Reality shifting 101: Inside the TikTok trend visiting parallel timelines in the multiverse

By Malavika Pradeep

Published Jan 1, 2023 at 09:00 AM

Reading time: 6 minutes

It’s 2013 and you’ve breezed through your weekly dose of Harry Potter without a broken back. You then sneak into the family room to catch up on some Potter x Malfoy fanfiction on Wattpad—only to carry memories worth revisiting at the breakfast table the next morning. Eight years later, you’re still hung up on the characters, but instead of daydreaming, you now have a 30 page script, a subliminal playlist on YouTube, and a proper hydration and night time routine.

Introducing reality shifting, a meditative practice that literally slides you into the glass slippers of ‘your name’ (y/n).

What is reality shifting?

Reality shifting is a practice where you switch your consciousness in order to access a parallel timeline of your life. Think of it as the physical version of ‘daydreaming’. You enter an alternate dimension and experience life just as real as the one you currently reside in. The practice relies on the assumption that there are infinite realities in this world, ones you can choose to actually enter simply by channelling your awareness. Although reality shifting appears to be a combination of meditation, astral projection, and lucid dreaming, ShiftTok disagrees.

With a whopping 5.7 billion and 2 billion views on #shiftingrealities and #realityshifting respectively, the gen Z-first platform is undoubtedly obsessed with the practice. Users gathered on ShiftTok are seen role-playing their own experiences, busting myths, dishing tutorials on different shifting methods, and venting about mental blocks hindering the process. Some of the most popular timelines—also known as Desired Reality (DR)—among enthusiasts include Harry Potter, The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, Stranger Things, and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (minus She-Hulk, unfortunately).

Although there are various shifting communities on Amino and Reddit, TikTok seems to be the major hub dedicated to the practice. Shifting tutorials on the video-sharing platform guarantee users a first-person tour of Hogwarts with a legal-aged Draco Malfoy as the student guide… and later shagging the heck out of the character. Oh, did that pique your interest? Here’s the typical process of reality shifting, brought to you by the dynamic abyss of ShiftTok:

Step 1: Proper hydration and night time routine

First things first, it’s always suggested to shift during your sleep at night to avoid any disturbances—especially if you’re planning shagging seshes with your DR boo. Before heading to bed, make sure to shower and have a decent night time routine. You don’t want to show up on Thor’s doorstep smelling like a foot-long Italian BMT now, do you?

Another advice ShiftTokers seem to stress on is hydration. Binge on your water bottle (generously) throughout the day that you’re planning to shift. Both self-care and hydration are essential steps to wash away all the stress you’ve accumulated during the day. Remember, you need to rid yourself of all mental blocks and relax for this to work. Once you’re all prepped, grab one of the many journals you’ve purchased just for the aesthetic and help fulfill its purpose in life.

@delaniedelaniedelanie

#foryou #foryourpage #foryoupage #fyp #shifting #desiredreality #shiftingrealities #realityshifting #dr #desiredrealityshifting #shiftingaccount #shiftinginspo #shiftinginspiration #shiftingmotivation #multiverse #themultiverse #shifttok #strangerthings #strangerthings4

♬ original sound - Jay

Step 2: Make, read, and memorise your script

Before we get into scripting, let’s revise the definition of reality shifting. It’s a practice where you switch your subconsciousness to access alternate realities of your choosing. Meaning, you are ultimately in charge of your DR. This level of autonomy fosters endless possibilities. You decide whether or not you want Hermoine to sport duck nails or speak Simlish in your timeline. You can also choose to give yourself incredible pain tolerance and opt not to bring back the trauma you might experience in your DR into your Current Reality (CR).

The best way to design your own DR is by scripting it. While some shifters write scripts that detail everything they want to happen in their alternate timeline, others prefer saying it out loud. Although there is no specific format, one realm of ShiftTok is seen sharing templates for physical scripts. These require you to list details of your personal appearance along with everything else around you. You can choose a different name, age, gender, skills, and personality for yourself in your DR. On TikTok, some shifters admit to spending months perfecting their scripts before shifting. They also suggest scripting yourself as someone who won’t get pregnant or have periods unless you want to. Sky’s the limit in your DR.

@daddy_shifter

Tw: mention of guns. #shiftingrealities #shifter #shifttok

♬ original sound - Rat daddy

After scripting your characters, it’s time to draft the scenarios you want to transport yourself into. Although most ShiftTokers admit to engaging in their deepest desires of “railing Draco Malfoy,” others have a specific scene from a TV show or movie that they want to live out in real life—be it fighting wolves with Thor or blood-edging Edward in that iconic biology class scene. Brownie points if you script details like vampire skin in the latter case! You can alternatively conjure up your own scenarios. For instance, how about spending detention with Harry Potter himself?

Once you’ve perfected your script and scenario, make sure to read it thoroughly before shifting. This will help imprint the details onto your subconscious. You can also choose to paste relevant images into your scripting journal for visual reference.

