The Monroe Institute
Encyclopedia
The Monroe Institute is a nonprofit
education and research organization devoted to the exploration of human consciousness
, based in Faber
, Virginia
, United States. Upwards of 20,000 people are estimated to have attended TMI’s residential Gateway program during its first thirty years, with consumers of the audio industry founded on its research running into millions. TMI claims a policy of no dogma or bias
with respect to belief system
, religion
, political or social
stance.
TMI was founded by Robert Monroe
after he started having what he called "out of body experiences
", now also commonly referred to as OBEs. It comprises several buildings on 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land south of Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. One of its activities includes teaching various techniques, based on audio-guidance processes, in order to expand consciousness and explore areas of consciousness not normally available in the waking state.
In 1978, the U.S. military evaluated TMI and arranged to send officers there for OBE training. In 1983, it sent further officers.
. Gateway Voyage is a six-day intensive of exercises using custom-designed sound booths (CHEC units), talks, and group interaction.
Participants occupy the CHEC (Controlled Holistic Environmental Chamber) which is a booth that occupies part of a wall of the sleeping quarters. The booths are designed to be as comfortable and quiet as possible to minimize external effects on the participant's senses, whilst he or she wears headphones through which instructions and audio-guidance signals are sent.
The Monroe Institute also has an Outreach program, where accredited facilitators travel to various locations around the world and deliver workshops.
and DC skin potential voltage.
A reporter for The Hook, weekly newspaper for Charlottesville, Virginia
, who visited The Monroe Institute said, "...with a few exceptions, the only 'normal' people with whom I could fully identify were the trainers, who seemed remarkably well-grounded for people whose day-to-day experiences include astral projection
and disembodied spirits".
The reporter also concluded that "there is something significant being developed at the Institute. Whether it's just a brilliant guided meditation (complete with trance-inducing stereoscopic sound) or a doorway to a world of spirit entities, I cannot say".
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
education and research organization devoted to the exploration of human consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, based in Faber
Faber, Virginia
Faber is an unincorporated community in Nelson County, Virginia, United States.-References:*...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, United States. Upwards of 20,000 people are estimated to have attended TMI’s residential Gateway program during its first thirty years, with consumers of the audio industry founded on its research running into millions. TMI claims a policy of no dogma or bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
with respect to belief system
Belief system
A belief system is a set of mutually supportive beliefs. The beliefs may be religious, philosophical, ideological or a combination of these.The British philosopher Stephen Law has described some belief systems as "claptrap" and said that they "draw people in and hold them captive so they become...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, political or social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
stance.
TMI was founded by Robert Monroe
Robert Monroe
Robert Allen Monroe was a New York radio broadcasting executive who became known for his research into altered consciousness. His 1971 book Journeys Out of the Body is credited with popularizing the term "out-of-body experience".Monroe achieved world-wide recognition as an explorer of human...
after he started having what he called "out of body experiences
Out-of-body experience
An out-of-body experience is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and, in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body ....
", now also commonly referred to as OBEs. It comprises several buildings on 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land south of Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. One of its activities includes teaching various techniques, based on audio-guidance processes, in order to expand consciousness and explore areas of consciousness not normally available in the waking state.
In 1978, the U.S. military evaluated TMI and arranged to send officers there for OBE training. In 1983, it sent further officers.
Gateway Voyage
The Institute runs a program called Gateway Voyage, a training course that uses binaural soundtracks to facilitate exploration and replication of specific altered states of consciousness known as Focus levelsFocus levels
Focus levels are numerical, content-neutral labels for specific altered states of consciousness associated with specific Hemi-Sync binaural beat combinations defined by The Monroe Institute...
. Gateway Voyage is a six-day intensive of exercises using custom-designed sound booths (CHEC units), talks, and group interaction.
Participants occupy the CHEC (Controlled Holistic Environmental Chamber) which is a booth that occupies part of a wall of the sleeping quarters. The booths are designed to be as comfortable and quiet as possible to minimize external effects on the participant's senses, whilst he or she wears headphones through which instructions and audio-guidance signals are sent.
The Monroe Institute also has an Outreach program, where accredited facilitators travel to various locations around the world and deliver workshops.
Research
Controlled studies of the Institute's technology suggest that it is effective as an analgesic supplement and can reduce hospital discharge times. The Institute has an affiliated professional membership, and also publishes scientific papers on a subset of its own studies of altered states of consciousness. In its in-house laboratory, these states or focus levels are typically induced by delivering Hemi-Sync signals to subjects performing relaxation procedures inside a shielded, sense-depriving isolation tank. Progression through states is detected and monitored by measurement of peripheral skin temperature, galvanic skin responseGalvanic skin response
Skin conductance, also known as galvanic skin response , electrodermal response , psychogalvanic reflex , skin conductance response or skin conductance level , is a method of measuring the electrical conductance of the skin, which varies with its moisture level...
and DC skin potential voltage.
Coverage
In 1994, a front page article in the Wall Street Journal reported confirmation from the former director of the Intelligence and Security Command of the U.S. Army sending personnel to the institute. It also stated the opinion of the head of the Zen Buddhist temple in Vancouver British Columbia that "Gateway students can reach meditation states in a week that took [me] 30 years of sitting".A reporter for The Hook, weekly newspaper for Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
, who visited The Monroe Institute said, "...with a few exceptions, the only 'normal' people with whom I could fully identify were the trainers, who seemed remarkably well-grounded for people whose day-to-day experiences include astral projection
Astral projection
Astral projection is an interpretation of out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it...
and disembodied spirits".
The reporter also concluded that "there is something significant being developed at the Institute. Whether it's just a brilliant guided meditation (complete with trance-inducing stereoscopic sound) or a doorway to a world of spirit entities, I cannot say".