Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

thumbnail
Sha-Man! Geoffrey, modified 5 Months ago at 11/13/23 12:14 PM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/13/23 12:14 PM

Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 366 Join Date: 10/30/23 Recent Posts
I'm curious if anyone has experience with the hemi-sync stuff. I find myself oddly fascinated by the CIA report. After some light perusing of the internet, it does seem like there are reports of people developing some level of siddhis after using it for some time. However, most of these reports seem to lack any real details. I'm curious if anyone here has worked with them and can describe the phenomenology/experience/siddhi of the whole thing.

Is this type of stuff really just like an audio-kasina shamatha practice that has more of an X-files vibe?
thumbnail
Jim Smith, modified 5 Months ago at 11/13/23 1:11 PM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/13/23 1:01 PM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 1687 Join Date: 1/17/15 Recent Posts
Geoffrey B
I'm curious if anyone has experience with the hemi-sync stuff. I find myself oddly fascinated by the CIA report. After some light perusing of the internet, it does seem like there are reports of people developing some level of siddhis after using it for some time. However, most of these reports seem to lack any real details. I'm curious if anyone here has worked with them and can describe the phenomenology/experience/siddhi of the whole thing.

Is this type of stuff really just like an audio-kasina shamatha practice that has more of an X-files vibe?


I tried some of their cd audio programs and I didn't notice any effects at all.

It also worth noting that Robert Monroe could not reliably/repeatably obtain verifiable information during his OBEs. 
https://www.newdualism.org/nde-papers/Tart/Tart-Journal%20of%20Near-Death%20Studies_1998-17-73-99.pdf
My opinion is that most techniques for inducing OBEs only induce lucid dreams.

My experience with siddhi like phenomena (spirit communication, remote viewing, and spiritual healing) is that it is best learned with a teacher in a group class where you can give readings or healing to classmates and get feedback from them. With spiritual healing you can practice on yourself once you learn because you can feel the sensations. I do this every day, it's like qi gong energy work, and it is for the body what relaxing meditation is for the mind. (You can extend the practice routine to give individual attention ot the arms or legs - I need to update the blog post.)
thumbnail
Bahiya Baby, modified 5 Months ago at 11/15/23 1:46 PM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/15/23 1:46 PM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 466 Join Date: 5/26/23 Recent Posts
Hey,

I didn't find it helpful or particularly interesting though I came to it after years of being hip to various types of psychic, tantric and magickal practices. It wasn't really offering me anything new. The x-files vibes were kind of fun. The declassified document is interesting but also declassified documents are psyops too. 

If you have decent concentration and can get to the 6th Jhana that can be a useful place to start some remote viewing type experiments. Also I find this stuff much easier when I am not in the early nanas and particularly when I am not in the first. Might just be me, but the early nanas kind of kill my psy

Joseph McMoneagle trained with Monroe, his RV of Mars is pretty wild, I saw him talk about it recently. Super entertaining story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9UKPfL59x4  
thumbnail
Jim Smith, modified 5 Months ago at 11/15/23 4:56 PM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/15/23 4:55 PM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 1687 Join Date: 1/17/15 Recent Posts
Bahiya Baby
Hey,

I didn't find it helpful or particularly interesting though I came to it after years of being hip to various types of psychic, tantric and magickal practices. It wasn't really offering me anything new. The x-files vibes were kind of fun. The declassified document is interesting but also declassified documents are psyops too. 

If you have decent concentration and can get to the 6th Jhana that can be a useful place to start some remote viewing type experiments. Also I find this stuff much easier when I am not in the early nanas and particularly when I am not in the first. Might just be me, but the early nanas kind of kill my psy

Joseph McMoneagle trained with Monroe, his RV of Mars is pretty wild, I saw him talk about it recently. Super entertaining story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9UKPfL59x4  


Theta brainwaves have been associated with psychic experiences, a couple of things that increase theata waves are visualization exercises and the hypnogogic state (the state just before falling asleep where there is vivid imagery and it's hard to focus the mind). So relaxation exercises that include visualization can be helpful.
thumbnail
Smiling Stone, modified 5 Months ago at 11/16/23 5:31 AM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/16/23 5:31 AM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 341 Join Date: 5/10/16 Recent Posts
Hello Geoffrey,