Step 3: Choose a shifting method

Next up is choosing the right shifting technique to access your DR. Now, this step could take multiple trials and errors to perfect—majorly because there are tons of options to choose from. The most popular ones, however, are the raven, Julia, Alice in Wonderland, and pillow method.

1. Raven method

The raven method involves laying on your back in a starfish position—making sure that your arms and legs don’t touch each other. Then begin a mental countdown from 100 and repeat a list of affirmations every ten seconds. Once you finish counting, visualise your DR until you fall asleep. It’s worth noting that the raven method is a sleep technique, meaning you are bound to wake up in your DR instead of your CR.

2. Julia method

The Julia method starts with laying down on your back and repeating “I am” as part of your identity affirmations. This essentially helps craft your new desired character and mainly concerns the hypothetical name, age, and living conditions of the user. For example, your affirmations can include: I am Jane (change of name), I am 25 years of age (change of age), and I live in New York City (change of residence).

Once you start feeling the shifting symptoms, you can switch to affirmations like “I am shifting” and “I am in my desired reality.” When you’re relaxed, slowly start visualising your DR. Think about how you will arrive at the place you want to shift to along with everything on your to-do list for the day.

3. Alice in Wonderland method

The Alice in Wonderland method requires the shifter to visualise themselves running after a person from their DR and—you guessed it—jumping down a literal rabbit hole with them to access the desired timeline.

Here, you first have to lie down on your back and imagine yourself resting under a tree. After reciting routine affirmations, visualise someone from your DR approaching the tree. As you get up, they start running and you chase after them—later jumping down a rabbit hole to reach a dark hallway leading up to a door that will transport you to your DR.

Given how the Alice in Wonderland method is very visual-heavy and requires all the steps to be flawlessly memorised, it is considered to be a difficult shifting technique among the community. On these terms, enthusiasts recommend the raven method, which is comparatively more practical.

4. Pillow method

Lastly, the pillow method has pretty convenient and straightforward guidelines that can easily be followed by anyone who is just kicking off their shifting journey. It involves the initial preparation of your script (remember: the more detailed the script, the more vivid and real your shifting process will be) and placing the same underneath your pillow before you lie down. This is the most important part of this whole technique. You can also keep crystals along with your script to increase your vibrational energy during the entire process.

Other shifting techniques include the cloud, ballroom, Sunni, Estelle, Coraline, and the in your arms method to name a few. All of these techniques essentially work by putting your body to sleep while remaining conscious.

@maskedshifter

Reply to @pilvijumala these are just some examples, there's a lot more #shiftingrealities#shiftingrealitieshelp#shiftingrealitiestips#affrmations#dr

♬ DlCK by starboi x doja cat - Ben Chatonda 🍉

Many shifters also listen to specific music called ‘subliminals’ to help with their shifting. According to folks over at r/shiftingrealities, subliminals are “videos or audios of a collection of affirmations either sped up or lowered past an audible level and layered over some other noise, usually music or ambiance like rain.” They basically combine music with affirmations to help you shift.

One handy tip exchanged among ShiftTokers is to check the comments section before streaming a random subliminal playlist. This helps ensure that there are no negative affirmations in the subliminals while providing you with case studies of those who have successfully shifted to the playlist.

Some of the ‘symptoms’ felt while shifting into your DR include bodily tingles. The key here is to not wake up too soonotherwise you might just be stuck in your CR instead of shifting. Once you’ve successfully shifted, however, you can choose to return using certain safe words. And if you are worried about forgetting your phrase, you can always script your character in a way that you never forget it! Like I said, the possibilities are endless because it’s your world and you’re the main character in it.

@makayla.scroggins

Again I’m going live this weekend to answer questions #SpookyTreats #fypシ #harrypotter #shifting #shiftingrealities #dracotok #dracomalfoy #hogwarts

♬ Harry Potter in 99 Seconds - Jon Cozart

A cautious tale of transliminal experiences

Now onto the luminescent butterfly in the room: what’s the science behind reality shifting exactly? According to Grace Warwick, a therapist with expertise in anomalous experiences, reality shifting is a ‘transliminal experience’.

“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,” the expert shared in an interview with i-D. “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.”

Warwick also likened the role of a script to creating a guided meditation or working with an active imagination. However, she also pointed out how these experiences can vary from person to person.

“For the vast majority, the current trend is simply the next iteration of our relationship to altered states—enjoyable and seemingly magical—but I would urge a sense of caution,” she said. According to the therapist, key indicators to seek mental health support would be if the shifter experienced anything that created fear for them, or challenged their belief system regarding what we could refer to as ‘consensual reality’. “Also seek help if there is any ongoing drifting into altered states outside of intended shifting sessions,” she added.

Thankfully, Warwick pointed out that “the vast majority” of shifters have recorded good experiences. She added how shifters can return to their current reality “[feeling] revived and energised by an experience that fitted with their belief system and experiential limits.”

From Hogwarts to New Orleans, reality shifting essentially plays on the continuous concept of escapism that has been triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also created a new kind of divide on the platform, with some stating how we might just be characters in someone else’s script. If that’s possible, I really hope the person who scripted this DR had a plan before sending Kpop boy band BTS to the military.

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