I was really into JD’s work back around 2016-2019, did his meditations daily and went to several of his retreats etc
Looking back now, it was a great time but it didn’t leave much of a long-term effect or imprint compared to eg. deep somatic psychotherapy, conscious connected Breathwork, nervous system healing and actually getting to the root of my issues and traumas.
I see the same in other people who were on the JD journey with me back then, eg my mum, sister, friends..
Today, I see his work more as an example of spiritual bypassing and having exciting temporary peak experiences.
Sorry to be a party pooper but felt called to share.
Appreciate this honesty Conni! I think the huge hole in what I saw there was the complete absence of shadow work. Like you, that is where the real growth has been for me in my journey.
I do wonder how much sequencing matters. Like if you try some of his energy to matter techniques with a clear vessel, what happens now vs. where you were at in 2019? That's my curiosity for myself that I intend to explore
I’m sure the techniques could have interesting effects today in my “clean” vessel. But the thing is - having made it to the other side of the healing journey, I don’t have the desire anymore for any transcendence, non-dual states or active transformation. I’m happy with just being me and being human and experiencing life as it is in this very moment every moment.
My seeking was an effect of my trauma and dysregulation. It’s not necessary anymore. It would be a cliche to say I have arrived but that’s what it feels like.
Conni, your comment piques my curiosity. This non-seeking place of just being and experiencing, that’s it. I’ll be checking out your page and writings now. JD just seems to promote the opposite of where I find peace—in a state of surrender. When I read his work I felt pressured to hustle and manifest the desires of my ego. But when I let go and surrender it all, that’s when I enter the field of open possibilities. That’s when I’m carried to places I can’t begin to explain or measure or manifest. It just happens.
I think it’s important to hear stories like this because that social media impact is so real. I’m very skeptical of this work myself. Alllll of my intuition says there’s something slightly off!
Conni, you have expressed exactly how I feel about JD, too. Thank you for that. I find his teachings very superficial. There is so much more richness and nuance in Buddhist texts and texts from contemplative traditions...
While each experience is valid I would say my friend who went with nervous system seizures and catatonic states from severe trauma walked away from one week without them. And years later they did not come back. Do definitely bypassing for some. Therapy for years re traumatized this same person until this. My other friend actually works for the charity doing veterans groups and they have life changing experiences all the time, same in the prison.
i went to my first dispenza retreat last july (but also first found his work much earlier, in 2018 i think). it was absolutely life-changing and i experienced basically everything you described here!!! i’m doing a follow-up retreat in a few months 🙏🏻 and have been organizing coherence healings in my community, which has been such an amazing experience!! thanks for sharing - i hope more people continue getting to receive what his programs offer ✨
Thanks for this. Just read Becoming Supernatural over the holidays and it has deepened my own journey with consciousness quite a bit.
In case this is interesting to anyone: I noticed while activating and blessing the energy centers that I was unable to focus consistently on and relax the muscles around my heart. I could feel it warming up, feel my breath moving through it, but also felt the muscles around it clenching up. Yesterday, I decided to focus on the third energy center, in the pit of the stomach, which Dispenza teaches is the seat of the Ego. Focusing on that center, and then moving back and forth from it to my heart, relaxed everything and led to breakthroughs I can't even talk about at this point. But it makes sense that my ego was trying to protect my heart--it's been doing that for a long time, to my detriment--and that relaxing and blessing that energy center allowed a lot of barriers to begin dissolving.
Also: My only complaint about Dispenza is that his meditation audios sound so jarringly corny to me that I just can't get into them. He puts on this faux-mystical spirit-from-another-realm-in-a-cheesy-B-movie voice, complete with an echo sound effect, that drives me absolutely up the wall, lol. But the meditations themselves are powerful, and the way he presents and explains his material is extremely compelling.
I found it off putting at first as well. My first run with him was in 2018 and his voice over was “normal”. Finding him again this fall and I’m like- what the hell is this alien voice thing. And yet, it keeps me on track and has a powerful effect of helping me concentrate, focus and stay with the instruction. With that, the fireworks are pretty powerful for me. Best to you.
