Julia Method Shifting: The I Am Method, Step by Step

Julia method shifting is a way to try reality shifting with just two words: “I am”. You relax, repeat “I am” until your body feels heavy or tingly, count slowly to 100 with a short affirmation tucked between numbers, and then affirm who you are in your desired reality (DR). Most shifters do it awake and open their eyes at the end, but many let it carry them into sleep.

It runs on words rather than pictures, so it is a kind first method for beginners and for anyone whose mind stays blank when they try to picture things. If shifting is new to you, our beginner explainer on reality shifting covers the basics, and you can compare Julia with the main shifting methods. Before you start, please read our safety guide for shifters too.

What Is the Julia Method of Shifting?

The Julia method is a mantra method. Instead of building a scene in your head, you talk yourself toward your DR, one “I am” at a time.

It spread with the shifting boom that researchers Eli Somer and his colleagues traced to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Shifting forums were full of people asking what it was in those early months, and nobody seems to know who Julia was.

YourTango credits a TikTok video by Melody Pond with helping the method spread on TikTok. It also notes that people call it the “I am” method, because the whole thing rests on identity affirmations.

○ Is the Julia Method an Awake or a Sleep Method?

Both. It began as an awake method that finishes when you open your eyes in your DR, which is why it sits among our awake shifting methods.

But saying one short phrase again and again is soothing, and plenty of shifters drift off before they finish. Many do it in bed on purpose and let the affirmations follow them into sleep, the way the sleep shifting methods work.

So decide before you start which ending you want. You can change your mind halfway (no rule says otherwise).

How to Do the Julia Method, Step by Step

Pick a quiet stretch when no one will need you, and use the bathroom first. Bedtime is the classic choice, but any calm moment in the day works for the awake version.

1. Lie down in a position you will not need to move from. The classic is the starfish position, flat on your back with your limbs spread out so no part of you rests on another. Your side is just as good, and it is the better choice if you have dealt with sleep paralysis.

2. Put on theta waves or binaural beats, if you enjoy them. This step is optional. Keep the volume low, and use headphones for binaural beats.
3. Close your eyes and repeat “I am”. Say it slowly, silently or in a whisper, until you feel drowsy, heavy or a little tingly. This part settles you, a bit like a short meditation.
4. Count slowly to 100, with an affirmation between the numbers. “One… I am shifting… two… I am in my DR… three…” Many shifters say one number per out-breath is the right speed.
5. Switch to identity affirmations as your DR self. “I am Mira. I am nineteen. I train with the palace guards.” Keep going through your list, from your family to your home and friends.
6. Picture or simply feel your DR, then finish. For the awake version, open your eyes once your DR feels near and real. For the sleep version, carry on with your identity lines until sleep takes over.

○ Do You Need to Meditate First?

No. Many shifters do a few minutes of meditation first, but the “I am” repetition in step 3 already does that settling job. If you are short on time, or meditation makes you restless, skip it and go straight to the mantra.

○ Do You Need a Script or to Visualize?

You do not need either. The old version of this page said the method was only possible with a detailed script, and we were wrong about that.

What helps is knowing a few facts about your DR before you start, such as your name, your age, where you live and who is close to you. Those become your identity affirmations in step 5.

A shifting script is a fine place to write them down if you enjoy scripting. And if pictures never come when you close your eyes, the Julia method still works on words alone, and you can find more of these in our methods without visualization.

○ Do Theta Waves or Binaural Beats Help?

Binaural beats are two slightly different tones, one in each ear, which your brain hears as a soft, wobbling third tone. That is why you need headphones, as Ingendoh and colleagues explain in PLoS One: each ear must hear only its own tone.

One small study in Frontiers in Neuroscience, by Jirakittayakorn and Wongsawat, tested a 6 Hz beat with 28 people, split into a group that heard the beat and a comparison group. They concluded it “could be used as a stimulus for inducing a meditative state within a short duration”.

