What is Manifestation?
A brief look into the psychology behind visualization, a power technique you may want to try.
Graphics by Vanessa Vergara.
In the documentary “Free Solo”, Alex Honnold, a professional rock climber and free soloist conquers the first free solo climb of the famed El Capitan, a 900-meter vertical rock at Yosemite National Park. He climbed, without a rope, harness, or anything that may have saved his life should he have fallen.
Many called this a suicide mission. He called it achieving a long time dream of his.
A practice Honnold engaged with deeply throughout the training process for this near impossible feat was, you guessed it, visualization. Alongside his physiotherapist, he would close his eyes and imagine in extreme detail that he was climbing El Capitan.
During his visualization, he would embody the experience and immerse himself in the world of climbing. He would lay down, envision the mountain with the utmost detail and actually engage in the climb as if it were happening in real time. This practice, along with years and years of obsessive climbing, fitness training, and more, was what ultimately resulted in the success of his climb.
Now, what might this practice look like for us, and why might it be worthwhile to pursue? Well, we might not all be Alex Honnold with dreams of doing the literal impossible.
However, the manifestation and visual process demands us to be incredibly specific with our desires and dreams, and guides us in aligning our thoughts, beliefs and actions towards our goals. It ultimately plays a huge role in setting our intentions, and ensuring we are leaving fear, negative self-talk and limiting beliefs behind.
There is so much power to be found in having the courage to name what you want, and believing that you are worthy of these blessings.
Once we eliminate ourselves as a roadblock in the way of what we truly want, the laws of attraction, our subconscious mind and the world around us take notice.
Graphics by Vanessa Vergara.
If Alex Honnold could not visualize his free soloing success on El Capitan in great detail, he would not have achieved it, even with his physical capability of doing so. Our minds play a huge role in determining our ability to reach our goals. Visualization is an integral part of manifesting your reality.
If all of this sounds intriguing, allow me to run you through some steps that you can start taking today to go after what you want.
Become extremely specific about what you want (a new job, financial stability/abundance, a romantic partner, it can be anything — it just needs to be specific)
Write it down! Whether this is in the form of a mantra, a prayer, through journaling, or even a vision board — find a way that feels best for you to get these desires out of your head and somewhere tangible where you can see them or refer back to them
Spend 5 minutes a day visualizing your desires. Set a timer, close your eyes, and begin to paint the picture of your dreams. The more you practice this muscle, the more accustomed you become to seeing yourself as someone who already has what they want. Your dreams will begin to feel less out of reach, and therefore your actions, and thoughts will mirror this.
Manifesting and visualization is really all about getting your emotional, physical and spiritual self in alignment for pursuing and achieving your dreams. If we want to go after what we truly want, it is necessary we pursue our desires on a conscious and subconscious level.
The reality is, manifestation is a powerful technique constantly in use by the wealthy, elite athletes and more. For marginalized communities, due to systemic racism, patriarchy, classism and more, our powerful abilities to dream, to deem ourselves worthy of our deepest desires, and finding the courage to truly pursue our passions, may have been stifled. This is precisely why if these techniques feel silly, or bring up feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, or more, it is all the more reason to commit a little bit of time to what feels possible for you to do at this time.
As a racialized, femme, queer individual, I have found the way that I view myself to be inherently linked to the way that the world sees (and treats) me.
Unfortunately, this view is not always in my favor — and does not always empower or uplift me. Therefore, it is up to me to be committed to cultivating a deeper sense of self worth and unapologetically pursuing and manifesting my dreams. I have to make up for the disempowering and limiting stereotypes I have encountered in my life.
In doing this unlearning and relearning through visualization techniques, I can open myself up to the possibilities that the present, and the future can offer me.