Yeah, I get the intention behind it and it obviously works for a lot of people. Maybe it's my theater background--to me, it just sounds like bad acting, lol. But I also prefer not to meditate with music, I prefer total silence, which I guess is unusual. It's all just personal preference. But he's done great things for me and I'm grateful.
Oh my god me too! I have a performance background and years of vocal training and it’s like nails on a chalkboard listening to him. I realllllly hope he hires a VO artist to record his meditations.
Scott, thank you for such an honest and balanced reflection.
From a Buddhist perspective, much of what you describe makes sense. The Buddha taught that the mind shapes experience, and that intention has real creative power. Practices that cultivate concentration, heart coherence, and clarity can absolutely influence healing and transformation. In that sense, Joe’s work echoes ancient truths, the idea that inner states precede outer change.
At the same time, Buddhism offers a gentle caution. When spirituality becomes mainly a tool for manifestation or self-optimization, it risks reinforcing the very patterns it aims to free us from. Real transformation is not just about changing circumstances, but about understanding craving, fear, and the deep conditioning beneath them. That’s where the absence of shadow work you mentioned becomes important. Without meeting our inner shadows with awareness and compassion, peak experiences can fade without lasting change.
Many of my own students have explored Joe’s events. Some benefited greatly. Others felt energized but eventually realized they needed slower, quieter practices rooted in mindfulness and ethical living to stabilize what they touched. Both paths have value. One opens possibilities; the other grounds them.
Personally, I hold a positive view of Joe. He has introduced meditation and inner work to millions who might never have encountered it otherwise. That is no small gift to the world. He is a doorway for many, not necessarily the destination.
From the Buddhist lens, true healing is not about becoming someone new, but about gently waking up to who we already are. When practices help people suffer less and love more, they are doing good work.
Wishing you health and continued insight on your path. Sadhu🙏
Thank you for this, Scott. I skimmed it the first time and felt a sense of excitement at the broad ranging ideas. Then a few hours later I came back and read it again, and got a lot more information from it the second time. A dry sponge absorbs more once it's been dampened!
Your account is a sort of portal with many doors, and I want to open each one to explore further. You're a good communicator and I can see why you feel called to teach.
Is it synchronicity that just last night I recommended Dispenza to a friend with significant health challenges, though it's been years since I read one of his books? And in that same conversation, told him how convinced I've become that intentionally directed collective consciousness could have the power to reverse the degradation that's happening in our culture right now? I wasn't aware of how much work Dispenza has done with collective fields. Feels like a nudge to me!
Thanks for sharing. I’ve read a couple of Joe Dispenza’s books and have had a similar view - quirky oddly charismatic science guy stuck on the “let’s measure it” step in the journey (and the “let’s cash in” step) too.
I haven't been to one of Joe's retreats and had been feeling a little turned off by them because they had seem very Tony-Robbins-like based on my friends' accounts. I really appreciated this writeup and feel a softening towards them. Also enjoyed your appreciation of his production value. Thanks!
You’ve done a great job of articulating why I feel the push-pull of Joe Dispensa’s work. I appreciate your thoughtful take.
Perhaps he has changed since writing ‘Becoming Supernatural’. Afterall we all evolve our journeys. However his early work seems to be “high vibes” is the source of the magic. I actually think that is too binary and creates ‘low vibes’ we then fear to inhabit. Instead, I think heart centred coherence is more accurate. When we are in full heart-centred coherent relationship with our rage, it can be as effective as love at changing the information in the field.
This is super interesting to me, as I did a Dispenza meditation daily for over a year (I talked about it in a youtube video that is pretty popular), and ultimately was brought into the "direct path" of non-duality. I have gone to four of his retreats and really enjoyed them. However, 2025 created some challenging situations in my body, work, realtionships...and Dispenza's work seemed to bring back in some kind of "forward energy" that pulled me out of mud.
It's been rather trippy to do a Dispenza meditation one moment and then later in the day fully sitting with uncomfortable situations in what I would call a shadow-work style. I see his work now the same as exercising or eating healthy; you can ultimately utilize the mind for biological changes as a practice, for self-care, rather than for truly seeing through to the core of reality, or stepping back into "selfing."
