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Everybody wants to be the very best version of themselves. That’s why self-improvement is big business these days.

Get fitter, get smarter, learn more, and achieve more…

And Mindvalley is one of the biggest hitters when it comes to personal development.

But before you part with your cash, is it really worth it? And will their courses deliver what they promise?

I’m a personal development junkie and write about online education for a living. I’ve also completed 9 Mindvalley programs over the last few years and I know the platform inside out.

In this comprehensive Mindvalley review, you’ll find out if Mindvalley is worth it for you.

This is an honest review about my personal experience with Mindvalley

Before we start I’d like to very briefly explain what you can expect from this Mindvalley review. (That’s me, BTW. Writing this review from sort of sunny Phuket!)

Let’s face it: the internet is awash with pretty questionable information these days. And call me a sceptic, but personally when I stumble upon a review for anything…I’m pretty dubious.

The first thing to go through my mind is, what are their motives?

Because I’m looking for honest opinions from unbiased people who have actually used the services.

In this light, I promise you I have ‘hands on’ experience with many Mindvalley classes and I’m going to tell it to you straight – the good and the bad about Mindvalley.

Mindvalley isn’t for everyone and I want you to make an informed choice before you stump up any cash for it.

What is Mindvalley?

So, what exactly is Mindvalley and what does it offer?

Mindvalley is an online education platform that provides courses on various “life improvement” topics.

These courses are designed to help users become better versions of themselves. Some of the courses offered by Mindvalley include things like hypnosis, meditation, brain performance, self-care, fitness, business, relationship skills, health & wellness, spiritual growth, etc.

The programs are taught by world-renowned experts in fields like psychology, neuroscience, nutrition, and mindfulness.

I’d say that’s one of the things that makes this platform in particular stand out from others — they have really top-notch teachers.

For me, another standout highlight is the overall quality of the programs. Not just the content, but the video production and presentation too.

Personally, I find that if something isn’t very well put together aesthetically (even if the content is valuable) it puts me off. Learning needs to be as easy as possible after all.

So the fact that it’s a very polished platform is a real plus point.

Who are the Mindvalley instructors?

As I mentioned, Mindvalley brings together some of the best teachers for self-help all in one platform.

I’d say some of the biggest names on the site are:

• Jim Kwik – An expert on mind hacking and brain training.
• Ken Honda – Bestselling Author of “The Japanese of making peace with your money”
• Robin Sharma – Author of “The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari.”
• Marisa Peer – UK psychologist and hypnotherapy expert.

But unless you are a seasoned personal development junkie already, then there is also a good chance you won’t have heard of most of the Mindvalley teachers.

I certainly hadn’t. But that isn’t a bad thing, and here’s why I think so:

Some other platforms out there clearly go for the celebrity effect to draw in the crowds. I’m thinking particularly of Masterclass.

BTW, I will highlight some of the alternatives to Mindvalley further down in the review and what they do differently.

But rather than just get super famous people, Mindvalley definitely goes for expertise. So you’ll find teachers with a lot of qualifications and years of practical teaching experience in their field.

Who is Mindvalley worth it for?

Let’s talk straight up about the type of person who will get bang from their buck from signing up to Mindvalley, and who probably shouldn’t bother.

Mindvalley is a great choice for you if:

• Self-empowerment is important. You believe in self-empowerment, you like learning new things, and you want practical tools in order to improve various areas of your life.
• You need a kick start. You find it challenging to actually make and stick to positive changes, and need some help and support to kick procrastination and overwhelm into touch.
• Self-development is in your wheelhouse. You love self-help books, podcasts, and other personal development content.
• Alternative thinking is fine. You have an interest in alternative lifestyles and spirituality (because many of the programs have an esoteric feel).
• You like bite-size learning. You like the idea of learning in small bite-sized chunks on a daily basis to help fit personal development into your busy life.

However, I don’t think Mindvalley is for everyone. It probably isn’t a good fit for you if:

• You are only looking for very skills-based learning. For example, they are the sort of programs that show you how to be more resilient, plan your time better, and parent your kids more efficiently. They aren’t about teaching you how to play guitar or cook a perfect souffle.
• You suspect you aren’t really committed to doing the work. You might like the idea, but you might question whether you’ll make time to actually go through the programs. There’s no shame in realizing this. And it’s better to save your money.
• You need more support. Most of the programs are pre-recorded rather than a hands-on learning experience. You can join the community to get peer support whilst you do the programs, and there are some pre-recorded Q+A sessions, but you are working through the content at your own pace. You won’t get a teacher looking over your shoulder.

