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Out of body
by Matthew Joyce On my last vacation I took a trip to the moon. I’m not kidding. I really experienced standing on the moon, looking back at the earth and making a footprint in the brilliant white dust. I even felt the powdery soil billow up around my bare toes. That’s right, I was barefoot on the moon. Of course, I also happened to be out of my body. I didn’t plan to go to the moon, but that sort of thing just happens at the Monroe Institute in Faber, Va., where thousands of people have gone to open new doors to creativity, ease personal discomfort and learn the meaning of life and death–all in a safe, controlled, drug-free environment. Founded in the 1970s by the late Robert Monroe, a sound engineer and broadcast executive who pioneered studies in the use of sound to produce altered states of conscious, the Monroe Institute is a uniquely supportive center for personal exploration. "Out-of-body experiences happened here, but we certainly can’t guarantee one," notes Laurie Monroe, daughter of Robert Monroe and current president of the Monroe Institute. "However we generally observe that everyone finds what’s right for them at this point in their lives." In my case, I began on my back in total darkness listening to Bob Monroe’s recorded voice through a set of headphones. My body was completely relaxed, yet my mind was lucid and alert. I heard a whooshing sound like a jet engine growing louder and then fading away. When it stopped I saw a pair of hands floating in the blackness. I took them in mine and was helped out of my physical body, much like someone would help me up off the floor. Still holding the hands, I was whisked into the blackness. Soon I saw points of light in the distance and realized they were stars. I turned around and saw the earth from space. It looked similar to photos taken by the Apollo astronauts, except I was looking at scattered clouds drifting over Australia and the Pacific Ocean. Thinking of astronauts made me want to go to the moon. No sooner did I think it than I was zooming through space and then standing on the moon. Before me lay a set of footprints. Harsh black shadows along one edge of the prints contrasted with the brilliant white light reflecting off the soil. Though the footprints were more than 30 years old, they were essentially as fresh as the moment they were made. No wind or water had disturbed them. I decided to make a footprint beside the astronaut’s tracks. Then I realized I had no body. My companion guide, whose hand I was still holding, told me to manifest a foot. I mentally created a right leg and noticed I was naked. As I pressed my foot into the soil, I felt several inches of fine powder and small pebbles wrap around my toes. Then it occurred to me that my leg must be freeze dried in outer space. My guide laughed and told me not to worry since the astral body cannot be harmed. Together we flew back to the Monroe Institute. Upon returning I passed directly through the roof and walls to settle back into my body as Bob Monroe’s voice on the tape counted down from 10 to 1. Throughout the entire process I thought and felt as I do in normal waking consciousness. I never fell asleep nor lost consciousness for even a moment. In fact, aside from its extraordinary nature, the experience didn’t feel dream-like in any way. When it ended I no longer retained any doubt that there are worlds of consciousness beyond our physical reality. For more than 25 years, tens of thousands of people like me have visited the Monroe Institute to learn new techniques for problem solving, emotional cleansing, physical healing and exploring other states of consciousness. Our group of 22 participants came from all walks of life. We were Republicans, Democrats, teachers, students, CEOs, homemakers, computer engineers, artists, physicists, body workers and retired government bureaucrats. Our youngest member was 22; the oldest was in his 70s. We hailed from rural towns and big cities. To my knowledge no one in our group had any rarified psychic abilities. We were normal people with jobs, bills, hopes and fears. For seven days we shared an intensive crash course in new levels of consciousness. On the first night, we handed over our watches and learned we’d hear no news from the outside world. We were to physically stay on the 800 acres of Institute property, yet we were free to go wherever our inner guidance took us. Our base of operations was the Nancy Penn Center, a residential building on a sunny hilltop with great views of the mist-shrouded Blue Ridge Mountains. The center sleeps 24 and has its own dining facilities, lounges, conference rooms and research labs. We spent the bulk of our time in private CHEC (Controlled Holistic Environmental Chamber) units that provide isolation from light and extraneous sounds. Not much bigger than the mattresses they enclose, each CHEC unit contains adjustable lighting, headphones and overhead speakers, all of which can be calibrated to individual comfort levels. Inside the CHEC units we relaxed and listened to taped exercises as a pair of facilitators guided us through our learning adventure. The key to the entire venture lies in the use of patented sound technologies that enhance and prolong a naturally occurring brain state known as hemispheric synchronization, when both the left and right sides of the brain work together in unison. Most people experience such states as random moments when they have flashes of insight or unusually focused attention. "It’s that ah-hah feeling when the light bulb goes off above your head," says Skip Atwater, director of research at the Monroe Institute. "We deliberately recreate those conditions by sending different tones to each ear by way of stereo headphones. The two hemispheres of your brain then act together to