Sam Wells – SoulFull Bio
Hi, I’m Sam Wells. A Holistic Health Practitioner living in Honley with my husband, two teenagers and two endlessly enthusiastic labradors. I’m on a mission to take the woo out of spiritual wellbeing by demystifying spiritual tools and making them clear, grounded and genuinely useful for everyday life. As a qualified Aromatherapist, Reflexologist, Angelic Reiki Master, Oracle Card Reader and Candle Maker, I offer 1‑1 treatments and run workshops and training in holistic practices from my SoulFull Sanctuary in the heart of Holmfirth — helping people reconnect to themselves and others.
I also run community bead‑making workshops across Huddersfield, designed to combat loneliness and isolation.
And when I’m not doing all that, you’ll usually find me singing my heart out or enjoying a good glass of red wine.
Manifestation … What’s on your vision board?
The word manifest either fills you with excitement or gives you what I call the ‘woo woo’ shivers and makes you run for the hills, but it as Spring starts to poke its way through the ground everyone is talking about fire horse energy and manifesting for the year ahead, getting excited at the possibilities this change in the seasons may bring.
So, what is manifestation and can it really help us to bring forth our goals, dreams and desires in a way that doesn’t commit us to wearing daisy chains in our hair and singing Kum Ba Yah round a campfire?
Let’s explore it together.
According to the National Geographic, historically speaking the art of manifestation (the idea that our thoughts can shape our reality) is not simply a modern day Tik Tok trend but an ancient spiritual tool used in Hinduism, one of the world’s oldest belief systems. Ancient civilizations from India to Egypt built entire systems for living around the power of thought and intention.
In fact, references to manifestation appear in the Rigveda, a 3500-year-old Sanskrit text, so if you’re holding back from exploring it because you don’t want to jump on the current trend, don’t let that stop you, as you’ll be engaging in ancient wisdom.
And if getting into the spiritual wisdom of ancient ancestors isn’t your bag, there is still evidence of less ‘trending’ examples of manifestation as a tool for bringing your dreams into reality.
The late, great, Louise Hay was a powerhouse of positive affirmations and manifestation practices. Her first book Heal Your Body was published in 1977 and was then incorporated into her book You Can Heal Your Life in 1984, based around the power of positive intention, it became a New York Times Bestseller and global phenomenon in 1988, landing her on Oprah’s sofa and dubbing her The Queen of The New Age in 2008.
Another example is Babel Mohr, who, in 2001 published an extended version of her 1998 article in her magazine Sonnenwind, into her book titled ‘The Cosmic Ordering Service – A Guide to Realising Your Dreams’ Mohr believed that you could simply write a shopping list to the Universe and ‘hey presto’ it would appear. Noel Edmunds, post his House Party days (funny story, I was chased round a hotel by Mr. Blobby once) but pre-Deal or No Deal was a huge advocate of Mohr’s work having been directed to her book by his Reflexologist. Edmonds is adamant that his offer (from the banker) on Deal or No Deal was down to following the advice in Mohr’s book.
As a holistic therapist on the woo(ish) side of the fence, what do I make of manifestation? Having always fancied myself as a bit of a nerd, I like to check the science. My belief is that where science meets intention, is where magic lives.
Leading Neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart, author of Sunday Times Bestseller The Source – The neuroscience of manifestation, explains three reasons why creating a vision board, a key tool for manifestation, works.
Value-Tagging: When you see images on your vision board, your brain assigns them importance. This process helps you notice opportunities that align with your goals—opportunities you might otherwise overlook.
Visualisation: The brain cannot distinguish between reality and vividly imagined scenarios. When you visualise achieving your goals, your brain starts to believe it is possible, creating a positive feedback loop that motivates action.
Repetition: Seeing your vision board regularly helps normalise your goals, reducing the brain’s fear response to change. This makes you more likely to embrace new opportunities and take bold steps forward.
The brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) plays a vital role in goal achievement by focussing the brain on what matters most, therefore the more you look at your vision board, the more likely that things on there are to come into existence. Clever right?
I agree with Dr Swart, with the addition of the power of intuitive intention. Wellbeing tools such as vision boards, affirmations, and visualisation, which all fall under the manifestation umbrella, work not only with science but with intention and intuition, which is often why they are labelled as spiritual tools. I prefer tools for well-being and feel that demystifying them is the key to their accessibility. Energy flows where intention goes which is key when it comes to using these tools for well-being.
Manifestation has experienced a bad press due to its universal shopping list nature, but I like to think of it more as Co Creation with the universe. If you create a vision board full of your hopes, dreams and desires but keep it in a cupboard gathering dust, that is where they are likely to remain. Sure, the odd thing might still come to fruition, but to maximise the potential for all those beautiful things to bloom, you need to put your intention into it. Place it somewhere you can see it every day and spend time really focusing on it, visualising yourself with those things and experiences in your life as if you already have them.
This theory of Co Creation follows the law of attraction, one of the 12 universal laws, where books like Rhonda Byrnes The Secret and The Magic share practical exercises on how, when placing your attention and more importantly intention on things that bring you positivity and joy, you actually invite more of those things into your life.
As I write this article I am preparing to leave for a vision boarding workshop. I did it last year too and am pleased to share that 80% of my goals from last year’s board came to fruition (I’m working with the universe on the remaining 20%, all in good time)
Here is a picture of mine, it’s not finished yet, I like to take my time with it and use other tools like oracle cards and crystals to guide the process (there’s science behind these too which I’ll share next time).
My hope (and it’s on my board) is to open your mind to the help these tools and others can bring to your wellbeing in your day-to-day life.
More wisdom, less Woo.
So, are you willing to give manifestation a whirl now that you know how it works? What would be on your vision board? I’d love to know.
For details of local vision boarding workshops, Juliet Thomas is your gal from @seedtosky on all the usual platforms. Juliet and I are running a special oracle card guided vision boarding workshop, Sew Seeds, Grow Gratitude on the Spring Solstice, Saturday 21st March in Holmfirth at my SoulFull Sanctuary. Be sure to follow us both in all the usual places and keep an eye on out for the details to be announced soon @fromseed_tosky and @soulfullbysamantha
I’ll be back soon with more of the wisdom and less of the woo on how to use oracle cards as gentle guidance for life.
Links for Juliet
Link to Sow Seeds Grow Gratitude Workshop
