Todd Masluk's dissertation research, summarized in the Institute's Hemi-Sync Journal in 1996, surveyed 160 people from eleven Gateway Voyage groups aged 24 to 72. Of 291 powerful experiences, the largest category was transpersonal: consciousness outside the usual realms of time and space, peak experiences and inner guidance. Seventy-two percent began while a tape was playing. Reported after-effects included greater self-acceptance, living more fully in the present and a stronger sense of being more than the physical body. The headphones are training wheels The audio is meant to teach a route, not to be required forever. Taylor says participants take the headphones off near the end of the course and practice without the technology: once you know what a state feels like, you close your eyes, remember the feeling and are back. Monroe made a related point in a Gateway Voyage talk, telling the group that once the fear is gone you do not have to go through any count to ten and can simply think of Focus 12 and go there. The aim is a skill that outlasts the recordings. Robert Monroe: “We have only one particular piece of dogma that you have to consider, and that is that you, the essence of you, are more than your physical body. What that means beyond that particular statement is part of the exploration of consciousness that you yourself will enter into.” (Bob Monroe on the Consciousness Enhancing Benefits of Gateway Voyage)
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Robert Monroe: “Gateway does not guarantee that you will have an [out-of-body] experience. Now, of course, I know you, a lot of you perhaps came saying, “Oh, I will have an out-of-body experience.” Percentage-wise, I would say that, what, 15% of the people who attend a Gateway session have an out-of-[body] experience during the session.” (Bob Monroe on the Consciousness Enhancing Benefits of Gateway Voyage) Robert Monroe: “We got into the use of sound because we were looking for the borderland sleep state. And we needed some way, without drugs, in order to help people get to a sleep state where we could research that borderland consciousness just prior to sleep.” (Robert A. Monroe Explains... (3 Videos) — Exploring Sound (Transcript).pdf) “Moreover, a feedback system could be employed, whereby the participants themselves, in their reporting of effects, would permit the evolution and modification of methods and techniques employed with each succeeding program. … Originally named the M-5000, it is now called the Gateway Program.” ((TMI-Army Files) 1983 - MIAS Proposals — 1 1983-10-23 Proposal for Research.pdf, 1983)
Scott Taylor: “In the Gateway experience, we have — we teach you four focus levels, which is our way of saying there's four different spots on the map to have you go and explore. Focus 10, we use numbers. No particular good reason, but we just do. Actually, they carry a lot less cultural baggage. That's why Bob used numbers.” (How the Gateway Voyage Can Transform You) Scott Taylor: “Towards the end of the course, we ask you to take the headphones off and begin to practice how to use it without the technology. The technology that we use is just training wheels. It gets you going. It teaches you where the portals are. But then once you know what they feel like, all you have to do is close your eyes, remember the feeling, and you're back there just that quick.” (How the Gateway Voyage Can Transform You) Joseph Felser: “It feels as if I am riding on top of a great wave of energy, like a huge thrilling surge of water. I have a persistent sense of just about being able to lift out of my body. I sense starburst-like pulsations of energy around my hands and feet. Again I have two sets of arms, one inside the other. And the images zip by fast and furious, one after the other, almost too quickly for me to absorb.” (Magazine Article 2000 (EHE News) My Gateway Experience - Joseph M. Felser — Magazine Article 2000 (EHE News) My Gateway Experience - Joseph M. Felser.pdf, 2000)