hear the difference between the two tones." Think of it like hearing two notes played on the piano. If played one at a time you distinguish between the two, but when played together you hear their combined sounds at the same time. "When we play various sound frequencies–Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta–the brain follows those frequencies," says Atwater. That leads to a corresponding change in consciousness, he says. The Hemi-Sync process has been used for a variety of purposes ranging from pain control and rapid healing to stress reduction and sleep improvement. It can also enhance creativity, aid scholastic learning and produce sustained meditative states and heightened awareness. Our weeklong program exposed us to four different levels of consciousness labeled Focus 10, 12, 15 and 21. Normal waking consciousness is referred to as C1. The Monroe Institute pointedly uses scientific terms, numbers and acronyms to describe these states and their related experiences in order to avoid any association with religious terminology. "It’s natural to use terms like soul and God," says Laurie Monroe, "but we find that numeric labels make it possible for individuals from all backgrounds to use the tools in a way that fits with their personal belief systems." Before each tape we received brief instructions. Sometimes we were given specific exercises. Other times we were advised to simply pay attention to the experience and report back afterward. Each tape began with the sound of ocean surf to help us relax and remind us of nature’s energy systems. Next we were led through a series of guided imagery exercises designed to clear our minds of worries and distractions. Inaudible beneath the voice on tape were the Hemi-Sync sound patterns, which aided us in reaching each state of consciousness. At the end of each tape we gathered in a conference room to share experiences and prepare for the next exercise. "Early on some participants report that they fall asleep for part or all of the exercises," explains Scott Taylor, one of our facilitators. "We call this ‘clicking out.’ What happens is that the person is not quite ready for the experience, so they blank it out. But we tell people not to worry. The experience still gets through to the subconscious. As the week progresses the amount of people clicking out drops off noticeably." At first many of us did click out. We also received streams of disjointed images and thoughts, similar to quickly changing the channels on your cable TV. Then the energy of the group started to quicken. With further exercises we began to report spiritual visions, past life memories and reunions with dead family members and friends. One person even reported swimming in the body of a dolphin. "Every participant’s experience is unique and the mix of stories varies from day to day and group to group," Taylor says. "In the 14 years I’ve done this I’ve heard countless reports. Some are dramatic and emotionally moving. Others are more subtle or mundane. A few present riddles that can only be unlocked at a later time." On day four of the workshop, we experienced Focus 15 (F15), the state of no time. This is the state of awareness reached by long-time meditators. Buddhist monks taking the course report that they practiced meditation for years before learning to achieve and sustain this state of consciousness. Using the Hemi-Sync tones, I achieved this state in less than 15 minutes. To me F15 is a dark, vast and empty space. It’s the space of nothingness from which all arises. The pregnant void. From F15 it’s possible to look into any period of time, past or future. Simply tune your awareness to a particular point in time, and you’ll find yourself there. From the void of F15 I decided to explore my beginnings, my point of origin. Over the previous two days I’d come to expect to be whooshed to a particular point in time or consciousness. Instead I found myself still sitting in the void. I thought it didn’t work. Then it dawned on me that, in fact, it worked perfectly. In the beginning there was only the void. And in the act of having that single thought I experienced the awakening of consciousness. The act of the universe becoming self-aware. As that awareness sought to know itself an indescribable blast of light and energy radiated in all directions. In time some of that energy slowed its vibration level and became matter so that it could experience still different states of being. Once it became matter, it could create and recreate itself in an infinite variety of ways. In short, I came to realize that consciousness, energy, and matter are not the separate things we think they are. They are, in fact, all parts of the same continuum. Now this experience was undoubtedly very profound, but it was not necessarily original. Throughout history great sages from all of the world’s spiritual belief systems have described experiences such as mine. The difference for me was that I no longer needed to take the word of another on faith. I experienced it for myself. As my facilitator, Macca Peters, framed it for me, I "converted a belief into a known." I now know for myself what the world’s spiritual leaders have taught. Does that make me enlightened? No, I don’t think so. But it certainly has changed my approach to daily life. When viewed from this new point of knowing, the chronology of events and decisions I’ve undergone in the past begin to form an understandable pattern. I begin to comprehend why I’ve chosen the path that I have, and more importantly, I feel empowered to make new choices and take actions that will bring about the personal future I desire. Which is precisely the point of the Monroe Institute. "We seek to provide people with the tools to expand their own consciousness," says Peters. "How people apply those tools in their own lives is up to