Shadowing Practice: My Thoughts on Reality Shifting - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I understand that there are things that I don't understand.
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For example, theoretical physics, or how to make friends.
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But I do know that the world is not flat, that vaccines work, and listening to people tell me otherwise is admittedly a guilty pleasure of mine.
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Whether it's conspiracy theories or horoscopes, I love watching people pour their heart into something they genuinely believe in,
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only for me to go, I disagree. But please, continue.
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There are some beliefs that I don't agree with, but are absolutely fine to believe in like thinking bucket hats look good on someone.
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But I think we can all agree that some beliefs can be incredibly damaging to a person, or even humanity as a whole, like the anti-vaxxers, or racists.
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So I discovered a new trend, and I'm not sure if it's just kids being kids, or a mentally damaging belief system, but I'm still gonna talk about it
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and explain to my audience the importance of critical thinking and to notice the red flags in dangerous beliefs.
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So what am I talking about?
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I unfortunately fell down a rabbit hole
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and discovered a community of mostly kids on a phone application called TikTok doing something called reality shifting.
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This, by the way, is not a small community of like 20 people.
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There are amino groups with thousands of members, videos with hundreds of thousands of views, and they have their own acronyms.
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O. M.
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G. Reality shifting stems from the belief in parallel universes.
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Which, I gotta be honest, I'm not completely sold on that idea to begin with.
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You say that Schrodinger's cat is both alive and dead?
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But cats have nine lives, so are 4.5 cats dead?
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How is a cat half dead?
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Either way, someone supposedly very smart has said
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that every decision you've ever made has caused the universe to copy itself
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and create a new reality where you made the different decision.
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I had cereal for breakfast this morning, but somewhere there's a reality where I ate my hamster for breakfast.
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Does that mean I create a new universe every time I scratch my butt? and somewhere there's a James with better manners?
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So times that by 8 billion people making decisions every day, plus the decisions made by like, dogs and jellyfish, right?
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Those count, I think.
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And we get roughly infinity total realities.
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If you've seen Endgame, you know what I'm talking about.
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The reality shifting community says that since there are infinite realities, then there's a reality where GameStop stock is incredibly low, or that COVID didn't happen.
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Or perhaps, there's even a reality out there where Hogwarts is real, and a messenger owl just dropped off your acceptance letter.
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And through the right meditation, you can transfer your consciousness from your current reality,
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your CR for short, to your Hogwarts desired reality, your DR. And for some gosh darn reason,
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Hogwarts is the number one shiftable destination location.
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But obviously it's not just Hogwarts, any fictional universe is fair game.
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You could go to the Hunger Games, or Lord of the Rings.
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I'm not sure why though, a lot of bad things happen there.
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And since all logic is thrown out the window, cartoon and anime realities are shiftable destinations.
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Because if Schrodinger's cat taught us anything, it's that there are some universes that are just 24 drawings a second.
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So because there are allegedly infinite realities, people will write down what they want their desired reality to be, and this is called a script.
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It's funny, you know, normally scripts are made to tell fictional stories, but these people think that what they write down will be 100% real.
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And you can make a script of whatever you want.
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You can say, I want to shift to Hogwarts and be in a relationship with Draco Malfoy.
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I mean, not me, this is just an example.
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Now listen, you're a smart kid, okay?
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Hopefully, I don't have to explain to you that that's not how life works.
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If you believe you can hop into different realities, then that's great and I see no problem with it.
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Is what I would say in a different reality, but in this reality, I have a lot of questions.
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If you can shift your consciousness into a different version of you, what happens to the alternate reality you's consciousness?
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You're just taking over someone else's body.
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This other you had a life and a family, unless you're going to a YA fantasy novel, and you just took over their whole body.
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What if there's a you in an alternate reality that's like, I want to live in a reality where there's a pandemic and I'm sadder, and then they shifted here.
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What happens to your consciousness?
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You don't trade!
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The reality shifting community says that when you shift, you leave behind a clone of yourself.
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Obviously.
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So when you shift, there's someone's consciousness unaccounted for!
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What about the realities where one of you had waffles for breakfast and the other had pancakes?
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Both of these you's are pretty much the exact same.
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So then both of you will want to reality shift to the exact same Harry Potter reality.
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Do you have to share a body with the other yous that have shifted to the same reality?
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Are you telling me that Voldemort and any fictional villain is real?
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How come half of us didn't get turned to dust when Thanos snapped?
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If anyone can reality shift, are you telling me there's a chance that Voldemort could download TikTok and reality shift here?
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If you go to Hogwarts, you're leading Voldemort right to us.
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How can there be a reality where magic is real?
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Sure, I don't know how parallel universes work, but they're parallel.
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So the laws of physics should still be the same, right?
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But James, I know that reality shifting makes no sense and is impossible, but then why do so many people claim to have shifted?
