Manifestation Gurus

...  lf Woodhall believes it, it must be true. Less than a year ago the 24-year-old Yorkshire native moved to the United Arab Emirates with little more than a dream. Today, she is one of Dubai's successful manifestation gurus, effectively preaching that wellbeing can be achieved by wishing to be well.

The Charlatan
Frans van Mieris the elder ( 1635-1681)
Photo Credit: Guildhall Art Gallery [CC BY-NC]

Hers, though is a fitting and growing niche in a city where if you've got it, you flaunt it, and if you don't, you're here because you want it..

There was only so much partying Woodhall could do before she turned to manifestation, she explains, starting workshops that have gathered a following among the legions of Gen Z manifesters on TikTok (as evidenced by the proliferation of cameras on the beach)

"We've grown up comparing our lives to celebrities and influencers," Woodhall says. " I feel like it's what Dubai was missing for the expat community."

The dictionary says that " to manifest" is to dream or will something into existence. High-profile  manifesters have different ways of explaining it. "Manifesting is a big thing for me," said Dua Lipa. "I stand very firmly in the belief of putting things into the world. Subconsciously, you just work towards them. Nothing's ever too big.."...

Here in Dubai, manifesting is booming. The city has drawn British and western millionaires attracted by the ease of living, zero income tax and the legions of  social media influencers flaunting their wealth.

Across town, in a £3 million house paid for by manifesting, Marisa Peer explains that being a guru is all about an ability to detect frequencies. If it seems far-fetched, Wigan Athletic might disagree. Peer,68, has marketed herself as a therapist to the stars and was once dubbed Wigan's "secret weapon" after helping the football club win promotion to the Premier League...

"Energy is our vibrational frequency.  Quantum physics says you're energy and you're matter. We all are vibrating. If you can change your vibration, you can change everything."

Peer, who lists royals and a Bond girl among her clients, has been accused by psychologists of giving false hope as part of a multimillion-pound industry of gurus and literature that purports to offer the keys to wealth, love and health to a growing number of followers...

The NHS warns that her teachings on her trademarked Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), a blend of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy, have no basis in science, and the Advertising Standards Authority has looked into claims on her website that RTT could cure depression in three sessions.

But Peer, who charges hundreds of pounds for sessions is unbowed. At one event in Dubai her subscribers piled their designer shoes at the door to lie on yoga mats, allowing Peer to guide them through a "vortex" that would "vibrate out the old and encode the new" using an "alpha brainwave"...

Manifesting is broadly appealing to a generation often accused of entitlement. A Survey of 9.2 million Americans from 1996 to 2009 found recent generations placed higher value on being rich, famous and good-looking.

Woodhall says: " We are constantly being reminded of what we don't have these amazing lives people live. It makes you think, why can't I do that?"

(Samer Al-Altrush, The Times, 2025)

What is it about manifestation that appeals? Why this analysis of wellbeing? Get on with your life - laugh, cry, be happy, sad. There will be misfortunes, moments and periods of desperation but also periods of happiness and delight. This is life.

Wellbeing can be achieved by wishing to be well. You wish for something to happen and it comes true. Really?

"We've grown up comparing our lives to celebrities and influencers... Why are you doing this? As a child maybe you do compare your life to a celebrity and influencers? As an adult though? 

Dua Lipa. "I stand very firmly in the belief of putting things into the world. Subconsciously, you just work towards them. Nothing's ever too big.."... Dua Lipa, your talent is singing. I'll listen to you if you talk about that. So stick to singing. But what you say here is more than a little weird.

"Energy is our vibrational frequency.  Quantum physics says you're energy and you're matter. We all are vibrating. If you can change your vibration, you can change everything."

Let's change the vibration then.

allowing Peer to guide them through a "vortex" that would "vibrate out the old and encode the new" using an "alpha brainwave"...

I'm such a simpleton.