There was a discussion about this on Linda's log last year (n°14), when I got briefly interested in this (through looking for more info on binaural beats). As her logs are quite long, here is the first post by Ni Nurta
 Ni Nurta, modified 1 Year ago at 4/18/22 4:22 PM
RE: Polly Ester’s practice log 14

If you want nice binaural beats to practice with I recommend genuine hemi-sync recordings.
Like this one https://soundcloud.com/abiyauniverse/hemi-sync-wave-ii-threshold-1-introduction-to-focus-12

My own baseline mind state is more like Focus 12 than Focus 1. If you manage to experience it you will understand how this equals not experiencing body. It is especially obvious in the latter parts of recording when there is countdown from 12 to 1 in which case shift is pretty much real-time. If you experience these Focus states and wonder how it is possible to sustain them in waking awareness - by being quite secluded from sensuality and free from unskillful qualities, pretty much. Or in other words I could bring my mind state to experience body but I simply do not call for the qualities which cause it. Knowing which these are of course helps. Likewise it is possible to get even more refined mind states which in hemi-sync are described as higher Focus levels by not calling up for even subtle qualities like those which keep Focus 12. It is especially easy when this momentary cessation trick is mastered because any quality can be just suppressed by causing cessation the moment it would arise.

I didn't listen to these Hemi-Sync recordings all that much all things considered but especially in very far past, like two decades ago up to decade ago I listened to them enough to be able to do things which I would probably not be able to do as easily. After experiencing these mind states while listening it is much easier to learn how to do them yourself.

BTW. Those Hemi-Sync were very well researched by years of experimentation and testing by very skilled person and his team. On the other hand people creating random YT videos with binaural beats on just take some audio editing software and slap bunch of frequencies there, like mandatory 432Hz and other nonsense and probably themselves are unable to tune to anything, let alone nonsense they created which might not even be safe to listen to. Hemi-Sync on the other hand is great.

ps. For decalcifying pineal gland you can apparently use something with lots of boron. Do you feel blockade in your pineal gland?

And my belated answer downthread :
Thanks for bringing this up, Ni, I have been curious of binaural beats for a while but had never bumped into Bob Monroe. The interesting soundcloud channel you linked to has some interesting guided stuff that will make more sense to the newcomer after listening to these introductory ones :
I -  gateway-voyage-introductory-exercise
II - gateway-voyage-open-exercise
The Monroe Institute is a for-profit organisation which proposes very expensive zoom seminars ($1065 for their Gateway program). I certainly do not endorse this... and it sounds very new-agish in the worst acception of the term. Monroe might have had some good intuitions though...
What is of interest to me in the introduction is that he throws in some efficient altered breathing patterns to modify our innerstate (in through the nose, slowly out through the pursed lips) in addition to the beats and the good old programmation ... So I will look for more !

My personal exposition to binaural beats has been quasi exclusively through the Deepware Brainwaves android app), which enables you to program your own binaural landscape and which I find really nice (I already said that in an old thread a few years ago but well...). So it's only as new age as you want it to be... and can get very trippy (I must admit a bent for these) !

Hope this helps !
metta
smiling stone
thumbnail
Smiling Stone, modified 5 Months ago at 11/16/23 5:37 AM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/16/23 5:37 AM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 341 Join Date: 5/10/16 Recent Posts
And... I copied some info on my computer, probably from the CIA reports (can't remember now, sorry. Don't know who Wayne is...). It seemed quite thorough at the time, so here it goes :
Methodological frames of reference

Before diving into the Gateway Experience, Wayne develops a frame of reference by dissecting three discrete consciousness-altering methodologies. He’s basically saying, there’s no way you’re going to get through The Gateway without a solid grounding in the brain-altering techniques that came before it.

