Neville Goddard Ladder Technique [step-by-step guide]
Neville Goddard’s ladder technique will help you test manifestation and the law of assumption yourself.
The ladder technique (or ladder experiment) is a technique shared by Neville Goddard to show that imagination creates reality. This exercise could also be done by anyone who wants to know if manifestation techniques by Neville Goddard work.
I’ll first explain how to do the ladder technique and then explain why the ladder experiment exists and where Neville shares it.
Here are the exact steps for trying out the ladder technique.
How to do Neville Goddard ladder technique (step by step)
Step 1: Sit comfortably or lie down and close your eyes.
Step 2: In your imagination, picture a ladder right before you.
Step 3: Take your imaginary left hand, reach out, and take hold of the side of the ladder.
Step 4: Now, take the other side of the ladder with your imaginary right hand.
Step 5: Now, with the imaginary left foot, place it on the ladder’s first rung.
Step 6: Now, push yourself up and climb the ladder to the top. Feel each step you take in your imagination.
Step 7: Climb back down when you reach the top.
Step 8: Repeat this in your imagination. When you reach back down, climb back up.
Step 9: Once you feel like your imagination is so real, you can stop.
Step 10: Now, write on a paper: I will not climb the ladder. Place this inside your wallet. Write this sentence on your mirror. Read it every time you see it.
Step 11: You must do this and mean in your heart that you will not climb the ladder. This is important.
Step 12: Repeat the climbing the ladder exercise in your imagination for three nights, right before you sleep every day.
Step 13: Sleep a different way to take longer for your sleep. For example, sleep on your right side if you usually lay on your left side. You need to repeat the climbing ladder exercise in your imagination as you sleep.
That’s it. Neville says that you’ll climb the ladder within a week if you have successfully impressed your subconscious mind after this exercise.
What is the point of the ladder experiment?
The ladder technique, also called the ladder experiment, was shared by Neville Goddard with his students to prove that his teachings worked.
Through their own experiments, he wanted to show his students that what you imagine and impress on your subconscious mind is more powerful than what you tell yourself consciously.
And that you can use the same powerful imagination to manifest any desire.
You can also skip the ladder technique and go straight to manifesting your desire by using Manifest any desire effortlessly worksheet.
Why did Neville Goddard add “I will not climb the ladder” in this technique?
Reading “I will not climb the ladder” is an integral part of this technique. Neville Goddard wanted you to know that reading with your conscious mind isn’t as powerful as what you imagine and impresses with your subconscious mind.
This is why he told us to imagine the scene as we sleep. The moment before you sleep and the time after you wake up, we’re drowsy, and it is easier to impress our subconscious mind during those moments.
There’s also one other thing. When you actively tell yourself, “I will not climb the ladder,” you imagine yourself climbing the ladder.
This is similar to the pink elephant experiment where you’re told not to think about a pink elephant for a minute. But the very act of avoiding a thought makes it stronger.
Neville Goddard Ladder technique: Where does it come from?
The Neville Goddard ladder technique doesn’t appear in any of his published lectures. It is shared by one of his students who attended his lectures live.
Here’s the video.
There are different techniques that Neville Goddard has shared to help with manifesting your desires. The ladder technique is different because it isn’t a technique to manifest a specific desire.
It is an exercise in building your skill to imagine scenes in vivid detail. When you imagine yourself climbing up the ladder, you can practice feeling every detail to the point where you cannot distinguish between reality and imagination.
This is the ultimate skill that you can develop. The exercise of imagining the scene before you sleep is also the basis of another Neville Goddard technique known as State Akin To Sleep (SATS).
Once you’ve succeeded in the ladder experiment, you can replace the scene with something that would happen after your desire is fulfilled. And what you imagined will come to pass.
How long to practice the ladder experiment?
Neville asks us to practice for three days.
In many of Neville Goddard’s lectures, he has mentioned that three is a symbol for completion. So rather than thinking of it as literal three days, think of it as the number of times you need to imagine the ladder scene where you cannot distinguish it from reality.
What if the ladder experiment doesn’t work for me?
If the Neville Goddard ladder experiment isn’t working for you, don’t panic. It can be hard to focus your attention on one thing if you’re new to visualization.
The ladder technique as explained by Neville Goddard only works if you can impress your subconscious mind. So answer these questions:
- Can you imagine climbing the ladder and feel it as though you’re climbing in reality?
- Are you imagining just before you’re sleeping?
- Are you reading “I will not climb the ladder” during the day?
If you’re doing all these correctly and you’re still not able to manifest climbing a ladder, then it’s probably because you have forgotten how to imagine.
Don’t worry. As humans, we all can imagine. But it can become dormant without use. So start imagining every day. Go crazy.
What is the craziest thing you can imagine? Let it run wild. Then come back to this technique. You can also try other Neville Goddard techniques like the SATS technique that focus on feeling rather than visualization.
What to do next?
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Your worksheet links do not work.
Thanks for letting me know! Fixed it now.
Do you have to imagine like a pov or can you see yourself in 3rd person almost like watching yourself from a distance?
You need to see yourself in 1st person. Just like you’re viewing the world everyday. Neville says not to see in 3rd person view instead imagine as if you’re doing it just like you’re seeing it through your eyes.
This, as in many meditations, does not take into account those of us who have Aphantasia (or no ability to visualize in our mind’s eye. I can conceptualize but not “see”. How would you suggest that this work given this?
There are a few other Neville Goddard techniques that you can use that don’t include visualization. Here are a few:
1. I remember when technique: Complete the sentence from the state of the wish fulfilled. “I remember when _____”.
2. Thank you technique: Say thank you, thank you repeatedly so that you reach a state where you’re thanking your I AMness for granting your desire. You feel gratitude as if you’ve already received your desire.
I hope this helps.
Thank you for this