Gateway practices · 12 MIN READ · 7 SOURCE QUOTES
Release and Recharge
Release and Recharge is the fourth exercise on the Gateway Experience's first album, Wave I: Discovery. It follows Orientation, Introduction to Focus 10 and Advanced Focus 10, and comes before Exploration Sleep and Free Flow 10. The publisher describes it as a way to detach from old fears and negative emotions. Like the exercises around it, it works from Focus 10, mind awake and body asleep, using that calm but alert state as a place to put emotional weight down. The title pairs the letting go with a recharge of energy afterward.
Fear is where Monroe himself began. On Art Bell's radio show he described working on a way past the hard rocks he had met: the first was fear, and the second was the reality of what was happening. In a videotaped lecture he called unloading the fear barrier the biggest problem, and he recalled the panic, terror and loneliness of 1958, when the experiences started and he was totally unprepared. By his account it took a full year to lose the fear, and what convinced him the experiences were real was a steady accumulation of data rather than one breakthrough.
The leaders of a Hemi-Sync workshop for people affected by HIV and AIDS treated the exercise as personal work. At a 1993 professional seminar a workshop leader said that when eight to twelve people release fears together it gets consuming, so the group weekend skips the tape and sends participants home with it. A tape list in the Hemi-Sync Journal notes using it in the office with ample time afterward for processing. In practice it is a home exercise: do it alone, after Focus 10 is familiar, with time to spare when it ends.
Wave I's fourth exercise uses Focus 10 to let go of old fears and negative emotions, the first barrier Monroe says he had to get past.
Key points
Fourth exercise of Wave I, Discovery
Wave I is a Guidance Manual and six exercises: Orientation, Introduction to Focus 10, Advanced Focus 10, Release and Recharge, Exploration Sleep and Free Flow 10. The publisher says the eight Gateway albums are meant to be used in sequence, each building on the one before, and the same logic holds inside Wave I. By the time you reach Release and Recharge you have practiced entering Focus 10 in two earlier exercises, which is the skill this one depends on.
Letting go first, restoring energy second
The title names two movements. The publisher's description covers the first: detaching from old fears and negative emotions. Recharge is the counterpart the name promises, energy restored once the weight is down. A 1986 Explorer transcript gives a plain picture of the idea: a source speaking through the Explorer said that when tension is released the body responds like a sponge ready to absorb energy to replace what was lost. That is a reported explanation, not a description of the tape.
Monroe: fear was the first hard rock
On Art Bell's show Monroe described working on a way past the hard rocks he had met. The first, he said, was fear; the second was the reality of what was happening, and it took far less work to have people determine the reality once they experienced it through the lab's system. In a lecture he put the point more bluntly: the biggest problem is unloading the fear barrier, because it is so heavily indoctrinated into our whole culture. Release and Recharge is the album's exercise for working on that directly.
Unknowns produce fear; familiarity removes it
Monroe's explanation of fear was simple. Unknowns are fear producers, and what we know about we do not fear. He used an arriving program group as the example: before you come you face a whole area of unknowns, so you are like a bunch of birds on a wire, ready to jump if someone says boo. His remedy was to move experience out of a belief pattern into a known pattern, which is also the logic of Gateway's repetition: going into Focus 10 and returning until the route feels as ordinary as a path you walk every day at home.
Monroe's own fear took a year to fade
Monroe recalled the first experiences as total fear of what was happening to him. Fearing a brain tumor or even psychosis, he went to his longtime family physician, who first said he had been working too hard and then arranged a full hospital workup. He describes panic, terror and a loneliness that is hard to convey. It was about a year before he lost any fear, he says, and what changed things was a systematic accumulation of data until his analytical left brain could not help accepting that the experiences were real.
From an HIV/AIDS pilot program to a home exercise
The Fall 1991 Hemi-Sync Journal describes a Positive Immunity pilot program for people affected by HIV and AIDS, completed in the fall of 1989, and says input from Bob Monroe helped select its first seven Gateway tapes. Release and Recharge was among them, after Orientation and the two Focus 10 exercises. By 1993 a leader of a Hemi-Sync weekend workshop for the same audience was skipping it on group days: with eight to twelve people releasing and recharging their fears together, it got consuming. The leader wants body and mind balanced first and then has participants do it at home as a later tape. The Journal's 1994 account says they use it independently over the following weeks and record their insights.
