Embodiment · “Being Precedes Having”
The Power of Eight Intention Circle
A small group (~8 people) forms a circle and holds a single, specific healing intention for one named member for about ten minutes, sending it ‘through the heart.’
Gather 6-12 people (8 is ideal). Pick one member with a challenge; describe it. Agree one specific intention: “Our intention is for [name] to… and to be healthy and well in every way.” Form a circle, hold hands, breathe together, power up. For ~10 minutes, picture them well with all five senses and send it through your heart. Release. Adjunct only — never a substitute for care.
What it is
Lynne McTaggart is a journalist and author who has run large web-based “Intention Experiments” with academic collaborators. In her workshops she stumbled on a smaller format that became the centre of her 2017 book: gather a handful of people — eight is her ideal — pick one member with a problem, and have the whole group hold a single focused healing intention for that person for about ten minutes.
McTaggart reports striking anecdotes of recipients improving, but the more consistent and more interesting pattern she describes is that the senders often feel better too — calmer, more connected, more purposeful.
This entry presents the protocol faithfully while being honest that the sender benefit has ordinary explanations and the distant-healing claim does not stand up to controlled scrutiny.
The Method
Step 1 — Form a small group.
McTaggart’s optimum is eight, but she allows “no fewer than six and no more than 12.” It can meet in person or by video/audio. Set a regular time (she recommends at least weekly) and, if you like, appoint a leader. Step 2 — Choose one recipient. Ask whether any member has “a healing challenge of some sort (emotional or physical)” and would like to be the target. Have them describe the problem in detail so the intention can be specific. Step 3 — Design one specific intention together. Frame it as “Our intention is for…” plus the person’s name and the precise outcome — e.g. “…to be free of any pain in her right knee” — and McTaggart suggests closing with “…and to be healthy and well in every way.” Step 4 — Form the circle. Gather in a ring and join hands; or seat the recipient in the centre while each member rests one hand on them, “like the spokes of a wheel.” Step 5 — Power up and settle. Close your eyes, take a few slow breaths together, and drop into a relaxed, focused state before sending anything. Step 6 — Send for about ten minutes. Holding the agreed intention, picture the recipient — “with all five senses” — as already healthy and well in every way, and imagine sending the intention out through your heart. Step 7 — Release and check in. Stop, open your eyes, and let it go. Over weeks, members informally note changes — in the recipient and in their own “health, relationships, career, life’s purpose.”
Source & Lineage
The protocol is drawn from Lynne McTaggart, The Power of Eight (2017), which grew out of the group exercises in her workshops and her earlier The Intention Experiment (2007) and The Field (2001).
Boundary note: McTaggart’s framing rests on a “Zero Point Field” / interconnected-consciousness model, and her web “Intention Experiments” have produced mixed, contested results. The transmissible, defensible core here is a structured small-group compassion-and-attention practice, not a verified distance-healing technology.
Common refinements
Selling it as a cure. Never imply the circle will fix a medical condition; that risks false hope and delayed treatment.
- Vague intentions. “Send healing” is weaker than one named person and one specific outcome; specificity is McTaggart’s own instruction.
- Skipping the power-up. Diving in cold loses the calming, absorbing quality that produces the real sender benefit.
- Over-reading anecdotes. Treat improvements as encouraging stories, not proof; recoveries happen for many reasons.
- Refinement: value the circle for what it reliably gives — the senders’ compassion, bonding and steadiness — and keep the recipient’s outcome firmly secondary and medically supported.