What is manifestation and does it work? TikTok users use it to attract money and love

After a year of living pretty much the same life every day in social isolation, maybe it’s time to give manifestation a try.

Manifestation, a spiritual practice that dates back to the 19th century, is the idea that you can “attract” anything you desire into your life. It’s tied to the so-called law of attraction, which is the belief that your thoughts and energy have the power to shape your reality.

So why is manifestation trending on TikTok right now? Videos tagged #manifestation and #lawofattraction have garnered 7 billion views and 1 billion views respectively.

Users have been sharing their own tips on manifestation and proof of the things they’ve manifested and attracted to themselves. One viral manifestation video came from @maeganaleece — an expert on the matter.

What is manifestation?

Maegan Aleece, a mindset and manifestation coach with more than 85,000 followers on TikTok, told In The Know’s Phoebe Zaslav that manifestation is “co-creating your reality” with a higher power.

In one of her most viral videos, she explained that she wanted to manifest a rainbow for her followers as proof that it really works. She saw not one but two rainbows in her home.

Aleece explained to In The Know that with manifestation, you’re tapping into energy, universal intelligence and the law of attraction. It’s when your thought becomes a desire that, well, manifests into your physical reality before your very eyes.

She described the process in a straightforward way.

“You control your thoughts, your emotions, your beliefs — and [that impacts] all the people and experiences in your life because that’s what you’re drawing in,” she said. “Everything you’ve created in your life up until now has been based upon your thoughts and beliefs and emotions and habits and actions.”

In one of her videos, Aleece explained that people sometimes have a hard time manifesting because you have to believe in that process before you see anything.

@maeganaleece

Your #thirdeye expands and opens up when you “see” the possibilities before they come into the #3d #beliefs #subconscious

♬ Bach Double Violin Concerto in D Minor – Classical Music

“Their eyes can’t see it,” she said. “That’s backwards.”

How does manifestation work?

Aleece encouraged her followers to treat each manifestation like a “seed” so they stop worrying about how exactly their manifestations are going to happen.

“You’re planting them into the soil of your subconscious mind. When you plant a seed, do you ask, ‘How are you going to grow?'” she said. “No. You trust that with the right energy … it’s going to grow.”

So how do you do it, exactly?

Aleece recommended writing down your desires in present tense with lots of specificity.

“If you write it in the future, it’s gonna stay in the future,” she told In The Know. “You have to believe. If you believe, it’s going to happen.”

She also recommended dousing your manifestations in gratitude.

“Any time you add gratitude to what you appreciate … that’s when you’re co-creating with the universe and bringing more of what you appreciate into your life,” she explained. “And be specific.”

Aleece shared an example of a manifestation with all of the necessary qualities: “I am so happy and grateful for the $10,000 in my bank account this month.”

She said she can vouch for this technique because her life has “drastically been impacted” since she started manifesting and realizing she had “this power.”

“My career path has changed, my bank account has changed and my mental health …. [has] not been in that state of anxiety or worry,” she explained.

How do I get rid of limiting beliefs?

Aleece called out certain “limiting beliefs,” or beliefs about what you’re capable of manifesting, that “block you from taking action.”

She said sometimes the concern that people are not worthy of what they want, don’t have access to what they want or don’t want to work really hard to make it happen can all be limiting beliefs.

“Our beliefs lead our actions,” she said in a TikTok post. “You’re blocking yourself from co-creating with the universal intelligence available to us at all times.”

She recommended identifying those beliefs as they come up, working through how and why you came to believe them, writing about memories that might be the cause of those beliefs and picking an affirmation to replace those beliefs with every day.

What kind of things can I manifest?

Aleece’s page has guidance on manifesting all sorts of lovely things. One of her most popular videos provides guidance on manifesting a romantic relationship.

Take a journal and pen and write out all the characteristics you want your person to have. Ask the universe (or whatever higher power you’d like) to put a person with all those qualities in your life — and be specific.

Aleece has tons of advice on overcoming anxiety, manifesting clear skin and more over on her TIkTok account — check it out.

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If you enjoyed this story, read more about out-of-the-box ways to calm your anxious mind.

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