Uncomfortable Truths and Manifestation Myths with Rachel Gibler

Welcome back to Under the Surface!

I am so excited for our guest today. Her name is Rachel Gibler and she has a podcast called It’s F*cking Spiritual, which is in the top 15 spirituality podcasts in the U.S.! She owns three businesses, and is a total badass when it comes to being a spiritual entrepreneur, twerking queen, and manifestation master.

So, today, we’re going to be talking about just that: Manifestation–but kind of like the new, new age manifestation. And for all you Human Design people, Rachel is a 1/3 Manifesting Generator!

Rachel’s here to lead her people to their greatest potential and give them the tools to create a life beyond their wildest dreams. She helps them reframe their past, rewrite limiting beliefs, and own their whole truth–so they can truly make their lives one big, beautiful story. After all, as Rachel says, “you get to write any narrative you want, and I’m guessing your story is already one pretty epic journey.”

This week we’re talking about how Rachel’s freak accident led her to starting her businesses, her favorite manifestation teachers, manifestation myths, uncomfortable truths about manifestation, and much more! 

Let’s dive in! …Or listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

So before this interview, I was looking at your bio on your website, and you were saying that you had a freak accident that woke you up to shit. Can you indulge us a little bit about that near-death experience and how that shifted the trajectory of your life?

“Yes, absolutely. So in order to kind of know how this accident really just kind of changed my entire life, I've got to go all the way back to where everything started, which was when I was 16 years old. And when I was 16, I grew up with two parents. I'm an only child. My parents were together and just incredibly in love.

I had a wonderful childhood. But everything turned upside down when I was 16 and I lost my dad in a freak accident. So over night, my entire life turned upside down changed, and I basically ended up finding myself, my senior year of high school, basically alone. No parents, no supervision. And I went down a really tough path.

Now I was always a type A, straight A student, like a go-getter kind of personality. I always seemed like I had it together and I was okay. And I went off to college and then I went off and got a corporate job in sales, working 80 hours a week, first promotion, like all of that kind of stuff.

But, on the inside, I was so broken. I had never gotten over the trauma of the loss of my father. That ended up manifesting itself in many different ways, in abusive relationships with men, in drug and alcohol abuse, and putting myself in extremely dangerous situations. Just not making good choices.

I had almost this character facade by day…like what I portrayed outwardly to the world during the week, and then on the weekends, I was just an absolute disaster.

I knew that going down this path, I had this gut feeling for years. The second my father passed, I had this voice in my head that said, “This is not going to be all for nothing.”

For eight years, when I went through the abuse with boyfriends, or I would take the drug, I knew I shouldn't take, or I would make some decision that was out of alignment. I would hear the voice again, ‘this isn't going to be all for nothing.’ And I ignored it and pushed it down. And it wasn't until four and a half years ago that I, myself, was in a freak accident.

It’s so funny now looking back because at the time I actually considered myself to be atheist, because I was so angry at the world. I thought, you know, there is no God, there is no force looking out for us, like F this, like, you know, I was so angry at the way that my life had turned out. And that obviously had manifested in me, treating myself really poorly.

I had been talking to my mom on the phone a couple of weeks before my accident, and now looking back, I laugh. Like the universe, your wish is my command. I said to her: you know, I know I need to change my life. I know we need to stop doing all of these things, but I just wish time could stop so I could think. Didn’t think anything of it and sure enough, two weeks later, I blow out my knee. I completely shattered my leg.

I ended up in bed for three months, forced to take medical leave for my sales job, cast from my hip to my ankle, moving back in with mom. And of course at this time I'm absolutely fucking pissed because I'm thinking nothing can get worse. What the hell? Like I absolutely hate my life.

I had an epiphany about two weeks into my healing and that voice came to me again and it said, ‘use this time wisely, and this won't have been all for nothing.’ And I had this fleeting moment of faith come over me. I grabbed my computer and I Googled how to be happy. And that's how I found self-development.

So, I decided I wanted to lay in bed, get completely sober, not take any of the drugs that they had given me, like literally. Not watch Netflix. I cancelled all my TV subscriptions and I laid in bed and I read books on self development. I studied entrepreneurship, I studied money mindset. How do people get out of traumatic experiences and into their life? And how do people make something of themselves?

