The Power of Eight

Posted on March 12th, 2018

I have been reading this new book ‘The Power of Eight’ by Lynn McTaggart – and also experiencing it in my life, which has been really wonderful!

For those who haven’t heard of Lynn McTaggart, she is the scientist and health journalist who has been investigating the science of consciousness, quantum physics and what has become known as the ‘biofield’  for the past 15 years.  Her book, called ‘The Field’ reported on her fascinating findings, and has led to many conferences and workshops around the world, and even more experiments.

She is also the publisher, with her husband Bryan Hubbard, of the excellent magazine “What Doctors Don’t Tell You” – which happens to be the magazine where we advertise our retreats.  We are very grateful to her for creating a community of health-aware people and a platform where ideas, many of which have become mainstream, which go beyond  received medical ‘wisdom’, can be communicated.

The new book, ‘The Power of Eight’, charts the results of a series of ‘Intention Experiments’ that Lynn ran over the past decade, to test the hypothesis that intention – focussed energy – can influence living things and events, even at a distance. Whilst some of these involved thousands of people tuning in over the internet with a shared intention, she also had the idea to test whether the effects of these could be replicated by small groups of people, optimally around 8.  Her scientific scepticism was shattered by the remarkable success these groups had.

But perhaps the biggest result, which she discovered almost accidentally, and certainly had not expected, was that not only did the wellbeing of the target of the group’s healing intentions improve, but there was almost as much, if not a greater benefit to the ‘intenders’, those doing the intending.  Those taking part in the large scale experiments had reported feelings almost akin to an altered state of consciousness and many experienced a lasting heart-opening that led to healed relationships, greater openness with strangers, and many others life improvements.  When translated to the smaller groups, the ‘unity consciousness’ experienced is just as great, if not greater, as illustrated by numerous examples in the book.

Using a quantitive electroencephalogram to measure the effects on group members, it was found that focussing on the ‘other’ reduced activity on the right side of the brain, which, aside from creativity, is associated with negative thinking. In particular, the right prefrontal cortex showed diminished activity, which could indicate a shift away from higher stress and anxiety states.  Whilst there was diminished activity there was greater coherence ie better communication, between the different areas of the brain – the brain operating as a greater whole. Questionnaires to participants using a standard psychology rating indeed showed improved overall mood, greater calm and relaxation, and in a number of people, the spontaneous disappearance of pain.

“Of the 150 regular attenders of the groups, nearly every single one had made some sort of major shift. Many, for the first time, found their life’s purpose or improved their relationships or discovered how they were self-sabotaging” says Lynn.

“It’s about the process of giving’, says a participant named Mitchell. ‘I feel better all day when I am working on others. And it’s not just gratifying to see someone happier…..There’s something more there that I don’t understand. My own system, my life, just works better when I am of service in this way.”

And that last statement has certainly resonated with me after my first two experiences of being in a group practising the Power of Eight in the last month. In fact, I can’t wait to get another taste of it at the next Cygnus café in Taunton (for Cygnus cafes, please look up here to see if there is one near you, it’s the community network established by the Cygnus Review, the MindBodySpirit book club)

I found myself being able to tap back into the energy when waking up feeling anxious in the small hours… and also generally more positive about my life and the state of the world. So I would definitely recommend giving it a try – the book gives guidance on setting up a group of eight – and you don’t even need to meet, it appears to work just as well if you connect digitally, using Skype or Google Hangouts or other such programme..

I am planning on incorporating this into our retreats, including the one coming up on the Maltese island of Gozo in May …we don’t you join us!  Transformation beckons!!

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+