Sound & programs · 11 MIN READ · 8 SOURCE QUOTES
Going Home
Going Home is a Hemi-Sync audio series created for people approaching the end of life and for the families and caregivers around them. Robert Monroe produced it in the last years of his life, with input from the psychiatrist and death-and-dying pioneer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the psychologist Charles Tart. It was described in the Hemi-Sync Journal as a two-album series designed for hospice patients and their families, and the fall 1994 issue already noted that the tapes were available.
The publisher's listing for the album for the person facing death names eleven exercises, beginning with the familiar Mind Awake/Body Asleep state and moving through Flying Free, Remove and Release, Edge of Here/Now, Touring the Interstate, Moment of Revelation, Right of Passage, Homecoming, Freedom Flight, Return to Revelation and the Relocation Theme. The publisher describes the aim as easing the common fear of physical death and helping a person meet it with dignity and peace, through direct experience of being more than the physical body. Psychiatrist Jonathan Holt, who used the tapes in hospice for years, described their style as open and permissive, with imagery borrowed from near-death accounts and from meditations on death, and no images tied to any single religion.
The series grew out of Monroe's own exploration of what happens after death, the same work that produced the Lifeline program and his map of the states from Focus 23 to Focus 27. The phrase had personal weight for him: in his talks he described a nonphysical "home" of moving clouds, shifting color and music that he said he had visited and longed to return to. Since its release, Going Home has been used in hospices, oncology and palliative care, therapists' offices and family bedsides, and also by healthy people who want to come to terms with death in advance.
A two-album Hemi-Sync series for people facing death and their families, built by Monroe with input from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Charles Tart.
Key points
Built by Monroe with Kübler-Ross and Tart
Holt's 2006 Hemi-Sync Journal article credits Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Charles Tart and Robert Monroe as the creators of Going Home, produced by Monroe Products. Tart later said he and Kübler-Ross each gave input to Monroe but did not work directly with each other. He recalled long phone calls and materials sent back and forth, and thought the idea probably came from someone close to Monroe who was hospitalized and dying.
Two albums: the person and the family
Going Home is a two-album series. One album is for the person facing death, the subject of the exercises. The other supports the people around them. Holt's account and the 2008 Hemi-Sync Journal both describe the series as designed for hospice patients and their families, and practitioners report leaving the tapes with families to play at the bedside.
The exercises move step by step
The subject album's eleven exercises begin in Mind Awake/Body Asleep, the Focus 10 state, and progress toward release and transition, with titles such as Flying Free, Remove and Release, Moment of Revelation, Homecoming and Freedom Flight. In Flying Free, the listener flies with Robert Monroe. One therapist's client described clouds and a rainbow there, the same imagery Monroe used for the home he said he had visited.
No religious framework required
Holt noted that the tapes contain no specific images from any one religious group or system. The imagery comes from near-death reports and from meditations and trance journeys about death and the afterlife, delivered in an open, permissive style. This let clinicians offer the series to patients of any faith, or none, and to people unsure what they believed.
Rooted in Lifeline
A participant writing in the fall 1994 Hemi-Sync Journal recalled that during a Lifeline week Monroe unveiled plans for special Hemi-Sync tapes for dying people and their families, which an editor's note identified as Going Home. The writer hoped Lifeline graduates could use them to help a dying person from this side. The series carries the Lifeline idea, that the transition can be prepared for and accompanied, into the hospice room.
Used in hospice and cancer care
Holt began using Going Home after learning of it at the end of 1995 and reported several hospice cases at the Institute's 2000 Professional Seminar and in later papers. The 2008 Hemi-Sync Journal pilot study on radiation oncology listed it among Hemi-Sync series used in cancer care. Other practitioners, including Cecile Carson, reported that patients facing life-threatening illness and their families benefited from it.
Also used by people who are not dying
Alexandre Chaligne, a palliative-care volunteer in Winnipeg, made Going Home the core of his programs for terminally ill people and their families, and also built a six-day program for healthy people on top of it. A Reiki center reported in 1995 that it had experimented with Going Home selections on its practitioner days. A thanatology educator, questioning Tart in 2015, recalled a line from the series that she credited to him: it is for everyone, since we are all terminal patients and it is only a matter of time.
A word that meant something to Monroe
In his evening talks Monroe described a nonphysical place he called home, labeled KT-95, a state of moving clouds, changing rainbow color and vast music, which he said he had visited twice and had to be pulled back from. For years, he said, going home was his goal. He later said he found he had outgrown it. The talks do not say the series was named for this place, but the theme of return runs through both.
In their own words
Quotes are checked word for word against the recordings and documents they come from. Bracketed words correct transcription errors; “…” marks an omission.
“I happily said, this is … the thing I would like to do, is go home. Going home, that's the whole thing. And I equated it with all the things that we do as humans [who] have that nostalgia to be home. And we put that at a physical site somewhere, where we were born or where we grew up, these kinds of things.”
“Home to me was a state, [a] place where there were these beautiful moving clouds and different rainbow hues and things like that. And that was where home was, to be in those clouds.”
“We spent a lot of time talking on the phone about that, sending materials back and forth. I'm trying to remember what originally gave Bob the idea. … Probably somebody close to him who was hospitalized and dying, and … he saw an opportunity there to be able to help people. But I can't recall the specific incident.”
“One of the quotes you had … in the series, you said that this series is for everyone, because after all we're all terminal patients, it's a question of time. And I love that.”
“Going Home®, a two-album series designed for hospice patients and their families, has had a role to play in oncology care, and the first author has discussed several case studies (Holt 2000, 2004, 2006) of that application.”