How practitioners fold it into longer work
A tape-by-application list from Dr. Lundgren's seminar presentation, printed in the Winter 1998 Hemi-Sync Journal, lists Release and Recharge under working with wounds, resentments and letting go, adding that it was used in the office, allowing ample time afterward for processing. A 2001 case series describes a therapist assigning it as homework, asking a client to recall times she had felt alone while listening, with Free Flow 10 work added to look for an inner guide. A 2002 article by a practitioner describes beginning identity work in Focus 10 and Focus 12, using Wave I, Release and Recharge, or Metamusic, alongside recapitulation and quantum psychology exercises.
How monitors framed release in the lab
In an Explorer session published by the Monroe Institute, an Explorer says emotions are still stored that need to be released, along with sadness, feelings of weakness and fears not yet let go. The monitor replies that the Explorer's present awareness is a good place for releasing them, that there is simply no need for them at all, and that whatever is released can always be had back again. Release is presented as a choice, not a loss.
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.
“Working on a means of getting past the hard rocks that I had encountered. And the first one, [of] course, is fear. And the second one [is] the reality of what it is. And it didn't take nearly so much work to have people determine the reality.”
“And the biggest problem is unloading that fear barrier, because it's so heavily indoctrinated into our whole culture. And not only that, but the whole system in which we inhabit.”
“How it was 32 years ago when I encountered this thing in my life for which I was totally unprepared, and being so unprepared for it, is so difficult to convey the incredible loneliness related to it. The panic, the fear and the terror, connected with something that was an unknown at that time, and a tremendous unknown.”
“It becomes tremendous fun, once you lose the fear, this exploration that you're beginning, not only externally but of yourself becomes very, very intriguing. Once you get past the fear, the freedom of it is so very, very profound.”
“But I have found that there's so much else happening that … if we start working with eight to 12 people all releasing and recharging their fears, it gets consuming on that one. So I think it's really important to get the body [and] the mind sort of balanced, and then allow them to do Release and Recharge at home and keep that as a later tape.”
“I sense there are a number of emotions that I've still stored in that need to be released.”
“Well, [this] awareness would be a good place for the release of them now.”
Important things to consider
Get Focus 10 solid first
Release and Recharge assumes you can reach Focus 10 and stay aware there. If you still lose the thread in the early tapes, repeat Introduction to Focus 10 and Advanced Focus 10 before moving on, and read the clicking out page for why gaps happen and how to shorten them. The workshop leader's advice points the same way: get the body and mind balanced first, then release.
Do it alone, with time to spare
The workshop leaders kept this tape out of group days, so listen alone, where nobody will interrupt, on a day when nothing is demanded of you right afterward. The Winter 1998 tape list notes using it in the office with ample time afterward for processing, and the same applies at home. Do not schedule it before driving or a meeting.
Bring one theme per session
The 2001 case series gave its client a single focus for the homework, times she had felt alone, rather than everything at once. Decide before you start which fear or feeling you are prepared to look at, and keep the rest for another day. If a fear feels too large for one sitting, that tells you about pacing; it is not a failure.
Release is not suppression
The monitor in the published Explorer session told the Explorer that whatever is released can always be had back again, which frames letting go as a choice. A source answering through another Explorer, asked why it is so hard to release fears and doubts, said each person must wrestle with their own and cannot rely on anyone else to remove them. The practice is about handling your own material, not pushing it down.
Write down what surfaced
Keep a notebook beside you and record what came up straight after the return count: images, memories, the specific fear you worked with, and how heavy it felt. The weekend workshop for people affected by HIV and AIDS asked participants to record their insights while using the tape on their own. Entries compared across sessions show whether a theme keeps returning.
Do not confuse it with Human Plus tapes
Hemi-Sync's Human Plus series includes a function exercise called Recharge, designed for short naps, and another called Release, which places other Human Plus functions on hold. Neither is the Gateway exercise, so check the album title before you buy or search.
Health caution
Release and Recharge is an awareness and relaxation practice, not psychotherapy or medical treatment. If you live with trauma, depression, anxiety or another condition, or if feelings become overwhelming, stop and speak with a qualified clinician before continuing. The tape does not replace care; the Journal sources that mention clinical use describe it with a clinician's own clients and with time set aside afterward.
What is and is not established
The material here comes from Monroe's own accounts, Institute staff, practitioner articles and Explorer transcripts. It shows how the exercise is used and what people say about it. No independent controlled study of Release and Recharge appears in it, and reports of relief are subjective. Monroe's own fear faded over a year, so expect gradual change, not a one-session result.
Common questions
What is the Release and Recharge exercise?
Release and Recharge is the fourth exercise on Wave I: Discovery, the first album of the Gateway Experience. It follows Orientation, Introduction to Focus 10 and Advanced Focus 10. The publisher describes it as a way to detach from old fears and negative emotions, and the title pairs that release with a recharge of energy. Like the other exercises, it starts from Focus 10, mind awake and body asleep, and a recording leads you through it. Workshop leaders in the 1990s treated it as personal work to do at home, and therapists have used it as homework or in the office with time set aside afterward for processing.
Why did Monroe say fear is the biggest barrier?
Monroe saw fear as the first thing standing between people and exploration, ahead even of doubt about whether the experiences are real. He told Art Bell that the first of the hard rocks he had to get past was fear, and the second was the reality of what it is. In a lecture he called unloading the fear barrier the biggest problem, because it is so heavily indoctrinated into our whole culture. His explanation was that unknowns produce fear and what we know does not. He described his own panic and terror when the experiences began in 1958, and said he lost his fear only after about a year of accumulating evidence. Gateway's repetition is designed to make the unknown familiar.
How do I do Release and Recharge?
Work through Orientation, Introduction to Focus 10 and Advanced Focus 10 first so that Focus 10 is familiar. Choose a quiet time when nobody will interrupt and nothing is demanded of you afterward, use stereo headphones, and decide in advance which fear or feeling you are prepared to look at. Play the exercise and follow the recording's guidance through the preparation, the count to Focus 10 and the exercise itself. When the return count finishes, stay still for a few minutes, then write down what surfaced. A Hemi-Sync Journal tape list that mentions using it in the office advises ample time afterward for processing.
Do I have to do the Gateway tapes in order?
The publisher says the Gateway albums are meant to be used in sequence, each building on the one before, and Release and Recharge sits fourth in Wave I because it assumes you can already reach Focus 10 and remain aware there. If Focus 10 is not yet reliable, the session is likely to go to getting there instead of working with the material. Workshop leaders have varied the order for groups: the leader at the 1993 seminar skipped the tape on group days and left it as a later tape for home.
What if Release and Recharge brings up strong emotions?
Strong feelings are a known part of emotional work. The workshop leader who kept the tape out of group days said releasing fears with eight to twelve people got consuming, and a Journal tape list advises ample time afterward for processing. Stay with the return count, let the feeling settle, and give yourself time before doing anything demanding. The monitor in the published Explorer session reassured the Explorer that nothing released is lost, since whatever is released can be had back again. If feelings are overwhelming, or you live with trauma or a mental health condition, stop and speak with a qualified clinician. The exercise is not a treatment.
Will Release and Recharge get rid of my fears for good?
The sources do not promise that. Monroe's own account is of slow change: about a year before he lost any fear, helped by a systematic accumulation of evidence rather than one technique. Once the fear was gone, he says, the exploration became tremendous fun and the freedom of it profound. Practitioners describe the tape as one tool among several, used alongside other work, such as the Free Flow 10 follow-up in the 2001 case. Treat it as a practice you return to over weeks, and judge it by what changes in your own life.
In Monroe’s books
Summarized in our own words; the books are not reproduced on this site.
Journeys Out of the Body. Monroe's first book (1971) recounts how alarming the vibrations and first separations of the late 1950s were: he suspected epilepsy or a brain tumor and consulted his longtime family physician, who suggested he had been working too hard.
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