Shadowing Practice: Meditating to Change | Dr Joe Dispenza - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Meditating to Change”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: unconscious, meditation, conscious, fear. This video has 13 sentences and 165 words to shadow. The speech runs for 0:58. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 5 of its 13 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
12 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| unconscious adjective | /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəs/ | Not awake; having no awareness (usually as the result of a head injury). |
| conscious adjective | /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/ | Alert, awake; with one's mental faculties active. |
| meditation noun | /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/ | A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| anxiety noun | /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/ | An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event. |
| habit noun | /ˈhæb.ɪt/ | An action performed on a regular basis. |
| scenario noun | /sɪˈnɛəɹioʊ/ | An outline or model of an expected or supposed sequence of events. |
| heal verb | /ˈhiːl/ | To make better from a disease, wound, etc.; to revive or cure. |
| behave verb | /bɪˈheɪv/ | To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform. |
| abundance noun | /əˈbʌn.dn̩s/ | A large quantity; many. |
| mystical adjective | /ˈmɪstɪkəl/ | Relating to mystics or mysticism. |
| ruminate verb | /ˈɹumənət/ | To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| fall back into verb | To return to old habits; to return to an unhealthy or unhappy situation. |
| stay up verb | To remain awake; to not go to bed. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, doesn't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: unconscious /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəs/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, anxiety /æŋˈzaɪ.əti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like unconscious, conscious, meditation.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.