Awake Shifting Methods: 12 Ways to Shift Without Sleeping

If you keep falling asleep before a shifting method is done, an awake method may be what you need. Awake shifting methods finish with you opening your eyes in your desired reality (DR), the world you chose when you began reality shifting, instead of falling asleep and waking up there.

They also suit you if you would rather not shift at night, or if the drowsy edge of sleep makes you uneasy. Shifters believe that the moment your eyes open, you have arrived. If you are new, start with the No Sleep (“I Am”) method.

Every method we have written about, awake or asleep, is collected in all our reality shifting methods. Before your first try, read our reality shifting safety guide, which explains which feelings mean you should stop.

Awake vs Sleep Shifting: Which Should You Try?

Look at how a method ends. If the last step is falling asleep, it is a sleep method. If the last step is opening your eyes, it is an awake method.

That one rule clears up a lot of confusion, because many lists online mix the two. It also means any sleep method can become an awake method. Keep every step the same and change only the ending, so that when you feel you have arrived, you open your eyes instead of drifting off.

So which should you try? If you love that heavy, dreamy feeling at bedtime, our sleep shifting methods might suit you better.

If sleep paralysis has ever happened to you, we suggest starting awake. In sleep paralysis, your body refuses to move right before you fall asleep or just as you wake up, so it lives on the border between sleep and waking. Sit up in a bright room during the afternoon and you stay comfortably on the waking side of that border. Awake methods also fit around a job, and our guide to shifting with a job and a busy life shows how.

What Does It Feel Like to Shift While Awake?

Shifters who say they have shifted awake describe two different kinds of arrival. For some it happens instantly, like a bubble popping, and one moment they are in their bedroom and the next they are somewhere else.

For others it happens gradually. The bed feels different, an unfamiliar smell drifts in, and bit by bit their surroundings turn into their DR.

On the way, many practitioners notice sensations like floating, tingling or a pull, as if something is drawing their consciousness elsewhere. Our guide to reality shifting symptoms explains each one. But plenty of shifters say they felt nothing at all before they arrived, so do not sit waiting for a sign.

You can even script your arrival. Many shifters write that their eyes will open by themselves the moment they reach their DR, so they never have to decide when to look. Our reality shifting script template has room for a line like that.

Not every feeling belongs to a shift, though. If your heart races or thumps, your chest hurts or the room spins, stop and sit up, and see a doctor if it is new to you or keeps coming back. A racing heart together with chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting or dizziness is an emergency, so call your local emergency number without waiting.

12 Awake Shifting Methods

All twelve end the same way, with your eyes opening in your DR. Before any of them, read your script once, put your phone on silent and visit the bathroom (nothing drags you back to this reality faster than a full bladder).

1. The No Sleep (“I Am”) Method

This is our pick for beginners. It runs on words and counting rather than visualization, and the counting gives a sleepy mind something to hold on to. It is a simple variation on the Julia method.

1. Sit or lie in a comfortable position and spend a few minutes in meditation, letting your breathing slow down.
2. Start repeating an “I am” mantra, such as “I am in my desired reality.”
3. Once you feel relaxed and far away (or after a few minutes, even if you feel nothing in particular), keep your eyes closed and count slowly from 0 to 100.
4. Switch to shifting affirmations about who you are in your DR, like “I live in [place],” “I work at [job]” or “[Person] is my best friend.”
5. As your body fades from your mind, visualize your DR in as much detail as you can.
6. When it feels like you are there, open your eyes.

Cinn’s method of shifting follows a similar path. You count slowly toward 100 and stop at every tenth number up to 50 to affirm something about your DR.

2. The Julia Method

If you like mantras and calming sounds, the Julia method is a good fit. It rests on two words, “I am”, and many practitioners play binaural beats in the background to sink into a dreamy, relaxed state.

1. Lie in the starfish position, with your arms and legs spread out, and put on binaural beats if you like them.
2. Begin each mantra with “I am” and finish it with whatever describes you or your DR. “I am in my DR bedroom.” “I am listening to the sea outside my window.”
3. Say every mantra as though it is already true, and pack it with details you can feel.
4. Open your eyes when you feel you have arrived.

