Media of the Mind: The Gateway Experience (Part 1)

Robert Monroe’s 1971 Journeys Out of the Body

It is 1977, and you have just gotten your hands on Monroe’s recently re-released bestseller, Journeys Out of the Body.

You settle into bed, put on your reading glasses, crack the spine of the thin paperback, and begin to read. Just a few days later, you’ve devoured all 281 pages. You read each night at home; you read at your desk at work, hiding the cover beneath your desk. You simply cannot seem to put Monroe’s words down. You are still not quite sure what to think of all this, but you are oh-so-hopeful that it actually works.

You’ve never experienced an out-of-body state before, but it seems from his descriptions that you will be quite powerful once you finally get the process of achieving one down.

Mapping the Locales

As you read on, you try to wrap your head around Monroe’s bizarre psychological architecture. He breaks existence down into distinct territories:

• Locale I: The physical reality of the present day, right here in the room.
• Locale II: An entirely separate universe altogether—vast, non-physical, and reminiscent of a cosmic “World Computer” or a digital matrix. This alternate reality seems to hold the literal domains of heaven and hell.
• Locale III: An uncanny, mirror-like alternate universe that appears to be the destination of death itself.

You don’t understand much of what Monroe is talking about or the dense terminology he throws around, but you hope it becomes clearer as the experiments continue.

The First Breakthroughs: The 180° Trick

At the end of chapter 9, you are totally exhausted and fall asleep mostly sitting up. You dream vividly, but remember absolutely nothing when you awake.

The next night, you decide to try Monroe’s physical 180° rotation trick. To your absolute astonishment, it works immediately for entering rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. You try this mental rotation trick maybe five times between going to bed and waking up, and it triggers instant sleep every single time. You don’t experience an out-of-body state, nor do you remember the dreams, but you have successfully hacked your sleep transition.

The night after, you add a layer of intent: you think intensely of exactly who you want to visit as you mentally turn your body 180°. Still no floating above your physical form, but your subconscious responds powerfully. You dream vividly of the person you thought about—a loved one who passed away just a few months ago. In the dream, they appear young, radiant, and healthy. Your dreaming self even rationalizes the encounter, thinking about how this visitation might help you know what to tell the doctors when the illness inevitably comes back.

By the third night, the dream matrix turns chaotic. You fall asleep instantly but don’t see who you intended. Instead, your mind conjures a strange, rapid-fire juxtaposition of imagery: two men in a relationship, gingerbread ornaments, a child you know but appearing years younger than she is today, a former friend, a girl being abducted, and a Christmas-themed job. You had gone out socializing earlier that evening; perhaps that waking noise is what led to this bizarre subconscious salad.

Securing the Mind Against the Noise

As you read deeper, you learn of a protective mental mantra Monroe recommends repeating to yourself right before sleep. You have been heavily stressed at work lately and have not been well rested, so you commit to trying it:

“My mind and body are open only to constructive forces; in the name of God and good, I am going into normal restful sleep.”

Your brain is racing so fast from the day’s anxiety that it is difficult to even remember the phrase exactly as written, and you can’t say for sure if it helps quiet the noise. But you push forward.

Chapter 16: The Blueprint of the Vibration

You finally hit chapter 16, and you are elated. This is where Monroe stops lecturing and actually walks you through the step-by-step mechanics of the process.

First comes absolute relaxation. No pending appointments or anticipated calls. Next, you lie down only when you are already tired. As your eyes close and you begin to drift off, you focus your full mental attention on a single object. You hold your focus there. You do not allow yourself to drop into unconscious sleep. Instead, you stare directly into the flat blackness behind your closed eyelids.

All of that seems easy enough. But part two is establishing the state of vibration. This is what Monroe identifies as the most critical step of all, and it is the exact step you are deeply skeptical you can pull off.

The instructions are hyper-specific:

1. Align the Body: Lie down with your head pointed to the magnetic north and your feet to the south. Wear loose clothing and remove all jewelry.
2. Ensure Circulation: Place your arms, legs, and neck in flat positions that won’t cut off blood flow.
3. The Breathing Engine: Once fully relaxed, begin breathing deeply through a half-open mouth.
4. The Extension Line: Concentrate on the blackness behind your eyes. Mentally look through the dark at a spot exactly one foot out from your forehead. Once established, push your focus to a spot 3 feet away, then 6 feet.
5. Channeling the Current: Turn that mental line 90° so that it runs perfectly parallel to your physical body. Reach out to the vibrations at that distant spot, and pull them directly back into your head.
6. The Circuit: Once the vibrations are roaring inside your skull, mentally push them down the length of your body to your feet, and guide them back up again.

Chapter 17: Reaching Beyond the Shell

Chapter 17 takes you even further into the dark. You try to commit the sequence to memory because you obviously won’t be able to consult a paperback in a pitch-black room with your eyes shut.

Once you control the vibration circuit, you are supposed to mentally reach out with your non-physical arm. You extend it past what your physical arm is capable of, reaching until you feel a foreign object. You examine its texture with your mental hand. You push against it until your fingertips overcome the resistance, passing completely through the object until you feel a second item behind it. You identify it, retract your arm, slowly decrease the vibrations, open your eyes, and immediately write down the data. Later, you are to physically walk over to that space in your real room to note the exact similarities and differences between your mental touch and reality.

To fully disassociate your entire form, Monroe offers two procedures: lift out (thinking of yourself as weightless and floating straight up) or rotation. You already know rotation conjures a powerful response in your mind, so you prepare to face your physical self.

The Midnight Trial

Determined to test the limits, you dig an old compass out from the cluttered depths of the kitchen junk drawer and carry it to your bedroom. To your delight, your bed is already aligned almost exactly on a north-south axis. You will just have to lie slightly sideways across the mattress to achieve perfect alignment.

You settle in. You close your eyes. You picture the spots 1, 3, and 6 feet away in the dark. You mentally pivot the line until it runs parallel to your spine. You channel the current and pull.

Is this working? Is this actually working?!

An incredible surge of excitement hits you. You were deeply skeptical, but you suddenly feel an undeniable wave of vibrations surging entirely into your head. In other parts of your body, the frequency is so intense you feel physical tremors. You focus with everything you have, driving the vibrations down to your feet and pulling them back up.

After a few successful circuits, you attempt to manipulate your mental arm. But the moment your concentration wavers from the current, the vibrations instantly dissipate into nothing.

You reset. You build the current a second time, attempt the arm movement, and the vibrations instantly shatter again. Realizing that non-physical limb control requires far more practice, you channel the vibrations a third time. This time, you simply hold the frequency steady and stare straight into the blackness of your closed eyelids.

You decide to skip ahead in Monroe’s manual. With your eyes locked tight, you think the words firmly to yourself: “I can see.”

It works. Well, in part.

The top third of your closed vision suddenly ignites. Your conscious mind struggles to interpret the image, but it appears to be a Parisian street scene.

Stunned and exhausted, you physically roll over onto your side and allow yourself to drift off into ordinary sleep. That is enough practicing for tonight.

Stay tuned for part 2 where we will delve into The Gateway Tapes!

Sources

• Journeys Out of the Body, Robert Monroe, 1977 (Originally published 1971) 

Monroe’s Other Books

• Far Journeys, 1985
• Ultimate Journey, 1994

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