No one likes to hear, “It’s all in your mind.” But, what if we have the “biological and neurological machinery” to make ourselves better?
You Are the Placebo, by Dr. Joe Dispenza, isn’t about positive thinking or the law of attraction. It’s also definitely not about patient blaming.
What it’s about is looking at the scientific evidence and exploring the possibility of taking the placebo effect a step further. As Dr. Dispenza asks, What if, instead of believing in a fake pill or treatment to experience a real health benefit, we believed in ourselves?
The book is divided into two parts. Part I (Information) takes you through the science you need to understand the placebo effect and how it works via the mind-body connection to create real, measurable physical changes. I thought I might find this information dense, especially for summer reading. Instead, Dr. Dispenza’s gift for explaining complicated concepts made the material interesting and easily understandable.
I was also fascinated by the numerous case studies evidencing the placebo and nocebo effects (when a fake medication or treatment creates negative effects.) Dr. Dispenza relates numerous stories of serious illness and even death resulting from belief in voodoo curses, hexes and misdiagnosis of fatal diseases. Men in their 70’s and 80’s, who spent five days pretending they were 22 years younger, put down their canes, danced and played football. They even showed measurable, physical improvements, such better eyesight, hearing, and memory, and increased height and finger lengthening as arthritis diminished.
In fact, it was Dr. Dispenza’s own story that brought him to this work. After an horrific accident in which he was run over by an SUV, Dr. Dispenza was advised to have surgery (resulting in disability and lifelong pain) or risk paralysis. He chose to forgo surgery and instead accomplished full recovery through the power of his mind.
Part II (Transformation) sets forth the meditation techniques Dr. Dispenza used to heal himself. The first chapter sets forth simple preparation steps and techniques, while the second chapter takes the reader through guided meditations.
You Are the Placebo is the ultimate guidebook to the human experience and how we choose to perceive it. Reading this book convinced me that I can refocus my thoughts, emotions and beliefs to create a new reality. As Dr. Dispenza says, “the ultimate belief is the belief in yourself and in the field of infinite possibilities … And when wholeness, self-satisfaction, and self-love truly come from within, because you’ve ventured beyond what you believed was possible and you overcame your own self-imposed limitations, that’s when the uncommon occurs.”
Don’t miss reading this book. If you’re willing to open your mind and do the work, it has the ability to change your life.
Survival > Existence,
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.
Where We Go Now 