Our Julia method guide walks through a full example, a bakery in Lisbon and all.

3. The Sunni Method (Awake Version)

Many shifters do the Sunni method of reality shifting lying down at bedtime and let it carry them into sleep. As a tip, you can also try it in the drowsy minutes after you wake, while your mind is still unsure where you are. This awake version works at any time of day, and it suits anyone whose home is never quiet, because it turns every noise into part of your DR.

1. Lie down and close your eyes.
2. Persuade yourself that you are already in your DR. You are not on your way there. You are lying in your DR bed right now.
3. Treat every sound and feeling around you as part of your DR.
4. Keep going until you feel sure that, if you opened your eyes, you would see your DR.
5. Then open them.

Imagine your DR is a dorm room at Hogwarts. The hum of the fridge downstairs becomes the fire crackling in the common room. For the full castle routine, see how to shift to Hogwarts.

Your little brother thumping up the stairs becomes a friend coming to drag you down to breakfast in the Great Hall. Even the scratchy blanket over your knees becomes your house scarf.

4. The Estelle Method

Many shifters say Estelle and Julia are the two awake methods to try first. Music lovers usually pick Estelle out of the two, especially if a good song makes you feel things in your body.

1. Choose a song that takes you straight to your DR, and play it.
2. Close your eyes and visualize yourself dancing with someone from your DR, whether that is a friend, your crush or anyone you adore.
3. Feel everything in the scene. Notice the air, the smell of the room and their hand in yours.
4. As the last notes fade, your partner tells you, “It is time to go home,” and holds a door open.
5. Walk through it into bright white light and let yourself fall, affirming all the way down that you are in your DR.
6. When you feel the shift, open your eyes in your DR.

The full Estelle method shifting guide goes through the dance step by step.

5. The Animal Shifting Method

In this playful method, an animal friend guides you to your DR. Animal lovers and daydreamers tend to enjoy it, and so does anyone who finds it easier to follow than to lead.

1. Get comfortable, close your eyes and meditate for a few minutes.
2. Count slowly from 0 to 100.
3. Visualize yourself outdoors, in a field, a forest or anywhere you like, in as much detail as you can.
4. Picture an animal running, scurrying or flying across it. Your spirit animal, your first instinct or simply a favorite will all work.
5. Chase it! Sooner or later, it slips through a portal.
6. Follow it through, and open your eyes in your DR.

6. The Alice in Wonderland Method

This method borrows from Lewis Carroll’s story of Alice, the girl who follows a white rabbit into Wonderland. Here you play Alice, which makes it a good choice if you want a story with a clear path to follow.

1. Lie on your back and imagine you are sitting under a tree on a warm afternoon.
2. Someone from your DR wanders over. When you get up to say hello, they dash away and leap down a rabbit hole.
3. Go after them, and jump in when you feel ready.
4. As you fall, let your memories of this reality drift away. You land in a small room with a locked door, and a key is waiting on a table.
5. The person you chased asks if you are ready to use the key. If you are, turn the key. If not, say affirmations until you are.
6. Walk through the door. Alice shifters say that by now you have become your DR self.
7. Open your eyes.

The original version ends with you lying down on a bed in your DR, in the same position you are lying in now. You can keep that ending, as long as you open your eyes on the DR bed instead of trying to fall asleep there. Our Alice in Wonderland shifting guide has the full story version.

7. Worm’s Shifting Method

If you feel nervous about shifting and could use some encouragement, try Worm’s method. Someone from your DR does the cheering for you.

1. Get comfortable, then squeeze your right hand into a fist and let it go. Do this three times, then do the same with your left hand.
2. Work through your toes, arms, legs, torso, neck and face the same way. By the end, your whole body should feel loose.
3. Count slowly to 100, stopping now and then for an affirmation.
4. Visualize someone in your DR who is special to you. Hear them tell you that they know you can do it, and that you will be together soon.
5. When you feel sure they are right there with you, open your eyes.

