It’s a wellness trend that promises to help you achieve your dreams. But what is manifestation, where does it come from, and how exactly do you do it? We enlisted the help of intuitive life coach Patricia Natalia to help us familiarise ourselves with manifestation.
What is manifestation?
At its core, manifestation is the belief that you can bring positive experiences and opportunities into your life by thinking about them. If your instinct is to be skeptical, a chat with intuitive life coach and friend of Erbology Patricia Natalia will soon overcome any resistance!
“As human beings, we are capable of miraculous things,” says Natalia (who goes by her second name). “The body, mind and our energy systems are full of potential.”
According to Natalia, manifesting isn’t simply thinking about things you want to happen in your life. Rather, it’s about harnessing your own positive energy and directing it at the correct frequency.
“We are all energy in motion,” she explains. “Our thoughts, words and emotions carry an energetic frequency. When we emanate this out around our bodies, it creates our aura, or energetic field.
“We have autonomy over the frequency we put out. When we become more conscious of our vibration, we can use this frequency in our favour to draw towards us the circumstances, people and opportunities we desire.”
Where does manifesting come from?
While it may feel like the sort of practice that would be at home within ancient Ayurveda or Buddhism, manifestation is a new concept.
It came about in the USA during the 19th century, as part of the New Thought movement. This philosophical approach incorporated thinking from ancient belief systems such as Taoism and Ancient Egyptian spiritualism, as well as modern ones.
In Vedic (ancient Indian) Yoga technology, manifestation is a natural outcome from bringing harmony within.
Initially, it was called ‘the law of attraction’; the idea that you could attract good things towards yourself through positive thinking.
In the 20th century its popularity exploded as many seminal self-help books incorporated it into their guidance.
Natalia notes the mixture of ancient and modern thinking which has fascinated some of the world’s greatest scientific minds.
“Many great quantum physicists, philosophers, scientists and some ancient texts have been talking about these principles for centuries; exploring manifestation through vibration, energetic resonances, electromagnetic fields and the influences of nature.
“To name a few, the likes of Einstein, Nikolas Tesla and Ralph Waldo Emerson have contributed greatly to workings around vibrational laws and manifestations.”
How can you use manifestation?
‘Drawing good things towards yourself’ is a bit of a fuzzy concept, so we asked Natalia how manifestation has directly helped her in her own life.
“It started with smaller things, and as I healed old traumas from the body, the energy got lighter and elevated, it resulted in manifestation of greater things…from manifestation of flowers, coffee or chocolate, to relationships, greater abundance, and the capacity to help and support others do the same in their lives.”
“Everything begins with a vision in your mind’s eye. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that everything I have and experience today is exactly what I had imagined for myself years ago, when I was going through a real low point in my life.”
“I never knew how it was going to happen, or how things were going to change, but I didn’t feel the need to have it all figured out. I stayed open, stuck with the vision and took inspired action when required.”
“That persistence is what puts energy into the vision to bring it to life. So, stay with it!”
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“Everything begins with a vision in your mind’s eye. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that everything I have and experience today is exactly what I had imagined for myself years ago, when I was going through a real low point in my life.”
How does manifestation help you to lead a happier life?
Some adherents of manifestation believe that we can physically influence the external world through the vibrations of our energy.
For others, it’s simply about giving ourselves something positive to hold onto, especially during difficult times in our lives.
“Life is such that we will all experience pain, grief, sadness and stress at some point. Whether it comes through the breakdown of relationships, financial difficulties or health struggles, it’s our optimism that will change our experience of these situations,” says Natalia.
“We can all succumb to being the victim of our lives. But it takes a choice to become the hero of your life! This way, you can flip every experience on its head by asking: what is this teaching me? What opportunity can I find in this? In doing so, you notice that things naturally begin to improve.
“What’s more, having an optimistic approach through life is highly beneficial to your overall health, and the health of your organs, blood pressure, nervous system and hormonal system.”
The first-time manifester
After hearing about the basics from Natalia, we were keen to give manifesting a go ourselves. So, what tips does she have for beginners?
According to Natalia, laying the groundwork is key.
