More thoughts on Intent

               This isn’t the first blog about intent, and it won’t be the last, for the concept keeps evolving for me, opening new windows of thought.

               Intent seems to be a big topic as of late.  One that our instructors have been talking about.  Most recently a topic of intent and how our wording can affect our technique came up.  I didn’t realize how much it was messing with me, until I changed the verbiage.  Bam.  Technique fixed.

               The topic of intent sent me down a rabbit hole of thought as my mind spiralled as I was trying to go to sleep… at 12:30 in the morning.  What came up, was how I use intent in my every day life.  The most common being my work as a healer. 

               In acupuncture, point selection is an important part of treatment, based on our diagnosis.  Most acupuncture points also have multiple uses.  Stomach 36, or Zu San Li , is a very helpful point, and I can use this point with many different intents behind it, or with multiple intents at once, layered on top.  For instance, St 36 is really great for harmonizing the middle jiao (burner— think abdominal cavity holding digestive organs), it benefits digestion, tonifies Qi and blood, dispels pathogens and builds immunity, and it happens to overlay the motor point of the tibialis anterior.  Now I can use this point with any one of these things in mind, depending on my diagnosis and intent of treatment; or I can layer it.  Working with shin splints, but the patient also has digestive issues, I can use St 36 with the intent to release the motor point of the tibialis anterior, and to harmonize digestion.  This is also in-line with energy healing like Reiki, it is my intent that governs the healing session.

               It is this that helped me gain insights into my Kung Fu.  I can use techniques in various contexts based on my intent, a block vs a strike.  I can also layer my intent with my techniques.  I can change my intent on the fly depending on what I need in the moment.  I’m realizing more and more how important intent is, and how we define what it is that we are doing.