Joe Dispenza Meditation Retreat: Change Your Energy, Change Your Life
- Josh Goldberg
- Dec 23, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Dec 29, 2024
An overview of my November, 2024 Joe Dispenza retreat in Marco Island, Florida.
What is Meditation?
What comes to mind when you think of the word meditation? Is it a statue of Buddha? A lying down Yoga pose? Taking hallucinogenic drugs? Hugging a tree? These were some of the thoughts I used to have about meditation! However, as I discovered recently, the secret to successful and transformative meditation is surprisingly... none of the above!
Background Experiences
Last month, my mom and I attended a weeklong meditation retreat in Marco Island, Florida. While I had meditated occasionally before, this event was so transformative that I felt compelled to share my key takeaways. Among around 1,500 attendees, I was part of a smaller group of approximately 100 people under 30, which gave me a unique perspective compared to the more seasoned meditators. My hope is that by reading this, you'll come to realize how your energy and thoughts can dramatically influence your life. Furthermore, you'll learn how Dr. Joe Dispenza's methodologies can empower you to create real change in the world around you. As a disclaimer, I don’t work for Dr. Joe or any of his companies. This article is based entirely on my personal experiences and insights from the Marco Island retreat.
Before diving into my experience, it’s helpful to share a bit about my previous meditation journey. Growing up in New York City, I was constantly surrounded by loud noises and distractions. Although I felt stressed at various points in my life, I didn’t truly explore meditation until college. At Binghamton University, amidst a busy schedule of projects, social events, and extracurriculars, I came across several meditation apps, such as Waking Up, Calm, and Headspace. While they helped me stay relatively balanced, I never felt fully at ease. It wasn’t until after college, when I stumbled upon one of Dr. Joe Dispenza’s books, that I began to understand the deeper potential of meditation.
Learning about Dr. Joe Dispenza
I devoured Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, You Are the Placebo, Evolve your Brain, and Becoming Supernatural, exploring the interconnectedness of the human mind, body, and heart. While the concepts intrigued me, I didn’t fully engage with Dr. Joe’s meditations until much later. His teachings, however, stuck with me, and earlier this year, I spent an entire weekend watching all of Dr. Joe’s YouTube videos. For the first time, I felt ready to dive deeper into his methods.
Over the next few months, I became more familiar with his meditations and ultimately decided to attend one of his advanced retreats. What I discovered during this weeklong event was nothing short of life-changing. It’s difficult to put into words, but I’ll share some of the profound insights I gained.
Overview
The retreat was transformative due to the depth of knowledge I gained and how quickly I was able to apply it. There were about 1,500 attendees, and Dr. Joe has conducted over 55 retreats globally (a combination of events he refers to as Progressive Retreats, Weeklong Retreats, and Advanced Follow-up Retreats), with thousands on a tight waiting list for each one. If you’re interested in attending, I recommend signing up as soon as registration opens.
Format
While a meditation retreat might sound monotonous, the true value comes from the knowledge you gain. The event is methodically planned and action-packed, combining meditation with lectures (which I refer to as information sessions, because that sounds less boring!). Most days followed a routine generally like this:
6:00 AM – Wake Up
6:30 AM – Meditation
8:00 AM – Information Session
10:00 AM – Breakfast (buffet)
11:30 AM – Information Session
1:00 PM – Coffee Break
1:30 PM – Meditation
2:30 PM – Lunch (buffet)
4:00 PM – Information Session
5:00 PM – Coffee Break
5:30 PM – Meditation
7:00 PM – End of Day
As you can see, there’s a lot of learning, reflection, and meditation. Though I initially thought the long days would be draining, I found that the meditations helped me channel energy while learning more about myself, leaving me feeling enlightened by the end of each day.
Impact of the Retreat
The most profound takeaway from the retreat was the realization that we are entirely in control of our energy—our emotions—and that this energy can create tangible changes in the world around us. Before becoming familiar with Dr. Joe’s work, I believed that physical actions were needed to change our circumstances. For instance, if you wanted a new car, you would work hard and earn money. However, Dr. Joe teaches that energy can attract the outcomes we desire. By aligning our energy with our intentions, we can draw what we want into our lives rather than attempting to force it into existence through physical effort.
