You Are the Placebo

by Joe Dispenza, Dr.

  To be clear, I’m not interested in making this a competition (which would defeat our purpose). However, this data does illustrate two important points. First, moving beyond the analytical mind of beta brain waves and entering into a more suggestible state is a skill that you can improve if you keep practicing it. Second, students are able to use the methods my colleagues and I are teaching to get beyond their thinking brains and enter into the operating system of the subconscious mind relatively easily.

  Interestingly, our research also shows a noticeable, consistent patterning in the way our students’ brains work holistically. We see significant alternating alpha/theta patterns (how different brain compartments communicate with each other) in the frontal lobes when a person meditates. That means the two halves of the brain are talking in a more balanced and unified fashion. The dual frontal-lobe ratio patterns we repeatedly observe seem to produce the experience of high-level thankfulness and gratitude, which appear over and over again in a rhythmic, wavelike manner. So when students are in this heightened state of gratitude during mental rehearsal, this data suggests that their inner experience is so real that they believe that the events are happening to them in real time—or that the events have already happened. They’re thankful, because that’s the emotion we feel when what we want happens.

  Experienced meditators also showed an increase in theta and lower-range alpha brain-wave ratios, which means that they can spend quite a bit of time in altered states. Of particular significance was the increase in slow-wave regulation; these students, while in a theta brain-wave state, have higher-than-normal coherence, or brain-wave orderliness, between the activity in the front of the brain and the regions in the back of the brain. We saw the left-frontal region, which is associated with positive emotion, get activated repeatedly, which is consistent with inducing a state of meditative bliss.

  In other words, when these students enter a meditation, they produce slower, more coherent brain waves that suggest they’re in deep states of relaxation and heightened awareness. In addition, the unification between the front and the back of the brain, as well as between the left and right sides of the brain, indicates that they’re feeling happier and more whole.

  I Have a Brainstorm

  Finally, while I was observing a student who was being brain mapped in real time during a meditation at the first of the two events, I understood something quite remarkable. As I was watching her brain on the scan, I saw how hard she was working and how her brain was moving further and further away from balance and from the deeper meditative states of alpha and theta. I saw how she was analyzing and judging herself and her life within the emotion she was experiencing at that time—as evidenced by the higher, more incoherent brain waves associated with a high-range beta state (indicating high stress, high anxiety, high arousal, high emergency, and general imbalance).

  I witnessed how she was futilely trying to use her brain to change her brain—and it wasn’t working. I knew that she was also using her ego to try to change her ego, which also wasn’t working. In using one program to try to change another program, she was only endorsing her program, not rewriting it. She was still in her conscious mind, trying to change her subconscious mind, so she was keeping herself separate from the operating system, where true change resides. I approached her afterward, and when we spoke for a few minutes, she admitted to me that she was having a difficult time. The lights went on for me in that moment, and I knew exactly what I had to teach next.

  She had to become detached and move beyond her body in order to change her body, move beyond the ego in order to change the ego, move beyond the program in order to change the program, and move beyond the conscious mind in order to change the subconscious mind. She had to become the unknown in order to create the unknown. She had to become an immaterial new thought in nothing materially in order to create a new experience materially. She had to move beyond space and time in order to change space and time.

  The student had to become pure consciousness. She had to get beyond her associations with an identity that was associated with her known environment (her home, her job, her spouse, her kids, her problems), beyond her body (her face, her gender, her age, her weight, and her looks), and beyond time (the predictable habit of living in the past or the future, always missing the present moment). She had to get beyond her current self to create a new self. She had to get out of her own way so that something greater could take over.

  When we are matter trying to change matter, it never works. When we are the particle trying to change the particle, nothing will happen, because we’re vibrating at the same speed as matter and so can’t have any significant effect on it. It’s our consciousness (our intentional thought) and our energy (our elevated emotion) that influences matter. Only when we are consciousness can we alter our brains, our bodies, and our lives and create a new future in time.

  And because it’s consciousness that gives form to all things and that uses the brain and body to produce different levels of mind, once you arrive in the place where you are pure consciousness, you’re free. So I began to let students linger for extended periods of time in their meditations and become no one, no body, no thing, and be in no place and in no time, until they were comfortable in the infinite field of possibilities.

  I wanted students’ subjective consciousness to merge with the objective consciousness of the field for long periods of time. They had to find the sweet spot of the present moment and invest their energy and awareness in a void that is not really empty space but is actually filled with an infinite number of possibilities, until they were comfortable in the unknown. Only once they were truly present in this potent place beyond space and time—the place from where all things materially come—could they start to create. This was when the real changes during the workshops began to happen.

  A Quick Overview of the Brain Scans Used

  I want to introduce you to two types of brain-scan readings so that you can see and understand the changes I’m about to show you. Let’s make it simple. The first type of scan we used measures degrees of activity between brain areas (see Figure 10.2, located along with the rest of the figures for this chapter in the full-color insert pages). The scans map two relative types of this activity. Hyperactivity (or overregulation) is depicted by red lines connecting different locations in the brain. Imagine telephone lines connecting one place to another in order to establish communication between those areas. Having too many red lines at any one time indicates too much action taking place within the brain. Hypoactivity (lack of regulation) is depicted by blue lines indicating that minimal information is being communicated between the different brain areas.

