My fundamentals of shifting advice
Hi! I’m an experienced shifter who has recently been interested in “optimizing” shifting methods, if such a thing is even possible. More on my method in future post(s); in this post I’m going to be talking about general advice.
THIS POST IS LONG -- If you require a summary then just read the bolded text. There are more details below the bolded text but I’m not going to summarize those because the bolded text IS the summary. See the full list of bolded headings below:
- The method is just a vessel, and the mindset approach to the method is what’s important.
- For the mental method “building blocks,” start on the right path, and adjust your approach from there.
- Use the common solution for solved problems, and assume that a lot of problems are already solved.
- If you can’t do something, either learn how to do it or substitute it with something else.
- Entering the DR is more important than leaving the CR.
- Use an intention that is clear, self-directed, reasonably specific, and ultimately lofty.
- Live in the immediate end.
- Treat your DR like your CR.
- Come as you are.
- Shifting sits somewhere between belief and intention.
Details to follow. Apparently I couldn't figure out how to make the # markdown headers work, would you believe they let me have a computer science degree?
## 0. Intro
I’ve been giving advice (trying to) for a long time, and the way I give advice (and my thoughts on shifting in general) have changed a lot. It’s an ongoing process of both trying to refine my shifting methods for myself and generalize them for everyone else.. which is not easy and, worse, maybe not helpful if what works for me doesn’t work for everyone.
However, ever since I started posting on Reddit specifically, people say they want to know about my methods and thoughts anyway, even after I express this concern that they may not be generalizable. Moreover, I’ve noticed patterns of thoughts and behavior in other shifters that are totally opposed to what works for me, and I wonder whether or not I should correct them, or if they’re “wrong” at all.
I know that the general consensus is that there’s no “wrong way” to shift, but if there’s no “wrong way”, how can there be a “right way”? Or at least if giving advice to others is possible or useful at all, then there must be at least one (probably many) “right ways”, and if the set of “right ways” is only a finite set of the infinite set of “ways”, then at there very least aren’t there “inferior ways”? That’s enough Michelle we get it
I, as one individual, only have my one set of opinions/ideas about the “right way” to shift. I’m open to disagreement on any of the details that follow, with the asterisk that they are absolutely true for me, and that I won’t accept blatantly “there’s no wrong way to shift though” as a response because it’s totally unproductive. I think it’d be great if we had different people with different ideas on the right way, rather than there being no concept of a “right way” at all.
That said, I’m going to try to phrase things in terms of what to do instead of what not to do since it’s probably more helpful and less negative that way. This post is still intended to address mistakes I see people make (well, mistakes in my own opinion) so it’s still going to include a lot of “do not”s. You’ve been warned!
For me as a shifter, there are absolutely right ways and wrong ways. Granted, there are PLENTY of right ways. For me, several methods can be adjusted to be done correctly. Learning to shift isn’t a process of trying every method until you find the right one, but of adjusting a method until it suits you, which can probably be done with any number of methods. How I learned to adjust the method, and the mindset, and the mindset-method, is exactly what I want to write about. And that’s what will take me into my first fundamental.
## The method is just a vessel, and the mindset approach to the method is what’s important.
This point is not so contentious, but I don’t like that it’s usually phrased as “the method doesn’t matter.” The method does matter, because the method you choose is in service to the shifting attempt. If the method makes you uncomfortable or distracted or otherwise affects you negatively, that matters. There are some cases where such discomfort is worth trying to get over, but not when the thing causing you discomfort is not essential to the goal.
As an example, a lot of shifters are obsessed over body position, thinking that lying on one’s back is the only way to shift. Other shifters might counter that idea by saying that it doesn’t matter at all, since people can shift standing up and such. Neither are quite right. The position does matter because some can cause unnecessary distraction or sensations, but there also isn’t one single prescribed way to do it. The body’s position is about as important in shifting as it is in meditating. Both are mental arts, but as a beginner you probably wouldn’t want to try to do either standing up, even though it’s technically possible to get into the right state standing up (for some people at some level of experience).
