My visit to The Monroe Institute

Hey. I can't remember who asked me to post about going to the Monroe Institute. But here you go.

I was lucky enough to be gifted a retreat to The Monroe Institute in Virginia. I had wanted to go since the pandemic, but as a writer, it’s tricky to get the funds to do something like this. I knew it would help my creative life tremendously, and so did my family…so THANK YOU to them for this gift.

People either drove or flew in. If you fly in, there will be someone there to pick you up at the airport. It’s about a 45-minute drive (I think) to the retreat.

Upon arriving, we got a tour and were introduced to our CHEC units. Then we had a light lunch, and I had a chance to meet a few of the other participants. The unit was quite nice, with a blackout curtain and a nice little shelf to store small items.

We all had dinner in the dining hall. The food was consistently excellent. I sat next to one of the trainers, Penny, as well as two other participants, and Penny answered a lot of questions. Penny is Robert Monroe’s stepdaughter, so she had a lot of stories about him and the Institute, as well as her mother, who was a spiritual person compared to Bob, who was more interested in the scientific aspects of OBEs.

We went to the center next door after dinner and did an introductory ice breaker exercise. I guess you can’t really go to group retreats without doing these, but everyone was a good sport about it.

The room was hot when we got back, and luckily, my roommate agreed, so we opened the window, which felt amazing. I actually slept well the first night, which surprised me. They play sleep sounds in your CHEC unit, and you have the option of turning your speakers off if you don’t like it. I loved the way it sounded and usually sleep with white noise anyway, so I cranked it up.

The next morning, they played a really pleasant morning meditation by Robert Monroe, followed by his wake up choo choo train song (I don’t know how else to describe it–if you’ve been before, you know what I’m talking about), then a rotation of music. You have the option of going to yoga in the morning, which I did once, and then breakfast is at eight o’clock. Meditations start at nine. They usually ring a bell to get your attention and then announce where you need to be. You usually start off in the briefing group room before the meditations, and sometimes regroup after. I didn’t share much during these sessions, but shared more during meals.

After lunch at one o’clock and a nice long break that lasted until four o’clock, we were ready to dive back into meditations.

Penny said falling asleep during meditations was completely fine. You’re still absorbing the benefits of the meditations if you fall asleep.

We had an amazing guest speaker, but I’m sworn to secrecy. You’ll likely hear presentations and watch films in the evenings. Many people stayed up to look for orbs, but I was in bed by ten, as I was trying to get as much rest as possible.

The retreat experience surpassed my expectations. The food was wonderful, the facilitators were amazing, and the CHEC units were comfortable. The quality of the audio was better than what you’d find online, but the experience of being around so many other wonderful people was honestly, in my opinion, what helped me heal. The Monroe Institute is a special place, and I highly recommend checking it out if you have the means to do so.

I have a much longer, more personal write-up on my sub stack, which is free to read. You don't have to sign up.

Happy to answer polite questions!