r/DrJoeDispenza

If you’re well acquainted with the work of Joe Dispenza, you have probably heard him say many times that “you don’t do this work to heal, you do it to change—and when you change, you heal.”

It has taken me a while to fully grasp and appreciate this idea. Now that it has clicked for me in a powerful way, I see that it makes an important difference and I would like to share my understanding of it here with the hope that this explanation will be helpful to others.

To begin with, let’s define the terms “heal” and “change.” 

The word “heal” can be used in different ways. Sometimes it’s even used synonymously with “transform,” and that can be a source of confusion in the context of Dispenza’s work. But when we say we want to heal, that typically implies there’s some symptom or condition that we wish would go away or be fixed. It could be a physical or mental condition or even an undesirable life circumstance. I will refer to these collectively as “symptoms.” When I speak of “healing” in this post, I’m talking about eliminating symptoms. Naturally, most of us come to this work with the hope of eliminating our symptoms. 

In contrast, what does it mean to change? Changing means changing your concept of who you are by letting go of old heavy stories and beliefs and aligning with new life-giving ones. You release the old identity based in fear, victimhood, and lack, and you shift into harmony (or coherence) with the love, joy, peace, and freedom that are your own true nature as an extension of the divine—or that are simply what you truly want (if you prefer non-spiritual language).

With these definitions established, let me rephrase Dispenza’s statement about healing vs. changing: The purpose of this work is not to eliminate symptoms, it is to relinquish your fear-based identity and come into harmony with love-joy-peace-freedom—and when you relinquish your fear-based identity and come into harmony with love-joy-peace-freedom, your symptoms disappear.

To better understand why healing is the wrong focus, we also need to correct a misperception about symptoms. 

We want to eliminate our symptoms because we see them as problems. But the truth is that symptoms are not problems. Symptoms are signals.

When a fire alarm goes off, the alarm itself is not the problem. The alarm is helpful. It communicates that there is a problem. As a signal, it points beyond itself. 

Symptoms are alarm signals. They point beyond themselves. They signal that we are out of harmony with the love, joy, peace, and freedom of our true nature. They signal that it is time for transformation. 

If you were to silence a fire alarm without addressing the fire, you would experience relief from the blaring sound, but the actual problem would continue raging on.

And if you could heal your symptoms without changing, without course-correcting into harmony with love, then the real problem would persist and suffering would continue in some other form. The out-of-harmony person is necessarily unwell. 

When you are focused on symptoms and trying to heal them, you are misperceiving helpful alarm signals as problems and you are not recognizing your real problem of disharmony or incoherence. 

Keeping in mind that our symptoms are alarm signals communicating that it is time for transformation, we can now introduce the familiar metaphor of the caterpillar and butterfly. 

The caterpillar represents the old identity that is out of coherence with the nature of the higher self, the butterfly. When we focus on our desire to heal, to eliminate symptoms, we’re like a caterpillar trying to grow wings in order to cure its lowliness. This is impossible. A caterpillar can never have wings. It is necessarily flightless, just as the out-of-harmony self is necessarily unwell. It must stop being a caterpillar completely before wings can form. 

Unlike a moth caterpillar, which spins a cocoon of silk, the butterfly caterpillar doesn’t build a chrysalis, it becomes a chrysalis as its own skin hardens. It becomes its own container of transformation. By analogy, we become a chrysalis, our own container of transformation, when we sit in meditation. 

And of course, on the interior of the chrysalis there is no caterpillar growing wings. What happens is that the caterpillar mostly dissolves—it becomes “no body, no one, no thing, nowhere, in no time.” Then, special clusters of cells called imaginal discs, which are like a living blueprint of the higher self that has always been waiting within the caterpillar, multiply and unfold, using nutrients from the dissolved larval form to fuel their expansion into the fully formed butterfly.

Another interesting and pertinent fact is that prior to metamorphosis, the caterpillar’s immune system sees the imaginal discs as foreign and attacks them! Similarly, our old identity is very resistant to the prospect of our transformation. It does not want to dissolve. This is why we must be so diligent and consistent in doing the work and consciously choosing the new self every day and every hour.

But remember, it’s not that a butterfly is good while a caterpillar is bad. The caterpillar isn’t wrong or inferior or undesirable. It’s simply a natural stage of development. The caterpillar is the natural immature form, and its biological destiny is to grow up via metamorphosis. We are the same. The identity based in fear, victimhood, and lack is not bad or wrong, it is simply a natural stage of our spiritual development. It is our natural immature form, and our spiritual destiny is to come into harmony with the loving energy of our higher self. The caterpillar’s hormone levels are the signal to its body that it is time to transform. We humans, on the other hand, have the alarm signals of our symptoms telling us that it is time to transform. But we will only change if we make the deliberate decision to do so. 

