You’ve seen the Mindvalley ads. They’re slick, they’re everywhere, and they promise the world. So, I’ve tried a lot of self-improvement stuff, from audiobooks to weird weekend workshops. My curiosity eventually led me to Mindvalley.
But I wasn’t after another productivity hack. I wanted to check out the stranger stuff. You know, the courses that talk about hypnosis, manifesting, and talking to your own “energy” to tell the truth about Mindvalley. Does any of that do anything, or is it just clever marketing? I decided to put my own money down and find out. Here’s the straight-up, no-sugar-coating breakdown of what I found.
Duality by Jeffrey Allen: Are We Really Talking to Energy Fields?
First on the list is a course called “Duality.” The teacher, Jeffrey Allen, is an “energy healer.” What does that even mean? The course promises to teach you how to clear your energy, crank up your intuition, and possibly even communicate with your spirit guides. It sounds pretty far out there, doesn’t it?
So, What Do You Actually Do in Duality?
For eight weeks, Jeffrey has you doing these little exercises every day. It starts simple. You try to become aware of your own energy. Then things get even weirder, with discussions of chakras and the ability to heal others from a distance. A typical exercise? You might sit there and visualize your personal space, then imagine yourself “scrubbing” it clean of bad vibes.
The whole point is to get you to believe you have two selves—a physical one and an “energy” one. The course wants you to use that energy to fix things in your real life. Jeffrey Allen himself is surprisingly down-to-earth for a guy who talks about other dimensions, which I guess helps sell it.
Is There Any Science Behind This Stuff?
Okay, let’s cut to the chase. Is any of this real? Mainstream science says… probably not. You won’t find any credible studies backing up the existence of “human energy fields” or “chakras.” A big review of studies on “distant healing” back in 2008 basically found nothing to support it.
Then why do some people swear by this course? A couple of things are going on. First, you’ve got the good old placebo effect. If you truly believe something is going to help you, your brain can make you feel better. The other, bigger piece is meditation. All those “energy exercises” are really just forms of focused meditation. We already know meditation is legit for calming you down. There are mountains of studies. One even showed it can work just as well as anxiety pills for some people. So, you’re chilling out, focusing your mind—of course you’re going to feel better, whether you’re cleansing your aura or just breathing deeply.
What’s the Word on the Street?
People are split on this one. You’ve got one group of students who claim Duality was a life-changer. They talk about feeling more connected, less stressed, and having all these weirdly accurate gut feelings. Then you’ve got the other camp, mostly on places like Reddit, calling it a bunch of nonsense. They tried it, felt nothing, and said the exercises were just glorified daydreams. The general sentiment among skeptics is that any beneficial effects come from meditation, not the magic.
Tip for Duality: If you’re going to try this, approach it with an open mind, but don’t leave your critical thinking at the door. If you’re a naturally introspective person, you might enjoy it. Just focus on how you feel—are you less stressed? more creative?—and don’t worry so much about whether you’re talking to spirits.
Rapid Transformational Hypnotherapy for Abundance with Marisa Peer
This one was right up my alley. As a hypnotist, I was really curious to see Marisa Peer’s take on using hypnosis to make you “abundant.” Her course promises to dig into your brain and rewire it to attract more money, better relationships, and good health. Marisa Peer is a well-known figure, and her method, Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), has established its own distinct empire.
What’s the Actual Program?
It’s a 35-day thing. The whole idea is to find the crappy, limiting beliefs you have buried in your subconscious. You know, the stuff you picked up as a kid, like “rich people are greedy” or “I’m not good enough to be loved.” Peer says those old ideas are what’s holding you back.
Each week, you watch some videos where she explains the concepts. Then you listen to her hypnosis recordings. The goal is to get your brain into an open, suggestible state so you can plant new, more positive thoughts. Her style is super direct, lots of repetition. She’s big on the idea that you can make huge changes, fast.
The Science: Hypnosis vs. RTT
Look, hypnosis is a real tool. I use it with my clients. Serious medical groups recognize it and has been shown to work for pain, anxiety, and kicking bad habits. Stanford researchers even did a study showing hypnosis changes how your brain works. It’s not magic; it’s just a state of intense focus.
Now, RTT is Marisa Peer’s specific recipe. It mixes hypnosis with bits of other therapies. The fact is, RTT itself hasn’t been thoroughly examined by independent scientists. Most of the “proof” you see comes from her own company. That doesn’t mean it’s bogus, just that it’s not scientifically proven like, say, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is. The ideas behind it are solid, though. Your subconscious beliefs absolutely run the show. This course is just a very structured way to do some deep self-talk.
What Are People Saying?
Of course, the official reviews are glowing. It’s all stories of people quitting their jobs to become artists and finding their soulmate after one session. However, if you dig deeper on Reddit, you get a more balanced view. Some people love it. They say it helped them resolve issues they’d for decades. Others think it’s a bit overhyped. They feel like a single, pre-recorded audio can’t possibly fix everyone’s unique problems. A common complaint is that you feel amazing right after a session, but the feeling wears off if you don’t keep doing it.