1) He begins with hypnosis. The language is extremely dense, but the basic gist is as follows: the left side of the brain screens incoming stimuli, categorizing, assessing and assigning meaning to everything through self-cognitive, verbal, and linear reasoning. The left hemisphere then dishes the carefully prepared data to the non-critical, holistic, pattern-oriented right hemisphere, which accepts everything without question. Hypnosis works by putting the left side to sleep, or at least distracting it long enough to allow incoming data direct, unchallenged entry to the right hemisphere. There, stimuli can reach the sensor and motor cortices of the right brain, which corresponds to points in the body. Suggestions then can send electrical signals from the brain to certain parts of the body. Directing these signals appropriately, according to the report, can elicit reactions ranging from left leg numbness to feelings of happiness. Same goes for increased powers of concentration.

2) Wayne continues with a snapshot of transcendental meditation. He distinguishes it from hypnotism. Through concentration the subject draws energy up the spinal cord, resulting in acoustical waves that run through the cerebral ventricles, to the right hemisphere, where they stimulate the cerebral cortex, run along the homunculus and then to the body. The waves are the altered rhythm of heart sounds, which create sympathetic vibrations in the walls of the fluid-filled cavities of the brain’s ventricles. He observed that the symptoms begin in the left side of the body, confirming the right brain’s complicity. Bentov also states that the same effect might be achieved by prolonged exposure to 4 - 7 Hertz/second acoustical vibrations. He suggests standing by an air conditioning duct might also do the trick. (David Lynch and other celebrities are committed adherents to transcendental meditation today.)

3) Biofeedback, on the other hand, uses the left hemisphere to gain access to the right brain’s lower cerebral, motor, and sensory cortices. Whereas hypnosis suppresses one side of the brain, and TM bypasses that side altogether, biofeedback teaches the left hemisphere to visualize the desired result, recognize the feelings associated with right hemisphere access, and ultimately achieve the result again. With repetition, the left brain can reliably key into the right brain, and strengthen the pathways so that it can be accessed during a conscious demand mode. A digital thermometer is subsequently placed on a target part of the body. When its temperature increases, objective affirmation is recognized and the state is reinforced. Achieving biofeedback can block pain, enhance feeling, and even suppress tumors, according to the report.  


The Gateway mechanics

With that, Wayne takes a first stab at the Gateway process. He classifies it as a “training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence to the amplitude and frequency of brainwave output between the left and right hemispheres so as to alter consciousness.”

What distinguishes the Gateway process from hypnosis, TM, and biofeedback, is that it requires achieving  a state of consciousness in which the electrical brain patterns of both hemispheres are equal in amplitude and frequency. This is called Hemi-Sync. Lamentably, and perhaps conveniently, we cannot as humans achieve this state on our own. The audio techniques developed by Bob Monroe and his Institute (which comprise a series of  tapes), claim to induce and sustain Hemi-Sync.

Here, the document shifts to the usage of quotes and other reports to describe the powers of Hemi-Sync. Wayne employs the analogy of a lamp versus a laser. Left to its own devices the human mind expends energy like a lamp, in a chaotic and incoherent way, achieving lots of diffusion but relatively little depth. Under Hemi-Sync though, the mind produces a “disciplined stream of light.” So, once the frequency and amplitude of the brain are rendered coherent it can then synchronize with the rarified energy levels of the universe. With this connection intact, the brain begins to receive symbols and display astonishing flashes of holistic intuition.

The Hemi-Sync technique takes advantage of a Frequency Following Response (FFR). It works like this: an external frequency emulating a recognized one will cause the brain to mimic it. So if a subject hears a frequency at the Theta level, it will shift from its resting Beta level. To achieve these unnatural levels, Hemi-Sync puts a single frequency in the left ear and a contrasting frequency in the right. The brain then experiences the Delta frequency, also known as the beat frequency. It’s more familiarly referred to these days as binaural music. With the FFR and beat frequency phenomena firmly in place, The Gateway Process introduces a series of frequencies at marginally audible, subliminal levels. With the left brain relaxed and the body in a virtual sleep state, the conditions are ideal to promote brainwave outputs of higher and higher amplitude and frequency. Alongside subliminal suggestions from Bob Monroe (naturally), the subject can then alter their consciousness.


