Book: You Are the Placebo – Dr. Joe Dispenza

For most of my life, I carried an invisible assumption:

The body is a fixed, mechanical machine.
Mindset helps a bit, but “real change” comes from outside.

You Are the Placebo challenged that at the deepest level.
Not with vague motivation, but with a very direct message:

Your beliefs, emotions, thoughts, and expectations are not shadows in the background.
They can literally change your biology.

This post is my reflection on how this book shifted the way I relate to my body, my health, and my inner world – and how I started to treat my mind as medicine and my inner state as a prescription.

The core idea: belief as a biological signal

Dr. Joe’s central argument is bold:

The placebo effect is not a trick.
It is proof of how powerful the mind–body connection truly is.

When someone takes a “fake” pill but truly believes it will help:

  • Their brain releases real chemicals
  • Their body produces real physiological changes
  • Their symptoms often improve or disappear

So the question becomes:

If belief plus expectation can do that “by accident,”
what happens if I use them on purpose?

That’s where this book stopped being philosophy and started becoming a manual for me.

Meeting my old health story

Reading the book made me face certain inner narratives I didn’t even know I was running:

  • “This is just how my body is.”
  • “This symptom means I’m stuck with this condition.”
  • “My energy always crashes like this; it’s normal for me.”

Underneath those sentences was something deeper:

  • A belief that my biology was stronger than my consciousness
  • A quiet resignation that certain things would always be this way

Dr. Joe’s work didn’t ask me to deny reality.
It asked me to question finality.

Instead of “this is just how it is,” the new question became:

“What if this is how it has been,
but not how it has to stay?”

Thought + emotion = a chemical instruction

One of the key patterns in the book is this:

  • A thought sends a signal to the brain
  • The brain releases chemicals that match that thought
  • Those chemicals create an emotion in the body
  • That emotion feeds back into more of the same kind of thoughts

Over time:

  • Repeated thoughts → repeated emotions
  • Repeated emotions → a memorised state of being
  • That memorised state becomes the “baseline” chemistry of the body

If that baseline is built on stress, fear, anger, or hopelessness,
the body is constantly bathing in stress chemistry.

When I saw this, I had to ask myself:

  • “What emotional state do I rehearse the most?”
  • “Is that really the chemistry I want my cells living in every day?”

The body keeps score of the stories we repeat.

Becoming my own placebo: not magic, but practice

“Becoming my own placebo” did not mean:

  • Ignoring symptoms
  • Pretending everything is fine
  • Refusing support from proper medical care

It meant:

  • Recognising that my inner state is part of the treatment
  • Using meditation, intention, and emotion to send new instructions to my body
  • Choosing to become an active participant in my healing, not just a passive recipient

In practical terms, this became a daily training of my nervous system.

How I practice “placebo on purpose” in daily life

1. Rehearsing a new identity of health

Dr. Joe talks a lot about rehearsing the future self in the present.

So I started asking:

  • “If I already had the level of health, energy, and balance I desire,
    how would I think? How would I feel? How would I move?”

In my meditation/quiet time, I:

  • Imagine myself living with that new body and energy
  • Feel the gratitude, lightness, and freedom as if it were already real
  • Stay with that emotional state long enough for my body to register it

The goal is to teach my nervous system:

“This is the new normal. This is home now.”

Not as fantasy, but as a signal.

2. Interrupting old emotional chemistry

During the day, when old patterns show up – stress, fear, tension – I:

  • Notice them as chemical signatures, not just “reality”
  • Pause and breathe
  • Consciously choose a different emotional response, even if subtle: calm, trust, curiosity

I don’t always succeed.
But every time I break the old loop, even slightly, I send a different set of signals to my body.

3. Pairing belief with behaviour

Belief is not a replacement for intelligent action.
It is a multiplier.

So alongside inner work, I also:

  • Make healthier physical choices
  • Respect rest and recovery
  • Move and breathe in ways that support my nervous system

The message to my body becomes consistent:

“You are supported by my thoughts, my emotions, and my actions.”

How I take notes from You Are the Placebo

I treat this book as a mind–body operations guide.

1. Core laws in simple language

I reduce the key ideas to phrases like:

  • “The body is always listening to the mind.”
  • “Long-term emotional states become long-term chemistry.”
  • “Rehearsed future = new signal to cells.”
  • “Belief + elevated emotion = instruction to the subconscious and body.”

These become anchors I come back to when I slip into old thinking.

2. Mapping my emotional “set points”

I ask myself:

  • “What emotional states do I live in most often?”
    • Anxiety?
    • Frustration?
    • Calm?
    • Gratitude?

I write them down honestly.
Then I ask:

  • “If my cells are marinating in this every day, what are they learning?”

This takes the conversation out of abstraction and into my actual lived chemistry.

3. Designing new emotional practices

For each old set point, I choose a new one to rehearse:

  • From anxiety → to grounded trust
  • From frustration → to patient clarity
  • From hopelessness → to possibility and gratitude

I then link these to practices:

  • Morning meditation: rehearsing the future self
  • Short breaks during the day: shifting out of stress and into calm/gratitude
  • Evening reflection: noting when I successfully changed my emotional state

This is how belief stops being a concept and becomes a daily training.

What has shifted in my inner and physical world

Since applying these ideas (imperfectly, but persistently), I’ve noticed:

  • A more collaborative relationship with my body
    I listen earlier, respond sooner, and don’t immediately label it as “broken.”
  • Less panic when symptoms or discomfort appear
    Instead of spiralling, I ask:
    • “What is my body trying to tell me?”
    • “What state have I been living in?”
    • “How can I support this with both action and belief?”
  • A deeper trust that change is possible
    Not from denial, but from seeing how often the mind and body mirror each other.
  • More moments of genuine coherence
    When my thoughts, emotions, breath, and body feel aligned in the same direction.

I don’t claim this book turned me into some invincible being.
But it absolutely changed the role I play in my own health and energy story.

Why this belongs on my Growth page

This page is part of my Growth ecosystem because You Are the Placebo goes to the heart of what I believe about change:

  • We are not just reacting to life;
    we are broadcasting, instructing, and shaping it from within.
  • The body is not just a victim of random events;
    it is constantly responding to the stories and emotions we sustain.

“Programming my biology with belief” is not about rejecting science.
It is about expanding it to include consciousness as a key variable.

If you’re reading this on my Growth site, here’s a simple starting point you can experiment with:

Next time you notice an old fear, stress response, or physical tension,
pause and ask:
“What am I telling my body right now?
And what new message am I willing to send instead – in thought, in feeling, in breath, and in action?”

That’s where you begin, gently, to become your own medicine.