I dedicated myself in bed for three months to study. Went back to my corporate job, took a leap of faith at the age of 23, walked out of those doors. Quit never went back, ended up starting my own company, which was a brick and mortar eyelash extension salon.

Then, about a year into that journey, I started documenting entrepreneurship and my journey in self-development online. And that is how all of this ended up unfolding. Of course I've been online now for three and a half years, had my own spiritual awakenings during that time, and launched my brand.

I launched my brand about a year ago, It's F*cking Spiritual. Then that just took off. And ever since then, it's been just a wild ride.”

What an incredible story. Most of the people I talk to are just so magnetic and special, and really allow their special-ness to shine through. They’re the one’s who almost lost it, you know? Who have come so close to just seeing how it can all disappear. I love hearing those stories because we all have those moments in life where if it wasn’t a true rock bottom moment, it’s clearly a fork in the road. And we get to choose which path to go down. And you must be so grateful that you chose the path you did. 

So, now here you are! This successful entrepreneur. You’ve built this whole brand of manifestation when you were going through your time with self-development and reading all those amazing books.

What was it about manifestation that really pulled you in? Was there a specific book or teacher that you loved?

“Yeah. I actually love that question. I've never really been asked that before…I started from the very masculine side. Not in energetics, not in spirituality at all.

I started in the self-development: Jack Canfield’s, the Success Principles, was the very first book I ever read. It was in self-development, the whole 5:00 AM wake up, goals. I started in that. 

It wasn't until quarantine in March of 2020 that I had my first, really big spiritual awakening. I chose to spend 30 days completely alone in my apartment and just not leave. Obviously, we were quarantining, just completely isolated. That was a really big turning poing for me that I realized, you know, I had gotten as far as I could with the masculine structure of thought work…I changed my life, of course, but I could feel that there was a block there and I could feel that there was just more to this than what was put in the, you know, the books about just, “wake up and crush it, think positive thoughts.” Those kinds of things. 

I don't actually remember when I came across manifestation, but I do remember originally thinking it was bullshit, which is really funny to me now. And also why I can really relate to so many people that are getting into this world because I approached everything in spirituality and manifestation from an inherent skepticism, not from a blind faith.

I wanted to know why.

I was probably the most annoying for coaches that I had, like why? Explain it to me. 

So I take a really subconscious mind, quantum physics approach, science-based approach to everything. And I never teach something just from blind faith. But, speaking of that, my biggest teachers are more in the spiritual realm.

Abraham Hicks has been one of my biggest teachers. So it's funny, the juxtaposition, I take these like really big spiritual leaders, and I take them from a sense of trust. And then I take that myself and I go into Dr. Joe Dispenza, or someone that is neuroscience and epigenetics. I will basically marry the two.

I kind of created my own explanation of manifestation and how it works, but I'd say Abraham has probably been the biggest teacher for me in my life. I was just listening to them this morning–her–them, I never know what to use, but yeah, that's probably been the biggest teacher for me.”

I love that so much and I really relate to that too. I love that you’re such a logical thinker because we need that logical process in order to flush out the doubt. There is so much doubt and that’s good because that forces you to really examine things. I don’t think that way and I love to have people around me who do think like that. You know, I can read the science and I can get more into the esoteric and feminine side of things, but like you said, blend them together.

Obviously there are so many manifestation teachers and coaches now in the industry. But, what would you say really sets you apart as far as your approach and philosophy with manifestation?


“So, It’s F*cking Spiritual, I haven’t seen anything like it in the industry and I created it because of that.

I created this really for myself, originally. And of course for everyone else, obviously, too…I am someone that I'm pretty out there. I'm pretty open to everything. I am not this very rigid, structured type of person. And so studying and self-development of course, I loved mindset work. I loved thought work. I loved the self-development principles, but I wasn't this buttoned up version of what we see a lot of times, right. So I thought, you know, who's going to listen to me to be a life coach? And that's what I felt years ago

I'm not the archetype that you typically see. And then when I got into spirituality, I was kind of, again, looking for where's my place and where do I fit?

No shade to anyone in their spirituality, I am like game for whatever your down for, sister, but I am not the person that is going to be singing kumbaya in the forest…like I'm just not the airy fairy light, like, you know, that vibe. And I have friends that are that way and I love them for it, but it's just not me.