  The thickness of the lines represents the standard deviation, or how much dysregulation (or abnormal regulation) exists between the two locations the line connects. For example, the thin red lines indicate that the level of activity between those locations is 1.96 standard deviations (SD) above normal. The thin blue lines indicate that the level of activity between those locations is 1.96 SD below normal. The medium lines indicate 2.58 SD either above (red) or below (blue) normal. And the thick lines indicate 3.09 SD above or below normal. So when you see a lot of thick red lines in a scan, it means the brain is working too hard. When you see a lot of thick blue lines, it suggests there’s little communication between different areas of the brain and, therefore, the brain is underactive. Think of it like this: The thicker the red line, the higher the volume of data the brain is processing, and the thicker the blue line, the lower the volume of data the brain processing.

  The second type of scan we used comes from the QEEG analysis and is called a Z-Score report. Z-Score is a statistical measure that tells us not only whether a point is above or below average, but also how far from normal the measurement is. The scale on this report ranges from -3 to +3 SD. The darker blue represents 3 or more SD below normal, while the lighter blues range from about 2.5 to 1 SD below normal. Blue-green is approximately 0 to 1 SD below normal, while green is
baseline normal. Light green registers at the outer area of normal but is considered from 0 to 1 SD above normal, while yellow and light orange are approximately 1 to 2 SD above normal, darker orange is about 2 to 2.5 SD above normal, and red is 3 or more SD above normal. (See Figure 10.3.)

  The Z-Score report that will be used is called relative power, and it shows information about the amount of energy in the brain at different frequencies. Because green, as explained previously, indicates the normal range, the more green there is in a scan, the more the person is conforming to normal brain-wave activity. Each colored circle (resembling a person’s head when viewed from the top)represents what one person’s brain is doing at each brain-wave frequency. The circle in the upper-left region of each scan shows the lowest brain-wave frequency (in delta brain waves), and each circle after that depicts a higher and higher brain-wave state, moving progressively up to the highest beta brain waves at the bottom-right region. A cycle per second in brain-wave frequency is known as hertz, or Hz. From left to right and from top to bottom, it progresses from 1 to 4 cycles per second (delta) to 4 to 8 cycles per second (theta) to 8 to 13 cycles per second (alpha) to 13 to 30-plus cycles per second (low mid-range and high-range beta). The beta activity can be broken down into different frequency bands, such as 12 to 15 Hz, 15 to 18 Hz, 18 to 25 Hz, and 25 to 30 Hz.

  Therefore, the relative colors in each area show what’s happening in each different brain-wave state. For example, a lot of blue in a majority of the brain in 1 cycle per second of delta suggests that there’s little activity of the brain in that delta range. And if there’s a lot of red in 14 Hz alpha in the frontal lobe, it means that there’s heightened alpha activity in that area of the brain.

  It should also be understood that these measurements could be interpreted differently depending on what the subject is doing when the scan is taken. For example, if 1 Hz delta were depicted in blue, that would suggest that the energy in the brain at that frequency is 3 SD below normal. In a clinical sense, that might be interpreted as being abnormally low. But because it was recorded when the subject was meditating, such a scan would actually suggest that the 1 Hz delta had opened the door to a stronger connection to the collective conscious energy field. In other words, as the energy in the neocortex is turned way down, the autonomic nervous system is more readily accessed. In just a bit, you’ll see several examples that will make all of this clear. In the meantime, glance at Figure 10.3 again. It will give you an overview to illustrate what I’ve just explained.

  Coherence vs. Incoherence

  Now look at Figure 10.4. The image to the left (labeled “before meditation”) represents a brain that has a lot of chatter. It’s functioning in a high level of arousal (high-range beta) and is quite incoherent. The thickness of the red lines shows that this brain is 3 SD above normal (because the thicker the red line, the more revved up and imbalanced the brain is). By looking at the red lines, you can see excessive incoherent activity happening throughout the entire brain. The blue in the front of the brain represents hypoactivity (2 to 3 SD below normal) in the frontal lobes, showing that the frontal lobes are shut down or turned off and so aren’t restraining the hyperactivity in the rest of the brain.

  This is a brain with attention problems; it’s so overloaded that it has no leader to control the chatter. It’s like a TV satellite system with 50 channels where the volume is turned up really loud and the channels are changing every second. Too many quick shifts in attention span occur from one thought process to the next, so the brain is overly vigilant, highly aroused, overworked, and overregulated. We call this an incoherent brain pattern, because the different parts of the brain are not working together at all.