8. The 54321 Shifting Method

Fans of structure like this one, because it walks you through your senses one at a time.

1. Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, 15 times.
2. Fill in your DR one sense at a time, with five things you can see, four things you can touch, three sounds, two smells and one taste.
3. With every sense busy, say your affirmations.
4. When you feel you are there, open your eyes in your DR.

If using every sense feels difficult, the 5 Senses shifting method has you practice with your own bedroom first, noticing its sights, sounds, textures, smells and tastes.

9. The Altered Elevator Method

In the original elevator method, you ride an elevator to your DR and then slip into your DR self, who is asleep in a bed. The Altered Elevator method keeps the ride and leaves out the bed and the sleep.

Background sounds do half the work here, so it is a good choice if sound helps you visualize.

1. Play an elevator ambience track (search for “elevator ambience” on YouTube).
2. Close your eyes in a comfortable position and visualize yourself in an elevator, moving toward your DR.
3. Say your affirmations as it goes up (or down, whichever you prefer).
4. As you get closer, the doors open a crack and show you glimpses of your DR.
5. The elevator stops and the doors slide open. Step out into your DR, and open your eyes.

10. The Eyes Open Method

If you fall asleep the moment you close your eyes, this may be the method for you, because your eyes stay open the whole time. It caught on through Reddit, and shifting books on Wattpad describe a cousin of it, the Daffodil method, where you stare at an object.

1. Sit somewhere comfortable and choose one still spot to look at, such as a mark on the wall or a corner of the ceiling.
2. Let your gaze go soft, as if you are daydreaming.
3. Live your DR in your imagination while you look at the spot. Many shifters visualize the spot as part of their DR bedroom.
4. Many say their vision blurs and darkens after a while. Keep living your DR.
5. When you feel you have arrived, let your eyes focus and look around.

Keep blinking normally the whole time. The American Academy of Ophthalmology says people usually blink about 15 times a minute, but only about 5 to 7 times a minute while looking at screens, and that blinking is how the eye gets the moisture it needs.

A soft gaze is the whole idea here, so you never need to hold your eyes open. If you feel dizzy or sick, or your eyes start to sting, stop and switch to a method you do with your eyes closed.

11. The Eleven Method

This method is named after Eleven from Stranger Things. The dark room, the quiet and one steady sound shut out distractions, so it is worth a try if your mind wanders easily.

1. Make your room dark and quiet. Put on an eye mask, or tie a soft scarf loosely over your eyes and keep your nose and mouth clear.
2. Turn on white noise or a fan, lie in the starfish position and listen to the sound for a while.
3. Visualize yourself in a dark, endless space. As you get to your feet, you feel your vibrations grow stronger. Far ahead, a white door is waiting.
4. Walk slowly toward the door. Shifters say the vibrations grow with every step.
5. Hold the handle and ask yourself if you are ready. If you are not, open your eyes and try another day. If you are, open the door and walk through.
6. Feel yourself falling away from your current reality (CR) and toward your DR, affirming that you are shifting.
7. See your DR self below you. Stop falling, and slip into that body.
8. Tell yourself that when you open your eyes, you will be in your DR. Then take off the mask and open them.

12. Mind Awake, Body Asleep

Many of the awake shifts people describe on Reddit happen in one particular state. It is the drowsy edge just before sleep, when your body goes heavy and still but your mind stays switched on.

Shifters call it mind awake, body asleep (the drowsy stage itself is known as the hypnagogic state). Most reports from it are short visits rather than long stays. It suits a rested afternoon, not the middle of the night, and if sleep paralysis has ever happened to you, this is the one awake method to skip.

The Gateway tapes, an older guided audio course, call this same state Focus 10, and our guide to Focus 10 shifting explains how shifters use them.

