Odyssey is the first album set in Focus 21, which the publisher calls the bridge to other energy systems. It invites you to embark on an odyssey of self-discovery, with high-adventure exercises in dimensions beyond physical time-space reality. They are Sensing, Expansion, Point of Departure, Nonphysical Friends, Intro to Focus 21 and Free Flow Journey in Focus 21. Free-flow exercises, here and in earlier waves, give you unguided time in the state to explore on your own. Wave VII, Voyager: Focus 21 to 27 and service Voyager is based on the Institute's residential Lifeline program. The publisher describes it as teaching service to self and others: you travel to Focus 21 and on through Focus 23 to 27, where you can contact people who have died but remain static, in the publisher's word, and guide them to a reception center. The exercises are Explore Total Self, Intro to Focus 23, Intro to Focus 25, Intro to Focus 27, Retrieval and Messages From Beyond. A practitioner writing in the Hemi-Sync Journal in 2002 paired exercises labeled Wave VII with Lifeline in personal work in Focus 21 and 27. Wave VIII, Union: Focus 27 and beyond
SOURCE CONTEXT
The Gateway waves
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The publisher's current edition adds an eighth album, Union, based on the Institute's Exploration 27 program. It describes a journey beyond time and space through the infinite space of Focus 27 and areas outside the Earth life system. Union is the one album with eight exercises: Special Tour, Meeting the Entry Director, Educational Opportunities, Healing and Regeneration Center, The Planning Center, Coordination Area, Inner Earth and The Absolute. How the waves build on each other The structure is a ladder of Focus levels: Focus 10 in Discovery, Focus 12 in Threshold through Adventure, Focus 15 in Exploring, Focus 21 in Odyssey and Focus 23 to 27 in Voyager and Union. The publisher states the rule directly: the albums are meant to be used in order because each builds on the tools and techniques of those before. A facilitator at a 1993 Institute seminar gave a small example, saying participants got less from Color Breathing and the Living Body Map if they had not first reached Focus 12. “In particular, the set of tapes (Wave I) of the Gateway Experience is geared towards establishing the Focus 10 state, while subsequent series (Wave II to VI) gradually increase the phase shift away from the physical.” (TMI Web Resources 2012 - An Overview of Focus Levels — TMI Web Resources 2012 - An Overview of Focus Levels.pdf, 2012)
Robert Monroe: “Tonight you're going to do an exercise called Lift Off. And this particular exercise is not designed to help you get out of your body, but to get you the feel of what happened to me back in 1958.” (Robert A. Monroe GATEWAY VOYAGE Talks - Monday Nights — 1987-01 Monday Night GATEWAY Talk (Transcript).pdf) Robert Monroe: “Gateway helps you explore the borders, the edges of human consciousness, as we know it. The tools we provide, again, help you do and perform that exploration.” (Robert A. Monroe - Welcome to Gateway Voyage — Welcome to Gateway Voyage (Transcript).pdf) Joseph Felser: “Part of me cringes at the thought. Am I afraid of hearing something? Is that “something” my own [inveterately] self-critical voice? Or is it rather that I'm afraid of hearing nothing at all—that I'll discover there's only emptiness inside, the same silence that we are supposedly cultivating this morning on the outside. I'm not a little apprehensive. As the exercise begins, I can feel myself flinch, as if ducking a feigned punch, as I invite messages from my unnamed source.” (Magazine Article 2000 (EHE News) My Gateway Experience - Joseph M. Felser — Magazine Article 2000 (EHE News) My Gateway Experience - Joseph M. Felser.pdf, 2000)