But a 2023 review of 14 studies by Ingendoh, Posny and Heine in PLoS One found only five that supported the idea that beats pull your brainwaves along, eight that did not, and one with mixed results. So treat theta waves as a pleasant background sound, not a key ingredient. A quiet room and a calm mind matter more.

○ Affirmations for the Julia Method

The method uses two kinds. While you count, use short, general lines:

• I am shifting.
• I am in my DR.
• I am safe, and I am letting go.
• I am already there.

Once you finish counting, switch to identity lines, said as your DR self:

• I am [your DR name].
• I am a second-year student at U.A. High.
• I live in a little house by the sea.
• My best friend is waiting for me downstairs.

Keep them in the present tense, and choose ones that feel true rather than impressive. Borrow more from our list of shifting affirmations.

Julia Method Versions Shifters Use

Shifters change the method all the time, and none of these changes breaks it.

• Counting up or down. Some count from 1 to 100, others from 100 down to 1, and a few go all the way to 300. Pick whichever feels calmer.
• Affirmations every number, or less often. Saying one after every number keeps a busy mind occupied. Every fifth or tenth number suits people who find the full version tiring.
• No counting at all. Some guides skip the count and go from general affirmations straight to identity ones. We think the count is worth keeping, since it gives your mind a job while your body settles.
• Guided. These days most of the method’s life is on YouTube, as guided meditations and subliminals that count and affirm for you.

A guided audio is the easiest way to try it the first time, because you only have to follow along. Choose one with a calm voice, keep the volume low, and if you listen in bed, pick a track with a set end. Our guide to subliminals for shifting explains how to pick one.

A Julia Method Attempt, From Start to Finish

Imagine your DR is a better CR: your own life, with your own family and friends, except that you live in Lisbon. Your apartment sits above a bakery in an old neighborhood, and you study design at the university.

It is Saturday afternoon. You lie on your bed, put your headphones on low and start whispering “I am” in your head. After a while your hands feel heavy and far away.

Then you count, as slowly as you breathe. One, I am shifting, two, I am in my DR, three… Somewhere in the forties, you notice you have stopped hearing the traffic outside.

At 100, you switch to who you are. I am [your name], I am 20, I live in Lisbon above the bakery, my window looks over orange rooftops, and tomorrow I am meeting Inês for coffee.

Now let it come. Is that the smell of warm bread drifting up the stairs, and is the air cool, or is the sun already on your face?

When you feel ready, open your eyes.

Will you physically be in Lisbon? No.

What you will most likely feel is a deep calm, and sometimes a moment so vivid that it stays with you all day. Shifters believe the mind can travel much further than that, and that is for you to explore at your own pace.

What You Might Feel

Julia shifters often describe tingling, heaviness, numbness, small twitches, a sinking or floating feeling, or flashes of white light behind their eyes. Many read these as signs that a shift is close, and our page on reality shifting symptoms goes through what each one is said to mean.

Your body also does some of this on an ordinary night. The Sleep Charity explains that the sudden twitch or jump as you drift off is a hypnic jerk, and that between 60 and 70% of people are thought to remember having them.

The Sleep Charity also describes hypnagogic hallucinations, which happen as you fall asleep and can feel very real, with sights, sounds or feelings that are not really there. They are usually harmless, but if they happen often or upset you, talk to a doctor.

A racing heart just as you feel close is often excitement or nerves. Slow your breathing, and stop for the day if it does not settle. Chest pain, trouble breathing or fainting are never shifting signs, so stop at once and get medical help (our page on shifting risks lists the other feelings to take seriously).

When the Julia Method Isn’t Working

These are the problems Julia shifters bring up most, with the fixes that tend to help.

○ “I Lose Count or My Mind Wanders”

Losing count is completely alright. Pick up from any number that feels right, or go back to “I am” for a while.

The count is only there to keep your attention away from your body. If numbers annoy you, count your breaths instead, saying “in” and “out” in your head, or use the every-tenth-number version above.