Still under investigation though. I rarely see anyone talk about Dispenza's work in the non-dual space.
Great comment. Had spent time in Vedanta and I see all these as almost different types of workouts with diff benefits. I feel like people with certain allegiances like many in the non dual crowd see stuff like Joe as “less than” instead of being open to how it can support other aspects of experience.
We completely underestimate our abilities. Joe's work is epic, he's become really adept at balancing the intellect/logic with the mystery. Not everything is meant to be 'figured out'! Thanks for this 💥
I'm so thrilled that you went to your first Dispenza retreat! It was my first trip on an airplane after a couple years of being bedridden by long COVID. One of the things that it taught me was that when I spoke about my chronic illness, the energy of HOW I spoke about it could send me back into my symptoms. I met someone there who also had long COVID and as we were talking about it and getting into the energy of being sick, I started to feel that familiar fatigue and shakiness come back. I was really grateful that being in a space where I could be sensitive to that showed me so clearly that it's really all about our energy. And then the body responds accordingly. I hope your integration process continues with ease and a continually opening heart ♥️
Thanks Tracy! So true about the power of words. It’s really cool you got to have such a visceral experience of the contrast at the event. It’s a good reminder for me right now. Hope you’re amazing 🫶
I was really into JD’s work back around 2016-2019, did his meditations daily and went to several of his retreats etc
Looking back now, it was a great time but it didn’t leave much of a long-term effect or imprint compared to eg. deep somatic psychotherapy, conscious connected Breathwork, nervous system healing and actually getting to the root of my issues and traumas.
I see the same in other people who were on the JD journey with me back then, eg my mum, sister, friends..
Today, I see his work more as an example of spiritual bypassing and having exciting temporary peak experiences.
Sorry to be a party pooper but felt called to share.
Appreciate this honesty Conni! I think the huge hole in what I saw there was the complete absence of shadow work. Like you, that is where the real growth has been for me in my journey.
I do wonder how much sequencing matters. Like if you try some of his energy to matter techniques with a clear vessel, what happens now vs. where you were at in 2019? That's my curiosity for myself that I intend to explore
I’m sure the techniques could have interesting effects today in my “clean” vessel. But the thing is - having made it to the other side of the healing journey, I don’t have the desire anymore for any transcendence, non-dual states or active transformation. I’m happy with just being me and being human and experiencing life as it is in this very moment every moment.
My seeking was an effect of my trauma and dysregulation. It’s not necessary anymore. It would be a cliche to say I have arrived but that’s what it feels like.
Thats amazing! So happy for you
Conni, your comment piques my curiosity. This non-seeking place of just being and experiencing, that’s it. I’ll be checking out your page and writings now. JD just seems to promote the opposite of where I find peace—in a state of surrender. When I read his work I felt pressured to hustle and manifest the desires of my ego. But when I let go and surrender it all, that’s when I enter the field of open possibilities. That’s when I’m carried to places I can’t begin to explain or measure or manifest. It just happens.
I really resonate with what you said about surrender. At the same time, I’ve noticed that seeking itself isn’t wrong. It often has to burn itself out.
I think it’s important to hear stories like this because that social media impact is so real. I’m very skeptical of this work myself. Alllll of my intuition says there’s something slightly off!
💯 agree here
Conni, you have expressed exactly how I feel about JD, too. Thank you for that. I find his teachings very superficial. There is so much more richness and nuance in Buddhist texts and texts from contemplative traditions...
While each experience is valid I would say my friend who went with nervous system seizures and catatonic states from severe trauma walked away from one week without them. And years later they did not come back. Do definitely bypassing for some. Therapy for years re traumatized this same person until this. My other friend actually works for the charity doing veterans groups and they have life changing experiences all the time, same in the prison.
i went to my first dispenza retreat last july (but also first found his work much earlier, in 2018 i think). it was absolutely life-changing and i experienced basically everything you described here!!! i’m doing a follow-up retreat in a few months 🙏🏻 and have been organizing coherence healings in my community, which has been such an amazing experience!! thanks for sharing - i hope more people continue getting to receive what his programs offer ✨
That's epic. I'm considering going to the one in July in colorado!
