I Went to a Dr. Joe Dispenza Retreat

If you haven’t heard of Dr. Joe Dispenza yet well, then, we’re probably not friends.  His teachings and research have been steadily taking the world of neuroscience, quantum physics, and epigenetics by storm. He’s been picking up a whole lot of believers and followers along the way.

For those of you that still need an intro, Dr. Joe is a chiropractor, a neuroscientist, and the best-selling author of numerous books including The Placebo Effect, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, and Becoming Supernatural (my own personal fave).  He’s been featured in several documentaries including What the Fuck Do We Know, Heal, and Unsinkable.  Dr. Joe is also a popular guest on the podcast circuit where he discusses essentially the same topics as he does in his books. 

 Dr. Joe’s journey to becoming the world-renowned expert he is today began when he was seriously injured during a triathlon. He was hit by a truck while on his bike and broke six of the vertebrae in his spine. With excessive damage to his spinal cord and lucky to be alive, he received numerous recommendations from top professionals to have steel rods surgically implanted in his back to realign his spinal cord.

However, he opted against the surgery and left the hospital with the conviction that he could use his mind to heal his body. Every day for hours he used visualization and meditation to reconstruct his spine, vertebrae by vertebrae. It likely helped that, as a chiropractor, he was intimately aware of how the human spine is constructed. In just three months he was up and back in the office seeing patients again without the surgery he had been told was his only option to recover mobility again.

Because of this profound experience, Dr. Joe has spent the last 30-plus years investigating and researching the mind-body connection as well as the relationship between mind and matter.  Working with scientists and academics, utilizing brain scans and lab work, he has documented the miraculous ability of his students to self-heal through meditation modalities like visualization, letting go, and emotionalized intention.   Through his books, speaking engagements, and workshops he uses an easy-to-understand, encouraging, and compassionate style to educate hundreds of thousands of people on how they can rewire their brains and recondition their bodies to make lasting changes.

Signing up for the workshop retreat

Dr. Joe holds dozens of advanced workshop retreats per year all over the globe spanning from Nashville to Moscow to Dubai.  There are typically 1200 to 1500 attendees at each retreat and they always sell out within minutes of opening up online.  Dr. Joe has such a devout following that many attendees are returning for their second, third, fourth, or, heck, even ninth time.  People seem to just keep coming back for more.

The retreat is currently priced at $2299 and does not include accommodations but does include daily breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  Word to the wise…the hosting hotel accommodations sell out just as quickly as the workshop so do plan to book that immediately following registration. With most mornings starting at 630am, including one extra special morning starting at 3 am, you’ll want to be able to shuffle down from bed with as much extra sleep time as possible 

You are required to complete the online progressive course before attending the live event and that is included in the overall cost as well. It can take a couple of weeks to complete depending on your focus and time availability.  I powered through mine in a week but listened all day every day. Be sure to pack lots of layers and warm clothing.  You’ll be sitting in a freezing cold auditorium for the bulk of the time.  With such early morning starts I’m guessing he’s trying to freeze everyone into staying awake.

What to expect when you get there?

Dr. Joe likes to say in his work that for change to occur we must learn how to expect the unexpected. There’s no itinerary or agenda.  You’re told what time to show up in the morning the evening before and you never know what the day holds.  The only certainty is that you eat around the same time each day but that too can vary.  He wants you out of your comfort zone or what he teaches as “no longer living in the predictable future”. 

Each day begins with a lecture for about 1.5 to 2 hours and then a group meditation for about the same length.  You break for a buffet breakfast and then have a little time to regroup before returning to the auditorium for another round of lecture and meditation. Lunch comes in the early afternoon and then you’re back again. Most days break off anywhere between 6 to 7 pm followed, every other night, by optional question and answer sessions for each group led by a volunteer. These are super helpful to ask questions you may have brewing and maybe ones you didn’t know you had until someone else asked.

You are going to meditate. A lot. A few times a day. It’s like meditation boot camp.  There’s sitting, standing, laying down, and even quite a few walking meditations.  There’s also a kaleidoscope meditation which was one of my favorites in which you stare into pretty, trippy pixels morphing on a large screen. If you don’t meditate a lot before attending this retreat, you’re going to be impressed with the professional meditator you become.