What courses can you do on Mindvalley?

Mindvalley offers over 50 different programs to choose from at the moment, and they’re always adding more.

Some of them are quite specific, while others cover topics that are more general.

What I like is that some topics are a bit more ‘out there’, teaching some quite alternative and less mainstream knowledge. Whilst others are really practical tools to just improve your life, career, and health.

Personally, I enjoy dipping into both, but whichever side of the fence you sit on, it means there are subjects for pretty much anybody.

In order to navigate the site, the varied courses are grouped in 6 different categories:

1) Mind

In this section, you’ll find various techniques and tools to strengthen your brain power, improve your mindset and shift your belief system. Jim Kwik’s Superbrain and Super Reading are the two stand outs.

2) Relationships

This section includes everything from parenting to romance. Along with topics like “finding the one”, and navigating relationships in a healthy way, you’ll also find programs like Conscious Parenting Mastery and Energies of Love.

3) Body

Not only exercise and diet, but you’ll also find programs on fasting, modern energy work and even how to slow the aging process. Wildfit, 10X Fitness, and Beyond Fasting are the most popular courses in this category.

4) Soul

You’ll find programs on spirituality and cultivating better inner peace and connection to yourself. The Silva Ultramind System, taught by Mindvalley founder Vishen Lakhiani, is a program I particularly enjoyed.

5) Career and Entrepreneurship

Some of the more practical programs from the career section include improving your focus (Becoming Focused and Indistractable), being a better leader (Ultimate Leadership), and being better at networking (Mastering Authentic Networking).

How practical are these lessons?

As I already alluded to, some of the programs can be quite esoteric and stray away from widely scientifically accepted facts.

I’m thinking in particular of courses that dive into topics like astral projection, energy healing and ESP.

But my take on it is:

What resonates with you will resonate with you. We all have different beliefs and I genuinely enjoy and am open to learning about even the less conventional subjects on the site.

If you aren’t, a lot of the of programs are also based on psychology and science to help you advance your life. It’s about picking what feels most aligned for you.

How does a Mindvalley lesson work?

To give you an inside feel for how the programs work, I’m going to give you a quick tour of the structure of a Mindvalley program.

The vast majority of courses take a similar structure so it’s going to give you a good idea of what to expect.

The program is broken down into daily lessons. You just click on the appropriate day of the program where you’ll find:

• A daily video lesson from the course teacher
• Guidelines for the lesson
• Tasks to complete — which is like brief homework
• Any additional material you might need in PDF form.

How long will it take you to do a Mindvalley program?

The programs last anywhere from a couple of weeks up to a few months, usually with daily lessons.

The daily video content generally lasts anywhere from 5-20 minutes (although some are longer). Expect a few small practical tasks to complete after the video.

Because Mindvalley favors the “micro-learning” model, it’s designed to fit into busy lives.

I’d say on average putting aside one hour a day to do the program is plenty (sometimes less, sometimes a bit more).

What does Mindvalley cost?

It’s probably time we talked cold hard cash.

I wouldn’t say I’m stingy but I’ve always been sensible with money. I don’t like to waste what I’ve worked hard for. So it’s a consideration when I decide to invest in something, like online education.

The good news is that Mindvalley is relatively affordable.

The Mindvalley Membership is a subscription-based service that gives you access to every course (except for Lifebook and Wildfit – these aren’t part of the membership and have to be purchased separately).

You have two options here. Pay upfront for a cheaper price ($25 per month, which ends up being a $300 upfront payment) or pay a higher price monthly ($59), but with the freedom to cancel it at any time.

Mindvalley used to give you the option to purchase any class individually, but they no longer do this.

Mindvalley has become cheaper

It’s worth noting that when I first joined Mindvalley, it was a lot more expensive.

My first membership cost $499 for the year, and from memory the pay-as-you-go option for $99 per month.

The quality of the courses on Mindvalley have only increased over the last few years, and yet it’s become significantly cheaper. Maybe there’s more competition in the online education space and Mindvalley made a business decision to lower their prices.

Either way, it’s a win for anyone on the fence about signing up to it.

Four mini Mindvalley reviews of popular programs I’ve taken

Since the beginning of last year I’ve completed 9 programs on Mindvalley. I’ve definitely done enough now to know what the site’s biggest strengths and weaknesses are.