🙌🏻🙌🏻
Thanks for this. Just read Becoming Supernatural over the holidays and it has deepened my own journey with consciousness quite a bit.
In case this is interesting to anyone: I noticed while activating and blessing the energy centers that I was unable to focus consistently on and relax the muscles around my heart. I could feel it warming up, feel my breath moving through it, but also felt the muscles around it clenching up. Yesterday, I decided to focus on the third energy center, in the pit of the stomach, which Dispenza teaches is the seat of the Ego. Focusing on that center, and then moving back and forth from it to my heart, relaxed everything and led to breakthroughs I can't even talk about at this point. But it makes sense that my ego was trying to protect my heart--it's been doing that for a long time, to my detriment--and that relaxing and blessing that energy center allowed a lot of barriers to begin dissolving.
That's awesome. Relaxing is a hugely underrated component to accessing deeper layers. Well done
Also: My only complaint about Dispenza is that his meditation audios sound so jarringly corny to me that I just can't get into them. He puts on this faux-mystical spirit-from-another-realm-in-a-cheesy-B-movie voice, complete with an echo sound effect, that drives me absolutely up the wall, lol. But the meditations themselves are powerful, and the way he presents and explains his material is extremely compelling.
I found it off putting at first as well. My first run with him was in 2018 and his voice over was “normal”. Finding him again this fall and I’m like- what the hell is this alien voice thing. And yet, it keeps me on track and has a powerful effect of helping me concentrate, focus and stay with the instruction. With that, the fireworks are pretty powerful for me. Best to you.
He has a hypnosis background. I think he does it because he is trying to get people intro trance
Yeah, I get the intention behind it and it obviously works for a lot of people. Maybe it's my theater background--to me, it just sounds like bad acting, lol. But I also prefer not to meditate with music, I prefer total silence, which I guess is unusual. It's all just personal preference. But he's done great things for me and I'm grateful.
meditating in silence is not unusual.
Oh my god me too! I have a performance background and years of vocal training and it’s like nails on a chalkboard listening to him. I realllllly hope he hires a VO artist to record his meditations.
I'll do the male ones and you do the female ones! Abundance!!! lol
Haha yes ok!!!
i hear you!!! same for me
Scott, thank you for such an honest and balanced reflection.
From a Buddhist perspective, much of what you describe makes sense. The Buddha taught that the mind shapes experience, and that intention has real creative power. Practices that cultivate concentration, heart coherence, and clarity can absolutely influence healing and transformation. In that sense, Joe’s work echoes ancient truths, the idea that inner states precede outer change.
At the same time, Buddhism offers a gentle caution. When spirituality becomes mainly a tool for manifestation or self-optimization, it risks reinforcing the very patterns it aims to free us from. Real transformation is not just about changing circumstances, but about understanding craving, fear, and the deep conditioning beneath them. That’s where the absence of shadow work you mentioned becomes important. Without meeting our inner shadows with awareness and compassion, peak experiences can fade without lasting change.
Many of my own students have explored Joe’s events. Some benefited greatly. Others felt energized but eventually realized they needed slower, quieter practices rooted in mindfulness and ethical living to stabilize what they touched. Both paths have value. One opens possibilities; the other grounds them.
Personally, I hold a positive view of Joe. He has introduced meditation and inner work to millions who might never have encountered it otherwise. That is no small gift to the world. He is a doorway for many, not necessarily the destination.
From the Buddhist lens, true healing is not about becoming someone new, but about gently waking up to who we already are. When practices help people suffer less and love more, they are doing good work.
Wishing you health and continued insight on your path. Sadhu🙏
Thank you for this, Scott. I skimmed it the first time and felt a sense of excitement at the broad ranging ideas. Then a few hours later I came back and read it again, and got a lot more information from it the second time. A dry sponge absorbs more once it's been dampened!