The lectures cover the same material that you’ll find in his books, podcasts, and the progressive workshop.  It starts to feel like déjà vu rather like that family member that always tells you the same story every Thanksgiving. Again, I think there’s a method to his madness by trying to drill the information in via sheer repetition.  Many times, he breaks after a lesson to have you turn to the person sitting next to you to either repeat or discuss what he’s said. It’s crazy how many times I caught myself not in the present moment and having to ask that person what was just reviewed.  Our minds just lose themselves in thought.

There are also three days in which the entire group comes together to perform “coherence healings”.  Healees, or those attendees with severe or terminal illnesses that require the most healing, are pre-selected by Dr. Joe’s team.  When you re-enter the room after a break those selected healees are lying over white sheets on the floor across the auditorium.  You are slowly directed to circle them in groups of eight.  Once the entire room has been organized the coherence healing begins in which we opened our hands and began directing our energy towards healing the individual.  Dr. Joe is on the mic leading the meditation and group throughout. It’s both intense and beautiful to experience.

Another heart-warming moment is when participants who experienced healing take to the stage to share their stories.  There was one woman who suffered from lifelong debilitating eczema who had not known what it was like to sleep through an entire night without waking from incessant itching.  She had been practicing Dr. Joe for a full year devoting herself to completing a mediation every day. She fully healed her condition in one year of practice.  There was a woman who restored blindness in one of her eyes that had occurred years before from a traumatic rollerblading accident. She could see again in that eye before the end of the week.  A woman brought her very ill baby born with cerebral palsy and, after having the baby receive a coherence healing, saw her able to roll for the first time in her two years of life.  The stories you hear from other participants and what you experience with your own eyes are nothing but extraordinary.  It is not uncommon for people in wheelchairs to get up and walk with the group during walking meditations.  

Here’s my advice to anyone attending their first Dr. Joe retreat.

 Set an Intention

 This one should be easy. Think about what you want to receive from this experience. It can be so different for everyone. Intentions can vary from physical healing to emotional releases to reconnection with self.  Once you’re there it begins to feel like a whirlwind.  If you can think about why you’re there it can work as your guidepost and help direct your work.

Protect your energy if you’re sensitive

I am a highly sensitive and empathic person.  I found it incredibly difficult to be in a room with such a large group of individuals all firing off strong energy with the hopes of healing very serious illnesses or traumas or just trying to be better souls.  I felt like I was being hit by an energetic tsunami the first couple of days.  I wish they spoke about this a bit more to better prepare us highly sensitive folks.

The first few nights I socialized and hung out with others in the pool chatting it up.  However, I realized that I needed to spend alone time after each day grounding and anchoring my energy back in. Some of it was simply sitting in quiet by myself, lighting some palo santo and journaling.  I started to feel a little better when I started this practice. A lot of this work is connecting your energy with others so it’s super important for someone empathic to disconnect and refuel after each day.

Be open-minded

I’m going to be honest…some weird shit happens.  There are energy activations that occur in some individuals during the meditations.  They straight-up sound and look like possessions in some cases.  It’s not uncommon to hear animal-like screams vibrating through the arena.  You might see someone on the floor convulsing or moving in a way that looks to be painful.  Just go with it.  They are releasing some energy or trauma and all you can do is send them a psychic hug. When you first witness one it can be alarming but by the end of the week you’re just thinking “go you” to those around you. 

People are also going to say some weird shit.  You may hear some of his followers speak about blue beings that appear to some during meditations and coherence healings. They are typically witnessed performing some type of healing over attendees.  I could not get the thought of the blue man group out if my mind when I first heard this.  Of course, it sounds a little crazy.  I do have a dear friend that is clairvoyant and she witnessed these beings during her retreat.  I didn’t see them myself but I certainly like the idea that we have help all around.

Take some time to process and reprogram after.

I was exhausted upon returning home.  It’s a lot of work both energetically and physically.  Some even call it the Dispenza influenza.  Take some time to just be. I wish I had taken some additional days off of work so I could sit with all that occurred instead of rushing back into life.

The overpowering message of Dr. Joe’s teaching and workshops is that each of us has the potential for greatness and unlimited abilities to live in the way we desire.  Would I go back?  I would.  I know it conflicts with his teachings but I like the idea of going back a little better prepared.  I wouldn’t say it would be a predictable future but rather being really well-prepared for the unpredictable.