The Gateway system only works when the audio, which is introduced through headphones, is accompanied by a physical quietude comparable to other forms of meditation. This increases the subject’s internal resonance to the body’s sound frequencies, for example the heart. This eliminates the “bifurcation echo”, in which the heartbeat moves up and down the body seven times a second. By placing the body in a sleep-like state, The Gateway Tapes, like meditation, lessen the force and frequency of the heartbeat pushing blood into the aorta. The result is a rhythmic sine wave that in turn amplifies the sound volume of the heart three times. This then amplifies the frequency of brainwave output. The film surrounding the brain—the dura—and fluid between that film and the skull, eventually begin to move up and down, by .0005 and .010 millimeters.

The body, based on its own micro-motions, then functions as a tuned vibrational system. The report claims that the entire body eventually transfers energy at between 6.8 and 7.5 Hertz, which matches Earth’s own energy (7 - 7.5 Hertz). The resulting wavelengths are long, about 40,000 kilometers, which also happens to be the perimeter of the planet. According to Bentov, the signal can move around the world’s electrostatic field in 1/7th of a second.

To recap, the Gateway Process goes like this:  

• Induced state of calm

• Blood pressure lowers

• Circulatory system, skeleton and other organ systems begin to vibrate at 7 - 7.5 cycles per second

• Increased resonance is achieved

• The resulting sound waves matches the electrostatic field of the earth

• The body and earth and other similarly tuned minds become a single energy continuum.

We’ve gotten slightly ahead of ourselves here though. Back to the drawing board.


A psycho-quantum level deeper

Wayne then turns to the very nature of matter and energy. More materially (or less if you will), solid matter in the strict construction of the term, he explains, doesn’t exist. The atomic structure is composed of oscillating energy grids surrounded by other oscillating energy grids at tremendous speeds. These oscillation rates vary—the nucleus of an atom vibrates at 10 to the power of 22, a molecule vibrates at 10 to the power of 9, a human cell vibrates at 10 to the power of 3. The point is that the entire universe is one complex system of energy fields. States of matter in this conception then are merely variations in the state of energy.
Advertisement

The result of all these moving energies, bouncing off of energy at rest, projects a 3D mode, a pattern, called a hologram, A.K.A our reality as we experience it. It's best to think of it as a 3D photograph. There's a whole rabbit hole to go down here. Suffice it to say, the hologram that is our experience is incredibly good at depicting and recording all the various energies bouncing around creating matter. So good, in fact, that we buy into it hook, line, and sinker, going so far as to call it our "life."

Consciousness then can be envisaged as a 3D grid system superimposed over all energy patterns, Wayne writes. Using mathematics, each plane of the grid system can then reduce the data to a 2D form. Our binary (go/no go) minds can then process the data and compare it to other historical data saved in our memory. Our reality is then formed by comparisons. The right hemisphere of the brain acts as the primary matrix or receptor for this holographic input. The left hemisphere then compares it to other data, reducing it to its 2D form.

In keeping with our species' commitment to exceptionalism, as far as we know humans are uniquely capable of achieving this level of consciousness. Simply, humans not only know, but we know that we know. This bestows upon us the ability to duplicate aspects of our own hologram, project them out, perceive that projection, run it through a comparison with our own memory of the hologram, measure the differences using 3D geometry, then run it through our binary system to yield verbal cognition of the self.


The click-out phase

Wayne then shows his cards as a true punisher, issuing, "Up to this point our discussion of the Gateway process has been relatively simple and easy to follow. Now the fun begins." Shots fired, Wayne. What he's preparing the commander reading this heady report for is the reveal—how we can use the Gateway to transcend the dimension of spacetime.

Time is a measurement of energy or force in motion; it is a measurement of change. This is really important. For energy to be classified as in motion, it must be confined within a vibratory pattern that can contain its motion, keeping it still. Energy not contained like this is boundary-less, and moves without limit or dimension, to infinity. This disqualifies boundary-less energy from the dimension of time because it has no rate of change. Energy in infinity, also called "the absolute state," is completely at rest because nothing is accelerating or decelerating it—again, no change. It therefore does not contribute to our hologram, our physical experience. We cannot perceive it.