Below are a few mini-reviews of some of the programs I’ve done and my personal experience with them.

Lifebook Online

This was the very first Mindvalley program I took.

The reason I decided to take Lifebook Online:

• I could try it for free, because it offered a money-back guarantee for anyone who actually finishes the course. What can I say, I’m cautious with my money!
• It’s one of Mindvalley’s most popular courses, and a lot of people seemed to be talking about it.
• It seemed like a really good general life improvement course, taking into account areas like your finances, health, relationships, and more. So it seemed like a really good place to start.

My results from taking Lifebook Online:

The closest thing I’d describe Lifebook to is probably goal setting.

So basically the course really helped me to get far more clarity about what I want in all areas in my life. Then importantly, it put a bit of a rocket up my ass to motivate me to actually do it.

I’d say it’s a great choice for procrastinators, people who feel a bit stuck, and anyone in need of some motivation and inspiration to make positive change.

I liked the fact it was a good mix of uplifting energy combined with practical tools designed to help you take action.

Superbrain

A little confession:

When I decided to do Superbrain it was with a bit of a heavy heart at first.

I’d heard of Jim Kwik’s best-selling book ‘Limitless’ from a few friends. I knew he was a really big name in brain training.

And the promise of significantly improving my brain power wasn’t something I wanted to just ignore.

But memory improvement and better brain performance also sounded like it might take a lot of work and that sort of put me off (hey, I’m just being honest).

I’d already bought the Mindvalley Membership by this point (which I’ll talk more about later). And as that gives you unlimited yearly access to the vast majority of programs, so I had nothing to lose.

Which Mindvalley course is best?

It’s so tricky to say, as it depends on what you are looking for. But Superbrain is certainly one of their best sellers…and I figured all those people couldn’t be wrong.

My results from taking Superbrain

This program hugely boosted my confidence and gave me so many tangible tools and hacks.

I loved that it was all science-backed to give you shortcuts to boosting your mental prowess.

By the end:

• I felt like I could think clearer, with far fewer episodes of brain fog
• I found a better structure for learning, which helped me learn quicker
• I learned a really great morning routine that I incorporated into my day

Despite my reservations the program was way more fun and easy than I was expecting it to be.

Wildfit

This is another one of Mindvalley’s most popular programs.

Although FYI, it’s a so-called “partner program” which means it’s one of only two programs on the site not included in the Mindvalley membership (the other one is Lifebook).

I really wanted to take this course because I hate the fad diet industry, which seems so counterintuitive to me.

I really believe in incorporating optimal eating and lifestyle stuff to be healthier. And that’s what this nutrition course on healthy eating is all about.

I wasn’t super unhealthy or anything before, but the thought of learning how to make better habit choices around food was very appealing.

My results from taking Wildfit

This program is 3 months long, so it’s all gradual and focuses on making sustainable changes over time.

That’s one of its biggest strengths as you can’t change a habit of a lifetime overnight.

But it also means it’s a commitment —one I felt pretty proud about having stuck to.

The best thing for me was how it helped change my attitude around food and how you fuel your body.

The depth of diving into food psychology is what makes it so much more successful than just telling us we shouldn’t eat hot dogs and should stick to the carrots instead.

Knowledge is power, and this gave be far more knowledge over the truth about healthy eating.

Be Extraordinary

I’ve included this mini-review for ‘Be Extraordinary’ as it’s from the Mindvalley platform creator, Vishen Lakhaini.

Which is one of the reasons I also chose to take the program, because from what I’d read and seen about him, I liked his way of looking at self-development and learning in general.

And it’s all about changing your lifestyle to live up to your full potential and become more successful and happier.

I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet who doesn’t want that!

My results from taking Be Extraordinary

A lot of the lessons I learned from this program are how much success and happiness come from the inside out.

I’m sure others will come away from this program with big shifts in how their life looks on the outside, but my biggest shifts were probably internal.

As someone who is prone to beating myself up about progress—always wanting to be further along than I am— I realized how important it is to enjoy the process.

I felt pretty empowered about how much control I actually have over my own life, but also how I react to everything that happens to me.

The pros and cons of Mindvalley

In a nutshell, here’s what I like the most about Mindvalley, and the things I’m less a fan of.