“A great place to start is becoming more present with yourself,” she says “Try to be more conscious of the words you’re speaking and how you’re feeling.
“Spending time in nature, eating good vegan natural foods and exploring breathwork and meditation are all great practices to help you connect to yourself.”
Once we’re feeling relaxed and connected, it’s time to consider what we want to manifest for ourselves. Surprisingly, it’s very easy to spend a lot of time and energy trying to manifest something that isn’t right for us, as a result of trying to compete with other people or listening intently to our own ego.
“When we try to manifest this way, it’s not necessarily authentic to what we truly want,” Natalia explains. “Instead, we need to connect to our still centre. This can be done through meditation and really getting quiet to hear our inner voice. Once we do this, we can stop listening to our ego and be able to trust things to work out, if it’s in our highest good.”
Tips for trying out manifesting
Once you’re attuned to your inner voice, it’s time to apply some practical steps to help you manifest.
“Try making a list of 21 things you’d like to manifest,” Natalia suggests. “You can start small, or include a few bigger things.” Try to include lots of detail, and create a clear mental picture of the thing, person or event you’re aiming to manifest.
It’s important to feel good while you’re doing this, so if you’re trying to manifest something really huge — to the point that you feel uncomfortable requesting it — dial it down a notch. You should feel that the things you are manifesting are within your reach.”
While manifestation is all about change and bringing new and exciting things into your life, Natalia is firm that it’s also about accepting your current life.
“Too often, we get into the narrative of ‘I’ll be happy when…’” she says. “But if you can’t love where you are now, who’s to say if you’ll love what is to come? So, make peace with where you are now, with the way things are, and have a sense of excitement for all that is to follow in the future.
“Don’t give up. The universe loves a persistent heart.”
What if the thing I want doesn’t manifest?
Placing our deepest wishes into the hands of the universe is a huge leap of faith. Sometimes it pays off, but not always. In those cases, what has gone wrong?
“Divine timing,” Natalia nods. “It may be that the thing you manifested is on its way to you, but will only arrive when the time is right.
“Similarly, we may think we know what’s best for us, but if our request is not for our highest good, it may come to us in a different form from what we expected. Sometimes, it arrives in a way that is more aligned to who we really are.”
Unfortunately, life doesn’t always work out how we imagined. But many of us will have had the sensation that, looking back, everything worked out for the best.
To adherents of manifestation, this is more evidence that the universe has delivered the experiences we needed, when we needed them — even if they were not at all in line with our own plans!
Things you need to know about before trying to manifest
As Natalia has mentioned above, we’re all a source of energy, which emanates from us into the outside world.
For this reason, we’re essentially always manifesting something or other — but often without any sense of direction.
“The less conscious and intentional you are, the more haphazardly you’ll end up manifesting,” says Natalia. “It’s only when you amend your point of attraction that things will start to change.
“Often, we have pain, fear and trauma stuck in the body, which inhibits us from feeling optimistic about certain areas of life. This is how we end up attracting the same (negative) situations over and over again.
“Until we heal what is stored in the subconscious and the body, we continue to manifest our future based on trauma and past experiences.”
Natalia also warns us to be wary of manifestation as part of a recent wellness craze; remember, it’s a lucrative idea. Promising wild success is an easy way to get people to part with their money.
“Manifesting has become very commercialised,” she agrees. “It can seem unattainable or unrealistic, and when it ‘doesn’t work’, people give up. It’s not all rainbows at first, and you may find yourself manifesting some silly situations, people or things until you become more aware of your thoughts.
“But remember, it’s a muscle that needs practice and training. I promise you, it’s worth living from your conscious self.”
Where to hear more from Natalia
We’ve been lucky enough to work with Natalia on another article which is all about setting healthy new year’s resolutions, so be sure to check that out. It also contains more detail about her background and work.
Or, if you’d like to follow Natalia, you can find her on Instagram (@theconsciouswellbeingcompany) or contact her by email.
If you are interested in working with Natalia, we highly recommend checking out her business, The Conscious Wellbeing Company. There, you can learn about organising a one-to-one session or corporate events with her.
