Manifesting Desires through a 7 Step Process
Taking the time to allow your desire to manifest is a multi-step process. The basis for this is a formula for conscious creation. This formula sets us up for a seven step process to begin from identifying your desire to manifesting your desire. Here is the beginning formula for manifestation:
Your Desire + Good Feelings – Negative Emotions + Allowing = Your Desire Manifested
What do You Desire?
While it seems like it should be easy to determine what you desire, many of us have a hard time answering this simple question, “What do you want?” Really allowing yourself to manifest your desire is a multi-step process.
We spend so much time ensuring that everyone around us is happy—our children, spouse, boss, friends, family, students—that we haven’t taken the time to figure out what it is that will make ourselves feel good! Clearly, you have to know what you want to create in order to create it. If you are someone who is certain that your current situation does not make you happy, but you don’t have clarity on just what will make you happy—relax, there is no need to fret. You are in the perfect place: an open mind, a blank slate, or a new page in the notebook.
I guide people through the following seven-step process to help them discover and then manifest what they want.
One: Go general with your thoughts. Begin by thinking about how you want to feel, rather than what you want to do, be, or have.
Once you have a sense of how you’d like to feel, you can become a little more specific. Start by thinking about the things you know you have to do each day, and how you want those tasks to feel. Do you enjoy waking up early or late? Do you enjoy waking to an alarm or naturally? Do you want to feel excited about getting out of bed and on with your day? How do you want to feel during your morning rituals? Do you enjoy making your breakfast? Smelling your tea or coffee? Setting a peaceful tone with meditation? Do you feel successful and productive putting on a suit and heading to the office? Do you imagine it would it feel amazing to work from home in your PJs? Continue with this line of questioning to evaluate the rest of the day, when it comes to family time, workout or practice time, social time, and so on.
Two: Make a list of the things you absolutely love to do or people, places, and things you love to be around.
One client told me that it felt like a big blank space when she tried to think about what she wanted. I asked her what she loves, what makes her feel happy, and she answered, “I love holding babies and kittens!”
She owned her own catering-related business and couldn’t figure out how babies or kittens would ever fit into it. I guided her to allow herself to be open to the exploration of self with authenticity and without limitation. Nothing has to fit in a box, just make a list. Once you have a clear idea of how you want to feel, you are done with this second step.
How you want to feel is your desire. Your desire may include feeling amazing, happy, content, healthy, prosperous, and loved. You see, in reality the specific job, house, car, partner, et cetera is simply the delivery mechanism of that “feel good” feeling. All of those things we want are things we desire because we assume they will make us feel better than we do now.
Three: The next step is to practice feeling the way we think the thing we want will make us feel.
In order to land the dream job, we need to spend time feeling the satisfaction we think we’ll feel to be in that position. To create a healthy loving relationship, we’ve got to be in love with everything now. Same goes for that car, we benefit from feeling ourselves at the wheel, stepping on the gas pedal on the open road, pulling into that rock star parking spot right out front, fully enjoying the car in this moment, well before we drive it on the physical plane. Experiencing today the joy, excitement, peace, gratitude, love, bliss that we think the person, place or thing we desire will make us feel is key.
I know, it’s ironic that to manifest the stuff we think will make us feel good, we have to feel good first! Remember, ourselves and everything in our universe is made up of vibrating energy—including our feelings. Things that don’t feel good lower our vibration. Things that are positive and feel great raise the frequency at which we are vibrating. Feeling good simply raises our vibration to match the high frequency of our desires.
Everything we create comes from the unseen realm – first a thought, then a word, then a feeling. All of this informs our attitudes and our actions. This unseen thing crystalizes into matter – everything follows this creation process.
My kitten-loving client created a vision board that included beautiful photos of food, adorable images of babies, pictures, and words that made her feel empowered, happy, successful, clear-minded, positive, and in love with her life.
I meditate in front of my vision board each morning, using it as a tool to remain excited, hopeful, focused, and expectant of the things I want in my life. I also keep a list of things I love with me at all times. I use this list as a tool to direct my feeling toward optimism and joy during those times when I’m feeling emotions such as anger, depression, sadness, hopelessness, overwhelm. No matter where I am or what’s going on I can choose to peek at my list and instantly lift my vibration by feeling sensations such as how much I love the way the sun sparkles on the ocean, the sweetness of my kitten’s belly, that feeling of lying in savasana, a hug from my mom, and so on.
