6. Celeste Adams, “The Conscious Creation of a New Paradigm,” interview with William Tiller, Spirit of Maat, accessed April 2014, www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/tiller1.htm.
7. Lynn McTaggart, The Intention Experiment, xxiii–xxiv.
8. William Bengston, The Energy Cure (Louisville, Colorado: Sounds True, 2010); Daniel J. Benor, Spiritual Healing: Professional Supplement, Healing Research (Southfield, Michigan: Vision Publications, 2002); Larry Dossey, Healing Words (New York: HarperCollins, 1994).

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