Arriving Home :: How To Manifest Through Meditation
Intention setting is very popular when it comes to meditation. At notable meditation studios like The Den Meditation in Los Angeles and MNDFL in New York City, there are entire classes dedicated to the practice of setting an intention.
In my own life, intentions have been the creator of my reality at times. What many don’t fully understand is that intentions and meditation are inexplicably inseparable. The same mechanisms that we use to grow our focus and concentration in meditation are the same exact pathways and mechanisms we use to put energy towards our intentions and have them manifest.
The art of manifesting and having our intentions turn into reality is the ability to hold intentions in our focus and awareness without becoming attached to them or the particular outcome. You are right in thinking that this is very similar to what you do while you are meditating, bringing your attention back to the breath if it wanders away. When it comes to setting an intention and each day working towards manifesting it, the practice is to consistently and faithfully return your attention back to it again and again. Let’s explore this more.
To even set an intention requires you to first be mindful of it. I always say, intentions don’t come out of thin air. They begin as a seed in your heart, in your desires, your mind or in your awareness. The origin of a true intention, one that will actually manifest in the right time, is between these places within you and the intersection of life and the universe itself. Intentions are what we want for ourselves or others, yet they need to happen through life’s natural rhythms and support from the universe. So naturally, we are opening ourselves up when we set an invention. We become vulnerable and surrendered when we want to manifest our desires. This vulnerability is the very ground in which we create the right conditions to start setting our intentions in. At first - openness, vulnerability and humility is the right place to plant your seeds of intention. From there, you hold your focus and awareness on your intention and energize it through attention and whole-hearted concentration.
Manifestation Through Meditation
Once you know your intention and have let it come from the right place, along with being open and surrendered to the process of how your intention will come into reality, you now can do the real work of manifestation through meditation.
You let your intention stay alive in your heart and mind. You allow this intention to be held by your awareness. And you keep bringing your attention back to it with courage, discipline, determination and non-judgment.
Tangibly, this can look like remembering your intention at the beginning and end of a meditation sit. Or letting your intention be present in your heart and mind during meditation, holding it lightly with your attention and focus. You can have your intention be the full object-of-focus in your meditation or split 50/50 or 20/80 on your intention - 20% being on your intention while 80% of your attention being with the breath, body or any main object-of-focus you are using while meditating.
Just like in your regular meditation practice, the moment you notice your attention or courage waning from your intention you gently, kindly and compassionately bring it back to your intention. This is where setting an intention and manifesting through meditation very much becomes a practice of offering and dedication. Especially if your intention has yet to manifest, holding your intention in your heart, mind and awareness each day is a practice of showing up to your intention in a vulnerable way.
Non-Judgment & Not Knowing
Ultimately, when we set our intentions and put the energy of our attention on them in our practice, we don’t really know how our intention will manifest into reality. Or when it will. A working definition of mindfulness that many of us practice here in the west is, “having your attention in the present moment, moment-to-moment, in a non-judgmental way”. As with regular meditation, the same goes for our intentions and manifestation practice. Once our intention is set and planted in our practice, we must bring non-judgement to it. We are wonderfully forced to become okay with uncertainty. And this is what makes the right intentions manifest at just the right time. The more we can hold our intentions in the open palm of our awareness, the more able they are to manifest exactly when they are meant to.
Not knowing the exact roadmap at times will bring up all of our uncertainties. We’ll lose faith. We'll want to throw in the towel. We’ll feel that our intentions are failing and may never come true. Yet this is how we know we are actually still going in the right direction and really doing the work. Holding your attention in your heart, awareness and mind, and non-judgmentally coming back to it in faith and love will give you plenty of opportunities to see how your ego may come in and want to get in the way of your manifestations.
Through meditation and manifestation, growth and deeper self-understanding is inevitable. It is the willingness to keep showing up and dedicating yourself and your practice to the intentions that will lead you and your heart to the exact right manifestations.
