Manifestation is the art of turning one’s dreams into reality through the power of positive thinking and intention-setting.
In a world often filled with stress and uncertainty, manifestation offers hope and a path to shape one’s own destiny. Manifestation has a unique meaning for everyone who practices it.
“I would define [manifestation] as thinking about a goal, but maybe not in the way of a finite goal — more of like, visionary thinking,” first-year Millie Ketcher said. “[It’s] what your future could encapsulate and what you want things to look like and how you hope to be as a person and treat others.”
The Meaning of Manifestation
Ketcher manifests by visualizing what she wants to happen — such as a goal in her life, like getting an A on an assignment. She then puts intention and energy into making that happen.
While Ketcher is a Christian, she sees this as a separate practice that harnesses universal energies. While some may use the word “energies” interchangeably with God, others do not.
Ketcher’s emphasis on focusing on the present and taking responsibility for her actions is one that she is still growing to understand and implement, she said.
“Everything has an equal and opposite reaction,” Ketcher said. “It puts certain things in your life that allow you to want to do this or want to do that. Our energies bounce off of each other in a way.”
When first-year Arianna Donnelly manifests, she said she tries to hone a sense of inner peace as she sends her intentions out into the world.
“I try to be very calm,” Donnelly said. “I think about how I want people to see me when I walk into a room, like just what energy do I bring into the environment.”
Manifestation and Athletics
In the realm of sports, where mental fortitude can make the difference between victory and defeat, manifestation finds a unique and powerful application for many. Jhanelle Peters, athletics counselor and coordinator, is accessible to all Division I athletes at Pepperdine and shares her expertise on sports psychology and manifestation with athletes.
“The easiest way to think of stuff is thoughts become things,” Peters said. “And so if you keep thinking, and if your thought is something negative, how you’re going to perform and the likelihood of that happening gets bigger.”
Tennis is a very mental sport, said junior Savannah Broadus, a member of the women’s tennis team and executive board member of Waves Leadership Council. She has a routine for how she visualizes her moves during a match.
“I visualize, ‘OK, I’m going to hit the ball here,’” Broadus said. “And in a way, I’m kind of manifesting that, ‘Hey, I’m going to hit the ball here and this is what I’m gonna get back.’”
Peters said the link between mental imagery and achieving goals is important.
“I have written down here for all my athletes, all the time we say, ‘If you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands,’ and that’s the best way to think of manifestation,” Peters said.
Senior Jonathan Flint, president of Waves Leadership Council and captain of the men’s cross country track team, defines manifestation as visualizing what he wants to achieve.
“That pushes me to work harder and know what I’m working toward,” Flint said.
Laying the foundation for manifestation during training highlights the importance of staying focused on the process rather than the outcome, said junior Linus Carlsson Halldin, an executive board member of Waves Leadership Council and a member of the men’s tennis team.
“For me, it’s trying to be in a certain mental state going into a match,” Halldin said. “It’s more kind of trusting what you’ve done.”
For Halldin, visualization and manifestation happen organically during competition, and he places more emphasis on trust in one’s preparation rather than attempting to control a specific mental state.
“I usually say ‘come on,’ but in Swedish to myself or I talk myself through what I just did,” Halldin said.
In swimming, athletes do a lot of visualization before races, said senior Ellie Hendren, spiritual life coordinator of Waves Leadership Council and member of the women’s swim and dive team.
“So I close my eyes and just picture myself doing my race and every little detail of my race the way that I want it to happen,” Hendren said.
Hendren’s key word that she manifests before and during races is “confidence,” she said.
“When I am doing that visualization before I swim, if I kind of have that mindset of feeling confident, I feel very strong and calm and just very capable of what I have to do,” Hendren said.
As athletes push themselves to the limit, there comes a point in a race where exhaustion sets in, Hendren said. It’s that moment when doubt can creep in, when the body screams for relief, and the mind wrestles with the seemingly insurmountable task ahead.
“It’s very mental and when you get halfway through a race and you’re really tired, but you still have like half of it to go, I just kind of like manifesting confidence and the idea that I am strong enough to finish it, Hendren said.
Journaling Helps Students Understand Thoughts
Broadus said she journals to organize her thoughts. She emphasizes consistency and progress in her mental preparation in tennis just as much as her physical practice, she said.
“Just write it out,” Broadus said. “Because you don’t know what’s bothering you until you kind of like get it all out on paper. Or even if you’re just talking to somebody things come up and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, I had no idea that was bothering me.’”
Journaling and talking to someone are effective ways to identify and address mental barriers and develop self-awareness in manifestation, first-year Lala Freeman said. She journals almost daily, often emphasizing what she is grateful for as an essential component of her manifestation journey.
In this ritual, she said she makes sure to include affirmations that promote self love because that is an important part of the energy she puts out.
“I’m loved, I’m cared for and there are people there for me because sometimes I forget that,” Freeman said.
Manifestation and Christianity
History Professor Jonathan Riddle said the historical roots of manifestation strongly tie into the Christian faith. In the late 19th century, there were significant movements like Christian Science and New Thought that laid the groundwork for manifestation.
“Christian Science, led by Mary Baker Eddy, believed that physical realities like sadness and pain were not real, and the true reality was the spiritual plane,” Riddle said. “New Thought, while similar, didn’t deny the physical existence but emphasized the importance of the spiritual or mental reality.”
While these concepts are not specific to practicing Christians, Riddle said they are founded in faith and have become inclusive to everyone in their day-to-day life.
“These ideas didn’t stay confined to their specific religious traditions; they seeped into the culture,” Riddle said. “People who might not identify with a particular faith still picked up on the idea that mentality, faith, or belief could influence one’s physical reality, whether it’s health, success or achievements in various aspects of life.”
Riddle said he doesn’t have an answer to why it works.
“The boundaries between these ideas can be quite blurry,” Riddle said. “Some individuals may view manifestation as a religious experience tied to divine will, while others might see it as a psychological process. This is the nature of this cluster of beliefs — it’s challenging to pin down, and it often depends on one’s personal perspective and experience.”
Given her Christian roots, junior Blue Brasher connects prayer with manifestation.
“Manifestation is a mix of aligning yourself with what is needed and aligning the universe with what you want,” Brasher said.
Brasher said when she manifests, she shares her gratitude and connection to a higher power while also emphasizing the idea of tapping into universal energies with her practice.
“The more you think about it, and the more you feel it, the more you’ll be led to it,” Brasher said.
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Email Victoria La Ferla at victoria.laferla@pepperdine.edu
