The Power of Intention

In 1974, weeks before Muhammad Ali met World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman for their "rumble in the jungle" in Kinhasa, he would practice his punches carelessly. Ali mostly laid against the ropes and allowed his opponent to punch away at him from all sides.

In later years into his career, Ali spent a great deal of time learning HOW to take punches--for instance, shifting his head just a hair before the connection was made, or where in his own body he could possibly deflect the punch so that it would no longer hurt. In doing so, Ali was not training his body to win but his mind not to lose. He was preparing his mind not to lose at the point where extreme fatigue starts setting in around the twelfth round--where most boxers simply cave in. Thus, the most important work Ali did was not in the ring, but in his armchair. He practiced fighting the fight in his head.

He was a Master of Intention! Developing a set of mental skills, he used them to his advantage in the ring--affirmations, visualizations, self-confirmations and most importantly, his self-proclamation of his own worth, "I am the greatest." Before every fight Ali used these techniques. Using rhyming quatrains and couplets he cleverly disguised his very specific intentions. For instance:
Archie Moore
Is sure
To hug the floor
By the end of four

Now Clay swings with a right
What a beautiful swing
And the punch knocks the Bear
Clear out of the ring.

Brilliant!! Before a fight, Ali woud repeat these rhymes like mantras everywhere--to the press, his opponent, and even in the ring until he himself believed it and accepted it as fact, that he'd knocked 'the Bear clear out of the ring.'

In his fight with Joe Frazier, Ali created in his mind an image of Joe as a tiny rubber gorilla, and literally carried a 'vodoo doll' in his top pocket, taking a punch at it from time to time for the tv cameras, repeating: "It's gonna be a thrill and a chilla and a killa when I get the gorilla in Manila." Frazier had already been reduced in his mind to something less human by the time he entered the ring.

In addition to these verbalized intentions, Ali carried out powerful mental ones where he would rehearse every moment of the fight in his head: the sweat pouring down his body, the cuts and bruises on his face, the screams of the crowds, the weakness in his knees, the pain to his kidneys, the cameras flashing, and even seeing the referee lift his arm in victory against Frazier. What happened here? Ali had sent powerful intentions to his entire body to win and it responded by simply following orders.

This is the great Power of Intention. Imagine harnessing this power in anything we propose to do, especially when the odds are seemingly stacked against us, and witness the unbeatable champion in you not only rise to the challenge, but emerge victorious, each and every time!