In the previous article we saw how between the ages of zero and seven, when the brain vibrates predominantly in delta and theta waves, the programs that later run much of our adult life are installed in the subconscious.
Deep-seated beliefs about oneself. Relationship patterns. Automatic responses of the nervous system. Emotional associations with key concepts such as money, work, love, body, and authority.
All of that was recorded without critical filtering, because the young child's brain did not yet have the mature prefrontal cortex that allows for questioning and discernment.
The inevitable question is: can that be rewritten in adulthood?
The answer, according to Dr. Joe Dispenza, a chiropractor trained at Life University in Atlanta and author of works such as You Are the Placebo, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, and Becoming Supernatural, is yes. But not from the beta consciousness of everyday analytical thinking. To rewrite a program installed on slow waves, you have to return to slow waves.
This article explains how. And it clearly distinguishes what is established science and what is an interpretive proposal.
From the age of seven: entry into alpha and beta
When the cerebral cortex matures enough to generate dominant alpha oscillations, around 7 to 8 years of age, something fundamentally changes.
Consciousness emerges as adults understand it. The ability to reflect on one's own thoughts begins to develop. Formal logical thought starts to emerge. The capacity to question perceptions develops. The distinction between fantasy and reality becomes clearer.
From then on, the brain learns to spend much of its time in beta, especially during cognitive activities like school, work, conversation, and task execution. Beta is the executive mode: analysis, planning, and decision-making.
But beta comes at a price. It's energetically costly. It dysregulates the autonomic nervous system if it's maintained for too long without breaks. And most importantly, beta doesn't have direct access to the subconscious.
Why analytical thinking is not enough
Here is the central problem that Dr. Dispenza articulates clearly.
Software installed on theta during infancy can only be partially rewritten from beta.
You can perfectly understand your patterns from an adult analytical perspective and still continue to act on them. You can know that your self-criticism is excessive and still criticize yourself. You can precisely identify why you repeat the same dysfunctional partner choice and choose the same type of person again. You can intellectually understand why money causes you anxiety and still feel exactly the same anxiety when you look at your bank account.
Knowing is not enough.
And this is something many experienced therapists recognize from their practice: conscious understanding of a pattern is a necessary but insufficient step. The program remains, at a level that beta thinking cannot fully access.
That's why traditional talk therapy, intellectual analysis, and cognitive work with our beliefs, while useful, have clear limitations. They work best when combined with interventions that access the deeper layers of the system.
Gamma: what appears in deep meditation
Before getting into Dr. Dispenza's specific proposal, it is worth mentioning gamma.
Gamma waves, the fastest in the spectrum, appear noticeably during deep meditation, especially in advanced practitioners of contemplative traditions.
Dr. Richard Davidson and colleagues, in collaboration with the Dalai Lama, have documented that Tibetan monks with over ten thousand hours of contemplative practice generate gamma waves of exceptional amplitude during meditation, especially during states of sustained compassion. These measurements have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as PNAS.
Gamma is associated with the integration of information throughout the cerebral cortex, with states of hyperconsciousness, with experiences described as unity, expanded presence, exceptional clarity.
This is not science fiction. It is measured electrophysiology.
This is important because the deep meditation that generates gamma waves also produces, in specific phases, states where the brain oscillates between theta and low alpha waves, with a loss of habitual self-reference. It is precisely this territory that Dr. Dispenza proposes to use therapeutically.
Dr. Joe Dispenza's proposal: theta-delta plus heightened emotion
After a serious accident and his exceptional recovery without conventional surgery, Dr. Dispenza dedicated himself to researching the techniques that allowed him and others to transform seemingly fixed physical and psychological conditions. His synthesis, developed across several books published between 2007 and 2017, proposes a specific technique for accessing the subconscious and rewriting programs installed in childhood.
The technique, simplified, consists of two simultaneous conditions.
First condition: to bring consciousness into slow-wave states, between theta and low delta. This is achieved through sustained, typically prolonged, meditation with specific breathing techniques, relaxed yet alert postures, and inward-focused attention. In these states, the self-criticism of beta is deactivated. The filter between conscious and subconscious becomes permeable. In neurophysiological terms, this is the same range where the young child lived by default.
Second condition: to simultaneously sustain a heightened emotion, from the renewing spectrum. Gratitude. Appreciation. Love. Joy. Compassion. Not as an abstract thought, but as a feeling embodied in the chest, in the belly, in the whole body.
The combination of the two, according to Dr. Dispenza, allows access to the state where subconscious programs can be rewritten, sustaining an intention or vision from that state, and allowing it to be installed with the same intensity as the original programs were installed in childhood.
A state of deep learning comparable to that of the first seven years, but now with the difference that you choose what to record.
What is science and what is interpretation in Dr. Dispenza's proposal
This proposal deserves to be examined with the same epistemological honesty as that of Dr. Lipton.
The part with a solid scientific basis: theta states are accessible in deep meditation—that's documented. The prefrontal cortex reduces its critical activity in those states, too. Sustained emotion changes brain chemistry and neural activation patterns—that's widely documented. The combination of a receptive state plus sustained emotion produces measurable changes in the autonomic nervous system, the endocrine system, and probably gene expression.
The most interpretive aspect: the specific claim that this combination allows for reprogramming the subconscious mind with the same effectiveness as childhood has not been experimentally demonstrated in rigorous clinical trials. There are studies and data from Dr. Dispenza and his team documenting significant improvements in participants of their retreats, including hormonal changes, improvements in heart rate variability, and remissions of clinical symptoms. Some of this data is published in complementary medicine journals. It is not in top-tier biomedical journals, which limits its weight within the mainstream scientific community.
