How I get Results With SATS (Neville Goddard’s Manifestation Technique)

I have had very good results with Neville Goddard’s SATS technique. But I do not think this is because I visualize perfectly or follow every instruction as though it were a rigid set of rules.

What matters most, in my experience, is the mental condition from which you imagine. The scene has to stop feeling like something you are trying to make happen. For a moment, it should feel like an experience you are actually having.

That is what I want to focus on here: how I perform SATS, and what I believe makes it effective.

SATS Is Supposed to Leave an Impression

SATS is short for “state akin to sleep.” It refers to the drowsy, trance-like state that occurs naturally before sleep and shortly after waking.

In this state, the mind becomes more receptive to suggestion. You are not as alert and argumentative as you normally are, but you are still conscious enough to direct your imagination.

This “open” state is the real purpose of entering SATS.

You are entering a state in which an imagined experience can sink beneath the level of a conscious wish and become accepted more deeply.

In Neville’s terms, you impress the subconscious with the state of your desire fulfilled. Once accepted, that state will eventually express itself in your external life.

Choose a Scene That Implies It Is Already Done

Before entering SATS, I decide upon a short scene that would take place if my desire were already a reality.

If you wanted a particular job, for instance, you might imagine shaking your new boss’s hand or hearing a friend congratulate you. If you wanted a relationship, you might feel yourself lying beside your partner or hear someone comment on how happy you look together.

The scene itself is not especially important. What matters is the suggestion contained within it.

A handshake can mean that you have been hired. A conversation can mean that your relationship already exists. Holding a key can mean that the house is now yours.

Choose something that naturally implies completion to you. It does not have to be cinematic, elaborate or even particularly interesting. In fact, a simple scene is generally easier because there is less to control.

I also recommend keeping it short. You want to be able to repeat the scene without having to remember a long sequence of events.

How I Enter and Perform SATS

I normally sit or lie down and begin by relaxing my body. There is no complicated procedure behind this. I simply remain still, withdraw my attention from the physical world and allow myself to become drowsy.

You can use the period before sleep if that comes naturally to you. The state shortly after waking is also useful because the mind has not yet fully returned to its usual alertness.

Once I am sufficiently relaxed, I begin imagining my scene.

I experience it from the first-person perspective. I do not watch myself as if I were looking at a film. If I am shaking someone’s hand, I feel the hand in mine. If I am standing inside a new house, I look out through my own eyes and feel myself occupying the room.

Neville described this as being a “partaker” rather than an “onlooker.”

I then repeat the scene and allow my attention to become increasingly absorbed in it. As the mind becomes more concentrated, the physical world recedes and the imagined experience begins to take on a reality of its own.

I am not trying to make the image visually perfect. I am trying to enter the experience.

The Right State Matters More Than Strong Emotion

A common mistake is to assume that you need to manufacture an overwhelming feeling of excitement, gratitude or happiness.

You do not.

When Neville spoke about feeling, I do not think he meant emotion alone. He meant the feeling of reality: the internal recognition that this is happening now.

You may experience emotion, of course. But the deeper aim is absorption.

During a good SATS session, I become temporarily occupied by the imagined state. My attention is no longer divided between the scene and the thought that I am performing a manifestation technique. The scene feels less like a picture I am producing and more like a place I have entered.

You might call this self-hypnosis or even a temporary form of deliberate delusion – though one could argue that its not really a delusion. Either way, the ordinary evidence of the senses has been suspended, and imagination has been allowed to become the dominant reality.

You do not need to reach this perfectly for SATS to work. These are directions to move in, not standards by which to declare every session a failure.

The Law of Reversed Effort in SATS

Neville wrote that “the sovereign rule is to make no effort,” and I think this is one of the most important instructions concerning SATS.

When you strain to visualize, force yourself to believe or desperately attempt to produce a result, you remain conscious of the fact that you do not have your desire.

You are trying to overpower yourself with willpower. But SATS works through suggestion, not force.

The conscious mind does not have to create the manifestation or determine how it will happen. Its role is simply to introduce the new state. The deeper power of the subconscious takes care of its expression.

This is why the practice should be easy, simple and preferably pleasurable. If the scene feels difficult, simplify it. If you cannot visualize clearly, rely more upon touch, sound or the general sense of being where you want to be.

Do not turn SATS into a nightly test that you are afraid to fail.

How Often I Practise SATS

Some manifestations may follow one particularly good session. I have experienced results from doing SATS only once, and you may as well.

As a general rule, though, I recommend practising every day. Once a day is good. Twice is even better if it feels natural and does not become a burden.

Repetition renews the suggestion. This can be useful because you may already carry other assumptions that contradict what you are trying to establish.

At some point, however, you may feel that the imaginal act has done its work. The desire feels settled. You no longer have the same urge to perform the scene because, internally, it seems finished.

I would not force myself to continue merely to reach a certain number of sessions. The purpose of repetition is acceptance, not accumulation.

Leave the Manifestation Alone Afterward

Once the state has been impressed, the manifestation can unfold through what Neville called the bridge of incidents.

You may receive an opportunity, take an action that seems obvious, meet someone unexpectedly or pass through a gradual development of events. The final result may come in a way you could never have predicted beforehand.

I recommend doing whatever seems normal to do. If an opening appears, take it. But do not make yourself responsible for consciously engineering every step between the imaginal act and its fulfilment.

That is not your part of the process.

Your part is to enter the state, experience the scene as real and return from it carrying the impression of fulfilment. You then allow the deeper intelligence of the subconscious to find the means.

SATS is something you learn through practice more than reading. Your first sessions may feel distracted, forced or unimpressive. That is fine. You do not need to perform it perfectly before it can produce results.

Keep it simple, allow yourself to experiment and pay attention to what helps the imagined state feel natural to you. The technique becomes much easier once you stop treating it as a performance and begin using it as an actual experience in imagination.