Nothing changes if nothing changes. It’s a phrase that has anchored me when I’ve hit a wall — personally, professionally or existentially. By 2022, the walls were closing in. Late one night, caught deep in the hypnotic scroll, I went hunting for something, anything, that might break the loop I couldn’t escape. Then Instagram delivered: a reel demystifying the science behind manifestation, presented by neuroscientist Tara Swart.
Until then, my understanding of manifestation was limited to mood boards, mantras and visualisation — nice ideas, but light on substance. Swart, however, was different. An Oxford-trained physician, MIT faculty member and PhD in neuropharmacology, she spoke about how thought patterns physically reshape neural pathways. If manifestation had scientific merit, Swart would know.
I wanted to know if change could be engineered, not just imagined. I needed consistent, practical tools to lean on daily and steer change. So I dove in, finding a manifestation programme developed in partnership with Swart — blending neuroscience, psychology and energetics to reprogram limiting beliefs through neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to forge new neural pathways and overwrite habits).
I was all in. Daily application. Honest self-inquiry. Within six months, everything shifted. How I felt about myself, how I interpreted my past, even a career pivot and my dream home in my dream location.
But I had to sit in the dark with everything I’d been running from. You cannot rewire neural pathways from the surface. You have to descend into the circuitry, face what you’ve buried, and rebuild from there. That’s what her framework demanded and that’s why it worked.
Perhaps that’s also why, not long after, I found myself face to face with Swart, to understand the mechanisms beneath the magic.
How does neuroscience inform manifestation? How does it differ from mainstream practices like visualisation or affirmations?
TS: Neuroscience explains how manifestation works in the brain. It includes practices like visualisation, vision boards, or what I call “action boards”, and positive affirmations, but it’s more that it explains the underlying mechanisms rather than just suggesting what to do.
In purely scientific terms, manifestation is setting a goal, taking the action you need to move yourself towards it and if there are blocks or barriers in your thoughts or beliefs preventing you from taking that action, then dealing with those.
It’s a four-step process. First, raised awareness: getting clear on what you really want and what’s preventing you from getting it. Second, focusing your attention on times you’ve missed opportunities or noticed an opportunity but didn’t act on it. Not doing anything differently, just noticing that. Third is deliberate practice, taking the action you need to realise your dreams. And fourth is accountability, either having somebody else hold you accountable, saying you’ll achieve X, Y, Z by the end of the year, or keeping a journal that tracks your progress.
The neural processes that underlie this are myelination, coating neurons with a fatty layer that makes them more efficient; synaptic connection — when existing adult neurons connect and form thicker pathways, which can also become myelinated; and, least common in the adult brain, neurogenesis — where embryonic brain cells become fully formed neurons and connect with others through synapses, potentially becoming myelinated. This is about growth, change and the strengthening of pathways in the brain that make new behaviours the default, rather than reverting to the patterns that existed before you manifested.
From a neuroscience perspective, how does reprogramming the subconscious and working through subconscious blocks created by pain, shame or conditioning bring someone closer to living their aligned life?
TS: The actions we take in life are prompted by thoughts or thought patterns, and what underlies those are the beliefs we hold about ourselves — they tend to be subconscious. That’s where affirmations work.
It’s challenging to change a thought pattern that’s been embedded since childhood. But if you can dig underneath and ask yourself, “What must I believe about myself to think in this way, to behave in a way that creates the same bad patterns in relationships, or leads me, time and again, not to get the things I want?” If you can surface that belief and create an affirmation that’s the opposite of it, you can rewire your brain.
As the Buddhists say, “Replace any negative thought with a positive one.” Each time that old pattern arises, replace it with your affirmation until the new pathway strengthens and becomes your brain’s default route. Changing your beliefs and thought patterns will change the behaviours you display in life, the healthy risks you take, and the behaviours you no longer tolerate.
For someone new to the practice of neuro-manifestation, what are some of the first signs that there’s been a shift, and how long does it typically take for any meaningful change to present?
TS: One of the strongest biases of the human brain is loss avoidance: we’re 2.5 times more likely to avoid loss than to take a healthy risk for potential gain. Recognising this is key to understanding why we often hesitate to act on our desires.
Patience and harmony are the overlooked elements of manifestation that neuroscience brings into focus. Patience, because neuroplasticity is a physical process — your brain is literally rewiring itself to change how you think, and therefore how you behave. People can be close to the point of change and feel like giving up. It’s about powering through that, and to do that you need what I call magnetic desire: something you’re fully aligned on logically, emotionally and intuitively. It’s not about what people around you are getting or what they want.
And the harmony element, what you want can’t be at the expense of others. There are enough resources for everyone. You need to work in a way that’s aligned within yourself, with other people, the planet and the environment in general.
Can you provide neuroscience-backed exercises readers can start with today, for example, journaling or visualisation?
TS: I’d suggest an exercise that speaks to internal harmony: aligning your head, heart and gut. It’s called “the unfurling exercise” from my new book, The Signs.
Begin by sitting quietly with a dilemma or decision you’re grappling with. Meditate on the question for a few minutes. Then take five deep breaths, place your hands on your head and ask your logical self the question. Go with the first answer that comes to you. If you need to stop and write it down, that’s fine, but it’s best to get through the entire exercise and make notes afterwards.
Take another five deep breaths, lay your hands on your chest, and ask the question to your emotional self. Land on the first answer that surfaces.
Finally, take five more deep breaths, place your hands on your belly, and ask the question to your intuitive self. Again, go with the first answer.
Write down all three answers. If they align, you have clarity. If they don’t, you have a choice: logic, emotion or intuition. That’s when you might think about what you’d tell your sister or best friend, or discuss with someone you trust. Make a decision, journal about it, track how it unfolds, and later review what you’ve learnt.
Your upcoming book, The Signs, was released on September 16. Could you share what inspired it and how it connects with your work on manifestation and neuroscience?
My new book, The Signs: The New Science of How to Trust Your Instinct, was inspired by personal loss — losing my husband to leukaemia — and the journey of grief that followed. Everything I had believed in — manifestation, love, abundance — was shattered. Those beliefs weren’t going to ease my grief or help me move forward, and I had to find a new way.
The Signs is about reconnecting to intuition as a kind of superpower; it’s an evolution from when I wrote The Source. It explores the science of intuition, the healing benefits of time in nature, the role of art and creativity and, most importantly, the power of a values-aligned community that provides psychological safety, the kind of environment where you can have honest conversations about experiences like signs from beyond.
What’s one insight from the book you’re most excited for readers to discover?
TS: The thing I’m most excited about with this book is opening up taboo conversations that I believe can really help people. So many are afraid to share powerful personal experiences for fear of others thinking they’ve gone crazy.