The most ambitious claim, that from that state one can literally create reality or converse with the universe to manifest what one desires, enters the realm of metaphysics. It may be true on a symbolic or interpretive level. It is not a scientific claim in the strict sense.
That said, what can be honestly stated is that the technique combines elements with a real neuroscientific basis, and that in practice it produces significant subjective and objective transformations in those who practice it consistently.
It is also worth noting that Dr. Dispenza, while not a research neuroscientist in the strict academic sense, has consistently studied neuroscience, neuroplasticity, epigenetics, and quantum physics, and collaborates with researchers on measurements during his retreats. His authority is experiential and based on popularization, not primary knowledge. But what he shares is not mere speculation.
What this means for practice
If you integrate the solid elements of what this line of thinking proposes, the implications are considerable.
First. The programs that govern much of your adult life were installed before you were able to filter them. They are not yours in a selective sense. They are downloads from the environment in which you grew up, internalized without critical consent because you lacked the neurological capacity to give it.
Second. Conscious analytical thinking (beta) can identify these programs, but it has limited access to rewrite them. That's why you can know your self-criticism is excessive and still continue to criticize yourself. Knowing isn't enough. The program is on another level.
Third. Accessing the deep layers where these programs reside requires consciously entering the brain states that dominated childhood. Theta. Low Alpha. Accessible Delta. That's what deep meditation, clinical hypnosis, certain forms of somatic work, active imagination, some trauma work processes, and altered states of consciousness in controlled therapeutic contexts do.
Fourth. Simply being there isn't enough. Emotional direction is also needed. A sustained, renewing emotion signals to the system that this new information is valuable and should be integrated. The combination of a receptive state and heightened emotion is what facilitates rewriting.
Fifth. This isn't quick or easy. It's not done in one session. It takes sustained practice. Months, years. Programs installed over seven years aren't undone in a week. But they can be undone. The neuroplasticity of the adult brain is less than that of a young child, but it's real and considerable.
A basic practice inspired by this framework
For anyone who wants to start working in this direction, there is a simple practice that integrates the core principles.
Morning session, before the brain fully enters beta.
Sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly for five to ten minutes, inhaling for five seconds, exhaling for five, without forcing it. This reduces sympathetic activity and facilitates the transition from beta to alpha.
Allow your breathing to slow down even more, to deepen. Notice your body settling. Your mind quieting down. You enter a state of awake yet relaxed awareness. Alpha state dominant. If you maintain this state long enough without falling asleep, with practice you will reach theta state.
From there, bring a specific, renewing emotion into your body. Gratitude for something real and specific. Appreciation for someone. Don't think about the emotion. Feel it in your chest, in your body, as if it were already happening.
Maintain this combined state for twenty to thirty minutes. If an intrusive thought arises, gently return to the breath and the sensation.
Before we finish, take a few minutes to focus on a specific vision of what you want to cultivate. A way of being, of feeling, of relating, of responding to the world. Not as a distant future desire, but as a reality felt in your body now.
Upon opening your eyes, try to maintain some of that state during the first few minutes of activity. Without forcing anything. Just notice if anything is happening.
Repeat every day. Without obsessing over immediate results. The changes accumulate in subtle layers over weeks and months, and at some point, they become noticeable as a clear transformation in the system.
One last thing
There is a beauty in understanding this.
You are not defined solely by what happened to you as a child. You are not condemned to indefinitely run the programs that were installed when you had no choice.
You were born with a brain that for seven years vibrated at frequencies that made it receptive to everything that came its way. That same brain, now an adult, can deliberately return to those frequencies, in a chosen context, with a clear intention and a sustained emotion.
The difference is that now you choose what to record.
What you need is practice, patience, and the right states of mind. Consistent deep meditation. Working with the autonomic nervous system. Breathing. Intention. Cultivated emotion. Time.
And the quiet conviction that what was established on those slow waves decades ago can be rewritten on those same slow waves today.
Your brain is not a closed file. It's an instrument that continues to be fine-tuned as long as you live.
And you are the one who can touch it.
Sources and references
Meditation, neuroscience and altered states of consciousness (peer-reviewed):
Cahn, B. R., & Polich, J. (2006). Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies. Psychological Bulletin.
Davidson, R.J., & Lutz, A. (2008). Buddha's brain: Neuroplasticity and meditation. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.
Lutz, A., Greischar, L.L., Rawlings, N.B., Ricard, M., & Davidson, R.J. (2004). Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Tang, Y.Y., Hölzel, B.K., & Posner, M.I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Adult neuroplasticity:
Doidge, N. (2007). The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. New York: Viking Penguin.
Pascual-Leone, A., Amedi, A., Fregni, F., & Merabet, LB (2005). The plastic human brain cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience.
Proposal by Dr. Joe Dispenza (disclosure):
Dispenza, J. (2007). Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications.
Dispenza, J. (2012). Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.
Dispenza, J. (2014). You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.
Dispenza, J. (2017). Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.
Studies conducted by Dr. Dispenza's team (outside the biomedical mainstream):
Church, D., Yang, A., Fannin, J., & Blickheuser, K. (2020). The biological dimensions of transcendent states: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Energy Psychology.
Bhasin, MK, Denninger, JW, Huffman, JC, et al. (2018). Specific transcriptome changes associated with blood pressure reduction in hypertensive patients after relaxation response training. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.