TikTok’s reality shifting trend mixes dream-like consciousness with fandoms

TikTok users are taking fan culture to the next level by practicing a sort of meditation in an effort to “shift realities” to inhabit the fictional universe of their choosing. It’s sort of like a more real form of daydreaming.

The most popular of those desired realities are Harry Potter and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As of Monday on TikTok the tag “shifting” had 6.2 billion views and the tag “shifting realities” had 1.8 billion views. The videos under these tags are a variety of storytimes about experiences users have in their desired realities, tips and tutorials on how to shift, and complaints about being unable to shift.

Shifting relies on the assumption that there are infinite realities, and the act of shifting directs your consciousness to a different reality. Shifting appears to be a combination of meditation, astral projecting, and lucid dreaming, but shifters on TikTok and Reddit insist that shifting is different.

When asked how shifting compares to lucid dreaming, Alexa Valentino, 16, said, “So if you’re lucid dreaming, it’s a dream and your subconscious is still in your current reality. But when you’re shifting, you’re literally shifting your subconscious and your awareness to another reality in which you already exist. When you’re shifting, you are essentially living another life, which is 100 percent as real as living your life in your current reality.” Valentino gained over 36,000 followers and over 1.5 million likes on her TikTok @ssvalentino for her shifting content.

There are many shifting methods, but they all involve putting your body to sleep while remaining conscious. The most popular method is the “raven method” which involves laying on your back in a starfish position, counting to 100, and visualizing your desired reality like being a doctor in the Greys Anatomy universe. The “raven method” is a sleep method which means after you awake you are in your desired reality. Many shifters listen to specific music called “subliminals” to help with their shifting.

According to the shifting subreddit, subliminals are “videos or audios of a collection of affirmations either sped up or lowered past an audible level and layered over some other noise, usually music or ambience like rain.” When you are about to shift you begin to feel “symptoms” like your body tingling. Shifters use safe words or phrases to come back to their current reality. An example from @a_shifting_girl on TikTok is “I want to come back to my current reality.”

Information on shifting realities isn’t only found on TikTok and Reddit, there are also YouTube tutorials on how to shift.

Some shifters write scripts that detail everything they want to happen in their desired reality. Each shifting script is personal, some people write it down in a notebook while others say it out loud.

TikTok user @mcu.shifting made a video with a script template focused on how you are in your desired reality with details like body type, hair color, and any hair on your body.

A look at @mcu.shifting’s script template.
Credit: Screenshot: Google docs

“I am the same person, but I’m physically different in my desired reality,” said another member of the shifting community, Amber, 16, from the Netherlands.

“So pretty much what you are doing is creating a template for your experience. You’re not so much writing a story as just kind of adding details you want specifically in your desired reality,” explained Valentino, who shifts to a Criminal Minds reality and spent two or three days preparing her script before shifting. In Valentino’s script, which she posted on her TikTok, COVID-19 doesn’t exist and neither do her current reality social media accounts.

Valentino’s Criminal Minds desired reality script.
Credit: screenshot: TikTOk

Valentino’s Criminal Minds desired reality script.
Credit: screenshot: tiktok

“I decided to start shifting because I really wanted to shift to my Criminal Minds desired reality. I love the show so much and wanted to experience it myself,” said Valentino on why she decided to try out shifting.

Shifters say it can take months of practice to finally shift realities. Amber has been trying to shift to her Harry Potter desired reality for nine months. “I haven’t shifted yet, but I once heard the voice of one of my comfort characters and it felt like he was standing right next to me. It made me feel really good,” said Amber.

While it has been a particularly difficult year and the desire to escape reality is understandable, some of the videos under the shifting tag are concerning. For example @braydonanthonyy posted a TikTok of him crying that said “Its currently 9am and i just woke up from a full 5 months at hogwarts.. take me back home, i hate it here.”

While people have been changing their appearances and escaping into fictional worlds for years through activities like gaming, shifting seems to be taking escapism to new heights.