So don’t focus on eliminating your symptoms. Honor the message of your alarm signals telling you that your current identity is out of harmony with your own higher nature, and realize that what you actually want is a new self-concept based in love, joy, peace, and freedom. When you come into harmony with this new self, your own mature butterfly form that you were always destined to become, the alarm signals will cease on their own because the problem they pointed to has been solved. You will have the treasure of an awakened heart and the side effect of healing.

A few wild things have happened to me and I struggle to trust it - so I’m here celebrating and asking for guidance!

I’m a very logical person. I want reasons, evidence and answers. So when manifestations happen it’s like I question ‘okay, was that it?’ And then I need proof of logical answers behind it!

So I’ve been talking to a friend daily about JD books and meditations. I haven’t been able to prioritize meditating as much as I’d prefer, but I am working so so hard on gratitude. I feel different. My kids are healthy, my partner is healthy, I’m just taking everything with such grace. I keep repeating to myself ‘money comes easily to me’ and I have this knowing feeling I’ll be making more (I’m a business owner).

So as soon as I started, the second day I get a letter in the mail. I was a part of a software security breach and I’m a part of a settlement - potentially a few hundred bucks. Awesome!

As I’ve been practicing the above daily, today I open up a letter that’s been sitting on my counter. ANOTHER settlement with a credit card company.

AND THENNNN today I get an email from my tax guy. It goes something like ‘hey I got flagged from your taxes from 2024, you paid $12,500 and it wasn’t reported correctly. If you prove it came out of your bank, I can get it refunded to you or apply it to this years taxes (aka, money either way)

WHAT. WHAT. TWO YEARS AGO!?!?!

So I keep repeating to myself ‘this is normal. This is what happens to me because money flows easily’ but the other half of my brain is saying ‘wtf is happening this can’t be real’ etc etc etc

So my question - how do I continue to receive even when I actually cannot believe it!?!?

TLDR: getting over $12k back from 2024 taxes. Shocked and don’t believe it. Need help staying in receiving. ♥️

I really want to hear most "impossible" success stories from you guys. What did you achieve that was impossible on the outside? From being rejected at a university to being approved anyway or something else. I would love to hear! Any topic whether its love, money, career, family, health, etc.

Why does Dr. Joe specifically ask almost everyone that does testimonials - did you ever miss a day? So what if we miss a couple of days. Why does it matter so much? Thank you.

Hi everyone,I’m writing this because I’m looking for advice or to hear if anyone has experienced something similar. This has been a very long and difficult journey for me.

For about 20 years I’ve been struggling with different health and issues. I’ve seen many doctors, tried different approaches, treatments, supplements, medications, and honestly I’ve felt frustrated and exhausted for a long time because nothing really solved the problem.

Recently I discovered Dr Joe Dispenza and started reading Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. For the first time in a while, I felt hopeful and excited. The ideas in the book really resonated with me, and I started doing the meditations from the book.

After about a week or two, I started having intense symptoms during the night. I would wake up suddenly with very strong restless legs, jaw clenching/grinding, shaking or vibrating feelings in my belly and body, and a lot of inner tension. When I get up and walk around, it mostly goes away. Lying down seems to trigger it again, a sign of a dysregulated nervous system

I want to mention that:

\- I already had some restless leg symptoms in the past, but never this intense.

\- Lately I’ve been extremely stressed.

\- I also take a low dose of Amitriptyline (antidepressant), so I know that could also potentially play a role.

\- I already tried meditation in the past for a year, never had a problem ( no Dr Dispenza meditation)

I’m honestly just trying to understand what’s happening. Part of me wonders if deep meditation before sleep could somehow overstimulate my nervous system, bring up stress/anxiety stored in the body, or affect sleep in some way. Another part of me thinks it could be completely unrelated. When I finish meditating I feel pretty good and relaxed

I stopped the meditations for the last few days because the symptoms scared me a bit, but I’m sad about it because I really felt hopeful and connected to this work. Since I stopped I still waking up with symptoms as I described before

Has anyone here experienced anything similar after starting these meditations? Especially restless legs, body vibrations, jaw tension, or waking up in the middle of the night feeling activated? I started with the guided meditations in the book (space and water), are there other meditations anyone recommend from Dr Dispenza?

Any experiences or thoughts would really mean a lot to me. Thank you.