them." Although we spent the first several days of the Gateway Program on our backs in the dark, that was not the point of the program. "The Gateway program is designed to help you identify distinct levels of consciousness and repeatedly trace the pathways between them so that you can return to them at will, without the need for the Hemi-Sync tapes," says Laurie Monroe. To that end, there were a number of real-world exercises designed to demonstrate that these experiences were not taking place in our imaginations. One exercise was to create a Resonant Energy Balloon or REBAL for short. Sometimes referred to as the human aura or personal electromagnetic field, a REBAL is a bit like a force field in the Star Trek universe. It is an invisible field of energy that emerges from the crown of your head, extends upwards and outwards at a distance of approximately an arm’s length and then returns to your body through your feet. The REBAL can be used for protection from unwanted energies both human and astral. It can also be used as a magnet, attracting things or experiences you desire. After practicing creating REBALs in the privacy of our CHEC units, we gathered in a sunny field and began to play with energies we could literally feel between our hands. Next we partnered up and pressed our hands close to our partner’s. Then we moved away, pulling back while still feeling the connection. My partner and I reached 10 feet before we could no longer feel the energy. Once comfortable with that, we felt each other’s REBAL. My partner’s extended more than 12 feet behind her. To further demonstrate the point, we also used dousing rods, which are clipped metal coat hangers bent at 90 degrees. As I approached my partner, the dousing rods turned sideways when they encountered her REBAL. I did not twist them in my hands. The final exercise was to expand and contract the REBAL and have your partner check your progress with the dousing rods. With some practice I learned to extend mine from six inches to more than 20 feet. Clearly there was something going on here that was more than simple imagination. By week’s end, our group was transformed from a collection of tentative seekers into a team of confident explorers. We shared our intimate experiences and developed friendships that may last lifetimes. We also came to know that we are more than our physical bodies and that we have ready access to energy systems beyond the physical. How we apply this knowledge in our lives will be limited only by our own thinking. "You can use these tools and states of consciousness in your everyday life," Taylor says. "Use your REBAL to send out cooperative energy when you need someone’s help. Use the intuition of Focus 12 to find answers to important questions or to visualize artwork before you create it. Focus 15 is perfect for meditation or to help you remember things you’ve forgotten. Focus 21 is great for accessing inner guidance." We knew this to be true because we’d experienced it for ourselves. And all of those uses seem far more practical than going to the moon. The Monroe Institute offers several levels of classes at its campus in Faber, Va. The Gateway Voyage program described here is a prerequisite for more advanced courses that explore past lives, manifestation and remote viewing, among other subjects. All residential programs run from Saturday through Friday. They are offered year round. Residential programs cost $1,695 and include lodging, meals, transportation to and from the Charlottesville, Va., airport and a support tape containing the Hemi-Sync frequencies experienced in the program. You can receive a $200 discount if you sign up to become a member of the Monroe Institute prior to applying to attend the Gateway Program. The Monroe Institute also offers two-day outreach workshops on a variety of topics in cities throughout the world. A workshop introducing Focus 10 and 12 will be offered in Boulder at the Jerrahi Sufi Center on July 17 and 18. For more information, contact their trainer directly at 303-770-6729 or visit www.lightinternal.com/services.html#meditation. To learn more about the Monroe Institute or specific residential or outreach programs, visit www.monroeinstitute.org, or call 866-881-3440. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Parental rights versus public health
by Amy Brouillette There was a controversial rider, stealthily attached at the 11th hour to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, protecting human vaccine makers from being sued for their drugs’ harmful side effects. Republicans argued it gave much-needed legal protection to vaccine makers who feared lawsuits from people harmed by their drugs if the government had to undertake mass smallpox inoculations in the face of a terrorist threat. Democrats clamored it was the GOP’s way of thanking the industry–and pharmaceutical heavyweight Eli Lilly & Co. in particular–for its substantial financial backing. It put a spotlight on the heated debate over thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative once found in more than 30 child vaccines that many researchers have linked to the steep rise in autism in American children over the last decade. The National Institute of Health’s recent release of a study denying the mercury-autism link has done little to quell growing fears about vaccinations’–or thimerosal’s–safety. Rather, it has only inflamed debate regarding the continued viability of mass vaccinations as a sound public health policy, a debate that has divided the medical community and pitted parents against public health officials nationwide. As the bedrock of public health policy since the late 18th century, when the smallpox vaccination was first discovered, vaccinations’ benefits have been sold by the medical community mainstreamers as the best–and often the only–way to protect