Make feeling good your number one priority, but it is important to distinguish this from the seduction of instant gratification—the kind of instant gratification we receive from something like dark chocolate.
Cultivate the deep-rooted, sits-well-with-your-soul kind of feeling good of contentment (santosha) that is mentioned in the Yoga Sutra or Bhagavad Gita. Do this often.
Four: Negative Emotions are Dream-Killers
There is an important distinction between feelings and emotions. Feelings are something we choose consciously; emotions are unconscious and tend to feel immutable and thrown upon us.
Negative emotions can be a major distraction in the creation process. When you allow yourself to spend time feeling depressed because that thing you want isn’t already here, or fearful that it won’t ever come (or that it will come true), or you are stuck in identifying with the lack of not having it, then you actually push the thing away further. If you want to create something wonderful, yet you are a habitual negative thinker and feeler, it is time to expand your yoga practice off of your mat and into your everyday life.
Yoga literally means union, feeling one with the divine self or god. Sure, we also practice to become stronger, more flexible, reduce stress, feel healthy, and fit into those jeans. Our focus on our breath, our body alignment, observing our thoughts and reactions in the postures all help wake us up to our habitual patterns in the mind, the physical body and the emotional body. This level of awareness of the self seems to magically create a feeling of oneness with the many parts of our self: physical, mental, energetic, emotional and spiritual. The minute we step off our mat, many of us immediately revert back to the way we were before our practice. In order to become an efficient creator, the level of consciousness you develop on your mat must linger out into every area of your life.
Rather than pushing your dreams away by practicing negative thoughts, feelings, words, attitudes and actions—practice mindfulness and divine connection. Choose to feel good, the way that you choose to breathe deeply in yoga class. Choose to notice the proof that your desire is being manifest. Choose to use your feelings as guidance.
When you are feeling connected to that inner bliss, the part of you that is pure light, unconditional love, total freedom and truth, it is hard to not feel great!
This is the feeling of creation – keep up the great work!
When you feel other than that, pay attention to what you just thought, said, interpreted or assumed, or did. Whatever it was, the negative emotion is simply your inner teacher telling you that it is not in alignment with your desire. No drama required, simply observe and choose to line up with your essence to create a sense of ease and flow. It really is just like when you’re struggling in a yoga posture, it can feel miserable until your teacher lovingly comes over and gives you a subtle adjustment that lines your body up in a way that magically makes the posture feel light and easy! Make your life, every bit of it, your yoga practice!
Five: Cultivate the Practice of Allowing
An often overlooked piece of the “how to manifest” puzzle is that we must allow our desires to become crystalized from the unseen plane into the physical plane. I found it interesting to look up the definition of the word Allow:
Let, grant, permit by neglect or oversight, acknowledge, admit, take into consideration by adding or subtracting, to say, or to think.
Synonyms: Allow, let, permit…all imply granting or conceding the right of someone to do something. Allow and permit are often interchangeable, but permit is the more positive. Allow implies complete absence of an attempt, or even an intent, to hinder. Permit suggests formal or implied consent or authorization. Let is the familiar, conversational term for both allow and permit.
Antonyms: forbid, prohibit
I also think the following words are great synonyms for the word allow, especially in relation to the process of creating:
Believe, have faith, trust, expect, anticipate, do not resist, or no-resistance.
Consider these words and meanings in your own process of allowing your desire to manifest. Allow.
Six: In order to allow or permit your desires to manifest, believe they are on their way to you.
Trust that all of it is already happening, regardless of whether or not you can see it yet. Know that what you are currently living is old news. This old news is the result of your past wants and vibrations. Create a shift: have faith that a new future is possible, that you deserve it and are worthy of it. Feel the joyful anticipation of it; expect that it is just a matter of time until it is yours; and stop resisting or pushing against it (often times, unconsciously).
Seven: Allow Your Desire In.