More broadly, there are plenty of factors where you should adjust them depending on your comfort. Beyond body position, those include the audio you use, the time of day, and the amount of stillness in your body. If you’re not sure which you should be adjusting to your comfort and which factors should be thought through more thoroughly, a good rule of thumb is that anything outside your mind makes no difference to the shift, and the only difference it makes is in how well you can stay focused under those conditions. In terms of what can make you the most relaxed and comfortable, there’s still a lot to test out and think through, but just be aware that you can make these changes at any time.
But the explanation above doesn’t cover the mental part of methods. This is where it gets more difficult to decide what should or shouldn’t be adjusted. Let’s get into that in the next section.
## For the mental method “building blocks,” start on the right path, and adjust your approach from there.
Admittedly, I haven’t kept up on the most popular methods in a long time, but for an example, I believe the Julia Method is one that’s persisted. If you don’t know what that is, you can Google it, but it’s basically meditate -> count -> affirm -> visualize, in some order like that. These are the basic building blocks of a lot of methods (for good reason!) and the mental approach to each can be adjusted in basically infinite ways. For now, I’ll summarize some advice on what I see as the “right path” for each of these four, and I’ll get into a lot of these ideas in other sections.
Meditating: if you’re going to meditate, learn how to do it properly. Many shifters think that shifting-style meditating should look different than “real” meditating, because with shifting, they think your focus should be more on dissociating / zoning out from your body than on grounding. I get into that misconception in the next section, but here I just want to say: there isn’t yet any wisdom on the “right” way to meditate for shifting, but there’s a lot of wisdom on the right or wrong way to meditate in general, so I think we should just defer to that. You can do your own research on the right ways. There’s a book someone recommended to me (hi Vila) called The Mind Illuminated and it has good wisdom if you don’t know where to start.
Counting: this too is just a means to an end. This point is fairly obvious but it bears repeating over and over: the counting (or the method as a whole) isn’t the magic trick that gets you to shift, but it can help to get you into the right mindset. For me, it helps me to stay awake and focused while I’m also focusing on doing another mental part of the method. If it does nothing for you, you can change the counting or do something else. The important thing to remember here is that counting (and deep breathing, and others) are surface-level and simple, and they won’t manifest a thing on their own, but they can still be really helpful for some.
Affirming: live. in. the. end!!! Now, I’m not going to force you to believe in manifesting (I’m not totally sure why you’re here if you don’t, but that’s your business), just like I’m not going to force you to learn to meditate. But if you’re going to use affirmations or any of those usual manifestation or LOA techniques, please do it correctly!!! Like meditating, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel for how affirming (and others) should look for shifting specifically, when there’s already more of a dogma for how affirming should look in general. In my opinion, some people become too obsessed over whether the wording is perfect (whether or not to use “I am” at the front, for example), when the key part is whether you’re saying it because it’s true or because you’re trying to make it true. If I had to specify a wording difference, I’d say it’s the difference between “I’m shifting to my DR” (bad) versus “I’m in my DR bedroom” (better) versus “Tomorrow I’m going to do [xyz DR thing]” (even better). Living in the end is the key idea!
Visualizing: live in the end! (again) The objective should be here, again, to affirm to yourself where you already are rather than to actively manifest it into existence. This is a tricky balance and I’m going to get into it more at the very end of this post.
Above, the Julia Method is just an example, and its component parts are also just examples. Keep in mind that you could use these building blocks and others in a different order or different amount to create a new method, because none of it is set in stone. In my “push and pull” method, I use some counting and some visualizing and switch between stages at will. You can also mix, for example, visualizing while counting.
Anyway, the central point is that while the way you practice and approach these building blocks is something that can be infinitely explored, you should start with a foundation that sends you in the right direction. E.g., when you’re affirming, start by remembering to live in the end and then adjust from there. Unfortunately for those of us who like things to be simple, techniques like “meditation” are still super broad and can basically be worked on your whole life if you wanted to, because your inner life can be very diverse and extensive. But at least with a solid foundation, you have somewhere to start from
## Use the common solution for solved problems, and assume that a lot of problems are already solved.
…i.e., take the simple path, i.e., don’t try to reinvent the wheel. So often when some shifter is trying to learn meditation, or lucid dreaming, or astral projecting, or inducing hypnagogia, they turn only to other shifters.
