During the retreat, I also explored how intention shows up in the sense fields.
What I find, as so often, is a sensation and a mental image.
In general, intention shows up as a slight tightening of certain muscles in the throat. And a mental image related to the intention, either a direction, a goal, or some intermediate stages.
When I explored intention of moving parts of the body, I noticed how attention goes to the limbs I want to move, and specifically sensations in the areas closest to where I intend to move them. Almost like where imaginary puppet strings would be fastened.
I also noticed how intention seems to be the easiest and most effective way of honing a stable attention. When it is distracted to some extent, sharpening up the intention seems to help.
There is of course a lot more to the effects of intention – such as how it helps align the different parts of us in a certain direction – and some of it is explored in other posts.