The Power of Dr. Joe’s Meditation
I returned from the retreat several weeks ago, and the information I absorbed is still processing in my mind. That said, I want to highlight the key aspects that make Dr. Joe’s meditations so powerful. A central component of his teachings is the idea that meditation can help you create a new personality—one that aligns with your desires and goals. While this concept can be overwhelming, the key to success lies in two crucial elements:
Having a clear intention
Feeling an elevated emotion
Dr. Joe Dispenza at the retreat
The information he shares can be a lot to make sense of, so before attending the retreat or any of his meditations, it’s important to have an open mind and be willing to process new information (essentially, you might be unlearning a lot of what you already know about the science of the world).
The better you can get at applying these two components in synchrony, the more effective your meditations will be. If you’re curious and want to see how impactful people have found his meditations to be, check out some of the testimonials here (P.S.You’ll want to have some tissues handy). You can also check out his meditations here.
When these two aforementioned elements are applied simultaneously, your meditations become more effective. To illustrate this, Dr. Joe shared a story about a time he was flying from New York to Arizona for an event. Unfortunately, he initially miscalculated his arrival timing, such that he was going to arrive late for the event. Rather than bask in sadness and whine, he used his formula to create a change in his life relating to that event. What did he do, and how did he do it?
Simple - he first set his clear intention: to arrive earlier than initially projected in Arizona in order to make his next event there. Next, he focused on the emotions he would feel if this scenario came true (i.e. relief, joy, tranquility, etc.). He methodically repeated this focused meditation exercise for several days leading up to the event, and then got an email the day before the flight saying…his flight had been moved up in the day (but how could it be?!), and he was going to arrive early. And just like that, that’s successful Dr. Joe meditation in action.
My attempt to explain this more includes how we need to set a clear intention to focus our energy on what we want. And then, by feeling the emotions of a future situation before they occur in real-time, we can condition the body to expect and be prepared for them ahead of time. This, in turn, creates feelings which create thoughts that then carry information for what we want into another realm called the Quantum field, which then attracts us to other possibilities / outcomes that exist where the emotions associated with that experience match that of what we’re sending out. The Quantum field actually contains infinite possibilities, which is why if you can create energetic alignment with your desired intention, the possibility / outcome that you’re wishing for exists in that realm somewhere. Does that sound complex? You bet! That’s what makes it so exciting.
Science behind Meditation
Dr. Joe’s information sessions dive deep into the science behind his methods, which can be complex without the full context of his teachings. In essence, his meditations guide you to separate yourself from space and time, allowing your energy to shift from slower frequencies to faster ones. As energy accelerates, it moves closer to the Quantum field—wherein lies infinite possibilities. By aligning your energy with your intentions, you connect with these possibilities, manifesting your desires.
While I realize this is probably already a lot to process, one cool aspect about meditation is that it helps create energy fields around us (electromagnetic ones). And, as our energy becomes more coherent, when there are other people with other coherent energy fields around us, the energy waves can be amplified to create stronger frequencies (imagine rocks falling in a pond near each other). This energy coherence is so powerful at the retreat that some people end up walking out from wheelchairs after the event and healing other dramatic health conditions. Other people experience healing over longer periods of time. Remember, the Quantum field will not necessarily act on a possibility in this given moment, as it’ll respond to the vibrational matches once the match is there. For example, if you want a new car and you think “Ah, I don’t have the money for that,” then you’re going to feel sad. Sadness is a low energy emotion. Focusing on this sensation will not help you create high energy around you. The feelings you want to target are high-energy emotions of love, gratitude, joy, etc, to draw the experience to you through creating a vibrational match in the Quantum field.
As we went through the meditations at the event, Dr. Joe guides us in how to feel the space around us, which helps us build our energy fields. As you evoke more energy in your body, it gradually moves from your heart to your brain, and when energy goes to the brain, incredible healing happens. My mom and I witnessed some fascinating healing taking place at the event, which you’ll see for yourself when you attend one of his retreats.
Meditation Session Details
During the retreat, we participated in various meditation types—sitting, walking (on the beach!), lying down, and even a coherence healing meditation, where groups of healers direct their energy toward individuals in need of healing. Although it may sound unconventional, the results were astonishing. Meditation became an exciting, immersive experience! Dr. Joe’s engaging communication style made it easy to stay focused during the sessions, which ranged from 15 minutes to several hours at a time.