Your account is a sort of portal with many doors, and I want to open each one to explore further. You're a good communicator and I can see why you feel called to teach.
Is it synchronicity that just last night I recommended Dispenza to a friend with significant health challenges, though it's been years since I read one of his books? And in that same conversation, told him how convinced I've become that intentionally directed collective consciousness could have the power to reverse the degradation that's happening in our culture right now? I wasn't aware of how much work Dispenza has done with collective fields. Feels like a nudge to me!
Thanks for sharing. I’ve read a couple of Joe Dispenza’s books and have had a similar view - quirky oddly charismatic science guy stuck on the “let’s measure it” step in the journey (and the “let’s cash in” step) too.
Glad it was fruitful
I haven't been to one of Joe's retreats and had been feeling a little turned off by them because they had seem very Tony-Robbins-like based on my friends' accounts. I really appreciated this writeup and feel a softening towards them. Also enjoyed your appreciation of his production value. Thanks!
Yeah I felt the same. I was delightfully surprised and appreciate this style of event more now
Thank you for sharing your experiences
His meditations and retreats changed my life, to the point pushing me forward to do the work I do now. Love this!
That’s awesome!
I enjoyed this article; thanks, Scott!
I’m now curious to check out dispenza’s material.
I also appreciated what you mentioned about working with the heart. It reminded me of the Therevan Buddhist practice of Metta!
I love Metta!
You’ve done a great job of articulating why I feel the push-pull of Joe Dispensa’s work. I appreciate your thoughtful take.
Perhaps he has changed since writing ‘Becoming Supernatural’. Afterall we all evolve our journeys. However his early work seems to be “high vibes” is the source of the magic. I actually think that is too binary and creates ‘low vibes’ we then fear to inhabit. Instead, I think heart centred coherence is more accurate. When we are in full heart-centred coherent relationship with our rage, it can be as effective as love at changing the information in the field.
I'm not sure, but I think he might say its both/and. The heart coherence is the source of "high vibes"
Yes I think opening the heart is his high vibe. It’s getting out of survival and in to a coherent state.
great break down! thanks for sharing! ♥️
This is super interesting to me, as I did a Dispenza meditation daily for over a year (I talked about it in a youtube video that is pretty popular), and ultimately was brought into the "direct path" of non-duality. I have gone to four of his retreats and really enjoyed them. However, 2025 created some challenging situations in my body, work, realtionships...and Dispenza's work seemed to bring back in some kind of "forward energy" that pulled me out of mud.
It's been rather trippy to do a Dispenza meditation one moment and then later in the day fully sitting with uncomfortable situations in what I would call a shadow-work style. I see his work now the same as exercising or eating healthy; you can ultimately utilize the mind for biological changes as a practice, for self-care, rather than for truly seeing through to the core of reality, or stepping back into "selfing."
Still under investigation though. I rarely see anyone talk about Dispenza's work in the non-dual space.
Great comment. Had spent time in Vedanta and I see all these as almost different types of workouts with diff benefits. I feel like people with certain allegiances like many in the non dual crowd see stuff like Joe as “less than” instead of being open to how it can support other aspects of experience.
We completely underestimate our abilities. Joe's work is epic, he's become really adept at balancing the intellect/logic with the mystery. Not everything is meant to be 'figured out'! Thanks for this 💥
Super cool! Love this stuff. Check out Star Magic if you haven’t already - fully recommend
I'm so thrilled that you went to your first Dispenza retreat! It was my first trip on an airplane after a couple years of being bedridden by long COVID. One of the things that it taught me was that when I spoke about my chronic illness, the energy of HOW I spoke about it could send me back into my symptoms. I met someone there who also had long COVID and as we were talking about it and getting into the energy of being sick, I started to feel that familiar fatigue and shakiness come back. I was really grateful that being in a space where I could be sensitive to that showed me so clearly that it's really all about our energy. And then the body responds accordingly. I hope your integration process continues with ease and a continually opening heart ♥️
Thanks Tracy! So true about the power of words. It’s really cool you got to have such a visceral experience of the contrast at the event. It’s a good reminder for me right now. Hope you’re amazing 🫶