Some of the most common questions I get asked is in regards to visualizing in the state akin to sleep. I have people come to me often worried that they’re screwing something up because they’re not “feeling anything” when trying to imagine their desired scene.

This is 100% understandable, as Neville did put a great amount of emphasis on getting into a drowsy state to harness the power of one’s imagination.

Full disclaimer, I have to stress that it’s not the technique itself that manifests. Visualizing in the state akin to sleep is just a tool we can use to help us feel our desires real so they may be impressed into our subconscious mind.

That said, I do believe in the importance of imagining while in the state akin to sleep (or SATS, as they’re sometimes referred to). There is a reason Neville repeatedly brought up the significance of using your imagination during this drowsy, twilight stage bordering sleep. It’s during this stage that you’re truly at the gateway of reality, and you can shape your future at will.

What is the State Akin to Sleep?

In simplest terms, the state akin to sleep is a hypnotic or deeply relaxed state. It is that twilight, groggy state where you are not unconscious and can still control the direction of your thoughts, but you are not fully conscious and alert, either.

It’s basically when you’re half-asleep.

We enter this state naturally in a 24 hour period: right before bed, and right after we wake up in the morning. Though you can get yourself into the state akin to sleep during the day through hypnosis or meditation, it’s usually recommended we imagine our desires before bed or right after waking when our bodies are naturally in this state.

It’s in this state that our subconscious mind is the most accessible. Your subconscious is completely subjective and open to suggestions, but during our waking hours our conscious mind acts as a gatekeeper to the subconscious.

If a statement or suggestion is fed to us that does not line up with your current beliefs or assumptions, your conscious mind will dismiss it and filter it out.

You conscious mind was formed through your experiences and observations, most of them from childhood. It is through experience and observation (and your reactions that follow) that form your core beliefs and assumptions.

In the state akin to sleep, your conscious mind is at its least active. That is why you are urged to imagine your desired state or the reality you’d like to experience during this time, so that you have the best chance at successfully bypassing the conscious mind and impressing your desire into the subconscious.

The Importance of SATS

There’s been a few different stances I’ve seen people take when it comes to SATS.

Some argue that SATS are not necessary in order to manifest. While they are technically correct, I’ve found through personal experience and through testimony of others that you stand a much better chance at success by implementing SATS. This is especially true for anyone who is new to manifesting.

But why is that? If SATS aren’t 100% required in order to manifest, why go through the trouble?

Because imagining in the state akin to sleep is the best way to control your attention with minimal effort. It gives you the best opportunity to feel the wish fulfilled with the least amount of resistance. This is essential because I’ve found that among the top reasons people fail to manifest is that they are trying too hard to manifest.

A lot of times when people are new to manifesting, they will implement a technique by means of willpower. They try to force emotions or feelings while visualizing or imagining their scene. They try and enforce a feeling of happiness or positivity when at the root is anxiety or frustration.

This will not serve you. In fact, it will have the opposite effect.

If you are trying to force the feeling, you’re actually creating tension and strain, which in turn gives you more tension and strain. So to combat this you start trying harder and harder to manifest something, and you are met with more and more resistance.

It’s like one of those Chinese finger traps: the harder you pull, the tighter the trap. In this case, it’s almost certain that you’ve fallen into the trap of overthinking the process and complicating what you need to do.

“Now before we go into our moment of silence there is something I must make very clear, and that is this effort we discussed last night. If there is one reason in this whole vast world why people fail it is because they are unaware of a law known to psychologists today as the law of reverse effort.”

“When you assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled it is with a minimum of effort. You must control the direction of the movements of your attention. But you must do it with the least effort. If there is effort in the control, and you are compelling it in a certain way you are not going to get the results. You will get the opposite results, what ever they might be.”

Neville Goddard

The Law of Reverse Effort

Have you ever been anxious before speaking in public? And in an effort to calm yourself down, you try to mentally tell yourself to relax, which in turn just makes you more anxious?

Or perhaps you’ve been in a situation where the harder you worked, the less productive you’d become?

This is the Law of Reverse Effort.

The Law of Reverse Effort states that the greater the conscious effort, the less the subconscious response. Or understood another way, “Whenever the will (conscious mind) and imagination (subconscious) are in conflict, the imagination (subconscious) always wins.”

