What Dr Joe Doesn’t Know
Has Dr Joe hit a plateau?
Why Am I Taking on Dr Joe Dispenza?
Recently, I got curious about why Dr Joe Dispenza has attracted such a devoted following. In this post, I’d like to offer you the results of that inquiry, as well as my observations about how music could really help Dr Joe acolytes to improve their results.
To do this, I’m going to offer the research about Dr Joe as provided by ChatGPT in italics and my responses in bold normal type. I’ll respond to each of the major “Dr Joe” ideas with my own observations about how music does them better.
Let’s begin.
Dr Joe’s Big USP
To acolytes, Dr Joe’s unique selling proposition is as follows:
Dr. Joe Dispenza’s teachings focus on the intersection of **neuroscience, quantum physics, epigenetics, and spirituality**, with an emphasis on **self-healing, transformation, and consciousness expansion**. His core message is that **you can rewire your brain and change your life** through focused mental effort.
That seems like a good idea, something like the “mind over matter” mindset now informed by modern research. Dr Bruce Lipton’s work in epigenetics must have been useful to Dr Joe, as well as the neuroscience and quantum physics research of so many in the field, including Cristof Koch, Daniel Levitin, and Heart Math Institute. We have so many pioneers in the meditation and mindfulness practices to acknowledge as well.
Right from the start, however, it’s important to notice how much of the scientific community has yet to get out of its collective head. The head brain, as amazing as it is, is nothing more than storage and pattern matching, and it’s wired for safety not exploration and danger.
To get to transformation, we’ve got to have reliable ways of engaging the rest of our physiology and whatever else is connected to it — some call that “consciousness” or “soul” — and reliable ways of practicing our responses to the unknown before we encounter them in real life. No responsible general would send troops Into combat without training, right? We must do that too if we expect to win the battle with our brains and transform.
Let’s get into it point by point. I’ll leave ChatGPT’s formatting alone to help make its contribution obvious.
### 1. **Thoughts Create Reality**
* Your **thoughts and emotions** influence your biology and your external reality.
* By changing your thoughts, you can change your life.
Musimorphic response: This is nothing new. I could argue about whether or not thoughts are of themselves creative, but let’s move on to the broader point: it matters what we think, probably more than any of us understand. It also matters what we feel.
The head alone is much different than “thoughts and emotions” as Heart Math Institute has shown. Music works on head, heart, body, and soul, and, when used skillfullly, the change in life is holistic, not just in the head.
### 2. **The Science of Neuroplasticity**
* The brain can rewire itself based on how you think and feel.
* Repeated thought patterns create **habitual neural pathways**, but these can be broken and replaced.
Musimorphic response: notice the “think and feel” again? Head, heart, body, and soul are all part of how we respond to music. Musicians who practice understand this concept; anyone can begin a music listening practice in the same way, and use that practice to break old habits and build new ones.
### 3. **Epigenetics: Mind Over Gene Expression**
* You are **not a victim of your genes**.
* Conscious thoughts and emotions can **turn genes on or off**, impacting health and well-being.
Musimorphic response: since there’s plenty of evidence supporting this output, let’s look at the input to the process: “conscious thoughts and emotions.” Because music works the head, heart, body, and soul all together, what other positive changes might we encounter beyond the gene expression of mental, emotional, and physical attributes? Is there a positive impact on the soft skills not yet measurable by science — skills in desperate need today? Yes.
Based on research, Dr Joe has a correct observation, but a backward process. The actual process of transformation — the process that turns genes on or off — begins and flows from the practice of elevating consciousness thoughts and emotions, and music does that much better than “thinking happy thoughts” ever will.
### 4. **Meditation for Reprogramming**
* Deep meditation is a key tool for accessing the subconscious and rewiring it.
* His meditations focus on shifting from the **analytical mind** to the **creative, intuitive, and healing mind** (alpha/theta brainwave states).
Musimorphic response: brain waves can be fascinating, but what happens when you can’t take time to meditate or entrain to the “correct” frequency? Fortunately, there are music practices that don’t demand an empty mind and a sit-still — bespoke practices that can be instantly deployed under any circumstance and for any purpose. Music gives us direct access to the subconscious, too, and instantly balances the analytical and creative, healing “mind.” That’s some powerful “rewiring,” right?
### 5. **Heart-Brain Coherence**
* Emotions like gratitude, love, and compassion **synchronize the heart and brain**, enabling healing and intuition.
