The SATS manifestation technique by Neville Goddard involves reaching a dream-like state through relaxation and deep breathing, and then visualizing what you want to manifest in the SATS state.
Through SATS manifestation, you take your conscious dreams and desires and move them to the unconscious part of the mind so that doubt no longer gets in the way.
SATS manifestation also helps you reduce desire to a minimum so that what you want comes to you naturally rather than being the result of constant struggle.
In Reality Transurfing terms, this would be referred to as outer intention, as opposed to inner intention — attracting things rather than chasing them.
What does SATS mean?
SATS is the acronym that stands for “state akin to sleep”:
- State
- Akin
- To
- Sleep
When we go to bed, there is a transition between being awake and actually falling asleep.
It’s a very interesting process; we just take it for granted because we experience it every single night.
Many manifestation and visualization methods use deep relaxation, and Neville Goddard’s technique is no exception.
But why is SATS key to manifesting? Why decrease alertness, rather than increase it? Keep reading…
Benefits of SATS for manifesting
When it comes to “manifesting” (turning mental dreams into physical, permanent experiences), you are usually your own worst enemy.
Most of us have goals and dreams; most of us naturally desire a better future and a better life. Except…
We then self-sabotage, get caught in self-doubt, carefully look for reasons our plans won’t work out. And so on…
Unless we learn to silence the part of the mind that creates all this unnecessary tension — the rational, logical, controlling mind.
This is the power of meditative practices including SATS: they help us go beyond the limits of the mind, the invisible cage that keeps you stuck.
It’s a vicious cycle, and we all experience it knowingly or unknowingly — the mind creates doubt, which is then manifested in the external world.
Then, the external manifestation is used as evidence as to why there should be even more doubt… and it just gets worse and worse over time.
To the point where you forget the original goal/direction and all you see is reasons you can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t do it.
Shutting down the mind
There is a state in which the “guardian” — the controlling mind — surrenders and at that point anything you see/perceive no longer gets filtered.
Is it the controlling mind that carefully differentiates between possible and impossible, right and wrong, real and imaginary.
But then there is a much deeper, bigger, more powerful part — we’ll call it the subconscious to keep it simple — which takes over during states of relaxation.
The subconscious, in a way, is a lot more vulnerable precisely because of its inability to filter stimuli and experiences.
For example, it has been said that ads are generally more effective if shown late at night because at that time we are more tired and don’t have the power to question what we see in the ad.
Now, with manifestation methods such as Goddard’s SATS you make this work in your favor by injecting positive stuff into the mind — specifically, what you want to manifest.
How to get into SATS
You experience SATS every single night, which means it’s easy and effortless. The difficult part is being able to stay awake and focused.
The first step is to set aside some time and be comfortable and relax in a specific position. You can sit down or actually lie on your bed.
Ideally, you want to always practice SATS in the same place, the same way you always meditate on the same mat or in the same room.
This is because the mind registers where SATS happens, so over time being in the same position/place will help you get into the same state faster.
Once you are comfortable, you want to go through the same process that happens before you fall asleep, except you’re going to prolong the transition phase.
- Keep your eyes closed; allow all sorts of thoughts to pop up in your mind for a few minutes (e.g. thoughts about the day, they are normal and you should not try to fight against them)
- Breathe consciously: begin with three deep breaths, then stay focused on the breath — in and out, in and out; this will trigger a state of relaxation faster
- Notice how the images in your mind change (both the images themselves and their vividness i.e. how “real” they are)
- Also notice how anything physical (your body, your perception of the physical environment around you including your chair/bed) becomes less real, less important
- Eventually it all feels like a dream where your perception of time/space is a lot more fluid and you’re also fully relaxed, but still conscious and awake; this is SATS
The SATS technique step by step
1. Desire
Goddard’s manifestation technique actually begins way before the visualization process.
It all begins with desire — the feeling of wanting to be more, have more, do more. We all experience this, even during periods of low motivation or even depression.
Nothing in the universe ever stays the same and we humans are no exception — we continuously want to grow and be more, even if unconsciously.
2. Clarity
Desire itself, however, is not enough in the sense that it’s too vague, too abstract. What is it that you want, exactly?
Unless you have a clear, specific image of what you actually want in your mind, no manifestation technique will work because you won’t have a clear direction!
The easiest way to fix this: take the time to write down what you want in detail. There are other ways, but pen and paper works best.
3. SATS visualization
As soon as you reach SATS, “dream” (imagine) that you are living your desired reality. Make it as real as possible; make it “here and now”.
Negative thoughts will pop up in the beginning — ignore them and most importantly don’t despair, it’s only normal.
Even in SATS, the rational mind still tries to interfere. Don’t fight against it, simply go back to your visualization whenever negative thoughts/images appear.
4. Repetition
Here’s another essential step that many overlook — you want to repeat the SATS manifestation technique daily to “condition” the subconscious.
Ads are, again, a good analogy. Typically, you don’t just see an ad once, but over and over again until you’ve memorized the whole sequence and don’t even know why.
Manifestation and visualization work exactly the same — repetition and consistency is what forms lasting impressions on the subconscious. There isn’t a timeline but try to stick to it for at least 21 days.
5. Desirelessness
The fifth and final step of Goddard’s SATS manifestation technique is, paradoxically, the end of your desire.
This may be counterintuitive, but it’s actually one of the foundations of many manifestation practices including Reality Transurfing.
Once you’ve visualized and most importantly experienced what you want in your mind, desire fades because it’s as if you already had what you want.
This is where the magic happens — as you gradually forget about your dreams and how much you desire them, they move from conscious to unconscious.
Why is this important? Because at that point the rational mind no longer interferes. The controlling mind can only “imprison” what’s in the conscious, not the unconscious.
I know — it’s weird. But that’s how it works. You can imagine the whole manifestation process as physically moving a file (image, thought) into a different folder (part of the mind).
What takes time and effort isn’t creating the file, but rather moving the file to the folder that cannot be accessed by the controlling mind.