1. Pick a time when you are well rested, such as an early afternoon on a weekend.
2. Lie down, put on an eye mask and, if you like, one of your favorite subliminals for shifting.
3. Relax your body part by part until it feels heavy and you no longer want to move.
4. Keep a sliver of your attention awake by repeating one short phrase, such as “I am in my DR,” so you do not slide into sleep.
5. Many practitioners say pictures and sounds start to drift in by themselves here. Let them come, and steer them toward your DR.
6. When your DR feels real, open your eyes.

Never skip sleep or stay up late to reach this state, whatever a video or a forum post tells you. Doctors connect sleep paralysis with too little sleep and with bedtimes that jump around. The NHS also advises against sleeping on your back, which can raise the chance of an episode, so lie on your side or prop yourself up on pillows.

Coming out of this state unable to move is sleep paralysis. The NHS describes it as frightening but harmless, and an episode usually passes within a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Try moving one finger, then two, because small movements may help you come out of it sooner.

If it frightens you, put this method aside for a while and pick one you do sitting up. If episodes keep coming back and leave you afraid of bedtime, let a parent know and book a visit to a doctor.

More Awake Methods With Their Own Guides

These methods each have a full guide of their own, and every one of them can end with your eyes opening.

• Mirror method shifting, where you walk toward a mirror in a dark room and become one with your DR self in the reflection.
• Falling method shifting, where you step through a door and fall freely until a second door opens onto your DR.
• Train method shifting, where you ride a train to your DR. The guide finishes with falling asleep, so for an awake try, open your eyes as the train pulls into your station.
• The ADHD method, which pairs an 8D audio track with counting your breaths and an affirmation every few counts, for minds that wander.
• Cinn’s method, the counting cousin of the No Sleep method, usually practiced with subliminals playing.
• The 5 Senses method, built to make visualizing easier, which you can finish awake or asleep.

Awake Shifting Methods Without Visualization

You do not need to see pictures in your head to shift awake. The No Sleep (“I Am”) method runs on words, so it might be the easiest place to start. The 54321 method works too if you skip the “see” part and rely on what you can feel, hear and smell.

Shifters who cannot visualize also use phantom moving, which means moving your DR body in your imagination while your real body stays still. Walk across your DR bedroom and pick up your favorite mug. Others think as their DR self would think (“I still have to finish my potions essay before dinner”) until the thoughts feel like their own.

Our list of shifting methods without visualization has more ideas for minds that work in words, sounds and feelings.

How to Stay Awake During an Awake Method

If you keep falling asleep halfway through, you are in good company on the shifting forums. These small changes could help.

• Sit up with a pillow behind your back instead of lying flat. Your body may link lying down with bedtime.
• Practice in daylight or in the early evening, not when you are exhausted after a long day.
• Keep each session short, and stop as soon as you notice yourself drifting off.
• If you drop off quickly, choose a method that keeps you busy, like Eyes Open or 54321.
• Play music that is not too soft, so there is always something to listen to.

But if you fall asleep anyway, that is completely alright. You simply did a sleep method, and you got some rest as well.

What to Do If You Feel Pulled Back or Nothing Happens

Feeling close and then nothing is common, so try not to take it as proof that you cannot shift.

Watching for symptoms can stall you, because it may keep part of your attention on your body in your bedroom. Do not keep checking whether it worked, either. Every peek may pull your attention back to your current reality.

This is where the scripted line about your eyes opening by themselves earns its place. If your eyes open on their own when you arrive, there is nothing to check.

If a noise, an itch or a twitch pulls you back, do not start over. Notice it, let it pass and go back to your affirmation.

And if you get close and suddenly feel scared, that is normal too. Open your eyes, have a glass of water and try again another day.

Some days simply do not work. One long-time shifter on Reddit stopped trying because it was hurting their mental health, and that was a wise choice, not a failure.

If shifting starts to leave you feeling low, anxious or stuck, or your DR and real life begin to blur together, take a long break and tell someone you trust how you feel, like a parent, a teacher or a school counselor.

Our shifting tips for beginners are full of small fixes like these. Your DR is not going anywhere, and it will still be there on a calmer day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Awake Shifting