Mind, Brain, and Intention: Your thoughts can change your life. That was the title of the workshop I attended at a wellness resort and retreat center in Austin, TX, called The Crossings. The workshop was put together by quite a dynamic duo: Dr. Joe Dispenza and Lynne McTaggart, both very well versed in the art and science of intention. They were joining forces in the Texas hill country to teach a group of conference goers, myself included, how intention, focus and the will to change can make a difference in our everyday existence, and not only our personal selves, but our environment too.

We got a taste of the science behind intention and creation and the brain, sample experiments on how scientists are studying the results of focused intention, and we got to try a few experiments ourselves. This growing phenomenon, that our thoughts have a much greater effect on our lives than we might have previously realized, is seen by many as an exciting new frontier. It seems that a growing number of people are interested in how to create their day, and how intention affects the world around us, as in Dr. Emoto's water crystal experiments. And why not, if our intention can do things like increase our health and happiness, help heal our planet, and make such pretty water crystals, it's definitely worth looking into.

One thing I've noticed is that people seem to get really excited about changing circumstances in their lives through thoughts and intention, but then their excitement seems to fizzle out when they try it to no avail. Why isn't it working and what are we doing wrong?

A DASH OF FOCUS

If it's a scientific fact that we lose our attention 6-8 times every minute, it's no wonder people are not seeing any results in their lives. We have to learn to focus and hold our attention before we can start manifesting our intentions.

Intention is a powerful thing but it needs another ingredient to assist it into actual being: focus. Excellent focus, to be more precise, and excellent focus requires a lot of practice. This may be the hardest part of the packaged deal. It seems easy enough to come up with something that you want to intend; a happier existence, less stress, health, you name it, but it's the focus and the practice part that seems to be where people are getting stuck.

In experiment after experiment involving intention and focus, Buddhist Monks are usually the ones doing all the heavy meditating and intending. There is definitely a reason for this. Those guys are masters of their minds. Good news though, you don't have to adopt the orange robe and move to Tibet just yet. "What is most fascinating to me is the suggestion that meditation practice can change anyone's gray matter," said Jeremy Gray, an assistant professor of psychology at Yale.

A research team led by Sara Lazar, assistant in psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital, conducted a study involving 20 people with regular jobs and families – no monks – who just meditated an average of 40 minutes each day. (All of them did however, have extensive training in Buddhist Insight meditation.)

"The study showed that most of the brain regions identified to be changed through meditation were found in the right hemisphere, which is essential for sustaining attention. And attention is the focus of the meditation."

This gives great hope. Those of us who are "attention span challenged" can learn to meditate, which in turn might lead to a better success rate with focusing, and ultimately intending and creating. For those of you who cringe at the word meditation because it may have a religious connotation, or for others a woo-woo-new-agey one, try thinking of it this way; Meditation: to become familiar with. A non-threatening and yet accurate definition.

I can become familiar with myself, my real self by way of some basic brain knowledge Joe Dispenza gave at the conference. With the right knowledge (perhaps some sound meditation techniques), then the experience of that knowledge for the body (me physically sitting still and practicing my meditation), and then receiving feedback (noticing the effects, whether or not I am more calm and centered, or if I'm less stressed throughout the day), the brain learns, and this is how I will get closer and closer to being that master of focus and creation.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was one of the first to teach transcendental meditation techniques, which could be a good thing to learn if you plan to do a lot of heavy intending. "The Transcendental Meditation technique is a simple, natural, effortless procedure practiced for 15-20 minutes in the morning and afternoon while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. During this technique the individual's awareness settles down and experiences the simplest form of human awareness -- Transcendental Consciousness -- where consciousness is open to itself. This produces a state of restful alertness, distinct from the commonly experienced states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep.

The experience of Transcendental Consciousness develops the individual's latent creative potential while dissolving accumulated stress and fatigue through the deep rest gained during the practice. This experience enlivens creativity, dynamism, orderliness, and organizing power in one's awareness, which results in increasing effectiveness and success in daily life.

The TM-Sidhi program, which includes 'Yogic Flying,' trains the individual to think and act from the level of Transcendental Consciousness, greatly enhancing the coordination between mind and body, between intention and its actualization. The practice of Yogic Flying has been found to optimize coherence in brain functioning while producing the inner experience of 'bubbling bliss.'"

To read more on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation, click here.

I believe this is the state that Joe Dispenza also speaks of when he talks about the science of changing your mind. This work is more than just deciding what you want to create and then going about your everyday business. The definition of insanity is to think and act the same way but expect a different outcome.

Dr. Dispenza has great determination and discipline when it comes to focusing on what he plans to create. He doesn't allow himself to start his day until he has held his intention in his mind so vividly that his brain produces the state where he actually feels what it is like to have his intention already manifested. Dr. Dispenza says you can declare you want to be happy, for example, but unless you wire your brain to feel that way, you will eventually just go back to the old routine (unhappiness). You have to recondition the body with a new mind.

That adds an interesting twist. I can imagine all day what it feels like to want something, like getting through the day without getting frustrated, but can I train myself to imagine what it would feel like to actually be that person who doesn't get frustrated? That seems to make a big difference when it comes to changing, creating, and manifesting. Dr. Joe teaches techniques like imagining a person that you admire and trying to embody the traits in them that you admire so much in the first place. How do they act and react in situations? Then ask yourself, "what would it be like to be happy, successful, healthy," etc. Take the answers to your questions and begin to mentally and physically rehearse them. All day if necessary.

"Professional archers who focus on a target while their brain activity is being measured with electrodes and sophisticated instrumentation all have very high neurological activity in the neocortices as they prepare to shoot their arrow," says Dr. Joe Dispenza. "The thinking part of their brain is reviewing everything it has to do from a technical standpoint. Their brain is busy thinking about keeping their arm straight, controlling their breathing, the proper grip of the left hand, the placement of the bow with their right hand, the tension of the fingers, and the contraction of certain muscles, to name just a few.

Then there comes a moment when the neocortices calm down and get very quiet. At that moment, there no longer is any thinking. Only the frontal lobe is holding the archer's single-minded intention. That is, the moment that they focus on their target and zoom in on the bull's-eye, the cerebellum takes over by following only one order from the frontal lobe. And that order is the visual picture of an outcome. The cerebellum then takes over the body to serve the intention.

Using instruments to track brain activity, and attaching infrared lasers to the sight of the bow, studies have shown that just as the archer lines up the sight of the bow with the center of the target, there is no cortical brain activity and there is no thinking. There is a momentary trancelike state of the brain where the cerebellum now has the space and time to remember what it has been conditioned to do, without the neocortices talking in a constant state of chatter. That's how we master any action."

To read more on this from Dr. Joe Dispenza, click here.

So there you have it. A little focus + a little intention, some brain re-wiring with a dash of practice (well, more than a dash) and you've got a new you. Here's to the best of intentions, eagle eye focus, and some heavy-duty creating.

References:
drjoedispenza.com/pdf/GT_July_2002.pdf
maharishi.org/tm/research/home.html
home.att.net/~meditation/monks.brains.html