I thought, you know, I don't really fit in either of these categories and yet I love this stuff and it's changed my life and I know the importance of it. And I saw a very, very wide distinct gap in this industry where I was like, okay, but what about the people that are in the middle? Like what about the people that are still messy and imperfect and human?

…I say all these phrases, like, ‘You can be a hot mess and a hot success.’ ‘You can drink tequila and tap into the divine.’

Whatever you want to be, you can do. That's why I ended up creating It’s F*cking Spiritual, because even in that name, you immediately know what you're going to get and you immediately know the vibe.

So many people told me, don't put fuck in the name of your podcast. You're going to alienate people. And I said, “That’s the point. It's not for everybody.” But for the people it is for, they are fucking all in on this. And that's why I've created such a beautiful community and we've really all done it together because I just had decided I'm going to speak my truth and whoever comes comes. And if it absolutely fails, at least I went down swinging and I did it in integrity with myself.

So that was the vibe. It was actually like a, ‘fuck it, I’m tired of being told how to be, and I’m really going to make spirituality my own way.’

Everything I do is really from a human-based approach. And from a, you can't fuck it up. You aren't wrong, you're not broken. It doesn't matter who you were up until this point. I don't care what you did. You are accepted here in my community. We do not judge. We do not shame, and that is not tolerated.

And so not saying that it is in other communities either, but it's just, my community is so vast and so broad and so accepting and just really celebrates 1% progress. We don't need to be perfect. And that's the difference.”

I’m smiling right now because that is such a 1/3 vibe. For those of you listening, who share this profile with Rachel and I, this is the vibe. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s down to earth. I always say to my 1/3 clients: your mess is your message.

This is what I meant by the new-new age manifestation. We’re waking up to the fact that there’s so much bypassing and so much shaming. Like, “you haven’t healed that yet.” And there’s this perpetual fixing, when really, I don’t have to fucking fix anything.

I don’t have to be anything other than what I am right now. I don’t have to pretend. I don’t have to wear a certain thing or say a certain thing. I think a lot of people are being called out for the shaming that they’re doing, because, when you talk about what spirituality really is, it’s just acceptance.

Spirituality is acceptance in every form. It’s acceptance of the moment. Acceptance of the person in front of you. Acceptance of yourself. So yeah, I love your approach so much and I resonate with it deeply.

Now, I want to know, what are the biggest manifestation myths that kind of grind your gears? When you were building It’s F*cking Spiritual, you were like, “none of that here”?

“Oh my gosh, okay. So many things.

As you probably can already tell from our conversation, I do everything pretty much differently. But, obviously the spiritual bypassing thing is the number 1 thing!

We are not going to ignore our emotions. We are not going to think, like toxicly positive thoughts. The whole vibe of like, ‘If you think something negative, you're going to manifest it,’ is like such bullshit. Your thoughts actually don't matter nearly as much as you think they do, because it's not about that.

The whole, make a vision board, say affirmations, like check the boxes, and do the things, meditate every day, and if you don't have a two hour morning routine: feel like shit about it.

No. None of that is true.

There is a caveat there. There's a reason why people teach that stuff. But, they've missed half of the equation, because when we teach, ‘In order to manifest, decide what you want, say it all the time. Act as if it has happened, put in on a vision board. It’ll come true.’

Then all these people are listening to these things and doing ‘the tasks’ that they're told to do, and are like, ‘why the fuck isn't this working?’ And then they get frustrated, and then they think it doesn't work. That's why manifestation gets a bad rep.

That’s when people can say, ‘oh it’s really just woo.’ When actually, it's science. But, it's never explained in a way for people to grasp it because, yeah, the vision boards are great. Affirmations are great. All of the things that are taught are legitimate, but only when they're coming from a deep, inner subconscious healing work that we need to do.

Manifestation is, all it is, is coming home to authenticity. Coming home to yourself. Becoming more and more of who you were meant to be and uncovering all of the layers of what you are. Not that everyone told you you had to be…

When you’re in my community, you know you’re not going to get a one-size fits all fix, and I’m not going to sell it to you. I don’t like that. That is the way spiritually and manifestation can be sold because it’s not the truth.

You can do all of the vision boarding. You can think all of the positive thoughts and override your real emotions. And you will still never get your manifestation, and/or you will get it by force and not be able to hold it because your energy does not match what it is that you desire. The universe speaks in energy only.

