Think Box, Play Box Reprogramming
Use the drowsy window before sleep and after waking to review the day and rewrite your subconscious program
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 75%
Dispenza notes that as you fall asleep your brain waves slide from beta to alpha to theta to delta, and on waking they climb back up. In alpha and theta the analytical mind quiets and the door between the conscious and subconscious mind opens, making these perisleep windows ideal for reprogramming. He splits the practice into two modes. In the think box you get your thinking worked out: review how the day went, where you fell from grace, your triumphs, and then deliberately name what you will stop thinking, doing and feeling tomorrow and how you will show up as your greatest ideal. Then you move to the play box, where there is no thinking, you surrender, feel and let go into sleep or the day.
Origin
Dr Joe Dispenza's teaching on the perisleep or liminal state, grounded in his data on serotonin, melatonin and brain-wave transitions between wakefulness and sleep.
Core principles
- 01The door to the subconscious opens twice: on waking and on falling asleep
- 02In beta you are separated from the operating system; alpha and theta open it
- 03Reflection is a building process that wires new circuitry in the brain
- 04Do your thinking in the think box, then surrender in the play box
How to run it
- 1
Catch the drowsy window
Use the theta or alpha state on waking or before sleep, lingering between wakefulness and sleep rather than fully rousing or dropping off.
Pro tip Sit your body up on waking so you stay in theta without falling back asleep.
Watch out In full beta you are separated from the subconscious operating system and can't get in.
- 2
Enter the think box
Ask how the day went: when you fell from grace, what your triumphs were, what you love about yourself. Get all the thinking worked out here.
Pro tip This is observation of self; ask the question and observe rather than force an answer.
- 3
Name what to change tomorrow
Remind yourself what you will not think, do or feel tomorrow, and rehearse how you will behave with the people and situations you will meet.
Pro tip Put an intention and feeling behind the belief so it fires and wires, not just a dry review.
Watch out Keep it from tipping into anxious over-analysis that kicks you back up into high beta.
- 4
Drop into the play box
Leave the thinking behind: in the play box there is no thinking. Surrender, open up, get creative, feel the future, and let go into sleep or into the day.
Pro tip In the morning, decide your jam for the day and hold the feeling of your greatest ideal self.
In the wild
An early riser sits up in the theta window on waking and asks what the greatest ideal of themselves is for today. They remind themselves of the things they want to change: not to complain, blame or judge, not to default to a familiar emotion. They practise bringing up the feeling they want to embody until they can generate it on their own, and rehearse how they will think and behave, before dropping into the play box and starting the day.
→ A short waking-window practice sets the emotional and behavioural program for the whole day.
Common mistakes
Reprogramming while fully awake in beta
In beta you are separated from the operating system, so intentions never reach the subconscious; you must catch the alpha or theta window.
Letting reflection become anxious overthinking
Turning the review into obsessive analysis raises your brain waves and pulls you out of the receptive state.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone wanting a simple daily practice to review themselves and reprogram unwanted emotional responses and habits.
Not ideal for
People who turn the reflection into anxious overthinking that jolts them back into a wide-awake analytical state.
From the transcript
“there's two times the door to the subconscious mind opens up when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at…”
“you get all that thinking worked out in your think box when you get time to play there's no thinking in your playbox”
From the episode
How To Unlock Your Mind & Master Your Life - Dr Joe Dispenza - #741
Dr Joe Dispenza