Now back to frequencies. Wave oscillation occurs because a wave is bouncing between two rigid points of rest. It's like a game of electromagnetic hot potato (the potato being the wave and the participants' hands being the boundaries of the wave). Without these limits, there would be no oscillation. When a wave hits one of those points of rest, just for a very brief instant, it "clicks out" of spacetime and joins infinity. For this to occur, the speed of the oscillation has to drop below 10 the power of -33 centimeters per second. For a moment, the wave enters into a new world. The potato simply disappears into a dimension we cannot perceive.


Theoretically speaking, if the human consciousness wave pattern reaches a high enough frequency, the “click-outs” can reach continuity. Put another way, if the frequency of human consciousness can dip below 10 to the power of 33 centimeters per second but above a state of total rest, it can transcend spacetime. The Gateway experience and associated Hemi-Sync technique is designed for humans to achieve this state and establish a coherent pattern of perception in the newly realized dimensions.


Passport to the hologram

In theory, we can achieve the above at any time. The entire process though is helped along if we can separate the consciousness from our body. It’s like an existential running head start where the click-out of a consciousness already separated from its body starts much closer to, and has more time to dialogue with, other dimensions.

This is where things get a little slippery; hold on as best you can. The universe is in on the whole hologram thing, too, Wayne writes. This super hologram is called a "torus" because it takes the shape of a fuck-off massive self-contained spiral. Like this:

Give yourself a moment to let the above motion sink in...

This pattern of the universe conspicuously mirrors the patterns of electrons around the nucleus of an atom. Galaxies north of our own are moving away from us faster than the galaxies to the south; galaxies to the east and west of us are more distant. The energy that produced the matter that makes up the universe we presently enjoy, will turn back in on itself eventually. Its trajectory is ovoid, also known as the cosmic egg. As it curls back on itself it enters a black hole, goes through a densely packed energy nucleus then gets spat out the other side of a white hole and begins the process again. Springtime in the cosmos, baby!


The entire universe hologram—the torus—represents all the phases of time: the past, present, and future. The takeaway is that human consciousness brought to a sufficiently altered (focused) state could obtain information about the past, present, and future, since they all live in the universal hologram simultaneously. Wayne reasons that our all-reaching consciousness eventually participates in an all-knowing infinite continuum. Long after we depart the space-time dimension and the hologram each one of us perceives is snuffed out, our consciousness continues. Reassuring in a way.

And that is the context in which the Gateway Experience sits.

[Deep breaths.]

THE TECHNIQUE

The following is an outline of the key steps to reach focus levels necessary to defy the spacetime dimension. This is an involved and lengthy process best attempted in controlled settings. If you’re in a rush, you can apparently listen to enough Monroe Institute Gateway Tapes in 7 days to get there.

The Energy Conversion Box: The Gateway Process begins by teaching the subject to isolate any extraneous concerns using a visualization process called “the energy conversion box.”

Resonant Humming: The individual is introduced to resonant humming. Through the utterance of a protracted single tone, alongside a chorus on the tapes, the mind and body achieve a state of resonance.
Advertisement

The Gateway Affirmation: The participant is exposed to something close to a mantra called The Gateway Affirmation. They must repeat to themselves variations of, “I am merely a physical body and deeply desire to expand my consciousness.”

Hemi-Sync: The individual is finally exposed to the Hemi-Sync sound frequencies, and encouraged to develop a relationship with the feelings that emerge.

Additional Noise: Physical relaxation techniques are practiced while the Hemi-Sync frequencies are expanded to include “pink and white” noise. This puts the body in a state of virtual sleep, while calming the left hemisphere and raising the attentiveness of the right hemisphere.

The Energy Balloon: The individual is then encouraged to visualize the creation of an “energy balloon” beginning at the top of the head, extending down in all directions to the feet then back up again. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that this balloon will provide protection against conscious entities possessing lower energy levels that he or she may encounter when in the out-of-body state.

