Explorer sessions Trained volunteers described altered states aloud in a shielded booth while a monitor, often Monroe, asked questions. The recordings became the Explorer Series. The Explorer sessions were Robert Monroe's laboratory research with experienced volunteers at the Monroe Institute. An Explorer lay in total darkness on a waterbed in a soundproof, electrically shielded booth, wearing stereo headphones that carried Hemi-Sync tones, with electrodes attached to the body and a microphone close to the mouth. In the control room, a monitor, often Monroe himself, watched the instruments and asked questions through the sound system. Everything the Explorer said was recorded. The Institute's archive dates the Explorers Project from 1974 to 1991 and counts more than 70 Explorers and over 1,000 sessions. Explorers were typically Gateway Voyage graduates who had mastered the Institute's techniques, were tested in the lab and were invited back. From Focus 10 and Focus 12 and beyond, they described out-of-body travel, past-life scenes, the structure of the focus levels and, above all, meetings with nonphysical beings they called helpers, guides or friends. Monroe said the most common pattern was an Explorer meeting such a being and relaying the conversation while the monitor supplied questions. Less often, with the Explorer's consent, the being spoke through the Explorer's own voice. He stated flatly that no drugs or medication were used in any session.
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Explorer sessions
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Monroe released selections as the Explorer Series, introducing each tape in his own voice and offering the material without evaluation. The original series ran to 24 tapes, and the Institute's YouTube channel now posts the recordings as numbered episodes, with later sessions from other Explorers identified only by code. The tapes are a small part of what happened in the booth: most session time went to routine testing of sounds and states, and the released segments were chosen for general interest. They are best heard as recorded conversations to compare, not as exercises to follow. Volunteers who trained first Rita Warren, who coordinated the Explorer work, defined an Explorer as a volunteer who has typically attended a Gateway Voyage and mastered the Institute's techniques. Candidates were tested in the laboratory and invited back. Monroe admitted the earliest Explorers were simply people who were available and willing, and that screening came later. His conclusion was that anyone can be an Explorer if their value systems can be self-adjusted, which takes a lot of work and patience that most people lack. A shielded booth, a waterbed, no drugs
The setting is consistent across the tapes. The Explorer lies in total darkness, usually on a temperature-controlled waterbed, in a soundproof booth shielded with copper sheet metal. A microphone sits close to the mouth, electrodes on the head, hands and feet report body states to the control room, and headphones carry Hemi-Sync tones. Monroe said he came to rely mainly on total body voltage, which needed only two or three electrodes, to read the Explorer's state. No drugs or medication were used. The monitor is half of every recording Every Explorer tape is the audio track of a conversation between the Explorer in the booth and a monitor in the control room. On the original series the monitor is Monroe; later sessions feature Rita Warren and Martin Warren. The monitor counts the Explorer through states, asks for detail, checks on comfort and relays questions to whatever the Explorer meets. Monroe compared the pair to two brains working together to draw information from the contact. Three patterns of contact