Are You Manifesting Correctly? Three Perspectives: Tantra, Taoism, & Positive Psychology

“Am I manifesting correctly?” I get asked this question all the time. As a facilitator of programs on manifesting intention, alchemy, and creating the life of your dreams for over ten years, I’ve learned one important thing: there’s no one right way to manifest, and manifestation works differently for everyone.

I got into the practice and study of manifestation years ago when the windowpane I’d been using as a makeshift dry-erase board was so cluttered with a to-do list I wiped it clean and wrote in all caps:

A B U N D A N C E

Later, I had some friends over for dinner and as each person came in, I asked them to do “a bun dance” in front of it. We had so much fun laughing and doing our “bun” dances. It was such a great night!

For the next year I realized a theme: abundance. I was busy, working, and manifesting all the things I’d wanted to bring in for myself. I wondered, could our little ritual have made that big of an impact? 

And the next year on that same day, I erased the board and created a new intention. I’d learned a lot from the previous years’ experience – abundance without a clarity of intention about how I wanted to feel ended up bringing an excess of abundance in areas that were less desirable as well. So, I more consciously chose this year’s intention phrase to include the sensations I wanted to experience:

S P A C E,  G R A C E,  L I G H T

As I got better at holding a strong intention, I became less interested in the tangible results, and more interested in the intangible feeling state it represented. 

Shelley’s manifesting window pane

The more I focused on that, the more my outcomes helped me begin to evolve in more spiritual dimensions. It was as if no matter what intention I set, the outcome was always greater spiritual knowledge and access to a deeper understanding of the nature of my wholeness, an integration of my body, mind, and spirit as one with the world around me, beyond the mundane and into the sacred.

The tantric practice of Sankalpa works very similarly. Sankalpa is derived from two Sanskrit words: “San,” meaning that which aligns with spirit, and “Kalpa,” meaning intention. The purpose of Sankalpa practice is to plant your intention deep within the unconscious mind, empowering you to fulfill your life’s purpose and bring it into reality with flow and clarity. Manifestation, as a tantric practice, takes whatever your conscious desires are and attunes them with your jiva atman, your true spiritual essence, like a drop in the ocean of the sea of universal consciousness to support right living with greater ease. 

In taoism it’s said where the mind goes is how the energy flows. When one aligns the mind with the intention of the absolute, one becomes immortal, full of vitality, and can harness the forces of nature. This is when manifestation becomes alchemy – the practice of applying the minimum effort with maximum reward. Being with things as they are and working with what is rather than what you want it to be is the highest form of manifestation in Taoist alchemical practices.

In terms of Positive Psychology, manifestation is understood to be “the ability to cosmically attract success in life through positive self-talk, visualization, and symbolic actions.” It is believed that by thinking positive thoughts, feeling positive emotions, and aligning personal energy with that of the universe, one can “manifest” their dreams. 

This is different from some of the more pop psychology and law of attraction trends toward “thinking positively”. And although I coach my clients to be curious about what works for them, I find the number one place where people get stuck in their manifesting process is focusing too much on thinking versus feeling or thinking versus constructive action.  

There’s a huge difference. 

Thought suppression, such as “thinking positive” is associated with an increase in invasive, intrusive thoughts. Overemphasizing positive thinking can create avoidance patterns that lead to negative behaviors such as excessive risk-taking, inability to process emotions, lack of self-care or life planning, or lack of authenticity that interferes with building healthy connections.

I see this reflected in those who focus too much on thinking positively as the way to manifest their desires. They seem more likely to make reckless choices that at the very least temporarily sabotage their authentic desires and needs. 

It is my belief that even those who are focusing too much on positive thinking will eventually, if they keep at it, break through to the other side and convert those adverse experiences into wisdom that brings them closer to their authentic self as an integrated whole. 

As they say, nature never hurries and yet everything is accomplished. 

As a coach I try to help ground my clients into being positive rather than thinking positive. Being positive, by taking constructive action, for example, is associated with a decrease in the kind of intrusive thoughts and invasive ruminations that can derail progress by increasing stress and the tendency for destructive action. 

Being positive through constructive action can take different forms:

• Facing difficult feelings or circumstances that you’ve been avoiding.
• Making choices that reflect your personal values.
• Putting attention on what’s working and practicing gratitude for it.
• Acts of kindness or being of service.

Taking constructive action can help manifest outcomes that help you face adversity, and support creating the feeling state of the intention you’re focusing on, rather than the specific, tangible aspects. 

It all comes down to embracing that no matter what you practice, engaging with curiosity and mindfulness will help you work at each step along the way as a process of coming into your wholeness, where the part of you that is the universe can support overcoming adversity and make the unconscious light. 

Intention organizes energy. Meditating on intention changes the existing energy patterns to change what manifests. It helps you get unstuck; it helps you take practical, constructive action through creating goal-setting and self-accountability that is personally relevant and meaningful. 

It helps you explore the space between where you are and where you’d like to be, not just as a box to check off, but as a means of self-study that just might bring about enlightenment, or something better.

TAKE ACTION: If you’d like support in developing a plan to take constructive action and manifest what you truly desire, reach out to me at www.bodyattune.com.