Tip for RTT: If you do this, you have to be consistent. Listening to the audio once won’t change your life. You have to hammer it in. The whole point is to make the new thoughts feel more normal to your brain than the old ones.
The Art of Manifesting by Regan Hillyer
Ah, manifesting. We’ve all heard of “The Secret,” right? This is Mindvalley’s version. Regan Hillyer’s 27-day course is supposed to be the ultimate guide to getting what you want out of life by just… thinking about it? It’s a little more involved than that, but that’s the gist.
What Are You Doing for 27 Days?
Every day, Regan gives you a little task. It’s usually some mix of journaling, visualizing what you want, and doing these “energetic activations.” One day you might write out your goals in insane detail. The next, you might do a meditation to “dissolve” your fears about becoming successful. A big part of it is trying to feel the emotions you would have if you already had the thing you want.
The Psychology Behind Wanting Something Really Badly
Let’s be real. The “Law of Attraction” is not a law of physics. The universe isn’t Amazon Prime for your thoughts. But there are real psychological reasons why this can feel like it works.
First, your brain has a built-in spam filter called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS. When you tell yourself you want a red car, this filter starts letting all the red cars through. Suddenly, you see them everywhere. The opportunities were always there; you just weren’t noticing them. This course prompts you to obsess over your goals, so your brain begins to spot things that can help you achieve them.
Second, it builds your self-efficacy, which is just a fancy term for your belief that you can actually do stuff. The course helps you visualize success repeatedly, which can boost your motivation and increase your likelihood of actually completing the work. You’re not magically attracting anything. You’re just getting your head in the game so you can go out and create it. The big risk? It can lead to some toxic thinking. If you don’t get what you want, you can end up blaming yourself for not being “positive” enough, which is a terrible headspace to be in.
What’s the Verdict?
Again, people are on opposite sides of the fence. Numerous glowing reviews discuss receiving surprise checks, landing dream jobs, and meeting their soulmates. They say the daily structure kept them on track. The critics, though, are loud. They call it wishful thinking and point out that a lot of the “success stories” could be luck or coincidence. A fair point is that the course can make you passive, like you’re just supposed to sit back and wait for the universe to deliver.
I tried this myself a few years ago. I was trying to land a huge client for my video business. I visualized the contract, I “felt the feeling,” the whole nine yards. Crickets. Then I switched it up. I kept the goal in mind, but I began to grind. I improved my pitch, I made the calls, I did the work. I got the client. So, did I manifest it? Or did having a clear goal just give me the kick in the pants I needed to get it done? I’m betting on the latter.
Tip for Manifesting: Use this as a motivation tool, not a magic wand. Getting super clear on your goal is step one, and it’s a big one. But step two has to be a real-world plan and real-world action. Let the “manifesting” be the gas in your tank, not the car itself.
The Silva Ultramind System with Vishen Lakhiani
This course is basically the granddaddy of all these mind-power programs, repackaged for today by Mindvalley’s founder, Vishen Lakhiani. It comes from the Silva Method, which started back in the 60s. It teaches you to enter altered states of mind to solve problems, boost your intuition, and, it claims, even develop psychic abilities.
What’s Inside the Ultramind?
The main skill you learn is how to consciously get your brain into the Alpha and Theta brainwave states. Alpha is that super relaxed, chill state. Theta is that dreamy feeling right before you fall asleep. The course teaches you to get there on command using special meditations.
You learn tricks for better memory and creativity. The core technique is the “Mental Screen,” where you imagine a big movie screen in your head and project your problems onto it to find solutions. The really weird parts involve things like “remote viewing” (seeing things far away) and “programming” a glass of water with your goals before you drink it.
Brainwaves, Intuition, and a Bit of Woo
There’s actual science behind the Alpha and Theta states. We know they’re associated with relaxation and creativity. Some old, small studies on the original Silva Method did show that people could learn to produce more Alpha waves. So that part is plausible. The psychic stuff? That’s where it goes off the rails into pseudoscience. There’s no good evidence for any of it.
So what’s going on when people have these amazing “intuitive hits” during the course? It’s pretty simple. When you quiet down your loud, analytical mind with these meditations, you can finally hear the quieter signals from your subconscious. Your brain knows a lot more than you think it does. Those “hunches” are just bits of that hidden knowledge coming to the surface.
What Do People Think?
The Silva course gets a lot of love. People say it’s fantastic for boosting creativity and helping them solve problems in new ways. They find the mental tricks to be really practical for day-to-day life. But almost everyone advises taking the psychic claims with a huge grain of salt. The consensus seems to be that it’s a killer program for learning to focus your mind and tap into your own subconscious. Just don’t expect to start bending spoons.
So, do these weird courses work? It all comes down to what you mean by “work.” If you think you’re going to learn how to perform magic, you’ll be let down. But if you’re looking for a structured way to use proven psychological tools—like meditation, visualization, and reframing your own thoughts—then yeah, they can absolutely work. The weirdness is just the packaging. The real value is in the mental workout. So, are they worth it? Maybe. Just go in with your eyes open, and don’t be afraid to do the actual work.