Hello,

I am a graduate student. I have been practising breathwork and Joe Dispenza meditations for the past 2 years, but for the past 5 months, intensively. I have started feeling better, getting opportunities for interviews, and met my dream girl. Recently, I had the best 2 months of my life. My life changed colour. I loved myself and life.

Last 30 days, however, everything changed. I got rejected from all the internships (even after interviews at very prestigious places), am breaking up with my dream girl (I gave her my pure heart), my startup (which I started to support myself) is not performing, and I feel lost about my future.

I understand people go through much worse situations and that I should take responsibility and move on. I am very grateful for what I have. It just seems strange that the reality I am in changed so suddenly, like an alternate universe. I was reading Reality Transurfing, so maybe it has to do with that?

Whenever I try to calm my mind, I cannot stop thinking of what is to come, and it feels like I am back in the "survival state". I think it started with the girl I met, because she was my first true love and fit everything I'd ever dreamt of, but we got separated by distance. Since then, communication has been hard, and I realised we value transparency differently (she started making me feel terrible and guilty). I really wanted to make it work, but it seems I have to end it with someone I gave my heart to because distance is draining my energy, and I always believed that healthy relationships should lift people. Now I will be stuck working 100%. Maybe the universe is protect from things?

I am unable to focus on anything anymore. I am in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety. I try to do breathwork and BOTEC, but I can't. I am unable to focus on my work. I feel dizzy and want to throw up. It seems like I am not fully present anymore. I find myself staring into space, lost in thoughts, because I still can't understand how it seemed that I was on top of the world, and then everything crashed. I try to help people around me to take my mind off my ego but am still feeling very sick and ill at the time of writing this.

If you've been through this or have any advice (videos or books) to help feel elevated emotions again and get back on track to winning, please let me know. I understand the adage "and this too shall pass," but perhaps there is a faster way of moving on.

Thank you, my friends.

TL;DR: I had a "peak" month where everything was perfect, but now my career and relationship are suddenly collapsing. I’m stuck in a survival/fear state and struggling to get back to my practice. Any advice on navigating this "crash"?

Lmk would they still let me in the event? Or if my experience ruined or won’t be fulfilled since I didn’t do it?

I want to share with you how I am navigating my situation, mentally.

Flat broke might be an overstatement, I do have some savings that I am not touching yet, but my bank account is not looking good i can tell you.

This is not my first time facing financial stress, every time im stress about money, i meditate & do Joe's practices, i also force myself to donate even in tough situation, and not exagerrating - I ALWAYS BOUNCE BACK. But the issue is this vicious cycle, when i start doing well i have less time to stay in touch with my spiritual side, about 6 to 7 months ago my business was great but lately - things kinda slow down again.

I guess I marked this as a sharing post because I want to tell you all, it is rough and I get it, but you are not alone and we will get through this together!

I am doing the Unlimited Abundance Course currently, and im meditating every day, it's been a week, nothing exceptional happened yet but I always remind myself to stay positive, to stay abundant.

Not sure if this is going to help, but I'm trying to see my situation as a challenge, like "let's see how we can get through the month with just 200bucks in the bank account woohooooo" i am looking at life like a game; we all living in a simulation, im broke but I don't have to take it too seriously and let it drag me down. Still got a lot of things to appreciate in life.

Ill keep you all posted and see how things go! Hopefully this post will cheer you up or lit up your day, also appreciate any suggestions or story sharing if you have any🤗

I’ve never been to a retreat but I’m reading Becoming Supernatural. I’ve found some of his meditations on YouTube and Spotify. The one that really transformed me was the 25 min self healing meditation on YouTube. I experienced catharsis for the first time. The world became more colorful, it’s like I was looking at the 3D reality through a more vibrant, mathematical lens. Everything was so divinely perfect and symmetrical. That was shortly after an ego death experience, so a very transformative period for me. I became the embodiment of love and light. I developed a sense of empathy that I never thought possible for myself. I learned to regulate my emotions (which I struggle with bc ADHD), and it has made me a better mom and a better spouse, literally overnight.

I’ve been trying to find my way back to that state. I’m diagnosed ADHD, but ever since that experience, I’ve been very turned off the idea of taking my meds. They do help, but I loved the way the meditation made me feel. I know he has really long ones, but my adhd mom brain gets a bit loud at times. I do have a gift for finding presence, most of the time. But there’s some days I can’t help but wander off in thought, about my errands I need to run, my family member who gossiped about me and hurt my feelings, my ankle is itchy, etc. random little things that just take me out of it.

