How To Manifest Your Dream Life
I’m not going lie, sometimes when I hear the word ‘manifestation’ I cringe a little. Which is saying a lot coming from a crystal loving yoga teaching barefoot jungle cat of a person.
Look, I’m not saying that I don’t like manifestation, or that I don’t believe in it. Because I do! It’s something I practice regularly.
It just seems like it’s a word that’s become just that…a word. Rather than an action, or a practice. And that’s where things get a little wishy washy.
The truth is, manifestation is a powerful tool to have in your wellness toolbelt, but only if it’s treated as a verb- as something that you spend time doing every single day. Rather than a passive flippant comment whenever you buy something new and shiny for yourself.
My favorite workshops to teach on my retreats and my yoga teacher trainings is a manifestation workshop. I’ve watched it transform student’s lives, because this ish works. I swear.
And now, I get to share some of those tips with you here today. In this post we’ll cover what the heck manifestation even is, as well as a variety of different kinds of manifestation that you can practice totally for free all on your own, in the comfort of your own space. How nice is that?
Learn more about free self care tips HERE.
How To Manifest Your Dream Life
When we’re talking about manifesting our dream life, the first step is identifying what exactly your dream is. We all have different versions of what it means to feel successful or fulfilled, which is why each and every one of our dream lives will be unique in their own right.
Before tackling any of these manifestation exercises, start first by understanding what you want.
What Is Manifestation?
First and foremost, manifestation is a verb, and a practice. Manifestation is not a passive experience.
To put it simply, manifestation is the act of making your wildest dreams into your reality. And this is something that can be done in a variety of ways, because we all have different ways of learning.
It’s not enough to simply say, or draw, or write, or think that you want something. It’s up to you to then put in the work- with every teeny tiny choice throughout your days- to actually get yourself there.
Understanding what you want is the first step, but it’s not the last step. Think of your dream as a North Star or sorts, it’s something that’s guiding the way and keeping you on the right path. It gives you direction so that you know what you’re working towards, but the forward motion comes from your own choices and actions.
Yes, this is certainly a woo-woo practice. But the truth is that manifestation is also a tool that psychologists use and prescribe to their patients, too. And that’s because there’s real science behind it.
Whether you’re a crunchy hippie reading this and looking for new manifestation techniques, or you’re brand new and kind of skeptical- do your best to go into the experience being open.
For the more science-based readers out there who are looking for a therapeutic approach, check out this post on reasons to start therapy HERE.
Different Forms Of Manifestation
Manifestation can be a visual, audio, verbal, or writing practice. It’s really an action that plays with the senses in a way that allows you to tap into something deeper within, and then allowing that higher version of Self guide the experience.
My suggestion to you would be to try on a variety of manifestation techniques, and see which one feels like the best fit. Almost like you’re at a shoe store trying on shoes in all different styles and sizes.
Go with the one that feels the best.
Future Self Writing
I love the exercise of future self writing, but maybe that’s just the writer in me. It’s really simple: you write a journal entry or a letter in the future, as if it’s the present.
As an example, if I was writing a journal entry I’d say something like, “I can’t believe it’s been a year since I wrote that blog post about manifestation, and it ended up reaching hundreds of thousands of people.”
Gratitude Journaling
The practice of gratitude is also an action, rather than a passive experience. And one of the best things about gratitude is that it opens you up to simply receive so much more.
When I’m in a low period of my life, I feel like practicing gratitude every day feels like a little scavenger hunt. Like I’m searching for hidden treasures that can make my heart smile. And that feels good, even on the darkest days.
Gratitude journaling for manifestation can simply be keeping a gratitude journal. Or, you can combine it with the future self writing, by writing what you’re grateful for as if it’s already happened….even if it hasn’t (yet).
If you’re new to journaling, and don’t know where to get started, I can’t recommend The 5 Minute Journal enough.
Journal Writing
You can continue to do your regularly journaling practice without even adding a manfiestion flare to it, and you’ll still be able to manifest.
How?
Because sometimes we don’t realize things about ourselves or our lives until we get it out of us. Getting your feelings and thoughts out of your head can help to sift through and make sense of them a little more easily- which helps you to understand what you do and don’t want in your dream life.
Work Through Limitations
Most of the time, the things that we want in life are accessible to us, but there’s something blocking us from them. Sometimes we stand in our own way, and other times the blocks are more external like jobs, money, or other people.
Working through limitations means that you’re identifying the root cause of your block, and then creating a practical action plan to work through it.
You can do this mentally in meditation, you can do this as a writing exercise, you can do this visually with photos or drawing, or you can do this in a verbal way by talking out loud to yourself (or others) about it.
If you’re looking for guided meditations, check out my app for a huge selection of visual meditations.
Telling Yourself
I love talking to myself. I do it all the time on my morning walks. If you follow my yoga teaching tips, then you know I recommend this for improving your cues to help build muscle memory with the tongue.
Pro tip: if you’re afraid of looking crazy by walking around and talking to yourself, then just throw your headphones in, and people will just think you’re on the phone.
When it comes to manifestation, you can actually speak what you want into existence. You might be surprised to learn how scary it can feel to simply say what you want. It’s also nice to record your manifestations in your voice memos on your phone, so that you can continue to listen to them when you need that reminder of what it takes to pursue your dream life.
Sharing With Others
The same way that journaling helps to get the thoughts out of the head and into the world, speaking can do this too. My fellow introverts might prefer the telling yourself method, while my extroverted friends might prefer to share it with others.
If you’re somewhere in between, you can always share your deepest desires with your therapist, too.
Vision Board
Using a vision board to manifest is something that many people think of when they hear the word ‘manifestation.’ And for visual learners, this is a really great exercise! Especially if you keep the board somewhere that you can see it regularly.
Even if you’re not a visual learner, it can still be fun to have a little arts and crafts sesh with your friends. Especially because you’ll probably be talking and sharing about what your dream life looks like with others.
Don’t forget that you can always opt for a more modern-day vision board like Pinterest, or even saved photo boards in Instagram.
Positive Affirmations
A few positive affirmations can really go a long way, believe it or not. And there’s a few ways you can practice them.
Similar to future self writing, you can create an affirmation that isn’t true (yet), but you’re manifesting to be true one day.
Or, you can repeat something to yourself that you don’t yet believe about yourself, but you want to believe about yourself one day.
Affirmations can be “I am” statements, or they can be positive phrases that remind you to stay on course with your dream. Get creative with it!
Meditation
As a yoga teacher, you know I’m a big fan of meditation. And look, I know that meditation can feel or sound intimidating to many people. But it doesn’t have to be!
Don’t forget that meditation can look all sorts of ways, and there are plenty of moving meditations to choose from, as well. Learn more about moving meditations in this post HERE.
Visualization
Visualization is certainly a practice that you can incorporate into your meditations if that feels natural for you. Many guided meditations will provide some level of visualization with the meditation to help draw you in.
You can also practice visualization in more a day dreaming state, rather than eyes closed and seated. Or, you can practice it with drawing, painting, sculpting and other visual arts.
Let me know which manifestation practice has worked the best for you in the comments!
xx,
K