Once you have set your intention or gotten clear about what you desire and begun to spend time consciously feeling as if that wish is already fulfilled—all that is left to do is to allow your desire in. If you keep asking for what you want over and over again, that basically means you don’t trust or believe that it’s truly on the way to you – and it won’t be, since lack of belief is negative emotion. Simply put, a question has a different vibration than the answer. In light of this you might wonder as I did if repeating affirmations or looking at a vision board daily is a continued asking? I use those tools daily, and was so happy to learn that the answer is NO! Affirmations and vision boards are tools to help you focus on your desire and ways to practice feeling as if the desired thing is here now.
How do you allow your desires in? You remove any and all negativity around not having it yet. Make peace with where you are, wherever you are, even at the beginning of the creation process. Focus on how wonderful it will feel when you are enjoying the things of your dreams. You can also get off of it—literally stop thinking about the thing you want, especially if it makes you sad or angry that you don’t yet have it.
Think about absolutely anything else that feels good to think about (like my list)! Get out of the way of your desire coming to you by getting to a neutral place in your mind, and once there, begin to move into gratitude and love. Meditation is a powerful tool to help you be in a place of no resistance, to help you stop thinking about not yet having what you desire.
Photo of Marti Nikko Bradley by David Young-Wolff. Mari is meditating and wearing top by Balini Sports and pants by Bali Dog.
Meditation as a Tool to Allow your Desire to Manifest
One meditation practice that I have found incredibly effective to reduce my resistant habitual thoughts is mantra meditation, particularly NAAM meditation. This practice holds your attention on the divine word with repetition, rhythm and love, creating a deeply devotional connection with God (source, spirit, the universe, nature, whatever you call it!)
Mantra meditation creates sound vibration in the mouth and mind that literally changes the brain waves to help release habitual thought patterns! Mantra Meditation is a form of Jap or Japa meditation, the repetition of the name of the Divine.
Allowing can be simple, yet like creating any new habit it takes practice and consciousness.
Back to my kitten-loving client. She completed this seven-step process. She created a vision board with all the things she loves and that make her feel good, including babies and kittens. She looked at the beautiful board daily with a sense of love and excitement about how the universe would respond.
I saw her a short while after we did this process, and she shared with me that her catering business had transformed from doing exhausting big events and parties, to working with new moms, cooking for the family and the babies. She was literally holding babies as she worked and has so many products and ideas that are in process for new moms and babies. In addition, she had also become a foster cat mama. She is so fulfilled and enjoying each moment of her life, which now includes all of her favorite things.
I invite you to begin this process with a Guided Vision Board workshop.
EMBODY YOUR INTENTION: A GUIDED VISION BOARD WORKSHOP
Saturday, February 2, 2020 from 1:00-5:00 pm at Santa Monica Yoga
Through movement and breathwork you will connect with your body, mind and spirit – no prior yoga experience necessary. You will meditate to create a positive energy vibration and to get clear about what you desire or how you want to feel in your life. You will be lead through a group technique to help you identify how you might be blocking yourself from allowing your desires in. You will then be guided through the creative process of making your Vision Board, with plenty of time and all materials included. Learn more at: AllynCioban.com/workshops.
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Allyn Cioban knows the demands of a successful business career. She has directed the international headquarters of a yoga, healing, and research center with 13 franchises. She has been an executive team member at a multimillion dollar healthcare clinic, a development and marketing director and consultant garnering major gifts for several nonprofits, Allyn was president and co-owner of her own corporation (a franchise which utilized three-dimensional laser technology to create corporate gifts and awards), and she has successfully produced hundreds of television commercials, music videos, and movie trailers with award winning directors and advertising agencies, international clients and brands, celebrities, and major motion picture studios.
Somewhere along the way, her body began to ache, she lost her motivation to keep climbing “the ladder” (and running marathons) and experienced depression. She stumbled into a yoga class and felt her fire reignite. She has completed four different types of yoga teacher trainings along with an IntenSati Leadership training, a Harmonyum self-healing modality training, courses on anatomy, low back, spine, and neck health, safe postural alignment and sequencing, intensives on yoga postures for seniors and osteoporosis, restorative yoga, and many classes and workshops on breath work, mantra meditation, and divine spiritual wisdom.
Allyn has taught thousands of hours and students. She has created and teaches a curriculum for personal transformation, and is a 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT 500) with the Yoga Alliance. Allyn is grateful to have the honor of teaching others about the many benefits of yoga and sharing the unending gifts of the practice.