So, we have to understand the subconscious mind. We have to understand how energetics work. We have to understand the why behind it. And then, you can do the vision board as a tool, but not as the thing.”

I’m right there with you and I see that so much too. Manifestation is not as pretty as you think it is. I mean, it is like ugly and messy and hard and challenging. When you think about all that inner work, we think of the vision of wearing a white gown and becoming enlightened forever and ever. When in reality, it is so, so hard because once you go there, there’s no going back. It’s challenging.

I also love that you brought up manifestation being the idea that you’re coming home to your authenticity. I always say in my community, being yourself, being your true self, has consequences. You know, there are social consequences. I would love to hear your thoughts on that.

What are those consequences when you start to come home to authenticity? When you start to peel back these layers and realize that you’ve been stuck in patterns, and you’re starting to rewrite new ones, what are some of the biggest challenges that you or your clients go through to get to that place of authenticity? What are those uncomfortable truths we have to accept?

I think that’s a piece a lot of us are missing. We think, “Oh, I’m manifesting. So, things are happening with ease.” When really, it’s not easy.

“The uncomfortable truth of manifestation is when you go down this path and a path of awakening, a path of self-development, a path of what you are meant to be in the world, you will be triggering as hell to yourself and to everyone else around you, to many other people. Especially at the beginning.

It is confronting. It is uncomfortable. It does not feel good all the time. We can throw around the term, ‘do it with ease.’ People do not understand what that actually means. Doing something with ease means you're doing and acting in alignment, but it does not mean it's easy.

Living an inauthentic life is hard. That sucks. That is ease. Speaking your truth is hard in the moment, that is ease, and that's the difference.

When we go on this journey, like once you see, you can't unsee and it is the biggest joke of all time. There are so many days where I curse the universe sometimes because I'm like, why did I have to go down this path? Why did you have to choose me for this? Because sometimes I just want a normal life where everything is just–but, no you don’t.

You have to look at your shit and you have to take 100% responsibility. You no longer can blame anybody else for your circumstances. That is a hard pill to swallow. You no longer can blame anybody else for what you experienced, because everything is your perception.

When you understand that you are creating every single thing in your life, it can be extremely confronting, especially for those of us that have always wanted a scapegoat or not taking responsibility. And that was definitely me. I was numbing out on drugs and alcohol. I was cursing my family. I was cursing the universe.

Instead I had to look within and say: just because I went through all this trauma, why am I re-traumatizing myself?

[I had to] really take a hard look. And then when I started to do that, then I started to change. When I started to change, all the people that were around me got very uncomfortable. I did not have a single spiritual friend. I thought it was very weird to be spiritual back four years ago. And I had only party friends that went out, that were in my corporate job.

I did not have a lot of deep, deep connections. I had people around me, but felt very lonely. The farther down this path I went, the more I couldn't numb out anymore to that truth. So, it forced me to have to have hard conversations, to have to leave a lot of people, walk away from a lot of people in my life. I had to be okay with being misunderstood or being the bad guy.

For me personally, I know not everybody comes online and shares their story, but I do find a lot of people that do go through things like this end up wanting to share it in whatever capacity, whether that's online or even just with the people that are around them and that in and of itself, allowing yourself to be seen in that way, is terrifying…

I'd been such a people pleaser my whole life. I had been what everybody else wanted me to be, I was checking all the boxes, climbing all the ladders. And when I said, fuck it, like people hated me for it and people judged me for it. I got talked about a lot. Those were all my worst nightmares. Right?

But, it was the bridge that led to everything else on the other side…I never would've thought I'd be here. The farther along I go, the more I realize it's just the beginning.

Now that I've seen the evidence of how much this works, I'm not so scared anymore of doing that inner work or going to that dark night of the soul–as I still definitely have many of those–but I understand it now have the tools to move through them and to transmute them and to create it into something beautiful.

I love this. I always try to hammer home to people that your manifestation is not the destination. That thing you want, it’s not the destination. Your healing is not a destination. It’s something you practice.

In our culture of quick fixes, that’s what everyone is looking for. In the manifestation community, it’s like you check those boxes, go through the steps, get your manifestation, and there you are! When in reality, like you mentioned, saying the hard truth and standing up for yourself even though you knew it was going to disappoint someone else, that’s something you’re going to have to do over and over again.