○ “My Body Went Numb and I Had to Move”

Then move. A numb leg is uncomfortable, and lying there fighting it keeps your mind on your body, which works against the whole method.

Shift your leg, get comfortable again and pick up where you were. Some shifters say a numb, far-away body means you are close, so next time you can simply notice it and carry on if it feels fine.

○ “I Keep Falling Asleep Before I Finish”

You have two good choices. You can try earlier in the day, when you are less tired, or sit propped up against your pillows so sleep does not come as easily.

Or you can stop fighting it. Do the method at bedtime, keep affirming as your DR self and let the affirmations follow you into sleep. That is the sleep version, and it counts.

○ “Noises Keep Pulling Me Out”

Small sounds are hard to avoid, so make them part of the method. A popular tip is to treat every noise as a sound from your DR, so the car outside becomes a tram, and the voices in the kitchen become your DR family.

If your DR is somewhere those sounds would never happen, script your arrival somewhere they could. And when you can, choose a quieter time of day.

○ “Nothing Happened. When Do I Stop?”

Stop when you have finished the method and nothing has changed for a while. One shifter on Reddit suggests calling it a day 10 to 15 minutes after you finish the method. Lying there for much longer usually builds frustration, not progress.

Stopping is not failing. You would not say you failed at meditating because you ended the session, and the same is true here. If you have tried for a while with no luck, read why you might not be shifting for other things to check.

Julia Method vs Raven Method

Julia and Raven are built on the same count. Eli Somer and his colleagues describe the Raven method as lying in a starfish position and counting to 100 while subliminals play, with positive affirmations between the numbers. That is Julia’s counting step, almost exactly.

Somer’s team also suggests shifting can be seen as a form of self-hypnosis. That may be why both methods lean so much on slow, steady repetition.

The difference is what comes before and after the count. Julia opens with “I am” on repeat, adds identity affirmations as your DR self and ends with your eyes opening. Raven is mostly used as a sleep method, so most people simply drift off after the count.

If you cannot decide, choose the one whose ending suits tonight, or combine them. Our Raven method guide covers its full count.

Is the Julia Method Safe?

Lying still and repeating two words is about as low-key as shifting gets. A few habits around it deserve care, though.

The first is the position. In sleep paralysis you cannot move or speak as you fall asleep or wake up, and the NHS says that, scary as it is, it is harmless. The same page says sleeping on your back raises the chances of it, and the classic Julia position is flat on your back.

One Reddit shifter who did the method as a sleep method got “bad sleep paralysis” and now does it awake instead. If this has happened to you, do the same, or lie on your side when you plan to fall asleep.

The second is sound. The World Health Organization advises keeping your device at no more than 60% of its maximum volume, which matters when a guided audio runs for an hour or more.

The third is sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says teenagers aged 13 to 18 should get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep a day, and that regularly getting less is linked to problems with attention, behavior and learning. Keep the sleep version at your normal bedtime, and save long attempts for the daytime.

Last, some Julia guides tell you to keep going until you feel completely disconnected from your body, and a short, chosen feeling like that during practice is fine. But two of the signs of dissociation the NHS names are a sense of being cut off from yourself and the world around you, and a feeling that the world is unreal. So if that feeling stays after you stop, or it frightens you, pause the method and tell a parent, a doctor or another adult you trust.

You may also have heard that you can only stay in your DR for a short time, or that your body will fall into a coma if you stay too long. Shifters themselves call these old TikTok rumors, and our guide on how to come back from shifting explains safe words and returning whenever you choose.

If the Julia Method Isn’t for You

Plenty of shifters try Julia, enjoy it and still move on. If counting never clicked for you, the law of assumption skips methods entirely and works on living as if you are already there.

No method shifting is a simple, gentle option too, and the awake guide linked above has several other mantra and feeling methods.

Whichever you choose, keep it light and keep it kind to yourself. Your DR will still be there tomorrow. Happy shifting!

FAQ About Julia Method Shifting