I just attended my first meditation retreat. It actually was an advanced, week-long retreat and while I’m not sure I’m advanced, I was up for the challenge.

I began meditating in 2019, mostly to relax and help me fall asleep. In 2022, a friend shared a Joe Dispenza podcast, where he talked about healing his back, broken in six vertebrae, by thought alone. I proceeded to buy three of his books—Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, You Are the Placebo, and Becoming Supernatural.

I started utilizing his strategies. I made a mind movie. One month later, my goal of buying a home in the mountains manifested! Now, it looked nothing like the homes in my movie, but I was impressed by the process and how meditation and thoughtfulness had dropped the price on this house and made us the owners even with multiple offers.

But Joe’s meditation style didn’t resonate with me. I wasn’t a fan of his audio recordings, so I meditated on my own. My meditations became long and complex, lasting up to two hours without any guidance. I created them based on all the books I was reading about the Field, frequency, and energy. I was enjoying them, as well as learning about the Quantum Field. I decided the next stage of my meditation evolution would involve a retreat.

1700 participants from 64 countries at this retreat.

So I signed up for Unseen Architecture—a week long advanced Joe Dispenza retreat at the Gaylord Rockies near Denver. It was a pretty considerable investment. My goals were to understand meditation better, have deeper experiences with the Field, and improve the headaches I’ve had for over 20 years.

The retreat was a combination of various types of meditation, lectures on meditation and the Quantum Field, and research presentations by scientists. Most days, we meditated three times for 90-minutes each. One day, we started at 4:00am, but more often started at 6:00am. The day ended at 8:00pm. It was a grueling schedule designed to keep you sleep deprived to assist with the meditation and suggestibility, and to give you as much content as possible in one week.

Circadian friendly lighting on the day of the 4:00am meditation. We want to preserve the melatonin the pineal gland makes in the absence of blue light because that is the building block of many of the metabolites that support meditation on a physiological level.

The execution of the retreat was impressive. The Gaylord was a fantastic location, with beautiful views and plenty of outdoor space. The atmosphere in the main room was electric, supported by amazing photography, videography, lighting, and music. The audiovisual team was outstanding and the staff and volunteers super organized. They ran 1700 people through all the activities seamlessly.

The participants were hands down the nicest and most interesting people I have ever met at a conference/workshop/retreat. They came from 64 different countries. It was wonderful to be in their presence and I made some meaningful friendships.

Joe Dispenza is a force! He’s in his 60s, has taught 67 of these week long retreats plus plenty of other retreats and trainings, he thinks 14-16 hour retreat days are totally doable, he doesn’t mind leading a 5-hour meditation that starts at 4:00am, his voice is strong, his delivery of content passionate and entertaining, and his energy is impressive. If nothing else, I believe everything he says about energy because he seems to have a supernatural amount. I want whatever he’s having.

The eyemask helps eliminate visual input so you can better ignore your body and surroundings. Laying on the ground helps with integrating the meditation experience.

He not only talks about the neuroscience of the brain, how meditation works, and details about the Quantum Field, he also funds and engages in scientific studies to determine what happens to participants at these week long retreats. In fact, he and the scientists he collaborates with have data on 10,000 subjects, have already published several studies in reputable journals (example), and have more research about to be published. As a scientist by training myself, I really loved how he brought science and research to such a spiritual and tricky subject. I believe a huge reason for his popularity is not just a magnetic personality, but the research and results behind the way he teaches meditation.

This work is not easy. It’s about catching your subconscious beliefs and emotions and trying to reprogram them. It’s about understanding quantum physics. It’s about dissolving your ego, understanding of yourself and your physical body. It’s about connecting with The Field or the Source. It’s about healing for yourself and those around you.

I had incredible ah-ha moments at this retreat. I connected with The Field like I never have before. I am more motivated than ever to deepen my meditation practice. I am deeply grateful for the experience and all I learned.

Now Joe’s teaching style didn’t fully resonate with me. There wasn’t a single audience question, and I love learning from my peers and seeing what they understand and don’t. I think the best teachers can answer unexpected questions on the spot well. It is also a perk of attending a presentation live rather than just watching a recording. I missed that.

Joe refers to The Field/Source/Universal Intelligence as the Unknown. He advises participants at the retreat to become no body, no where, in no time. This was challenging for me. Ultimately when I felt very connected to the Field, it presented to me in a different quality than unknown or space or nothing. First of all, it felt like it moved. There was a rhythmic quality, like a pulsing or breathing, and it inspired me to want to move and sway at times rather than hold perfectly still. Second, it felt nurturing. It reminded me of a mother. It felt safe and perfectly peaceful. Once I allowed myself to feel The Field this way, it was so much easier for me to connect with it and experience it.

Furthermore, Joe doesn’t connect his work to history or to the other figures that came before him. The heart coherency he teaches is not unique to the Dispenza method; the HeartMath institute has been teaching and researching it for over three decades (and I’m certified in it and teach it myself). A good chunk of what he presented isn’t unique information, and many people teach similar concepts about meditation and the Field. He repeatedly references it as “my work” or “my teachings,” but if it’s from the Field, it belongs to all of us. He doesn’t want anyone teaching “his work” without expensive credentialing and annual licensing fees. That feels like exactly how you’d expect people in this 3D reality to behave. I’ve already spent more than a decade in a Pilates world filled with possession, polarity, and judgement. Classical vs Contemporary Pilates, us vs them, what Joseph Pilates did vs whatever the heck you just made up and posted on social media. But The Field is whole, one, love—and the vibe I got from Joe Dispenza and his team at Encephalon was strangely at odds with what we’re trying to connect to and become. This is my personal opinion.

Trying to keep my energy and focus up when sleeping only 4-6 hours most nights.

Would I do it again? I’m not sure yet. I need to integrate what I’ve learned, practice and evolve. And then I’ll see if I feel there is more I can learn and experience from another retreat. The long days and lack of sleep were intense for me and I’m not sure it was absolutely necessary for my growth. And as a teacher of a variety of modalities, including HeartMath and meditation, I want to learn things I can easily share with others. I want to spread strategies that work, not hold them only for myself.

Was I glad I did it? You betcha. I learned so much, I deepened my meditation experiences, I showed myself that I could handle a lot (a 5-hour meditation!), I met some amazing people, I was inspired by fellow participants. Being part of a meditation designed to heal others was really profound for me.

What did I take away? That I need to commit to my meditations daily and always try to connect to The Field in them. That once there, I can tap into new possibilities and attract them to myself with a magnetic heart.

UPDATE: It has been 5 weeks since I completed the retreat. While it didn’t resolve my headaches, I do feel that I’m on the right path. A lot is shifting in my body and mind, and I continue to meditate daily more deeply than ever before.

See a YouTube Short of my experience at the retreat.

My Experience with a Joe Dispenza Meditation Retreat

Why Pilates is the Best

Raise Your Frequency