Gateway practices · 12 MIN READ · 7 SOURCE QUOTES
The Resonant Energy Balloon
The Resonant Energy Balloon, usually shortened to REBAL, is the Gateway tool for building a protective field of energy around yourself. Typically once you are in Focus 10, you use the energy already flowing through your body. It pours from the top of the head, falls around you on every side to the feet, and rises back up through the body, round and round, until it forms a balloon. The lab monitors' wording was to construct the balloon from the energies flowing through you and project them out and around you, feeling safe and secure.
Monroe said the REBAL came straight out of Explorer sessions, and Explorer transcripts dated 1976 and 1977 already refer to building an energy balloon. The 1983 Army assessment lists three purposes: it enhances bodily energy flow, encourages an early resonant state, and provides protection against conscious entities with lower energy levels, with a precautionary role if a participant's first out-of-body experience goes beyond the terrestrial sphere. Speaking of systems that make your imagination look like a crude drawing, Monroe told a 1990 Voyage group not to worry: that is what you have a REBAL for.
Participants use it beyond the first night. Monitors had Explorers carry the balloon into deeper Focus levels, and Gateway graduates talk about being bubbled up. Monroe himself told a Voyage group about a young woman waiting out a layover at Washington National Airport who noticed men with briefcases drifting toward her; she put up her REBAL and the flow went back. At home, the publisher's page for the Advanced Focus 10 track of the Discovery album (Wave I) says it teaches you to use the REBAL.
Build a loop of energy around yourself: the Gateway protection tool that Monroe said came straight out of Explorer sessions.
Key points
How to build it: one continuous energy loop
In the 1983 assessment the participant envisages an energy flow beginning at the center of the top of the head, extending down in all directions to the feet, then proceeding up through the body and back out into the balloon pattern again. An Explorer in a June 1986 session described the same loop as a shower, a fountain coming out of the top of the head, covering the body completely, returning by the feet and passing up through the body again. The lab monitor's instruction was to use the energies flowing through you and project them out and around you.
The loop is the point, not the direction
Sources describe the loop both ways. A podcast host describes energy rising from the soles of the feet, up the body and out of the head like a rain shower, falling around him to make a bubble and re-entering through the feet; he compares the upward flow to Kundalini. Another podcast speaker imagines a toroidal aura with a spiral going up and likes to do both. What stays constant is a continuous flow that surrounds you. Follow the wording on your recording and let your own image settle.
What it is for: protection, energy flow and a precaution
The 1983 assessment says the balloon enhances bodily energy flow, encourages early achievement of a suitable resonant state, and is designed to provide protection against conscious entities possessing lower energy levels. It adds that it serves a precautionary purpose in the unlikely event that a participant's first out-of-body experience takes them outside the terrestrial sphere. A Monroe Institute presenter says the balloon directs the energy that resonant tuning has raised.
Monroe: it came straight out of Explorer sessions
In a 1990 talk Monroe said many facets of the Voyage program came out of Explorer meetings, and that the REBAL was straight out of a session, or several. The transcripts bear that out: an Explorer session note dated June 1976 records a subject who had created a resonant energy balloon and moved to Focus 12, and a January 1977 session has the monitor offering a choice between building the energy balloon and a cleansing exercise.
Built in Focus 10 and carried deeper
In several 1988 laboratory sessions the balloon was built once the Explorer reached Focus 10. A November 1988 monitor told an Explorer to construct it from the energy flowing through the body, project it out and around, and know that wherever you go and whatever you do you will always be in your energy balloon, safe and secure. Monitors then moved Explorers to Focus 12, 15 and 21 with the balloon, and in a December 1988 session asked the Explorer to build it on arrival at Focus 15.
What it feels like
Joseph Felser, writing about his Gateway Voyage in 2000, recalls being taught in Focus 10 to sense and expand the balloon as a field of nonphysical energy surrounding and penetrating the body, and reports bodily sensations at the time, including a tourniquet-like feeling on one leg and a tight headband feeling. An Explorer in a published transcript said the balloon still did not touch them, with enough room to float inside and nice breathing space.
Using it outside sessions
Monroe told a 1990 Voyage group about a young woman on a layover at Washington National Airport who noticed the traffic of men with briefcases diverted toward her; she put up her REBAL and the flow went back. She attributed it to being fresh out of Gateway with radiation coming out of her. A practitioner's case report in the TMI Journal (2010) says a client who felt insecure in her environment found the REBAL effective while driving and while listening to Hemi-Sync.
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.
“REBAL, the resonant energy balloon, is straight out of a session, as far as that’s concerned. Or several, as a matter of fact. There are a lot of interesting stories about that. You’re into the, you’ve gotten the Rebal pretty much under control, haven’t you? I think the most fascinating story I know about a very lovely young girl, who went and had about an hour and a half layover in Washington National Airport, and here she is sitting here all alone, but very, you know, this sort of thing. And the traffic flow of males with briefcases was going over here, diverted and went past like that, you see, as that magnetism of her emitted, as it were.”
“And there are, indeed, if you think your imagination is good, there are systems available that you can encounter, that make your imagination look like a little piece of crude drawing. And not of your origin, I might add, which is the other part of it. But don’t worry about that. That’s what you got a Rebal for.”
“The participant is invited to envisage creation of an “energy balloon” comprised of an energy flow beginning at the center of the top of the head and extending down in all directions to the feet. The energy involved in this flow then proceeds up through the body and back out into the balloon pattern again. The “energy balloon,” which sets up a pattern very reminiscent of the cosmic egg discussed earlier, not only enhances bodily energy flow and encourages early achievement of a suitable resonant state, but it is also designed to provide protection against conscious entities possessing lower energy levels.”
“Yeah, I feel it forming. It's like a shower. … Like a fountain coming out of the top of my head, just covering me completely, returning by my feet, going through my body, coming out again, good image, good feeling with that.”
“I built the balloon again and started doing some rhythmic breathing, which is like filling the balloon full of my own air. [I] started feeling that I was floating up and up.”
“In Focus 10, we are taught to sense and expand our Resonant Energy Balloon (REBAL), a field of nonphysical energy surrounding and penetrating our physical body. It feels as if someone is applying a tourniquet to my right leg. I'm also getting that tight “headband” feeling again.”
“So when I do that, and then I breathe, as I go from 10 to 12, I imagine that balloon around me, and I imagine that as I breathe, like that, it blows up, and as it gets bigger, I float up. And that's how I see myself going from 10 to 12, is using the resonant energy balloon as my … my balloon that lifts me up.”
Important things to consider
Where you build it varies
In the 1983 assessment the balloon follows the Hemi-Sync relaxation and comes just before the Focus 12 techniques, and in several 1988 lab sessions it is built once the Explorer reaches Focus 10. The June 1986 Explorer built theirs during the preparation, after resonant tuning and before the affirmation. Recordings differ, so follow the order your album uses and let the narrator tell you when.
Tune it up instead of starting over
Monitors treated the balloon as something you maintain. In a January 1989 session a monitor reminded the Explorer to go through the procedures if they needed any resonant energy balloon tune-up before moving to Focus 12, and in 1984 a monitor told an Explorer moving quickly through colors that it was easy to do with the REBAL along. If you feel unprotected or scattered mid-session, rebuild or strengthen it.
A routine, not a reason to expect danger
A Gateway podcast host compares the balloon to putting on a seatbelt: a habit you do first, just in case. Monroe's own tone in 1990 was relaxed: don't worry, that's what you've got a REBAL for. Treat it as a quick routine that supports confidence, not as a sign that the exercise is hazardous.
Even enthusiasts allow it may be placebo
A Gateway podcast host says part of the effect might be placebo, then argues that it hardly matters, because thoughts shape experience and controlling your thoughts is the point. Take that as a candid description of the benefit people report: a felt sense of security, whatever its mechanism.
A manifestation version circulates online
An independent YouTube meditation repurposes the balloon for manifestation, describing an electromagnetic field around the body that you grow and suggesting a 21-day commitment. That is the creator's adaptation; the Army assessment, the laboratory transcripts and the Institute presenter describe an energy-flow and protection tool.