Focus 12: The practitioner can consistently achieve sufficient expanded awareness to begin interacting with dimensions beyond their physical reality. To achieve this state requires conscious efforts and more “pink and white noise” from the sound stream.

Tools: Once Focus 12 is achieved, the subject can then employ a series of tools to obtain feedback from alternate dimensions.

Problem Solving: The individual identifies fundamental problems, fills their expanded awareness with them, and then projects them out into the universe. These can include personal difficulties, as well as technical or practical problems.

Patterning: Consciousness is used to achieve desired objectives in the physical, emotional, or intellectual sphere.

Color Breathing: A healing technique that revitalizes the body’s energy flows by imagining colors in a particularly vivid manner.

Energy Bar Tool: This technique involves imagining a small intensely pulsating dot of light that the participant charges up. He or she then uses the sparkling, vibrating cylinder of energy (formerly known as the dot) to channel forces from the universe to heal and revitalize the body.

Remote Viewing: A follow-on technique of the Energy Bar Tool where the dot is turned into a whirling vortex through which the individual sends their imagination in search of illuminating insights.

Living Body Map: A more organized use of the energy bar in which streams of different colors flow from the dot on to correspondingly-colored bodily systems.

Seven days of training have now occurred. Approximately 5 percent of participants get to this next level, according to the report.

Focus 15 - Travel Into the Past: Additional sound on the Hemi-Sync tapes includes more of the same, plus some subliminal suggestions to further expand the consciousness. The instructions are highly symbolic: time is a huge wheel, in which different spokes give access to the participant’s past.

Focus 21 - The Future: This is the last and most advanced state. Like Focus 15, this is a movement out of spacetime into the future.

Out-of-Body Movement: Only one tape of the many is devoted to out-of-body movement. This tape is devoted to facilitating an out-of-body state when the participant’s brain wave patterns and energy levels reach harmony with the surrounding electromagnetic environment. According to Bob Monroe, the participant has to be exposed to Beta signals of around 2877.3 cycles per second.

End of transcript
thumbnail
Sha-Man! Geoffrey, modified 5 Months ago at 11/16/23 10:30 AM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/16/23 10:11 AM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 366 Join Date: 10/30/23 Recent Posts
FWIW, I did a little digging and found this meta study on Binaural beats. It seems like a good place to start experimenting with this stuff (I was able to find in 5 seconds an iphone app that lets you do your own beats).

The study by Licklider et al. [3] was the first to characterize the percept of the binaural beat depending on frequency differences in more detail. Up to 20 Hz, the binaural beat is described as a tone fluctuating in loudness, while frequency differences larger than 20 Hz elicit a rough sound. Below a difference of 3 Hz, the binaural beat is perceived as a rotating tone—a sound that appears to rotate in the head from ear to ear [8]. These thresholds are approximate and assumed to vary interindividually [2]. Furthermore, Schwarz and Taylor [4] found that participants can control the perception of binaural beats to a certain degree by focusing either on the two presented tones separately, or on the binaural beat percept instead. Differences between individuals in the ability to perceive binaural beats were also suggested [9].
(A historical note - this guy Licklider is basically the reason we have modern computers and internet. If you're a CS nerd like me, the book The Dream Machine by Waldrop covers the early history of computers through a biographical lens of Licklider and it is a great book).

I have a busy day upcoming, but I'll see if later I can search through the USPTO and find the specific audio parameters of the gateway process (I believe its patented). [update I actually found the original patent very fast lol]

The declassified document is interesting but also declassified documents are psyops too.
Always worth remembering lol
thumbnail
Dream Walker, modified 5 Months ago at 11/20/23 11:52 PM
Created 5 Months ago at 11/20/23 11:52 PM

RE: Does anyone have experience with the hemi-sync/Gateway Experience?

Posts: 1693 Join Date: 1/18/12 Recent Posts
Geoffrey B I'm curious if anyone has experience with the hemi-sync stuff. 
Tom Campbell pretty much invented all the Monroe protocols. He left the 'institute' after Monroe died and it became monetized.
https://www.my-big-toe.com

if you like stories read Bruce Moen books.
Have fun
​​​​​​​~D

Breadcrumb