* This coherence is essential for creating lasting transformation.
Musimorphic response: Dr Joe almost has it right: because music simultaneously works head, heart, body, and soul, we see, think, and experience the results of emotions — provided we name them correctly!
The “emotions” named here are actually soft skills, not actual feelings, and once music teaches us what actual emotions feel like we can choose to employ those emotions in our soft skills. First, though, we must accurately perceive emotion, and music practices do that beautifully.
### 6. **Quantum Model of Reality**
* We live in a **quantum field** of infinite possibilities.
* By focusing energy and intention, you can **attract outcomes** from the field of potential.
Musimorphic response: have you ever considered how music supports intention? Music is a vastly underutilized tool for focusing energy and intention, and it works very well, provided you know how. This is so much more than infinite playlists! For example, there’s lots of great energy in what people sometimes call “negative” emotions, and music gives us a way to release the negativity from those emotions and free up the fuel in them, which can then be used to power intention.
### 7. **Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself**
* Many people live in survival mode, repeating the same emotional and mental states.
* True change requires stepping into the **unknown** and leaving behind the familiar identity.
Musimorphic response: have you ever stepped into the unknown? It’s scary. On the other hand, you can prepare for the unknown with music practices. You can even practice the heroic or shadow journey in music, which makes the real thing much more survivable when it comes to you in real life. You won’t learn this from a gong bath, Solfeggio tone, or Rife frequency acolyte!
### 8. **The Present Moment as the Portal**
* Lasting change happens **only in the present moment**.
* Learning to fully enter and stay in the present unlocks creativity, intuition, and healing.
Musimorphic response: have you noticed how music only happens in the present moment? You haven’t? Well, we need to talk. All the grounding, breathing, meditating, and sit-still are fine…until you have to be able to move, breathe, and contemplate without sitting still. Music moves! And, paradoxically, it is always moving in the present moment. Want those great side effects? Learn and adopt a bespoke, skilled music practice!
### 9. **The Placebo Effect as Proof**
* Belief can trigger **real biological changes**—a central idea behind healing.
* He encourages people to use their own belief systems to initiate healing processes intentionally.
Musimorphic response: belief is everything, as we are seeing on the world stage these days, so it makes sense to have well-informed beliefs, doesn’t it? Ill-informed beliefs can have effects that aren’t so nice, and we don’t really need more of that. Instead, what really helps is something beyond belief — something that invites belief to surrender to an improved consciousness. Healing then becomes another intention that you have, not just some belief you hold.
For example, I’ve personally worked with military Veterans who believe any number of different modalities can relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress (Guitars for Vets was my personal favorite, although fly fishing, equine therapy, MMA, and psychedelics all seem to work just as well). The research on post-traumatic growth, however, indicates that symptom relief isn’t the invitation in trauma at all: real transformation comes from processing traumatic memory, and one of its side effects is an improved belief about the trauma itself. The Buddhist practice of tonglen is similar to the music practices we teach for trauma relief, which also work for any kind of emotion (negative or positive).
Conclusion
Dr Joe has consolidated quite a lot of previously-esoteric research into a helpful framework for transformation, but we here at Musimorphic think it goes further. For example, we want to know: why won’t degreed and accredited Music Therapists, sound healers, gong and bowl players, and mono-frequency acolytes use their tools in these ways?
Why keep people shackled to dependence on healers when people can be their own healers? That’s the one big area where Dr Joe and I agree.
We’re all hardwired for music; all it takes is a little learning and practice to begin the Musimorphic transformation you want, and I’m happy to help guide your way.
Bill Protzmann has rediscovered the fundamental nature and purpose of music and accumulated a vast awareness of anthropology and sociology, as well as the effects of music, the arts, and information technology on human beings. Bill has experimented with what he has learned through performing concerts, giving lectures, facilitating workshops, and teaching classes. He first published on the powerful extensibility of music into the business realm in 2006 (here and abstract here). Ten years later, in 2016, he consolidated his work into the Musimorphic Quest. In this guided, gamified, experiential environment, participants discover and remember their innate connection to this ancient transformative technology. The National Council for Behavioral Healthcare recognized Bill in 2014 with an Inspiring Hope award for Artistic Expression, the industry equivalent of winning an Oscar.
In addition to individuals, Musimorphic programs support personal and professional development and wellness for businesses, NPOs and at-risk populations.