On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Dr. Tara Swart: 4 Brain Hacks To Manifest Anything Into Your Life (Science-Backed Method!)
Mon, 27 Jan 2025
What’s one goal you want to manifest? Have you tried visualization before? Today, Jay welcomes neuroscientist, executive advisor, and bestselling author Dr. Tara Swart for a deeply engaging discussion on the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience. Tara, author of The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain, shares her journey from a dual-cultural upbringing in North London to becoming a leading expert in neuroplasticity, manifestation, and the science of purpose. Tara explains how rewiring the brain through neuroplasticity can help us shift our mindset and align with our goals. She introduces the concept of "magnetic desire," the alignment of one’s head, heart, and gut to pursue authentic and meaningful aspirations. The conversation explores the importance of moving beyond societal noise and external expectations to create a life of abundance, gratitude, and love. Jay and Tara discuss how ancient practices such as chanting, drumming, and spending time in nature have been essential to human well-being for centuries and are increasingly validated by neuroscience today. Together, they unpack how practices like visualization, mindfulness, and connecting with nature are more than philosophical ideas—they are scientifically proven tools for personal growth and transformation. In this interview, you'll learn: How to Rewire Your Brain for Success How to Use Visualization to Achieve Goals How to Balance Ancient Wisdom with Modern Science How to Transform Negative Thoughts into Positive Actions How to Build an Action Board for Manifestation How to Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Self-Doubt How to Create Lasting Change with Neuroplasticity Whether it’s through cultivating gratitude, spending time in nature, or embracing the power of visualization, every small step brings us closer to the life we envision. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty Join over 750,000 people to receive my most transformative wisdom directly in your inbox every single week with my free newsletter. Subscribe here. What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 02:38 Parallels Between Modern Science and Ancient Wisdom 07:44 The Power of Possibility 09:37 Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivators 12:25 Six Themes of the 12 Laws of Attraction 19:43 Does Every Thought Count? 24:19 4 Steps to Practice Belief Change 29:08 How to Stop Criticising Yourself 33:30 Reconnect with Your Childhood Dream 35:15 Access Your Inner Self Through Nature 40:49 The Nature of Consciousness 45:39 Use Creativity to Open Up Your Consciousness 54:41 The Neurological Impact of Chanting 57:06 Well-Bonded Couples Calm Each Other 59:08 Infusing Stressful Situations with Love 01:01:40 The Mental Prison We Create 01:03:14 Living Life to the Fullest 01:08:35 Digital Detox 01:13:19 Does God Truly Exist? 01:16:46 Tara on Final Five Episode Resources: Tara Swart | Website Tara Swart | X Tara Swart | Instagram Tara Swart | LinkedIn Tara Swart | BooksSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What are the parallels between modern science and ancient wisdom?
Welcome to My Legacy. I'm Martin Luther King III, and together with my wife, Andrea Waters King, and our dear friends, Mark and Craig Kilberger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives.
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You know that feeling of I'm trying to manifest but nothing's happening? Manifestation is not creating a fantasy and then waiting for it to come true with no action from yourself.
Leading neuroscientist. Best-selling author. Dr. Tara Swart.
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Chapter 2: How can visualization help achieve goals?
You cannot undo a negative thought pattern. We have to overwrite it with a new one. Your brain, it's two and a half times more strongly wired to avoid risk than is to get a reward. Wow.
the number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty.
Jay Shetty. The one, the only, Jay Shetty.
Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the place you choose to become happier, healthier, and more healed. Today's guest is someone that I've wanted to talk to for such a long time, and I'm so excited because we finally have her in the studio. Actually, we're all the way in London because we didn't know when she was coming to LA, and I'm so glad we made it happen.
I'm speaking about the one and only Dr. Tara Swart. She's a PhD neuroscientist, former MD, executive advisor, best-selling author, and senior advisor for neuroscience and leadership at MIT Sloan. Her book is called The Source, The Secrets of the Universe, The Science of the Brain. If you don't already have a copy, I want you to go and grab it now. I promise you, you won't regret it.
Please welcome to On Purpose, Dr. Tara Swart. Tara, it's such a joy to have you here, honestly.
Thank you so much. And thank you for squeezing me in when you're in London for such a short time.
No, no, this is something I was looking forward to all week. I can promise you it's a Thursday for anyone who's listening. And I've been recording all week and I was really excited to sit down with you. I think the work that you're doing is so similar in value to the work I'm trying to do in the world.
I really believe that for so long, ancient wisdom and the wisdom of the East especially has been seen through two lenses. I think there's been a lot of enthusiasm towards it and a lot of value and reverence. And at the same time, I think there's been, as you say, skepticism and cynicism around it. And so to have someone of your caliber, your research, your insight,
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Chapter 3: What is magnetic desire in manifestation?
Chapter 4: How do negative thoughts affect our mindset?
Thank you.
It really means the world. But let's dive straight in. And if you hear me and Tara lock into some... what would I call them? Inside jokes, because we're both North Londoners, then just please roll with us. But Tara, I wanted to start off with where did you and why did you get so passionate about this work and finding the parallels between ancient wisdom and modern science?
And why did that work call you?
As you know, I grew up in North London and I was the oldest child of first generation immigrant parents. So I always felt like I was bridging two worlds. You know, I went to school, I didn't have any Indian friends and I just wanted to fit in with my friends and then I would come home. And obviously we would have like the altars and the incense and the ceremonies and the rituals and everything.
And so, yeah, I would say for most of my childhood, I was living in two worlds. And then at the age of 18, I went to medical school and I think I moved very much away from our cultural heritage and just lived like a teenager. So on in their 20s at university. And I was at university for most of my 20s because I did medical school and a PhD, so nine years at university.
