55 pages • 1 hour read
Joe DispenzaA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon is a nonfiction book by Joe Dispenza. In this guide, Dispenza, a chiropractor, lecturer, and researcher, weaves philosophical and spiritual exploration with scientific studies in neuroscience, epigenetics, neurocardiology, and quantum physics to examine the mind-body connection and body’s capacity for both physical and mental healing through the power of the mind. Through his research efforts, self-help books, and spiritual retreats, Joe Dispenza provides a guide for managing pain, stress, and emotional disturbances and reaching one’s highest potential using thoughts, emotions, and intention. Joe Dispenza is a prolific figure in the field of self-help, and Becoming Supernatural has become a Wall Street Journal bestseller since its publication in 2017.
This guide refers to the 2017 paperback edition published by Hay House Inc.
Summary
Becoming Supernatural begins with an introduction that provides an overview of Joe Dispenza’s work, establishes the book’s core ideas regarding the mind-body connection, and summarizes each of the book’s 14 chapters. Dispenza also briefly addresses potential skepticism and critique from the scientific community but makes clear his intended audience: those who are open to listening and willing to embrace the possibilities he illuminates throughout the book.
In Chapter 1, Dispenza presents three stories that aim to provide a basis for what “becoming supernatural” means and what is possible when one successfully applies the outlined practices. The first concerns a woman named Anna who, after developing several health complications in the wake of a traumatic event, manages to heal herself using meditation and mindfulness practices. The last two stories are Dispenza’s own personal accounts of mystical experiences that fundamentally changed his view of reality.
Chapter 2 explains what it means to be in the present moment and how people’s unconscious patterns can condition them to live perpetually in the past. Here, Dispenza outlines principles and studies from neuroscience and epigenetics to discuss how thoughts and emotions affect the physical body and create habitual states of being. In Chapter 3, Dispenza explores the quantum field, a field of energy and information that exists beyond humans’ physical senses. Gaining access to this realm involves disconnecting from attachments in the physical world and opens up infinite possibilities.
Chapter 4 introduces a meditation practice called the Blessing of the Energy Centers. Dispenza posits that humans possess seven energy centers, all of which govern different parts of the physical body, and that these centers can be programmed for health and optimal functioning. In Chapter 5, Dispenza presents a breath practice that precedes many of his meditations; building on his exploration of energy centers, this breath is believed to move stuck energy from the lower energy centers so it can be moved to the brain and transmuted for a higher purpose. Chapter 6 presents a group of case studies involving common people who used Dispenza’s meditation and mindfulness practices to induce radical change and healing in their physical bodies.
In Chapter 7, Joe Dispenza explores the concept of heart coherence—the idea that when the heart beats in a steady, regular fashion, it promotes greater health and harmony within the body. He explores the heart’s function, its interactions with the brain and other bodily processes, and how to access the heart’s inner wisdom and intuition. Chapter 8 introduces another practical tool for mindfulness and manifestation: a presentation called a Mind Movie, the purpose of which is to help an individual program their subconscious mind into their desired future. Chapter 9 shares another meditation practice called walking meditation. It is intended to help the reader sustain the elevated emotions from their seated meditations and physically carry them throughout the rest of their day, programming themselves to embody that positive energy. In Chapter 10, Dispenza shares another group of case studies in which people used these practices—the Mind Movie and walking meditation—to successfully manifest abundance, physical healing, and spiritual transformation.
Chapter 11 goes into further depth about the quantum realm and explores two different models of reality: space-time, or the physical, linear realm of Newtonian physics; and time-space, or the nonphysical, nonlinear realm of quantum physics. In Chapter 12, Dispenza explores the function of the pineal gland, an endocrine gland located in the middle of the brain that produces melatonin. When activated, Dispenza explains, the pineal gland transmutes melatonin into powerful neurotransmitters that can induce profound, mystical experiences.
Chapter 13 expands the principles explored thus far from the individual level to the collective level to show how meditation and mindfulness practices can foster an evolution of the global consciousness. Dispenza discusses a global meditation event called Project Coherence to share how the energy and intention that people emit can have wide-ranging effects and be felt by others. In Chapter 14, Dispenza presents the last group of case studies, which demonstrate the profound spiritual and mystical experiences that are possible with the practices outlined in Becoming Supernatural. Finally, Dispenza ends his book with an afterword that explores the importance of embodying peace and mindfulness and the potential it has to elevate the collective consciousness and unify communities across the globe.
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