So for you ADHD folks who get distracted by everything, do you have any routines or rituals to help you settle and go deeper into your meditations? I usually go into nature and find a place to sit by running water. A creek for me. But it’s hard to get comfortable sitting on a rock lol, so that in itself can be quite distracting and take me out of the moment. I would meditate at home, but I feel closer to source/spirit when I’m sitting in the midst of creation, surrounded by natural elements. When I’m at home, I think about the dishes in my sink, the trash needs to be taken out, what will I make for dinner tomorrow… home life responsibilities.

Any tips for getting comfortable, relaxed and focused would be deeply appreciated!

I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to get a slot as a healee for Dr Joe’s remote Healing Collective tomorrow.

I just wondered if anyone recommends anything extra to support with the session. I.e. doing a meditation beforehand, carving out time to rest straight after, etc etc?

Thank you

I wanted to ask for some advice from people who are more experienced with Dr. Joe’s meditations 🙏

As a beginner, I honestly find the long meditations really difficult sometimes 😅 I’ve been meditating for almost 2 months now, but most of Dr. Joe’s meditations are 45 minutes to even 2 hours long (except “Changing Boxes” short version).

I’d even love to start doing the walking meditations, but all of them seem to be more than an hour long too 😅

Do you have any recommendations for beginners? Is it okay to mostly do the shorter versions at first, or should I try to push myself to do the longer ones more consistently?

Over the last 6 to 7 months I’ve been suffering with depression. Apathy, hopelessness, meaninglessness. It feels like my mind is a prison. I can barely get through the day without constant rumination, and at the slightest signs of discomfort I slip into darkness. It hasn’t even been like this my whole life either. Prior to this point I was an extremely motivated and ambitious person, I was positive, and actually used Joe Dispenzas techniques to heal some physical problems. All my life I believed that the mind could heal the body and it made me feel elated. But now I’m stuck, I’m not even sure how I became depressed or if it matters, but I would assume just long term stressors that I procrastinated to fix took hold of me. The problem that I often encounter is that I literally cannot think positively. If it try, nothing lands emotionally.

Arguing with these thoughts and feelings is like trying to catch the wind. No matter how much I try to counter my negative thoughts, my brain comes back with a stronger argument and I spiral downward again.

Luckily for me, I’m aware of what I have lost (vitality, love for life) and want it back. I am also aware that the thoughts and feelings I have are not reflection of truth or reality, but rather just outputs of the state. That’s all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t actually change the nature of the situation. Depression makes me feel like this is an impossible task. Typically in the past whatever problems I had, I was motivated to fix them. But the cruel thing about this problem is that it seemingly takes away my ability to fix it.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t been disciplined. With working out or meditating or eating clean. But I still want to change. I don’t believe I have to suffer for a lifetime, and I don’t want my family to see me like this.

And that’s why I’ve come here. This is me standing my ground and looking for some advice. I’m already familiar with CBT and things of that nature but therapists just seem to suggest this is something manageable but not curable. That’s where I disagree. I’ve heard that all before. And frankly I just don’t believe it. The constant push and pull between the part of me that wants to be saved and the parts of me that think it’s impossible are wearing me out.

Is there anyone out there who’s overcome this, and I mean at a deep and serious level that can give me some advice? How do you feel now? What does it look like for depression to pass. And how do I get by day to day without being tortured.

Mainly I’m looking for some hope and confidence that this is fixable.

I am grateful to you if you’ve read this message, and I apologize for the length. I thank you in advance for anything you have to say. Both negative and kind.

Show me the way.

I would also like to add that I will actually begin meditating consistently and will return with updates on how it’s going. Feel free to ask about my progress if you see this post in the future. Or message me directly. My hope is that I can overcome this, and it least be a light in the dark for others who feel this way.

Hi everyone! What are your favorites for if you have limited time like during lunch break? :)

Hey guys ♥️ i have been a lot into joe‘s meditations lately and i am trying to find the meditations that suit me the best. I realized that i prefer the meditations with epic and powerful music rather than the calmer ones like changing boxes.
Do you have any recommendations on which ones are very powerful?

Thank you 🫶🏾

EDIT: i am already doing BOTEC daily. Looking for something to add.

So I am taking many medications (antipsychotics, benzo, ADHD meds) and when I try to get off them, I experience horrible withdrawals. Is it possible to meditate and get off my meds without withdrawals?
Will these meditations help me enough to heal my brain and get off without issues? Where can I find these meditations?