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Chapter 5: What are the four steps to practice belief change?
Around the time that I became a doctor, yoga was becoming quite popular in society. So I sort of returned to that and I would say that reignited my interest in our cultural heritage. And But then still, I would keep it very separate from my work. So I was working in the NHS. You know, that really wasn't very holistic. But at home, I was eating in an Ayurvedic way and doing yoga.
And some time passed and these things came more into our culture anyway. But still, at the time that I wrote The Source, it was a risk for me as an MIT professor to start speaking about manifestation and visualization and meditation and things like that.
But writing it really, for me, actually brought those two things together and made me think I don't have to keep my personal life separate from my professional life. And I have to say thank you to everyone that the response to it then took that even further. As we were discussing, we both had books out around that time, couldn't really do world promo because of the pandemic.
But very early on in the pandemic, I thought, oh, no, there's going to be a huge mental health crisis. And it was so unprecedented. I thought, what can I offer that isn't already available to people? But I will caveat that by saying I think all of the ancient wisdom and knowledge that I try to apply to modern mental health problems is it's just things that we've forgotten.
It's not anything new, but it's about bringing, you know, finding those things. It's like gold mining. and bringing them to people and saying, this could really help you.
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Chapter 6: How to stop self-criticism and reconnect with your dreams?
It's fascinating that all of these things have been practiced for thousands and thousands of years. And ironically, we've also had mental health and anxiety challenges for much longer than we believe we have. And I often think of the Bhagavad Gita and Arjun, which, you know, was spoken 5,000 years ago, But that experience that he's having on the battlefield is anxiety, stress.
He's having a sense of a loss of identity. He's worried about the surroundings and the impending war that's about to take place. And so you see that in a text that's 5,000 years old. And then you have all of this wisdom that surrounds it. But being able to translate that into what's happening now is so needed. And I guess that's why you had that positive response.
Yeah, and what I found really interesting is that it would be one thing if you and I sat here and talked about our own cultural heritage. But what I found is that if you look at the ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians, Babylon, and all sorts of other ancient cultures, the first Americans, that there are so many similar themes of the things that keep us healthy.
And such new science, as if it's just been discovered in the last year or two, like things like connection to nature, I mean, how are we not understanding that for so long? I think because there were no planes in the sky and less traffic and our time in nature, in this country anyway, was limited. People were allowed like a one hour walk outside during the day at some points.
The appreciation of nature grew. And then suddenly, as if from nowhere, comes out the science that time in nature helps your mental health, your physical health, your longevity. It boosts your immunity. That there's just an impact of that awe-inspiring science. sort of feeling of being in beautiful nature on the way that your brain works.
So like so much modern science that is actually not one of those things that's new.
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Chapter 7: How does nature influence mental health?
Yeah, absolutely. It's not new at all. This idea then that we have the power to change our destiny, this idea that we have the power to propel our lives, whether it's careers, whether it's relationships, we have the ability to shift and pivot. A lot of people will hear that and they think to themselves, well, that doesn't happen to me. It happens for those people.
They hear that and think, yeah, you can't really think your way into anything. Or people hear it and say, no, I tried that once and it didn't work for me. How do you approach that conversation of helping people realize the power that they hold and the power of what's possible for any one of us?
I love the way you've kind of segued that from nature into manifestation because a few things here. One thing is if you just observe nature, you see manifestation all the time. You know, you see a flower growing from a bud into a fully formed flower and then its petals starting to fall. You see trees growing, you know, all sorts of things.
And the other connection there is that creating the environment within yourself and around yourself is to allow things like manifestation to happen. And that basically means, at the simplest level, that you set a goal. You say, this is what I want my life to be like, or this is a specific thing I want in my life.
And then there's a process that leads that to potentially manifesting in the real world. But I do agree with one of those skepticism points, which is that you can't sit at home and think about it. So I've been really, really clear about saying that manifestation is not creating a fantasy and then waiting for it to come true with no action from yourself.
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Chapter 8: What role does consciousness play in personal growth?
So I actually renamed vision boards action boards as if to say that, yes, create imagery that represents what you want, but then you have to be doing something every day to move yourself closer to that action.
Whether it's being healthier just so that your brain's in a better environment or it's networking or dating or saving money, whatever it is that's going to get you, let's say, the house that you want. A great example is people might say, of course, I'd love a house in the Hamptons.
But if that's not realistic for you in the short term, then you'll only reinforce the fact that you're failing at manifesting. So it's better to say, I'd like to be on the property ladder and start there and then obviously build bigger.
Did you find a difference? And I want to get into the science and research part to show the validity of what you're saying. Did you find a difference in the science of measuring extrinsic and intrinsic motivators? Because I feel like manifestation is still always about what do you want? Where do you want to be? And as, you know, honestly, I can only really speak for myself.
But when I think about it, for me, if someone asked me what that was, I've always wanted to just wake up and do what I love every day. Like that's really all I care about. And so it's all I care about is I want to wake up and do what I love every day and hopefully improves the lives of other people. And if those two things can go together.
Mm-hmm.
And I find that a lot of manifestation stems around like, what kind of house do you want? And what kind of car do you want? And what kind of life do you want? And it gets very extrinsic. And so I wonder whether, I'm intrigued, I'm really curious to know what the science suggests about when you're having an action board towards an intrinsic motivator or an extrinsic motivator.
There's a lot to unpack here.
Please, I'm all ears. I'm here as a student to just listen because I'm so fascinated.
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