Reality shifting is an emerging popular hobby among the younger generations. Videos dedicated to this topic are gaining billions of views on social networks. It is not surprising then that scientists are also becoming interested in this topic. Researchers from Israel, Sweden, and Brazil (Somer, Cardeña, Catelan, and Soffer-Dudek) have drawn an analogy between this practice and lucid dreams, hypnosis, and tulpamancy, the latter being the idea that a being or object can be created by the mind.
Fans of reality shifting talk about traveling to selected worlds: Hogwarts and the Star Wars universe are especially popular. At the same time, many “travelers” directly say that everything starts from a dream, even though the space looks absolutely real. Scientists attribute the popularity of the practice to the coronavirus pandemic. Young people locked up at home are looking for a place to escape from our reality.
Preparation includes meditation and a detailed plan of the place where you want to go. You can create any appearance for yourself, describe the surrounding characters and other details. Affirmations are also useful, for example: “I can shift my consciousness to the reality I desire whenever I want to.” The “shifting” itself is done using the following methods:
1. Lie down in the starfish pose and count to one hundred. Repeat your affirmations after each digit.
2. The Alice in Wonderland method: imagine that you are sitting leaning against a tree. Observe the emerging images until one of the desired characters runs past. As soon as this happens, run after him.
3. Write down the affirmations on a piece of paper, repeat before going to bed and put it under your pillow.
4. Imagine yourself in an elevator going up. When it opens its doors at the top floor – the desired reality will be on the other side.
As the authors of the study add, this is perhaps the first scientific description of the reality shifting phenomenon. In general, they characterize it as an intense immersion in vivid fantasies. At the same time, the scientists are careful to point out the risks of this activity. Again drawing an analogy with lucid dreamers, for whom the boundary between sleep and reality is sometimes blurred, scientists talk about the dangers of excessive fascination with imaginary realities. Many young people end up unable to tear themselves away and lose touch with the real world.
What do you think reality shifting is more similar to? Lucid dreams, hypnosis, or tulpamancy?
The article was published in October 2021 in the journal Current Psychology.