“The nursing coordinator requested suggestions, and I offered one of the later Going Home tapes. The nurse coordinator called me later that same day to say that she had played Homecoming for the patient. Mrs. K.’s breathing had quieted and, by the end of the tape, she had peacefully expired.”
“In an effort to bridge the gap between those actually dying and the living, I decided to deliver the Going Home program to nondying people at our meditation school.”
“So whenever I've been with somebody who's making their transition and use Going Home, I've been able to reassure them that I've already been on that pathway.”
Important things to consider
Not a medical treatment
Going Home is a set of guided relaxation and meditation exercises. It does not treat illness, relieve symptoms in any established medical sense, or replace hospice, palliative or psychological care. Clinicians who used it, such as Holt, did so alongside standard care, not instead of it. Any decisions about medication or treatment belong with the care team.
Case reports are not causation
Some of the most moving accounts describe a patient dying peacefully during or soon after a tape. These are individual reports from practitioners, written without controls, and they cannot show that the tapes changed the timing or course of anyone's death. Holt himself said he had no preference about a patient's timing; his interest was whether fear was causing quiet suffering.
Ask before you press play
The person facing death should choose whether to listen. One palliative-care volunteer describes a patient who at first refused and later came back ready to begin, and a spouse who was not ready at all. Explain what the exercises contain, including their talk of leaving the body and of a life beyond this one, and respect a no. A patient's beliefs and wishes come before the family's hopes.
Make listening practical
Stereo headphones carry the Hemi-Sync effect best, but in a hospital room comfort comes first, and a small speaker is an option if headphones are uncomfortable. Keep sessions short if energy is low, check volume, and let the person rest or sleep through an exercise if they need to. The family album exists because caregivers need support too.
Beliefs are invited, not imposed
The exercises avoid religious imagery and use language from near-death reports, which many find comforting. Some listeners will still find the framing of survival and a nonphysical home at odds with their faith or doubts. Present the series as one resource among many, and pair it with chaplains, counselors or a person's own tradition when that matters to them.
Useful before a crisis
Several practitioners used Going Home with people who were not dying: Chaligne's six-day program for healthy people, Reiki practitioners, and therapy clients exploring fears of dying alone. Listening while well, or with an aging parent before illness takes hold, gives everyone time to absorb unfamiliar ideas without urgency.
Finding the series today
Going Home appears in the Death and Dying category of Hemi-Sync, the publisher of Monroe's audio, where the subject album is listed with its eleven exercises and a user manual. The same category holds related titles such as Scott Taylor's Into the Light series and Ebb and Flow: Meditations for Grief Support. Check the publisher's current listing for available editions, languages and formats.
Common questions
What is the Going Home series?
Going Home is a two-album Hemi-Sync series for people approaching death and for their families and caregivers. Robert Monroe created it in the last years of his life with input from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Charles Tart. The album for the person facing death contains eleven guided exercises, starting in Mind Awake/Body Asleep and moving through titles such as Flying Free, Moment of Revelation and Homecoming. The publisher describes its purpose as easing the fear of physical death and helping a person meet it with dignity and peace. It is a meditation resource, not a medical treatment.
Who made Going Home and why?
Monroe produced it through Monroe Products, and Holt's 2006 article credits Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Charles Tart and Monroe as its creators. Tart recalled long phone calls and materials going back and forth. He thought the idea probably came from someone close to Monroe who was hospitalized and dying, though he could not recall the incident; he and Kübler-Ross each gave input but never worked directly together. A Lifeline participant recalled Monroe unveiling plans for tapes for dying people and their families during a Lifeline week, and an editor's note in the fall 1994 Hemi-Sync Journal identified those plans as Going Home.
Is Going Home only for people who are dying?
No. It was designed for hospice patients and their families, but practitioners have used it far more widely. Alexandre Chaligne built a six-day program for healthy people on Going Home, wanting to bridge the gap between the dying and the living. A Reiki center used selections on its practitioner days, and one therapist used the Flying Free exercise with a client in therapy for depression, a session that brought out her fear of dying alone. A thanatology educator recalled a line from the series, which she credited to Tart: it is for everyone, because we are all terminal patients and it is only a question of time.
How do hospices and families use Going Home?
Accounts in the Hemi-Sync Journal describe a few common patterns. A clinician or volunteer explains the series, and the patient chooses whether to listen. Some patients work through the exercises over days or weeks; others, near the end, hear only the later tapes such as Homecoming. Families are often given the tapes to play at the bedside, and the second album supports them directly. Psychiatrist Jonathan Holt reported several hospice cases in which patients who were anxious about dying listened in their final days. These are practitioner reports, not controlled studies, and the series is used alongside standard hospice care.
Does Going Home make someone die sooner?
There is no evidence that it does, and it is not designed to. Some case reports describe patients dying peacefully during or soon after listening, but those patients were already at the very end of life, and single reports cannot show cause. Holt, who wrote several of these accounts, said he had no preference about a patient's timing; his concern was whether unspoken fear was causing suffering. The exercises are guided relaxation and imagery meant to ease fear and support peace. Medical decisions belong to the person, their family and their care team.
How does Going Home relate to Lifeline and Focus 27?
They come from the same body of work. Monroe's later explorations mapped states he associated with what happens after death, from Focus 23 to the reception area at Focus 27, and the Lifeline program trains people to visit them and help those who seem stuck after dying. Going Home brings that perspective to the person who is actually dying and their family, using imagery drawn from near-death reports and Monroe's own descriptions. Monroe spoke often of a nonphysical home of clouds, color and music that he said he had visited, and the theme of return runs through the series.
In Monroe’s books
Summarized in our own words; the books are not reproduced on this site.
Ultimate Journey. Monroe sets out his account of the states people pass through after death and his experiences helping people who seemed stuck there, the background against which Going Home was produced.
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