Power of 8 Groups: How to Set and Achieve Powerful Intentions

Back in the early 2010s, I learned how amazing a group of eight could be after participating in a small group program with 8 women. Years later, I read Lynne McTaggert’s books, The Intention Experiment and Power of 8 and learned just how truly powerful an intimate group of 8 can be.

I’ve always been attracted to the idea of eight people in a group and it turns out, there’s a reason for that. Eight people are a lot and also very intimate. Within that container, there are enough people that your collective power is explosive. And also within that container, there’s enough space for everyone to get to know each other.

Here are a few of the things I’ve experienced in a Power of 8 Group and why it’s such a powerful number.

My Experience with Power of 8 Groups

When I was at my desk in corporate, I could only get so far when I tried to solve a problem. But when everyone got into a conference room, we really got going. There were so many ideas, it always felt like there was explosive possibility all around us.

My experience with Power of 8 groups is similar. In my first group experience in an Emerging Women power circle, I saw the importance of how eight people are both a lot and very intimate at the same time. It was intimate because we were hearing about people’s hopes and dreams. It was powerful because then we were holding space for those intentions to come to fruition within that container.

Fast forward several years, I ran across Power of 8 after reading the Intention Experiment. Lynn described using groups of eight to hold healing and manifesting intentions. And, suddenly, it came together for me based on my experience and how what she described aligned.

Then, I facilitated one of Lynne’s Power of 8 groups in 2019 with individuals I didn’t know across my state. I was able to witness the impact of other people whom you don’t even know holding intention for your hopes and dreams, whether that be for healing or something you’re hoping to happen.

People in the group had intentions that varied but all became reality. One woman was having some trouble with a neighbor and she had intentions for them to build a way to be separate – and she did! Another man, let’s call him Bill, was in his 70s and needed space for healing his knee pain. We did an intention on his knee and he said it was like the knee pain floated away. It was gone and never came back.

Power of 8 intentions can be simple, like in the example with the gentleman who had knee pain. We put an intention out into the universe and said, “It is our intention that Bill’s knee pain is immediately, completely, and permanently healed.” Then, we held that collective thought for 10 minutes.

In both of these cases, it happened as it did because we held these specific wishes for someone and focused all our energy on them. It was like each person’s energy exponentially amplified what one person’s energy could do on its own. It was fantastically affirming to see what unveiled when the folks in the group decided something needed to be done.

How I Used This Power of 8 Energy to Leave my Corporate Position

Before I left my corporate position, I performed a lot of energy work to support my goal. One piece I didn’t expand upon in my original post about it was working in a group of eight people. I did a vision board workshop that had a short-term group aspect to it. Then, I continued to work in meditation groups afterward.

My intention that I put into the group’s collective power was to be able to leave with severance. (If you remember from my post (go on, read it here), it was a main component of my resignation.) That group was all holding the belief that I’d leave with severance, too.

There was a whole host of people intending that to be an outcome for me. And so, I think even in a mastermind where it isn’t a formal Power of 8 group, there’s a beautiful thing of people both knowing what you want to create and holding that intention while also helping you discover novel solutions to ideate, solve problems, and overcome barriers.

In other words, this collective energy helps desires become reality through powerful beliefs and also tangible action.

Why Power of 8 Groups Work

The reason why those intentions are so powerful is the intimacy that you can form fairly quickly – you know everyone’s story and care deeply about the folks in that group. Then, having eight different souls holding space allows for massive expansion. That’s the power of the collective mind.

I believe you have to have enough people in a mastermind to actually play off of each other to co-create out of the box solutions. Then, there’s the value of continuity. The solutions and commitment to supporting each other become stronger and stronger over time. (Here are 3 fantastic benefits of joining a mastermind group.)

In the mastermind group I facilitate, every single person is behind the other people in the group. Everyone’s intentions are brought to life because everybody else is behind them. We know what the intentions are, where each person is in their unique process, and hold space for their energy to expand into.

Even though you can do things with three or four people, the power of eight souls is so exponential when you’re trying to create novel solutions. There’s incredible value of continuity that comes within a mastermind of eight people. Everyone can truly experience the expansive energy that comes with the Power of 8 when focusing on an intention.

Have you joined a Power of 8 group or been in a mastermind with eight people? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments!