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The Monroe Institute

Consciousness research facility specializing in non-physical states of consciousness. The institute was founded in 1971 by businessman Robert A. Monroe. For more than a decade Monroe claimed to have had out-of-the-body experiences and was tested on several occasions by psychologists attempting to understand the nature of his inner life. He also began to experiment with the use of sound patterns to affect brain wave production. He developed an audio-technology called Hemi-Sync (Hemispheric Synchronization) that facilitates self-directed exploration of focused states of consciousness.

The institute offers programs that teach individuals the art of switching perceptual modes from the outer to the inner world of their own consciousness and to fields outside the realm of physical matter (i.e., other dimensions). The Gateway program introduces participants, in a step-by-step manner, to inner exploration, allowing time for adjustment to each new experience and the emotions it might create. In 1981 the institute announced the Discovery program, which offers some of the Gateway techniques for use in-home. After Robert Monroe's death in 1998, he was succeeded by his daughter Laurie A. Monroe.

The institute publishes periodicals that report on its research program. It also distributes numerous tapes and CDs. Address: 62 Roberts Mountain Road, Faber, VA 22938. Web-site: http://www.monroeinstitute.org/.