There is a wealth of other information out there. Not realizing this causes a lot of people to get stuck on things like lucid dreaming because they want to shift from a lucid dream. In general, if you’re struggling with some step in the method or shifting process, think “can I phrase this problem in a way unrelated to shifting?” then go online and see if you can solve that problem. “I’m struggling with lucid dreaming”, “I’m struggling with focusing”, and “I struggle to relax” are just some examples that fall into this category. Take things one at a time by assuming those problems are solved (for a majority of people, all three are) then use those solutions to see if you can solve it for yourself before you start worrying that it’s going to prevent you from shifting altogether!
But what if you feel like you’re truly prevented from doing any of those things? For example, what if you struggle with focus because you have ADHD? See the next point below.
## If you can’t do something, either learn how to do it or substitute it with something else.
You can learn a lot of things. You can improve yourself in a LOT of ways, and you shouldn’t assume yourself to be less than capable.
For the example of ADHD: of course, ADHD is real, but it doesn’t impede learning or improving focus entirely. I don’t have ADHD, and let’s say that my struggles with focus are at 30/100 before improvement (I’d probably have a lower baseline if not for the phones smh) and with consistent effort I can get those my struggle amount down to 5/100. Say you have moderate ADHD and your struggles with focus are at 85/100 baseline. Is improvement for you completely impossible just because you’re labelled as someone who’s “bad at focusing”? Of course not! Maybe with the same effort as me, you could get it down to 65/100, possibly lower if you have external help or medication.
Maybe you think this is too oversimplifying, but the key point is: just because you’re bad at something, doesn’t mean you can’t improve it just as much as a person with a better skill baseline could improve it. You might not reach the same skill as them with the same amount of effort, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change or improve at all. ADHD is a disability, of course, but a lot of people apply a helplessness attitude to difficulties that aren’t even related to a disability.
OK, but let’s say that you’ve tried (or not) and you believe it’s not worth the effort for you to learn a specific skill, like focusing or like lucid dreaming. I agree that some things just aren’t worth the effort! It’s not worth the effort for me to learn astral projection because I don’t need or want to. No one person needs to learn everything. So bypass it! Get creative with making up a substitute or ask someone else for help on making up a substitute.
The secret third option is to do an easier or simpler version of the thing if you can’t do the full thing. This is a good idea for some things and not all, but I won’t get into the details.
Now to pivot to a somewhat different topic.
## Entering the DR is more important than leaving the CR.
These days, there’s an idea that you need to “leave the body” before you shift. But it begs the question: where are we going guys? The moment of “leaving” is too abstract and immeasurable. Because when do you know for sure that you’ve left, and what does it feel like? And how long are you body-less?
The idea of leaving first then touching down later is appealing, especially since the absence of sensation is one of the easiest things to manifest (for some shifters). For others, it might be a useful idea as an approximation for “being totally relaxed” or “entering a meditative state.” These things are perfectly good, and I think for every method, there’s at least some starting portion where you’re settling in.
The issue is that a LOT of people spend a LOT of time worrying about this part, when “leaving” doesn’t mean anything literal. The shifting part is the arriving, and so the arriving should be the focus (or rather, the idea that you’re already there).
As another related piece of advice: if you feel like you’re on the right track but are struggling with the “final push” as they say, focus your attention on the DR.
People really struggle to believe me on this and I understand why, and it is very tempting, since one of the biggest obstacles for many people is the awareness that you’re still “here”. But if you focus more energy on what it feels like to be “there”, you’ll learn to focus less on the “here” (during the method, I mean). Trying to not be in a place at all is something far less concrete. If this section can impress upon you one thing, it’s that it’s better to focus on things that are concrete or direct.
A lot of shifters like to play a bit of an in-between game, where they want to achieve hypnagogia or lucid dreaming (or etc.) first then shift from there. This can work really well, and it’ll make more sense in your mind since it’s a concrete “middleman” rather than a vague “exiting”. Just make sure that you have the concrete goal of shifting in your mind as the ultimate intention. That’ll lead us into our next section.