Even for myself, sometimes I go online and I say the thing I was afraid to say, because it was on my heart. Then, I think I’ve healed it and two weeks later another situation comes up and I have a new choice to make. Do I say the thing I need to say? Or do I not, because it’s easier to hide? It’s this constant practice and it is like exercising a muscle. You don’t just face the discomfort one time, but you do get more comfortable with it the more you do it.

So, we talked about the myths and uncomfortable shit of manifestation. Now, I want to know, what are some of your favorite manifestation techniques, especially the ones that are a little bit unconventional or maybe that people haven’t heard of?

“Well actually, you know with manifestation, I am a clinical hypnotherapist. So, I do hypnosis and I study a lot on the subconscious mind. So a lot that I do and will do is putting myself into hypnosis…I do the visualizations and all of those kinds of things, but it’s about awareness of self, number 1…

Manifestation practices and what works for one person is going to be different than what works for someone else. So, we've got to understand what is the real goal here, and then figure out what works for you, right?

Creating an awareness of where you currently are and what is going on and sitting with yourself, whatever that looks like. Often for me, and I always say we got to go into the subconscious mind. We've got to go into that relaxed state and rewrite some of those old limiting beliefs…Things won't come up until you're ready to heal them.

I always get asked, like, ‘am I doing it right?’ ‘Am I doing it wrong?’ It's like, just be still and create an awareness and sit with yourself.

Whether you want to journal–personally, this is actually an unconventional manifestation practice that I use quite a bit. I voice note journal. I am obsessed with that. And it's because for me, my brain moves faster than my hand can write. And I noticed that I can manipulate what I'm going to write, because I will like think of something different–Like, I don't know. I would just like sit there and be like, this is not like honest raw.

So, I want everything. I want awareness and I want it raw. And I want honest and vulnerability.

When I do feel stuck in an emotion or stuck…not feeling good. If I feel like, okay, I need to raise my vibe. I need to like get out of this funk that I'm in and want to begin to get out of where I'm at. Get out of my head into my body. I will do crazy shit in my apartment. I will put on music and dance and imagine where my life is going to go. I will do EFT tapping. I do shaking. I've gotten really interested into somatics recently and like just focusing on regulating my nervous system as well.

That was actually newer for me too, because I got as far as I could in the manifestation practices that I did have. And I was like, okay, there's trauma in the body here. Okay. There are things that I need to go deeper and deeper and deeper. So I wouldn't say there's one specific practice that I'm like ‘do this.’

Of course I meditate, but I'm not someone that's like, ‘you need to be meditating two hours a day, or an hour a day, every day. I mean, if you miss your meditation, you suck.’ The way that I teach in my community, I actually have a quiz. It's a free quiz. People can go take it on my site of what manifestation tool is for you based on your energy or personality type.

Because what's going to raise my vibration, what's going to make me feel better, what is going to help me manifest, is going to be different than somebody else. So, there might be somebody that grounding is really great for them, and going outside and connecting in nature and connecting with themselves–It's all about connection to Self. Like it’s actually so simple at the end of the day…

Almost just having fun with it and like trying different methods out and trying on what works for you, I’d say that’s probably number one for me.”

Of course, because you know, that’s my whole message too as a Human Design specialist. It’s like, figure out who you are and who you’re not. Figure out what works for you. Fuck the rest. Break the rules.

Well Rachel, thank you so much for joining us on Under the Surface this week! How can people find you and work with you?

“First off, come and hang out with me over on my socials. I’m on Instagram, TikTok, @RachelGibler. I’ve got a Facebook community–the It’s F*cking Spiritual Community. I’ve got a text list, so like, literally I’m everywhere.

Come listen to my podcast too, It’s F*cking Spiritual, where you can connect with me and get the most out of my teachings and my learnings for free. I also have paid masterclasses on my site, vision board templates, all the things you could want if you’re starting your journey, in Manifestation 101”

Go check her out, follow her, send her a DM, and let her know what nuggets of wisdom that you loved most from this episode. Take a screenshot, post it to your stories, and tag us both so we can celebrate!

Thank you again for being here today to share your magic, your energy, and your wisdom with us. And thank you for reading and hanging out with us today!