children against a host of communicable diseases. The Center for Disease Control maintains mass vaccination policies here and abroad that have contributed the complete or near eradication of diseases such as smallpox, polio, diphtheria and Hib influenza infections that once were widespread. The mercury-autism controversy is but one issue in a long list of potentially dangerous, even fatal, side effects connected to child vaccinations–including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), asthma, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, encephalopathy, blindness, bowel diseases and neurological disorders. However, according to the Vaccine Adverse Effect Reporting System (VAERS), a national vaccine safety surveillance system as part of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (NCVIA), such reactions are extremely rare. The organization, which monitors the more than 10 million vaccinations given each year, reports children less than 1 year old are at greatest risk from certain medical events, including high fevers, seizures and SIDS. Still, of the total 123,000 adverse reactions reported to VAERS since 1990, the organization reports most as "mild side effects," such as fever. The state’s top doctor, Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health, supports the idea that today’s vaccinations are a largely safe and effective means of communicable disease control. "The majority of the reported adverse effects are local reactions–your arm or leg gets red," says Calonge. He maintains the benefits of avoiding the whooping cough or other vaccine-preventable diseases outweighs the risks of an adverse reaction. A growing number of Boulder parents, however, are unwilling to take that risk and question the state’s right to make personal medical choices for their kids. Boulder Valley School District’s current immunization requirements follow state and federal recommendations, mandating vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTaP), hepatitis B, Hib influenza, measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), polio and chickenpox. Parents have been able to skirt the state’s mandatory vaccination policy requiring all school-aged kids to show proof of such immunization by using Colorado’s unique "personal exemption" option. With a 12.6 percent exemption rate, Boulder Valley School District has the highest immunization non-compliance record in the state. "Personal exemptions make it extremely easy for parents to excuse their kids from vaccinations," explains Mary Rensberger, Boulder Valley School District’s Health Services Coordinator of Risk Management. Rensberger, who oversees the immunization compliance for Boulder County’s 60 public schools, speculates the county’s low vaccination compliance is linked to its higher-than-average pertussis rate statewide. State health officials likewise blame the personal exemption option for the state’s overall poor vaccination record, which at 63 percent among 2 year olds is the lowest in the nation. "Although exemptions can be also claimed on both religious and medical grounds, the majority of exemptions are granted for personal or philosophical reasons," says Cindy Parmenter, communications director for the Colorado state health department. Still, Parmenter reports that vaccination exemption rates vary widely across the state, with Crede County reporting 0 percent, Douglass 3.75, and Larimer 4.7. Boulder resident Allyson Rose, who has worked on and off as a pediatric nurse at Boulder Community Hospital since 1983, is one local parent who chose not to immunize her daughter for philosophical reasons. "When it comes to immunizations, parents need to decide whether they want their children to risk the disease or risk the immunization," explains Rose. "I am by no means an anti-immunization preacher," says Rose. Instead, she is a self-ascribed advocate of parental choice. "Unfortunately, when many parents go to the doctor, they often only get one perspective. There are plenty of pediatricians who flat-out consider it child abuse to not immunize your kids," she says. Rose is like many parents who are unwilling to enlist their kids as subjects in the "herd" immunity theory on which mass vaccination is based. "The theory is once you immunize the population to a certain point, which is near but not necessarily at 100 percent, you limit the number of susceptible hosts, making it difficult to spread infection," explains Dr. Calonge. He says the effectiveness of any vaccination program in curbing infectious disease is a measure of the immunization rate of a given population. "If you have an un- or under-immunized population, that child who is not immunized and then gets infected becomes a risk to the rest of the population. The point is to have as close to 100 percent immunization as possible," he says. Many have questioned the scientific validity of the herd immunity theory, particularly in the case of disease outbreaks. After studying the pertussis outbreak among children in Cincinnati in 1993, a group of scientists concluded that the epidemic appeared in children who had been properly immunized. "It is clear that the whole-cell pertussis vaccine failed to give full protection against the disease," the study read. Aside from its potential inefficacy, the pertussis vaccine has had other problems as well. The older, whole-cell version could cause "severe" adverse reactions, high fever and neurological damage, according to Calonge. He says recent changes–upgrading the vaccine from a whole-cell to an a-cell–has made the vaccine less reactive and still effective. Still, Calonge says even the old version’s risk of severe reactions was extremely rare and, from a public health perspective, worth the risk. "When you look at the rates of a child under 2 dying of pertussis versus getting a reaction