Pros:

• Digestible learning: I already said formal education was a struggle for me. That’s why I loved the digestible learning of the courses on Mindvalley. They intentionally offer bite-sized lessons because it’s scientifically proven to be more conducive for effective learning. It means they have some of the highest completion rates in the industry of people actually finishing the courses, rather than giving up halfway through.
• The really wide-reaching topics available. I’m confident in saying there’s something on there for every taste and preference. The membership option also allows you to try out and explore totally new interests.
• Uniqueness. I would say the platform is unique in the self-help space. I haven’t found any other learning and personal development platforms that offer quite what Mindvalley does.
• Expert teachers. The teachers are the best of the best and leading industry experts in what they teach.
• The technical side of things is high quality and slick. The site is easy to navigate, and the production elements of the courses are well put together.
• Money-back guarantee. You can try it out and decide whether it’s for you or not, without any financial risk.

Cons:

• Yep, it’s not cheap. The cheapest membership you can get is $300 when you buy it annually. No matter how you package it, that’s clearly an investment to make. What I will say is that for me at least, the membership did ultimately offer good value for money.
• The effort and time commitment. Maybe this is less of a con and more of a reality check for us all. Even though they are designed to fit into your daily life, you obviously need to find the time and inclination to show up and do the program. Most courses probably need no more than an hour a day, and last about a month. Others though, like Wildfit (which lasts 3 months) take more time.
• The hard sell. I’m maybe being a bit picky here, but I promised to give you the truth about any things I didn’t like. Marketing is just a fact of life when you are being sold anything. But sometimes I found myself scrolling down pages of spiel telling me how great the programs are – this was a put off. Although admittedly, a) I am stubborn and don’t like being sold to, and b) the programs did mostly deliver on what they promised.

Are there any alternatives to Mindvalley?

Yes, but they will give you a very different educational experience.

Masterclass v Mindvalley

I mentioned Masterclass earlier in the review.

On this platform, a host of famous faces and A-listers teach you a wide range of skills. The subjects are varied but way more specific and skills-based than Mindvalley.

We’re talking about things like cooking, acting, writing, chess, game design, and singing.

It’s hard to directly compare, as I’d say they offer different things.

• The courses are usually much shorter on Masterclass (lasting a few hours in total).
• Rather than being broken down into daily learning like on Mindvalley, you just do it at your own pace.
• Both offer good quality production values.
• It’s cheaper to join Masterclass, with a yearly pass costing $180.

Skillshare v Mindvalley

Skillshare has a whopping 27,000 classes available, but they are much shorter than those on Mindvalley. They typically last around 30 minutes to an hour.

Courses are also taught by a very wide-ranging pool of instructors and cover topics ranging from web development to graphic design to music production.

Most courses are paid while others are offered at no cost (about 2000 lessons on there are free to do.)

The categories are broken down into: 1) create 2) build 3) thrive

Generally, you will find creative/artistic skill based learning on Skillshare. A membership will cost $144 a year if you want to access paid content.

Yet again, it’s a different type of offering to the content on Mindvalley.

The Great Courses Plus v Mindvalley

If you love more academic and formal learning contexts, I think you will like The Great Courses Plus.

That’s because you will find college-level courses that are brought to you by professors. So it’s a bit like going back to school but without the hefty college price tag.

It’s way more traditional learning than Mindvalley, which is why it’s not really for me.

We’re talking about topics like history, math, science, philosophy, religion and literature.

The format is different too. Instead of micro learning, expect to work your way through a series of video lectures with accompanying PDF’s.

The annual subscription cost is $150. So again, it’s cheaper than the Mindvalley membership. But also yet again, it’s not the same type of content or learning as Mindvalley provides.

In a nutshell: Is Mindvalley worth it?

This is such an individual question that only you can answer. I hope my perspective and some of the personal information about my own experiences with Mindvalley will help you to decide.

A lot of people want to know if Mindvalley is a reputable company. And that I can put your mind at rest over.

It’s one of the industry leaders when it comes to self-development. And for many people, it’s their trusted go-to source of personal development content.

But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good fit for everyone.

What I got from Mindvalley was:

• Enthusiasm for learning and growing as a person.
• The chance to try out totally new and interesting subjects that I knew nothing about.
• A better sense of self — including self-belief, confidence, and a “go-getter” attitude.
• Some practical habits and tools that I could easily include in my daily life to make me more productive, and successful but also happier.

Mindvalley is definitely worth it for me, and I’d suggest it would be worth it for at least some of you reading this review too.