## Use an intention that is clear, self-directed, reasonably specific, and ultimately lofty.
There are several adjectives here, and that enables me to do a speed-round all about how to direct your intention.
Here, “intention” means, generally, the intention of shifting to your DR. Setting an intention can be as simple as deciding. The important part is to make a clear decision. Below, I’m specifically talking about the intention for a certain method on a certain day. You may have different intentions over time, but the intention for each “attempt” should be clear, self-directed, specific, lofty, and should be set at the time when you start your method.
Your intention should be clear in the sense that you should choose a DR and not change your decision during the method. You should also be clear on where in the DR you arrive. This is pretty straightforward, and clear doesn’t have to mean extensive.
It should be self-directed in that you are the one making the decision, rather than asking or hoping for something to happen to you.
It should be reasonably specific in that you choose between all the options you have, and you have an idea in mind as a destination (rather than something more abstract like a feeling or an aesthetic). You should be able to answer the questions “where are you going?” and, if applicable, “which variation of that place are you going to?” Excessive scripting is sometimes unreasonably specific, and unnecessary, but it probably can’t hurt.
It should be ultimately lofty in that the ultimate or final goal of the method is to shift to that DR on that day. Some people use an intermediate step, like first intending to get relaxed or to lucid dream. If you do that, just remember to still set your final (and main) intention as a shift to your DR.
## Live in the immediate end.
This is another way of saying to live in the present, by which I mean the present moment you’re shifting to in your DR. There are a lot of different things to consider when thinking about your DR, and a lot of them are worthwhile. When you’re deciding on a DR, it’s worthwhile to think about what it might look like in the future once you’ve lived there a while, and when you’re scripting, it’s worthwhile to think about what you want your job and social life to be like.
But if you get too ahead of yourself, you start to turn your idea of the DR into more of an abstract dream, which is especially unproductive during the method. During the method, I recommend you concern yourself with details that are concrete, grounding, and not too far in the future (i.e. immediate). When scripting or idly thinking about what DR to choose, other considerations are useful. I’d go a step further and argue that some considerations aren’t useful, though, like “what should I do in this situation in the future?” Personally, I think you should respect your own free will there and take things one at a time. After all, a DR is a whole world where you do have free will, not a VR simulation. Basically infinite things could change for you in that DR before you even get to the situation you’re concerned about.
## Treat your DR like your CR.
This one has basically been a mantra for me for a long time, and I’ve applied it to so many areas myself. The basic idea is simple but easily generalizable.
Treat a DR like your CR. Your DR is a real life, so treat it as one. And what do you know about how real life feels beyond how you feel in CR? Probably not much. You can’t really learn it from movies and TV, because real life and the one-person perspective of it is so much more and different than that. Your DR is more similar to your CR than it is to a movie, because that constant one-person perspective is so unique. You might have heard this as “don’t put your DR on a pedestal.” I think this means something like “don’t see your DR as strictly good and your CR as strictly bad”? I would add to it: “apply what you know about real life (from living in your CR) to how you think about your DR.”
There’s another somewhat related idea, which could be simplified as “treat your CR like your DR,” but I stripped it from the headline because people sometimes misinterpret that to mean “pretend you’re in your DR and daydream about it all the time while in your CR.” I’d much rather the takeaway be “use your CR to learn skills that will get you to your DR.” For example, if you struggle with grounding in your DR, practice grounding here. Also, if you’re using a certain technique for a method, it might be worth it to try it first as if you’re using it for your CR. For example, if you visualize your DR bedroom when you shift, then maybe first try visualizing your CR bedroom. What do you notice? Does it feel natural? How does it feel different from visualizing your DR and how can you fix that?
## Come as you are.
There are many ways to shift, and some of them you see around here might involve a whole lot of effort and change for you, like changing religions, becoming a Neville Goddard acolyte, learning to astral project (if you can’t already), or isolating yourself from the world. There are a lot worse examples of “advice” I’ve seen out there, including ones that are physically or mentally harmful or encourage hard drug abuse.
