Note on controversy
Dispenza presents his books and workshops as grounded in neuroscience, epigenetics and quantum physics. Critics, including a 2020 review in Skeptical Inquirer and meditation researchers interviewed by The Daily Beast, call many of these claims pseudoscientific: they say he uses scientific terms loosely, relies on testimonials and uncontrolled case reports, and that healings reported at his events have not been shown to be caused by his methods. Independent researchers have also questioned the design of studies run at his retreats. He is a chiropractor, not a medical doctor, and his retreats are costly commercial events. Some readers find the meditations helpful for attention and habit change; that can be judged separately from the medical and physical claims. Do not stop or delay medical treatment in favour of any meditation programme.
Life
Joe Dispenza is an American author and workshop leader. He studied biochemistry at Rutgers University and earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Life University in Atlanta. He says that in 1986, after a car hit him during a triathlon and compressed several vertebrae, he declined the recommended surgery and recovered through rest, visualisation and meditation; this story is central to his teaching. He became widely known after appearing in the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? (2004). His books, from Evolve Your Brain (2007) to Becoming Supernatural (2017), combine guided meditation, habit change and visualisation with explanations drawn from neuroscience, epigenetics and quantum physics, and he runs large paid workshops and retreats. Read the note on controversy above; this page is not medical advice.
The system
- Thoughts and feelings form habitual loops that keep the body in the past.
- Meditation and rehearsal of a chosen future to break those loops.
- Claims linking the practice to gene expression, the placebo effect and 'quantum' fields (contested).
Key works
- Evolve Your Brain (2007) Amazon
- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself (2012) Amazon
- You Are the Placebo (2014) Amazon
- Becoming Supernatural (2017) Amazon
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Where to start
- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself is the most practical; read it alongside the critical sources listed in the note above.
Ask Orin
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Which of Joe Dispenza's claims are supported by research, and which are disputed?Ask Orin this question