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I recently attended a week-long meditation retreat hosted by Dr. Joe Dispenza, and it was nothing short of life-changing. I’ve attended a few meditation retreats before, but this one was on another level, and I wanted to share my takeaways from the experience – particularly, how it relates to ADHD.
Dr. Joe Dispenza “Retreats” Are More Like Raves
This is not your mother’s meditation retreat. It’s seriously more like a meditation rave. We meditated for a collective 36 hours over the course of the week, and in between meditations, we had scientific lectures to explain the next meditation we were going to do, followed by intermittant dance parties. People would actually go up to the front of the ballroom near the stage and dance their faces off…. at 5:30am.
But it wasn’t just the vibe that was different than anything I’d seen before… The meditations were intense too. The longest one went on for 5 hours. Yep, 5 hours of sitting, laying down, and LOTS of breath work.
The Life Changing Magic of Dr. Joe Dispenza
Okay, I know I’m not painting a very idilic picture of this retreat, but I want to be completely honest about what to expect, should you ever decide to do one. And by the way, I have no agenda with this post! I don’t get any sort of commission or payment for sharing my experience.
So, while the retreat was not what I expected going into it, it ended up being a wonderful experience… once I was ready to let go a bit… which really didn’t happen until the last two days. I spent a good portion of the event just trying to figure out what was going on, so my guard was up for a good part of it. If I were to go again, I think I’d have a much more immersive experience.
But suffice to say, even with my guard up, I took away 3 life-changing nuggets of wisdom that I want to share with you.
1. Our Thoughts Create Our Reality
One of the main takeaways from the retreat was the understanding of how powerful our thoughts are in terms of creating our lives. Our thoughts set off electrical currents in our brain, and the neurotransmitters that come from our thoughts create hormonal reactions in our bodies.
If we’re not conscious of our thoughts, we can start to create a reality that we don’t want. However, if we are intentional with the things that we put our attention on, then we can create a life that is beautiful and perfectly designed for us as individuals.
Dr. Joe Dispenza talks a lot about the idea of manifestation, and to be honest, I have mixed feelings about it. But the way he describes it and how our thoughts are so powerful and palpable that we could literally call in anything to us was just completely mind-blowing.
2. Meditation and Pure Intent Can Magnetize + Heal
Another takeaway was that meditation and pure intent have the ability to not only heal us and the people around us but to bring things to us. When we meditate with focused attention and pure intention, we bring our brain and our heart into coherence. Heart + brain coherence leads to deep resonance, clarity and peace.
This resonant energy can be used to heal yourself and others (we actually did that at the retreat), and it is amazing to see what can happen. Transformation and change truly happened for me and for a lot of people around me during the week. Personally, I went to the retreat with back pain, plantar fasciitis and honestly, some emotional issues that I had been holding onto for far too long.
By the time I got on the plane to come home, I felt no physical pain and my emotional issues had dramatically receded.
3. Energy Centers + ADHD – The Big Ah Ha
Dr. Joe Dispenza also talks about the energy centers in our bodies (often referred to as chakras) which are related to our nervous system and our endocrine system.
The third energy center is related to our digestion and includes our digestive system and pancreas. When this energy center is balanced, we have a strong sense of identity, purpose, self-worth, and self-trust. However, when this energy center is imbalanced, it can show up emotionally in traits such as overthinking, perfectionism, always looking for external validation, not feeling a sense of self-worth or confidence, and always second-guessing yourself.
As someone with ADHD, I found this particularly interesting, as there is often an impairment or an imbalance in this third center, to the point that we are not able to digest information as quickly or as efficiently. We get overstimulated easily, and we struggle with boundaries around our time and energy.
The way we overcompensate for those porous boundaries is by overcommitting ourselves and people-pleasing. Balancing this energy center can help us process information more quickly and efficiently, and help us set boundaries around our time and energy.
Would I go to a Dr. Joe Dispenza Retreat Again?
Attending the Dr. Joe Dispenza meditation retreat was a profound experience for me. The meditations were intense, the lectures were packed with scientific evidence, and the takeaways were life-changing.
But would I do it again? I think so. Lots of people go to his events repeatedly. On my first day, I met someone who had been there 15 times! At first, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to pay for the same experience over and over again, but now that I’ve completed it, I get it.
There’s a magic at these events that you don’t see everyday. To have that many people in one room, meditating on compassion and gratitude can only lead to good vibes.
Truth be told, when I told people in my “real life” about the event, I got a lot of strange looks. I’m sure it sounds like a cult, but I assure you, it’s not.
Other than the cost of the retreat, there’s no hard asks for any money (you can buy t-shirts and meditations, but nothing high-ticket). I’ve seen internet marketers and self-help gurus do some artful asks during their performances, but there was nothing like that at this event. In fact, in his closing talk, he asks that you take what you learn and build on your knowledge independently rather than making it about him.
Curious to Learn More About Dr. Joe Dispenza’s Work?
I highly recommend checking out his books and interviews on YouTube. But more importantly, I encourage you to be intentional with your thoughts, meditate with focused attention, and balance your energy centers. Good things will come to you.
My favorite Dr. Joe Dispenza Books
Becoming Supernatural
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
You are the Placebo
Book bundle
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