from the vaccine, the numbers were minimal," he says. Controversies over vaccination safety–most recently with the thimerosal issue–have forced producers to clean up their public-relations act. So, despite the NIH’s findings that there is no causal connection between thimerosal and autism, the organization nonetheless recommended vaccine makers suspend the use of the mercury-based preservative in vaccines. "What the study ultimately said was ‘while we did not find a link, it would be prudent to minimize one’s exposure to it,’" explains Calonge. While health officials continue to maintain the safety and effectiveness of child vaccinations despite such controversies, informed parents will continue to grapple with the immunization question. "The most important thing is that parents get informed," says Rose. "Don’t be pressured into immunizing your child until you know all the facts." For more information on immunizations, visit the Center for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
The courage to smoke
by Charley Cropley N.D. I’d just returned from 45 minutes of yoga, an invigorating dip in Boulder Creek and 15 minutes of "go for it" chin-ups, pushups, dips and squats. Then I took a comfortable seat in my chair on the front porch with a cup of hot, sweet Yerba Mate tea and a smoked a cigarette. A little contradictory? What am I, a man who strives to embody healing, doing smoking cigarettes? This is flagrant hypocrisy! My mind goes nuts trying to explain it. But the mind is insanity itself. Contradiction and hypocrisy have always had their way with me, only previously I tried to hide it… mainly from myself. Perhaps the cornerstone of my work has been teaching people how to resolve the contradictions between their behavior and their ideals. I just returned from six weeks in Peru studying with two "mystics" named Gayle and Americo–men I admire as much as any I’ve ever known. They are teaching me to live free from the mind’s anxiety and contradiction–to "chop off my head" and live from my heart. One of the ways I learn from them is by imitating them. I eat what they eat, drink what they drink, walk the way they walk and, yes, smoke what they smoke. When I first began working with Gayle and Americo I took pride in having freed myself from many behaviors I now find myself doing again. At night sitting under a starry sky I now light up a smoke and watch my mind. "What are you doing? This is stupid. You’re going to regret this. I can’t believe even you are doing this. You’ve worked all these years to free yourself from such behaviors. You are going to get addicted again." Etc., etc. Gayle strongly encourages this art of witnessing my experience without any attempt to alter it–allowing my thoughts, emotions and sensations to flow like a river, grasping for nothing and avoiding nothing. I take another hit, exhale the smoke toward the heavens and intently observe this inner drama. I fully feel my bodily sensations: the dizziness, the ascending energy, my hands sometimes trembling, the burning sensations and acrid taste in my mouth growing as the cigarette grows shorter. Often the trees and sky melt visually into each other… and a misty, surreal glow permeates all I see. The lines between me and "not me" blur as thoughts, bodily sensations and the outer world all become parts of one experience. Smoking in Peru is one thing. Smoking in Boulder raises a whole new dialogue. What will my friends think about this? There is a certain pride in this dangerous new freedom I espouse. It has a certain shock value. I feel like a rogue, a wild man, breaking all the rules. Then again, I say to myself, "Now come on, Charley. This is plain self-centered, egotistical indulgence, a bit perverted at that. You have a responsibility to maintain your professional image." This whole idea of me maintaining any pretense of "having it together" now seems so comical to me that I often burst out in laughter. At times I find myself genuinely enjoying smoking. I completely kick back and relax, take a big hit and allow myself to fully drink of this dangerous pleasure. I witness the mind judging my actions and its proud plans for self-correction that smoking stimulates. Previously I would have become captured by these thoughts because I could not bear their contradiction. Now I see these are constantly changing thought forms, which only mature into fruition when I desire them or fear them. Smoking is a great spiritual practice for me. It offers a direct engagement with the contradictions between my ideals and my behavior. A living meditation in which I discover myself to be free from these compelling and frightening urges that previously grew uncontrollably into actions. And this is my point. Witnessing smoking (or anything) is a new edge of freedom and comes with built-in costs. It requires that I live with the fear of becoming addicted, ruining my health, the concern about my self-image, the questioning of my motives. It is a deliberate engagement with much that I fear and desire. I find myself to be as utterly wild and hopelessly unmanageable as the wind. I may smoke, I may not. But in this very moment, even as I take another hit I enter a dimension of experience for which I’ve always longed. I am unshakeably happy and grateful. And I know with certainty that from this happiness comes only good. I trust myself enough to smoke. In an odd sort of way it is good for me. You know what I’m saying? It requires a certain courage, a confidence, not to merely smoke, but to smoke fearlessly. Will I continue to smoke? I don’t know anymore than you, dear reader, know if you will continue your contradictions. I have found something that interests me much more than this petty drama of whether Charley Cropley smokes or not and what that means about him. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com |