  Now take a look at the second image (labeled “after meditation”). You don’t have to be a neuroscientist to see the difference between the first image and this one. Here, you see hardly any red or blue lines, demonstrating normal brain activity—with very little hyperactivity or hypoactivity. The chatter has stopped, and the brain is working more holistically. This person’s brain is now in balance, so we can say that this brain demonstrates a more coherent pattern. (The remaining activity in blue and red, as indicated by the arrow, represents sensory-motor activity, which probably means the person is twitching or blinking and in a state of rapid eye movement, or REM, which typically happens in very light sleep.) This change took place in one of the students after only one meditation.

  Now let’s explore some more case studies of students from the workshops. For each, I’ll first give you a bit of background so that you can see what state of being students were in when they began the workshop, then I’ll explain what their scans showed, and finally I’ll describe the new state of being each student created.

  Healing Parkinson’s Disease Without a Placebo or Drug

  Michelle’s old self: Michelle is in her 60s and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011, after she noticed progressive involuntary shaking of her left arm, left hand, and left foot. In November 2012, she became a patient at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Her attending physician told her that she’d probably had Parkinson’s for 10 to 15 years already and that she’d have to live with the symptoms. Her plan was to cope with the progression of the bodily limitations as she aged. She began taking Azilect (rasagiline mesylate), a medication used for Parkinson’s disease that stops the uptake of dopamine at the receptor-site level, slowing its breakdown in the body. The drug produced very few noticeable changes.

  Michelle became a student in November 2012. The month of December was outstanding. Her daily meditation routine brought a feeling of peace and joy, which began to reduce her symptoms to a noticeable degree. Michelle was certain that this course of action would assist her in overcoming Parkinson’s.

  She continued experiencing great meditation sessions through early February 2013. In mid-February, however, Michelle’s mother was admitted to intensive care in Sarasota, Florida, so Michelle flew to Florida to be with her. The day Michelle flew back to Arizona for our February 2013 workshop, her mother was placed in hospice care. Michelle’s plane landed in Phoenix about an hour and a half before her first brain scan. Needless to say, she was both physically and emotionally exhausted at the time of the brain scan, which indeed showed the extreme stress she was experiencing.

  By the end of that workshop, she was certainly in a calmer, more positive state of being, with barely noticeable Parkinson’s symptoms. Following the workshop, Michelle returned to Florida to be with her mother again. Although she and her mother always had a difficult relationship, as a result of her efforts in the workshop, Michelle felt sufficiently strengthened to be supportive, loving, and totally free of any old issues that could have interfered with the love she felt for her mother.

  Nevertheless, because of her mother’s illness and eventual passing, as well as her sister in Texas having a major stroke, Michelle was forced to fly back and forth to Florida and Texas to deal with her family challenges. Her routine was greatly affected, and by June, she stopped doing her meditations. Life had gotten in the way, and she had too many responsibilities. Stopping her meditations was like stopping taking the placebo. When she noticed her symptoms returning, she started meditating again and made significant strides.

  Michelle’s scans: Because Michelle lives close to Dr. Fannin’s clinic in Arizona, we were able to track her progress for more than five months, by taking a series of six periodic brain scans. I want to explain her evolution during that time.

  Take a look at the “before meditation” part of Figure 10.5. This is her scan at the February 2013 event after she came home from Florida, stressed and exhausted from her mother’s illness. The thick red lines indicate her brain in all areas is 3 SD from normal. She’s displaying too much brain activity, hyperincoherence, and overregulation. In Parkinson’s disease, this is quite common. The lack of the proper neurotransmitters (specifically dopamine) causes the neurons to display an erratic communication system between each region of the brain, with neura
l networks firing out of control. The result is a type of spastic or hyperactive neuronal firing, which affects the brain and the body. As a result, involuntary motor functions interfere with normal movement.

  Now review the “after meditation” part of the same figure. This is Michelle’s brain after four days of changing her state of being during meditation. This is very close to a normal brain, with very little hyperactivity, incoherence, or overregulation. At the end of our event, she was experiencing no involuntary tremors, twitches, or motor problems—and her brain scan confirms this change.

  Now let’s look at the QEEG readings in Figure 10.6A, labeled “before meditation.” If you look from the middle of the second row all the way to the last row—the images in blue—you’ll see that Michelle’s brain is showing no alpha or beta brain-wave functioning. Remember that blue means cooled-off brain activity. With Parkinson’s, this is typically represented by lessened cognitive activity, compromised learning, and a loss of engagement. Here, you can see that Michelle can’t consolidate new information. She has no ability to sustain an internal picture, because she’s not producing alpha brain waves. Her very low-range beta patterns also show that she is having difficulty with sustaining levels of awareness. All of the energy in her brain is going toward dealing with her hyperincoherence, so it’s like a lightbulb going from 50 watts to 10 watts. The volume of energy in the brain is turned down.

  If you look at the “after-meditation” part of the graphic, you’ll see what looks like a much-improved and balanced brain. All of those green areas in most of the images indicated with arrows represent normal and balanced brain activity. Her brain can now function in alpha, and she can move into internal states more easily, cope with stress better, and enter into the subconscious operating system to influence autonomic functions. Even her beta activity returned back to normal (green), indicating that she is more conscious, alert, and attentive. The balanced activity resulted in very few motor problems.