Not a substitute for ordinary safety
The REBAL is an imagery practice. It does not replace seat belts, locks or common sense. Never play Gateway audio while driving or doing anything that needs your attention.
Sense it, do not strain to see it
Felser's account uses the verb sense, and he describes his images as half nonvisual impression and half mind's-eye snapshot. Explorers report security, room to float and breathing space rather than a clear picture. If you cannot see a balloon, feel the energy circulating and the space around you; that is enough to run the exercise.
What is and is not established
The protection language is the tradition's own, and the Army assessment presents it as a design purpose, not a tested effect. The sources document the practice and what people report: a sense of security, room around the body, a lift toward Focus 12. None is a controlled study showing that the balloon shields against anything, so treat the framing as a way of describing the practice.
Common questions
What is the Resonant Energy Balloon (REBAL) in the Gateway Experience?
The Resonant Energy Balloon, or REBAL, is a visualization in which you use the energy flowing through your body to build a protective field around yourself. In the Army's 1983 assessment the energy flows from the top of the head down around the body to the feet and back up through it, forming a balloon pattern. The assessment says it enhances energy flow, encourages a resonant state and is designed to protect against lower-energy entities. Monroe said the tool came straight out of Explorer sessions, and Gateway participants build it in Focus 10.
How do I build the REBAL step by step?
Once you are relaxed in Focus 10, or at the point your recording guides, imagine the energy already flowing through your body. Let it pour from the top of your head and fall around you on every side, like a shower or a fountain, reach your feet, and rise back up through the body. Keep the loop going until it surrounds you like a balloon, feel safe and secure, and know that wherever you go in the session you carry it with you. Some people run the loop the other way, up from the feet and out of the head; what matters is a continuous flow.
What is the REBAL for, and does it really protect me?
In the Gateway teaching the REBAL is a protection tool. The 1983 assessment says it is designed to protect against conscious entities of lower energy and serves as a precaution if a first out-of-body experience goes beyond the terrestrial sphere. Monroe's own attitude was relaxed: speaking of systems beyond your imagination, he told a Voyage group not to worry, because that is what the REBAL is for. Participants describe a felt sense of security. No controlled evidence shows it shields against anything, and it is no substitute for ordinary physical safety.
When do I use the REBAL during a Gateway session?
On the home recordings the narrator tells you when to build it. In Monroe's lab, Explorers built it in Focus 10 and monitors then moved them to Focus 12, 15 and 21 with the balloon intact, sometimes asking them to build it on arrival at a new level or to give it a tune-up. Participants also use it as a lift: one podcast host imagines it growing larger as he breathes and floats up with it from Focus 10 to Focus 12. Follow the album's order; the sources show that the REBAL's place within the preparation varies.
Can I use the REBAL outside Gateway sessions?
Participants do. Monroe told a Voyage group about a young woman waiting through a layover at Washington National Airport who noticed men with briefcases drifting toward her; she put up her REBAL and the flow went back. A practitioner's 2010 case report describes a client who found it effective while driving and while listening to Hemi-Sync. Graduates speak of being bubbled up. These are reports. The REBAL is an imagery practice, so keep ordinary precautions, and never use Gateway audio while driving.
Do I need to see the balloon clearly for it to work?
No. Joseph Felser, describing his Gateway Voyage, says participants are taught to sense and expand the REBAL, and describes the images in his account as half nonvisual impression and half mind's-eye snapshot. He reports bodily sensations during the exercise, such as a tourniquet-like feeling on one leg and a tight headband feeling, rather than a clear picture of a balloon. Explorers describe security, room to float and breathing space. Treat sense as the operative word: feel the energy around you and let the image be as vivid or faint as it is.
Where did the REBAL come from?
Monroe said in a 1990 talk that many parts of the Voyage program came out of Explorer meetings and that the REBAL was straight out of a session, or several. Explorer transcripts bear it out: a June 1976 session note records a subject who had created the balloon and moved to Focus 12, and a January 1977 session has the monitor offering a choice between building the energy balloon and a cleansing exercise. The 1983 Army assessment then described it as part of the Gateway process.
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