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Gifts of the Gateway Voyage
By Kathy Bennett
There is a law of the universe which states,
"You always get what you truly desire."
Think about it for a moment. You can probably
recall a time in your life when events fell
into place; when you received something you
really wanted. + may have been a better job,
a new relationship, or a great vacation. It
may have simply been a solution to a troubling
problem. | recently desired a stronger sense
of direction; a clearer understanding of where
| was going in this world. What | received,
and am still receiving, are the gifts of the
Gateway Voyage experience.
It all started when something on top of a
bookshelf caught my attention, It was a simple
flyer, black ink on a pale blue page. By the
time | had finished reading it my body was
swirling with intense energy. The Monroe Insti-
tute and Robert Monroe, author of JOURNEYS OUT
OF THE BODY and FAR JOURNEYS, had put their
Gateway Voyage program on the road, it said.
And get this: Gateway was coming to my neigh-
borhood! Reading the flyer again to grasp
more details, | learnéd that Bob Monroe has
developed an audio technique called Hemi-Sync
(hemispheric synchronization) that can lead
an individual into various mental states.
Hemi-Sync has been used to access deeper lev-
els of awareness. The Gateway Voyage Prog-
ram uses Hemi-Sync in a "series of taped ex-
ercises designed to lead participants to the
thresholds of consciousness that become gate-
ways to expanded personal power and awareness
The idea of being led to "thresholds of con-
sciousness"; of learning to identify various
levels of awareness, sparked my interest.
Seth talks about this concept in his book
SETH SPEAKS. He says, "Consciousness at dif-
ferent levels or stages perceives different
kinds of events. In order to perceive some
of these you have only to learn to change
the focus of your attention from one level
to another. The dimensions of it (consclous-
ness) can only be sensed by those determined
enough to take the time and effort required
to Journey through their own subjective real-
ities." 1 thought the Gateway Voyage Prog-
ram would perhaps provide this kind of exper-
tence for me.
Another deciding factor in my decision to at-
tend the program was my urgent desire to open
a direct communication with my higher self.
Dare | say it? | wanted to create a channel
through which personal wisdom and direction
would flow. Never mind that | had been thus
far directed to "discover" the flyer. |
wanted ego boosting drama.
The Gateway Voyage Program did provide me
with experience In identifying various alter-
ed states. The Hemi-Sync signal was the key.
The process uses pulses of sound to help cre—
ate simultaneously an identical wave form in
both brain hemispheres. It helps to focus
the whole brain to the same state of awareness.
The technology cuts a pathway to consciousness
which took me to an altered state and kept me
there,
The taped exercises provided a slow progres-
sion of skill building. Using the tapes |
learned how to relax deeply; | stretched my
conscious awareness to pull in more of the
unknown into the known; | practiced with oth-
er methods of communication to contact eneray
systems; and | established body signals to de-
termine my own level of consciousness. Seth
says minute chenical and electrochemical al-
terations accompany stages of consciousness.
Certain physical changes in hormone production
and pineal activity do occur. 1 used this to
create reference points for further explor-
ations.
The most precious gitt of Gateway was found
in the dynamics of the group. Initially
' was wrapped up in my own personal quest of
self discovery and it didn't occur to me that
others may join me on my journey. As it was,
twelve unique individuals created the Gateway
experience. We developed a group energy so
Powerful that a magical thing happened; we
became mirrors to one another. Each person
reflected an aspect of myself. It was as If
| had divided into twelve pieces with each
piece experiencing its own personal growth;
each piece empathized with and loved dearly
by me. The magic worked the other way to,
as | also reflected aspects for the others.
A tremendous love/energy filled our beings.
1+ sought expression through joyous playful-
ness, wild insights, Intense dreams and out-
rageously funny Jokes (wink, wink).
Another lovely gift that come via the Gate-
way's format was the week long residential
Program, which provided me with an opportun-
ity to get away from the outside world.
There were no phones, no T.V.s or radios, no
time pieces and no workday responsibilities.
Our morning wake up call came shortly before
the birds got up. Some of us gathered for
exercise; others joined the group at break-
fast. Afterward, we all gathered at the rec-
reation room and began discussion. This was
followed by taped exercises, more discussion,
food and play. Then came more tapes, dis-
cussions and so on into the night (long after
the birds had gone to sleep).
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It didn't take long before our group began to
feel the odd effects of this routine. We be-
gan sensing subtle shifts in the way we per-
ceived sensory information. For instance,
Alex, a fellow explorer, discovered he could
not grasp the contents of a paragraph he had
just read, | found myself lulled into day-
dreams by simply focusing on the sound of run-
ning water. None of us could keep track of
time. More notably, none of us really cared
to try. One of our trainers, Dan Clausing,
had an explanation for our shift in perception.
Because of the concentration used during the
taped exercises we had strongly activated the
right hemisphere of our brains. Humans pos-
sess a double brain with two ways of knowing.
The right and left hemisphere gathers the same
sensory information and each half handles the
information in different ways. The mode of
the left hemisphere is sequential, verbal,
objective and analytical. The mode of the
right hemisphere is subjective, intuitive,
relational, holistic and time free. Our west-
ern culture spends a great deal of time in
a left hemisphere mode. That's how things get
done in order and on time. When there is a
shift over to right hemisphere dominance, we
open ourselves to receiving intuitions and
wonderful insights. | very much enjoyed
spending the week being "right brained.”
Says Gateway trainer, Ann Martin, “When you
make @ request (from the higher energy) and
you don't get what you expect, be aware.
Gifts don't always come in the wrappings we
anticipate." 1! should have heeded that ad-
vice sooner. 1! wasted a lot of time chasing
after my higher eneray, deeply desiring an
open channel to my greater self. | looked In
all the corners of my mind. 1 even delivered
myself to the doorsteps of the mansion of my
oversoul; no one was home. 1 looked so hard
1 couldn't see a damn thing. But, when |
finally understood what Ann meant, new ways
of perceiving opened up for me. | remembered
that | was working with energy. Communi-
cation manifests as impressions, emotions,
body sensations and verbal language. We had
to remain open to our own way of channeling
energy. As it turned out, my most insightful
and dramatic realizations came to me by way
of my dreams,
The most enduring gift | received from my
Gateway experience was an affirmation of my
edility to direct myself. 1! now have a clear-
er understanding that | do indeed create my
reality; that | am responsible for my growth,
1 can now draw myself into a higher energy and
channel my own wisdoms and direction. Gate-
way has ggven me the incentive and the cosmic
tools with which to accomplish this. | am on
a new path to greater awareness and many more
exciting adventures lie ahead of me.
THE PROGRAM
DOESN'T SAY
WHAT HE GOTHIS
YEAH |
ANIMAL.
HUSBANDRY /