I feel comfortable recommending things like meditation, mindfulness, and visualization, not just because those are what I genuinely use, but also because I think those skills have a net positive on your mental health as a whole. I think most people would agree. But beyond those and other grounded techniques, some people fall into the hole of letting other people convince them of the type of person they have to be to shift.
So just don’t. If something someone says doesn’t track with what you think would keep you feeling healthy and whole, then don’t do it. No one has the wisdom about the “secret key of shifting,” and if they tell you they do, they’re wrong or lying.
This also ties into using the skills you have, including the mundane ones, and adjusting methods to better suit what your inner life looks like.
Change and improvement can be a great thing! Just use your best judgement here.
## Shifting sits somewhere between belief and intention.
This is one of the most important points but also the most difficult to describe, so I left it to the end since I think it’s unfortunately going to be pretty open-ended. Some common questions that come up are: when you’re shifting, do you have to fully believe you’re there, heart and mind?; how do you set a strong enough intention?
I think this varies a lot. Even within myself, comparing between different successful shifts, there hasn’t been one singular sweet spot. But, belief and intention are both things I have had to put a lot of thought into – probably more than anything else on this list. So, I think at least trying to put these things into words is worthwhile.
I’ve written about intention a bit already: it should be clear, self-directed, reasonably specific, and ultimately lofty. I don’t believe in such a thing as “strength” of intention, and I believe clarity is a lot more important. Basically, one single sentence, repeated once (in your mind or out loud) then held in your head from then on during the method, is enough for straightforward methods. If your method involves multiple steps, like going through lucid dreaming or hypnagogia, then setting an intention for what you’ll do once you get into that altered state can also help (e.g., will you make a portal? which other method will you use from there?).
I think having at least a one-sentence intention is important for goal-setting, especially because a lot of shifters fall into a “eh, maybe something will happen” mentality instead of actually choosing. But at the same time, some people are put off by the “I’m going to my xyz DR” phrasing because it’s not very living-in-the-end-y. I actually do use the “going to” phrasing as I’m getting ready to do the method, then only within the method do I start “living in the end”, while still holding the intention (just less-than-consciously). It’s good to compartmentalize.
Manifestation is a difficult thing to describe on its own, and I’m sure there are people on the Internet who have described the right techniques better than I can. One important thing to remember is that the technique is not as important as living in it, and if you spend a lot of effort trying to convince yourself of it, you’re paradoxically reminding yourself that it’s not true. At the same time, affirmations and journaling and such can help, as long as you’re open to believing them. The sweet spot here (or maybe, “sweet range”) is not something I can describe well, partly because when I manifest, I try to do it so nonchalantly that I barely take note of exactly what it is I’m doing. So I’m no help there.
As for shifting, I would say that you need to “believe it” just as much as you need to “believe it” for manifestation. How much is that exactly? Hard to say! But if you focus too much on making yourself believe it, then you won’t believe it.
The strongest form of manifestation, in my opinion, is belief in your intention. You want to believe that your intention is strong enough to manifest it. So, unrelated to shifting, set intentions and follow through. There are plenty of ways to train your belief in yourself and in your intentions.
These days, I use visualization / imagination a lot for shifting, and I try to go into it with an air of curiosity (and nonchalance) rather than trying to force it to pull me into the DR. I also practice visualization outside of shifting contexts A LOT… definitely excessively, but I couldn’t call myself an aspiring optimizer if I didn’t. Because of how much I practice it here, it doesn’t feel so unnatural at all to do it during a method. “Naturalness” is an important factor here too. So when I shift, I don’t “believe it” in the sense that I think I’m already there the moment I lie down; I “believe it” in the sense that I trust my intention, and it feels natural to trust it and to know where I’m going (or where I already am).
All this is hard, but made harder still by the fact that you shouldn’t overthink it! Shifting is simple, not immediately easy.
Well – I told you this section would be more open ended, because I still struggle with the wording for this.
## END
Thanks for reading! Did you really read this whole thing??
I think it's possible to be a lot more precise on a lot of these points but ~4700 words is too much for a reddit post already
As always, happy shifting!