Hello friends! I'm going through a weird phase in my life.. I've started Joe's meditation about 1 month ago and did it consistenthly, I was in a low space back then as I am now, but now it's getting worse. I don't know what happened.. after a month of meditating everything went wrong for me (I know Joe said this is when things are supposed to feel right, even when everything’s going wrong, but I’m still learning to accept it) I was sick for a month and it was the weirdest thing, it wasn't even a regular cold, what I can say about it is that my throat is having a lot of problems right now and I'm pretty sure it's something worse. I also got into a lot of fights with my family, mostly about money (barely having for the basic stuff like food and rent) and my cat.. she's not exactly in the best shape, she also has a throat problem, which I'm trying to see at the Vet tomorrow. After a small break, I am meditating again and I'm trying to be in the best shape mentally and change something but I dont know how to start again. Any advice will help, and also if something similar happened to you, please let me know..

Share your real life solid experience. Manifesting health wealth happiness power Job whatever it is. Not like feel good things. If it transforms your life then tell us what is the transformation you are talking about???

Joe Dispenza Retreat Reviews: Are They Really Worth the Cost?

I’ve been looking more into Joe Dispenza retreats lately, especially the cost vs value side of things.

A lot of people attending seem to be going through serious life challenges—health issues, stress, or big personal transitions. That makes me wonder: are these retreats truly delivering lasting results, or are they leaning more on hope and expectation?

For those who’ve been to a Joe Dispenza retreat:

• Did you feel it was worth the money?
• Did you see real, long-term changes afterward?
• Or was it more of a temporary experience?

I’m genuinely trying to understand if these high-ticket self-development retreats actually live up to the hype.

Would appreciate honest Joe Dispenza reviews—good or bad.

#JoeDispenza #JoeDispenzaRetreat #RetreatReviews #WorthTheCost #SelfDevelopment #PersonalGrowth #SpiritualRetreat #MeditationRetreat #HealingJourney #MindBodyConnection #HighTicket #WellnessIndustry #SelfHelp #Transformation #Consciousness #HolisticHealth #IsItWorthIt #RealReviews #LifeChange #InnerWork

So I’ve been posting about Dr. Joe dispenser’s meditations multiple times (see my previous posts for more in depth). I managed to heal my stomach/gut issue from doing Blessings of the energy centers three for about a year recently I’ve read one of Dr. Joe Dispenza’s books (I forgot which one lol ) but he goes into depth on how to do the breathing and he says that it’s not a passive breathing technique. It’s an active one. I’ve realized that I’ve been very passive with the breathing in the beginning, thinking that it was a simple inhale, and imagining the breath at the top of my head and exhale, which is not the case.

This is an active breathing, and I swear it is the best body orgasm I’ve ever had in my life every time I do it hahaha.

So essentially what you do is that when you start the breathing segment, breathe And imagine of fluid going up to the top of your head (I would advise pinching the top of your head so that you have your target in mind when doing this) as your breathing set up straight and have your spine vertical, and once you reach the top and imagine that being at the top of your head THEN SQUEEZE YOUR STOMACH AND CHEST. You are going to feel some lightheaded feeling and it’s gonna feel uncomfortable don’t panic lol. Hold onto this because this is gonna be the best freaking feeling ever After you’re done, I promise lol.

“YOU SQUEEZE AND HOLD” At this point it should feel like life is leaving your body.. then he says “PUMP” right here you squeeze extra hard. Now you should be really feeling uncomfortable at this point, but keep going and don’t stop until he says “exhale” AND THEN… WOOOOOOOOOSHHHHHH.

My body starts shaking uncontrollably and I start hearing choo Choo train sounds lol and beeping noises. My whole vibrates and my eyes feel like they want to roll back. OMG You guys this feeling feels so good!!! I can’t explain other than using the word elation. It’s like my body is having an orgasm lol but a good one. I feel so good afterwards Hahaha.

Here is my list of experiences after doing the breathing segment and Blessings of the energy centers 3

1. I hear choo-choo train and beeping noises like it’s a cartoon

2. body moves uncontrollably. Sometimes I fall over and I can’t control it. I just let it have its way with me. Lol I’m a guy by the way I want to say no homo, but I want to be polite here.

3. Strong vibration intensity throughout the body that lingers.

4. You know that feeling you get after having intercourse and you complete. it feels like that but instead of it coming from your private area it’s throughout your whole body I don’t know how to explain it. lol

PLEASE Has anybody else experienced this? If so, tell me what this is because it’s the best feeling ever and I don’t want to ever lose it even in the 3-D. How can I maintain this feeling throughout my day?

Thank you so much for reading my long experience. I appreciate it. Lol.