During our waking hours we are under compulsion to express our subconscious impressions. In other words, a person’s subconscious mind will always accept the dominant idea or belief of the mind no matter what you try to impress on it using willpower.

It’s crucial to understand the our subconscious is infinitely more powerful than our conscious mind. Any conscious, will-driven attempts to change the habit (the subconscious automatic response), will get ferociously resisted.

Bottom line: no matter how much you desire, or coerce, or force a change in your life, your subconscious will cling to the original belief. The more pressure you apply the more resistance is generated.

So how on earth do we overcome this?

One word: SATS.

Feel It Natural – How to Successfully Apply SATS

When it comes to deliberate manifestation, the number one key to take away is everything should feel natural.

Imagining in the state akin to sleep is the best way to control your attention with minimal effort.

Before you begin, be sure to CLEARLY define what you want. It helps to write it down and get your thoughts on paper.

Construct a mental scene that implies you already have whatever you desire. Ask yourself, if I had X, what would I be doing? Saying? Wearing? Feeling? Go off of those questions and outline a scene which, if true, implies that you already have whatever it is you desire. Again, I strongly recommend writing down your scene in as much detail in advance.

Get yourself ready for bed 30 or so minutes earlier than you normally would. Put all electronics away. This gives  you time to get yourself into SATS without risk of falling off into sleep.

Lay down and get comfortable, begin breathing exercises. I do a four breath count for a total of six times: Inhale for four. Hold for four. Exhale for four. Hold for four. Repeat.

Once relaxed, begin counting down from 50. Imagine seeing the numbers in your minds eye. If you have trouble with this you can also focus on saying to yourself “I am sleepy, I am so sleepy”

By this time you are (very likely) in the State Akin to Sleep. You’ll know because your eyelids will feel heavy, and you’ll have that float-y, blissful feeling.

Bring your scene into your minds eye. The first time (or first few dozens of times) it’ll be blurry, or dark, or hard to visualize clearly. THIS IS NORMAL. Just keep at it.

Once the scene ends, repeat it again. Loop it over and over. Each time you loop it, add a new sensory element to the scene (sound, touch, smell, taste)

Your mind will try to throw you off course. This is also normal. If you wander off, bring yourself back to the scene. It sometimes takes dozens or even hundreds of tries before it becomes lifelike. Persist and it WILL become more and more realistic.

As you loop the scene, adding all the tones of reality you can muster, you will naturally FEEL the feelings in that scene that you’d feel if you were actually there.

Do this until you fall asleep. If you successfully fall asleep while imagining your desired scene, the seed will be planted and you WILL see your scene materialize in your 3D world.

Troubleshooting & Helpful Tips

The key to a successful SATS session is ATTENTION WITHOUT EFFORT. This cannot be stressed enough. Do not try to force the feelings or emotions. Do not get caught up in whether or not you’re “doing it right.” The point here is to RELAX.

Another thing that I think trips people up is the view that imagining in the state akin to sleep is a mere technique to help you get somewhere. Don’t view it as a means to an end. Don’t view it as a box ticking exercise. Understand that your imaginal scene is just as real as your 3D reality.

When you’re doing your SATS or any other imaginal practice that you find useful, you need to go into it with the viewpoint that what you’re imagining is happening in reality. NOT that it’s going to happen. NOT that this imagining will facilitate it happening in the future, but that the imagined version is as good as the real version. It’s as much a ‘fact‘ as the stuff that’s going on in your external 3D world.

The bottom line to take away is this should feel natural. It shouldn’t feel stressful, shouldn’t feel like work, shouldn’t feel like a chore. Have fun with it. Do it not to get something; do it because it feels good.

Another misconception is that you can only do SATS at night before bed or first thing in the AM. This is false. You can get into the state akin to sleep anytime during the day by getting into a deep, hypnotic trance through meditation. Another great time to prepare your imaginal scene is before you lay down for an afternoon nap.

Regardless, practice SATS during the day. Practice bringing up your scene and visualizing. Practice keeping your attention minus the effort.

And as always…PERSIST, PERSIST, PERSIST.

You will not fail. You are God, and God cannot fail.

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