For those attending, you’ll want to bring items like headphones, notebooks, a pillow, a mat, eyeshades, and warm clothing for the meditation sessions. For this Marco Island retreat, we even did four beach meditations, which were so much fun. One point of note is that at the event, people are split up into ~6 groups of a few hundred people each. You stick with that group (in a specific location of the ballroom) throughout the retreat. However, each morning when the day begins, you’re able to meet new people that you wouldn't have met otherwise. My Mom and I also chose to intentionally sit separately during the meditations and information sessions to help with this more. Before most meditation sessions begin, the event organizers often play music throughout the ballroom that people are dancing to as well, which is pretty cool. You can follow along with the live action as some of his different meditations are streamed on Dr. Joe’s social media accounts, such as here.
Dr Joe and Information Sessions
Dr. Joe is very focused throughout the retreat. Not only does he personally deliver all sessions live and without notes, but he is also intent on helping coach every attendee towards becoming an excellent meditator. Sometimes the meditation and information sessions can seem a bit overwhelming if he’s trying to explain rigorous concepts, though it’s important to recognize that he really wants everyone to be as successful in their meditations as possible. One point that he shared that I often keep in mind is that there is no such thing as a bad meditation. Remembering this is helpful especially in the early going while doing his meditations, which can take some time before you start to see a physical impact in your life.
Overall, Dr. Joe’s information sessions are intriguing. You get to learn about cutting-edge research, neuroscience, epigenetics, etc., concepts that are difficult to understand though intellectually stimulating. He interweaves a range of disciplines that include physics and biology (with a little chemistry thrown in). Dr. Joe emphasizes how effective his meditations can be on impacting areas of your life such as biological age, mental health, physical health, and more. During many retreats, there are also research teams there conducting experiments for new studies. I recommend you join those if you’re comfortable doing so! It’s so exciting to see how you can be a part of new research in the areas Dr. Joe is focused on related to the body, the mind, meditation, etc.
Meals
The retreat covers breakfast and lunch - which are so comprehensive. There are buffets for each. The lunch is definitely a key highlight, with food ranging from chicken to steak to fish, there’s so much there to choose from - you won’t go hungry. Usually, with all the meditations, you’re using more energy than you would normally, so you’ll find yourself hungrier than usual, even though you’re sitting or lying down for the majority of the day throughout the retreat. For dinner, there are several cafes and restaurants at the hotel which serve great food. You can also technically stay in another location nearby to the retreat instead of at the hotel, though it’ll make it harder - think about taking a car over to the hotel at 6am…
Hotel
This specific retreat was held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Marco Island. While the preferred hotel for each of Dr. Joe’s retreats differs by city / country, each location generally tends to be in a great spot. This specific location was great for numerous reasons, most notably that it’s a fancy resort on the beach. So, in between the breaks and at other points during your trip, make sure to capitalize on that opportunity if you’re interested. There’s several pools, a hot tub, fitness center, etc. Even though I’m not really a warm-weather person, I had to take advantage of these hotel opportunities. Keep in mind though, you’ll be pretty busy with the retreat while you’re there. I’d suggest coming a day before and leaving the day after the retreat begins if you go, this way you can take better advantage of the hotel.
Communication and Additional Retreats
Dr. Joe does a great job of sharing information about the event though several Telegram channels, email communication, Facebook, etc., so it’s easy to stay refreshed with everything going on. He also has a large staff at the event that you can talk to about questions that you may have. In addition to this Weeklong retreat, he also has a Progressive retreat, which is a smaller “information session” which he conducts both virtually and live that teaches people about a lot of the concepts he covers at the Weeklong retreats - it’s a prerequisite to the Weeklong and Advanced retreats. The Advanced Follow-ups, meanwhile, are even more in-depth than the Weeklongs. They’re hyper-focused on specific advanced concepts and are less lecture-based, more meditation-heavy. People love going to his retreats - I met some people at this retreat who’ve already been to as many as 7 of his events. They become infectiously good! You can also continue to engage with the Dr. Joe community after the event through his Coherence groups, walking meditation communities, his Dr. Joe Live monthly Q&A’s, and more.
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Final Thoughts
Dr. Joe’s retreats provide a transformative experience, teaching not only meditation techniques but also how to harness the power of energy to change your life. If you're curious about how meditation can impact you, I’d highly recommend exploring his work. Be open to new ideas, and prepare to unlearn much of what you think you know about the human body and mind. The journey may seem complex, but the results are well worth the effort.
As you can tell, I gained a lot from the event. I’m excited to continue my meditations now with the knowledge of his Weeklong retreat, and I look forward to seeing where it takes me. If you have other questions about Dr. Joe’s work after reading this, feel free to reach out!