‘Reality shifting’ trend takes over TikTok

TikTokers have discovered a new process called “reality shifting,” or, “shifting,” which, despite sounding a lot like just meditating, can supposedly move someone’s consciousness over to a “new reality.”

A wild-sounding trend is nothing new for TikTok. In the past few months, there’s been the secret meaning behind a TikToker saying they had pasta for dinner, the reason behind calling someone else a “Heather” and we’re still not sure what the foreboding videos about August 27 were all about.

Shifting communities exist outside of the platform — Reddit, for example — but it’s starting to gain traction on TikTok. The hashtag #shiftingrealities has over 165 million views as of writing this article.

There are two popular ways of shifting your reality. The first is called the “raven method.” The raven method requires lying down on the ground in a starfish position and counting down from 100 while desiring the reality you want to shift into.

A super popular reality on TikTok is traveling to Hogwarts and being Draco Malfoy’s girlfriend. Based on how many people found success with it, Malfoy is probably very overbooked with dates.

https://www.tiktok.com/@im_.the_imposter_/video/6877686967983820038?_d=secCgsIARCbDRgBIAMoARI%2BCjy5%2FZ8fCUoNpiVkbnjOP19%2FZxJwoEmku3HAKOPC%2FlST88HCuj92jRNCxD3TKamSbkke7BiJpO4v6RNMeGcaAA%3D%3D&language=en&name=shiftingrealities&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAsMVftMqgqr_pj5hkFOUuPo9pnlzWuR86v1qE9PUcfkI6ewaFJvEWb9MS6mTdfVU2&share_challenge_id=1671678155460614&share_link_id=1AA00208-C1C9-404E-AD4A-B8CFA0E1E6D7&tt_from=copy&u_code=da967mm5dj8dd8&user_id=6780457203028526086&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m

The other way to shift realities is called the “Alice in Wonderland method,” wherein the shifter visualizes themselves running after a person from their desired reality (Malfoy, for example) and jumping down a rabbit hole with them. It’s unclear how many times you have to visualize this scenario before you actually feel yourself being with Malfoy in Hogwarts.

This trend isn’t any cause for concern. From searching through the hashtag on TikTok, none of the participants want to stay in their shifted reality for forever. It just feels like waking up from a very good dream.

https://www.tiktok.com/@hollandstephens/video/6872471118742129925?_d=secCgsIARCbDRgBIAMoARI%2BCjy5%2FZ8fCUoNpiVkbnjOP19%2FZxJwoEmku3HAKOPC%2FlST88HCuj92jRNCxD3TKamSbkke7BiJpO4v6RNMeGcaAA%3D%3D&language=en&name=shiftingrealities&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAsMVftMqgqr_pj5hkFOUuPo9pnlzWuR86v1qE9PUcfkI6ewaFJvEWb9MS6mTdfVU2&share_challenge_id=1671678155460614&share_link_id=1AA00208-C1C9-404E-AD4A-B8CFA0E1E6D7&tt_from=copy&u_code=da967mm5dj8dd8&user_id=6780457203028526086&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m

Although, that being said, this is not lucid dreaming either because the shifter is awake and conscious during the whole experience. Instead, it’s something therapist Grace Warwick described as a “transliminal experience” to Vice.

“Transliminal experiences occur when awake and are most common when the mind is in a soothed state – for example, upon waking and before falling asleep,” Warwick told Vice. “The ‘instructions’ [for shifting] that abound on social media include being half asleep as a start point. They then introduce repetitive music [or] counting backwards slowly. All these factors would induce a state conducive to a transliminal experience.”

One TikTok user actually shared the Vice article on their account to debunk the idea that reality shifting is a trend.

“You guys have shifting really misunderstood, it’s really crazy,” they said. “Spoiler alert: this isn’t a trend … This is an actual practice that people actually do who have done research on.”

“I hope people don’t think we’re literally taking the time to shift to a whole different reality just to get with Draco Malfoy,” someone commented on the video.

Find this confusing? Just wait — read all about court reporter TikTok here.

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