Arrival at Focus 15 with the Gateway Experience
For the last few days I’ve been experimenting with focus 15 as part of the Gateway Experience program. Robert Monroe referred to it as a level of consciousness that is beyond time. This sound suitably mysterious, and for the last few weeks it has been a real struggle for me not to skip ahead to this session. I forced myself to stick with my schedule because each session builds on the previous one. I’m glad I waited because it meant that the move to focus 15 felt natural.
operatively Goodbye Bob Monroe, Hello Laurie Monroe
Waves 5 and 6 of the Gateway Experience were changed after Bob died. This is because up until a few years ago it was not possible to go above focus 12 with the home program – you had to attend a retreat at the Monroe Institute for this. Bob wasn’t around to create the new waves so the task has been taking over by his daughter Laurie Monroe. When I heard her voice on the first track of Wave 5 it came as a bit of a shock. Despite my complaints in the last post about Bob’s wordiness I’d gotten used to his friendly voice. It took a few sessions before I was used to his daughter providing the instructions.
http://busingers.ca/87.php Arrival at Focus 15
The process of moving from focus 12 to focus 15 is nothing fancy. I suspect that the real magic happens because of the hemi sync that is hidden beneath other sounds on the track. The difference between focus 10 and focus 12 is quite noticeable for me. I can literally feel my consciousness expanding and the area around the middle of my brow (this is sometimes referred to as the third eye or brow chakra) becomes activated strongly. The first time I moved from focus 12 to focus 15 the change felt subtle. I knew that something had altered in the level of my consciousness, but I just couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. I’ve now been back to focus 15 about 12 times and the quality of this state of consciousness is more obvious to me. I can understand why it is referred to as beyond time – although it is different from what I expected.
I waited until after I’d experienced focus 15 for myself before reading what other people had to say about this state of consciousness. I came across a post by another blogger and he described it as being stuck in some sort of perceptual molasses. That is a good description and better than the words I would use to describe it. Thoughts slow down in focus 15 and the gaps between thoughts seem to go on for a long time – it is almost like you can forget to think. I’ve found that it is lethal to enter this state when I’m tired because it is so easy to fall into sleep. When I manage to stay awake there tends to be long gaps of nothing combined with periods of clear images. On a few occasions when I’ve reached the end of the session I didn’t want it to end.
The ability to remain aware without thoughts or other stimulus is evidence that consciousness is far more than what some modern scientists would have us believe. Our sense of ‘I ness” can remain even when our identity, memories, beliefs and opinions fall away. There are some advanced meditators who claim to remain aware even when they are in deepest sleep – I believe them. I view this ability to remain aware without external or internal stimuli as further evidence that we are more than our physical bodies.
2021 Update: If you would like to know where my adventures led me a decade later, you can check out this more recent post.
My Previous Posts about the Monroe Gateway Experience
Out of Body with the Monroe Gateway Experience
Early Astral Explorations with the Monroe Gateway Experience
How Brain Entrainment Increases My Productivity
Astral Travel to Help People Recover From Addiction
Continuing Adventures with Hemi Sync Gateway Experience
Latest Posts
Hi Paul,
I am more or less at focus 10. Chilling out and trying to interact with the lights. Any tips or recommendations ?
Hey!
So I have gone all the way to 27 but not sure if I did or not. I am redoing through them and was seeing if you had any tips for focus 15?
P.S. I knew the originals were from decades ago and did not know beyond 12 was never done. So thanks for the info!
Hi Joe, I think one thing that I found useful was to just assume that what I was experiencing when the track said that I was at focus 15 was focus 15. I then started to realize that there were certain aspects of my perceptional that changed at this stage – e.g. there was a kind of smoothing out of experience which creates a timeless quality.
Hey there,
I was curious to know what you think about / focus on when going from focus 10 to 12?
I’ve been having trouble wrapping my head around “expanded awareness” – I feel I can get to focus 10 pretty well but unsure of what I’m supposed to be thinking and feeling to go beyond.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!
Hi Evan, sorry for taking so long to reply. It is similar to a meditation state called ‘open awareness’. Let’s say you are looking at a computer screen right now – next expand your awareness so that you can also notice everything going on around the computer screen – the entire room that you can capture in your periphery. This is now moving into a more open awareness. You can also do the same thing with your eyes closed.