Evolve Your Brain (2007)

Directed by: Carlo Ledesma | 120 minutes | documentary

“In this infinite sea of ​​potentials that exist around us, how come we keep recreating the same realities?” this quote appears in the intro of ‘Evolve Your Brain’, accompanied by a popular music. The introduction looks like it wants to be ‘slick’, but it’s just not. The layout of the intro causes a small gap with the actual start of Dr. Joe Dispenza’s seminar. The images of the lecture struggle to overcome the level of amateurism. Fortunately, this isn’t so cringe-inducing that it steals your attention from the speaker – an American doctor who has been studying the human mind for years. The subject is interesting enough, because our minds still appeal to the imagination. Dispenza knows how to play his audience at the start of his seminar. He begins the lecture with a light-hearted introduction. Dispenza compares a man’s brain to a woman’s. The doctor states that the man acts deliberately and the woman does not act linearly. Dispenza takes Christmas shopping as an example. The man returns with one gift from the wish list and then goes ‘hunting’ again as Dispenza calls it. On the other hand, the woman does go through the entire wish list and usually gets even more. She thinks ahead and, for example, also packs things that will come in handy for the upcoming summer holidays.

Dispenza calls the brain a reflection of your environment. “The environment guides our thinking,” said the doctor. He also points out that, according to neuroscientists, at 35 everything is fixed about your personality. In short, it is difficult to reprogram yourself after this age, but who does not dare… Dispenza also uses the film ‘What the Bleep Do We Know’ as a bridge for his argument that our view of reality is determined by our feelings. He substantiates this argument by talking about an experiment between depressed and happy people. Both groups were shown an equal number of photos from a wedding and a funeral. Afterwards, the subjects were asked about their experience. The depressed people said they had seen more photos of the funeral, while the happy people stated that the wedding photos were in the majority. The Dispenza seminar has no breaks. Yet the American knows how to keep the focus on the lesson by using visual words for the functioning of our brains. A quote like “The frontal lobe of the brain acts like a volume knob” is a good example of this. According to Dispenza, she researched spontaneous healings of various people in various countries. The doctor wanted to know what the similarities were between these people. All of them appeared to have changed their way of thinking.

He then goes deeper into the matter of the power of our thinking and asks the question whether it is possible that we can turn our genes on or off. He tells about a group of diabetic patients of type II, who were divided into two groups. The first group visited after having a hearty meal to a funny lecture. The second batch had to watch comedy programs for an hour after dinner. The blood sugar level of both groups was measured and what was the result? The subjects who had watched the comedy series were only slightly above the allowable amount. The score of the diabetics who had listened to a funny lecture was higher, but there was also a significant difference between them. For Dispenza it is a good example that stress is closely linked to illness. According to him, stress causes many nasty ailments.

Dispenza is an easy talker and knows how to keep the two-hour lecture interesting through the accessible examples he gives. You can imagine something that prevents it from becoming an elusive theory. ‘Evolve Your Brain’ is inspiring, but Dispenza does not provide real clear handles to get started. The doctor is only making it clear that your thoughts have a lot of influence on your health and mood. For example, it would have been of added value if Dispenza’s workshop had also been included on the DVD. If only by means of text in the picture with point by point tips from Dispenza to apply it in your daily life. Probably the lack of such a thing will have to do with the fact that the doctor travels around to give these specific workshops and doesn’t want to give up his knowledge so easily.

In addition to inspiration, ‘Evolve Your Brain’ offers enough entertaining information, the examples of experiments and his practical experiences provide enough food for those who are curious about this matter. It is therefore a shame that Dispenza argues and argues everything verbally. His lecture may be more powerful for the unbelieving Thomas among us who argues ‘first see, then believe’. For example, Dispenza could use visual material to support his story. Such as photos of the therapy in which people are helped to use their paralyzed arm again. Or, for example, MRI scans of the brains of a grateful person and one of a depressed person, so that you can see a clear difference. Now as a listener you just have to take it all blindly from him. The lack of visual support, practical tips and the rather amateur-looking camera work ensure that the documentary ‘Evolve Your Brain’ is not as good as it could have been.