The CIA used this psychic meditation program. It has never been more popular
Sarah did not expect Experience paralysis at 7am on a weekday while meditating at home.
But in August, while listening to “gateway tapes” — a series of guided meditations designed to help people reach new levels of consciousness — he says his limbs froze.
Sarah, who is in her early thirties and did not want her real name used for privacy concerns, says the tapes — which she listened to on and off for months — took her on a rollercoaster ride of out-of-body experiences. “I was in and out of time and space,” he says. Despite being sober, he says, it was a bad trip.
He recalls a three-week period of wandering instability that shifted from feelings of intense spiritual connection to fears that he might never connect with others again. In retrospect, he is relieved that he was not left “in some kind of mental psychosis,” but sees the events as part of an ultimately positive “awakening” process.
Sarah isn’t the only one reporting confusing and petrifying experiences thanks to the gateway process, which has been around for more than 50 years and has grown in popularity since the pandemic. But, like many others, she also helps him calm his mind and make life-changing changes.
The Gateway Process, developed by radio broadcaster Robert Monroe, claims to be a “journey of self-discovery” that can help people “go farther, deeper, and faster into different dimensions of consciousness.” Monroe founded the Monroe Institute in 1971 in Faber, Virginia. Dubbed America’s “Hogwarts” by one of the creators of mindfulness content, the center claims to help people get out of their bodies through self-hypnosis-style exercises that use “bina taps” — sounds played at different frequencies from a phone — through in-person and virtual retreats and even Spotify playlists. Proponents claim that binaural beats balance both sides of the brain and promote health. And while there’s still no scientific evidence to support the institute’s methods, that hasn’t stopped the military from being interested in Monroe’s mysterious courses, which also include clairvoyance and “remote viewing” — a type of clairvoyance in which a person leaves the body to explore the real world using only the mind.
As of 2022, approximately 12,500 people, including soldiers, psychics, and meditators, have joined online and in-person Gate Journey programs. This is a 35 percent increase in participants over the pre-pandemic period of 2016 to 2019. According to the institute, in 2025, there will be 80 face-to-face meetings with 20 participants. “For the first time in our history, this year we have reached the absolute maximum capacity of our campuses,” said Paul Citarella, executive vice president of the Monroe Institute. In-person retreats cost $2,695 while virtual retreats cost $1,150. Growing demand has led the institute to host events beyond Virginia in other locations across the United States, as well as in Romania, Italy, Switzerland and Greece. Company data shows that the organization’s Expand app has been installed 386,000 times since its launch in July 2021.
In June, the institute announced it was conducting what it called the “world’s first study of higher states of consciousness” with neurofeedback company Neuphoria, which it claims could help people “be among the first humans in history to map, master, and return to altered states—on demand, with data.” About 333 Gateway Voyage graduates have signed up and will soon spend four weeks tracking their brain state data while listening to meditations, paying $897 a piece.