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Because they're dreaming.
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Shifting happens when you fall asleep, and if you fill your subconscious with things from your desired reality, would you be surprised that you had a dream about Hogwarts?
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Something about this trend doesn't sit right with me.
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A lot of the reality shifting TikToks were done by kids.
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And kids, as you know, can get really obsessed in a fandom and do some cringey stuff.
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If these kids were making fanfiction and writing themselves on a date with Bakugo, that would be totally fine.
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Healthy even.
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Heck, even if these kids flat out said, I love Harry Potter so much that I want to manipulate my dreams to be about him.
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That would be fine too!
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But something about actually believing that you're astral projecting into a fictional universe?
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I don't know that level of obsession just feels unhealthy.
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My guy.
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And also back off Bakugou, he's mine.
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The problem with reality shifting and actually conspiracy theories as a whole is
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that they pretend to be based on factual evidence when they're entirely a pseudoscience.
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You start off with a scientific idea, multiple realities, and then you make up whatever you want and use what the scientists have said about multiple realities as proof.
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Even though no scientist has said anything about being able to move your consciousness outside of your body, or that you leave a clone of yourself behind when you reality shift,
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or that cartoon universes exist.
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I've seen people in videos say that they've done research on reality shifting, But I feel confident in saying you didn't get a degree in quantum physics.
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I want you to cite your sources and show me the studies, because research isn't just believing what other people said on TikTok.
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These TikToks get impressionable kids to believe in reality shifting in pretty manipulative ways, saying that if you didn't shift, it's because you didn't believe hard enough.
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When you get these doubts and say, Oh, I can't shift, I don't even know if it's real anymore at this point, try and ask yourself after, But what if it's real?
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What if I can shift?
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You want to find out, do you?
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I get it.
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Harry Potter is a cool world.
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That's why they made a whole theme park about it.
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Who wouldn't want to drop out of a muggle public school
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and live in a castle with a bunch of soft British boys?
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And also magic or whatever.
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But you need to be mindful about where you're getting your information.
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I've watched hours of flat earthers and anti-vaxxers talk about their beliefs, and these people get their information from non-credible sources,
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and they end up pushing more fake information online, and it creates this echo chamber that warps their worldview.
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I don't want kids watching these TikToks or going on Amino
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and essentially get lied to and think this is how the world works.
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I'm hoping that all of these people will look back at themselves in 10 years and go,
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Yeesh, I can't believe I was so obsessed about a thing I literally tried to astral project myself across the multiverse.
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Right, Bakugo?
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I know that this reality can suck sometimes, and right now it's looking pretty bad.
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But like it or not, this is the one reality we get.
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A lot of things may be out of your control, but according to theoretical physics, we make a lot of choices.
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And all our choices lead us down different paths.
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So what you need to do is not give up on this reality for a literal fictitious one, but instead to make choices that will make this current reality your desired reality.
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Thank you all for coming to my TED Talk.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 113 sentences and 1626 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:41. The speaker talks fast, about 187 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| belief noun | /bɪˈliːf/ | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. |
| consciousness noun | /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/ | The state of being conscious or aware; awareness. |
| physics noun | /ˈfɪz.ɪks/ | The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy. |
| fictional adjective | /ˈfɪkʃənəl/ | Invented, as opposed to real. |
| script noun | /skɹɪpt/ | A writing; a written document. |
| parallel adjective | /ˈpæ.ɹəˌlɛl/ | Equally distant from one another at all points. |
| discover verb | /dɪˈskʌvə/ | To find or learn something for the first time. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| conspiracy noun | /kənˈspɪɹəsi/ | An agreement or arrangement between multiple parties to do something harmful, immoral or subversive; an instance of collusion. |
| destination noun | /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/ | The place set for the end of a journey or to which something is sent; place or point aimed at. |
| scientist noun | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research… |
| infinite adjective | /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/ | Indefinably large, countlessly great; immense. |
| alternate adjective | /ˈɔl.tɚ.nət/ | Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly). |
| cartoon noun | /kɑɹˈtun/ | A humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings. |
| theoretical adjective | /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/ | Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| take over verb | To assume control of something, such as a business or enterprise, and sometimes by force. | |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. | |
| back off verb | To move backwards away from something. | |
| drop off verb | To fall asleep. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| fall down verb | /fɔl ˈdaʊn/ | To fall to the ground. To collapse. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| leave behind verb | To abandon. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 41 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: theoretical /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/, unhealthy /ʌnˈhɛl.θi/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: consciousness /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/, fictional /ˈfɪkʃənəl/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, conspiracy /kənˈspɪɹəsi/, destination /dɛstɪˈneɪʃən/, theoretical /ˌθi.əˈɹɛt.ɪ.kəl/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like belief, consciousness, physics.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has said · you've ever made · you've seen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is thrown · is called · are made |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.