Feeling weird after Monroe's Gateway experience (vertigo, derealization, etc.)

[SACOLUCCI]

About 7 months ago, I was practicing Robert Monroe's Gateway series. I was trying to leave my body. I tried to go into the "ten state" every day. I don't remember leaving my body or having an astral projection but I may have hovered over my body. After this, I started getting dizzy spells and feeling strange.  My eyes also seemed weird, like it wasn't really me when I looked in the mirror and a large amount of brain fog.

I still feel dizzy today when I make sudden head movements. I have had every medical test and nothing can be found. Could this be a spiritual problem or perhaps not protecting myself when trying to do these exercises? Could this be being spiritually out of balance?

[astralm]

Hi Sacolucci,

I had effects much the same as this when I originally listened to the gateway series 10 years ago or so.  I can't tell you what exactly is happening but I do have some theories based on my own experience with it.  My symptoms were just about the exact same as yours, I was probably listening to maybe 3 exercises a day at the time so probably hour and a half time wise, and it was probably after 3-4 days I really started to notice the effect.  At the surface the most plausible cause at least to me was some sort of effect of the hemi-sync technology with my brain which was leaving my brain waves in an altered state after listening to the exercise.  To put in Monroe terms I wasn't completely returning to C1.  This seemed to make sense since I would say these symptoms are somewhat similar to a deep relaxed, very early trance state or more accurately when you break directly out of one of these states.  It was just for me they would stick around for a few days without leaving, I don't recall anything lasting over a month though and certainly not 7+ months like you are experiencing.

I have a few reasons though I am skeptical about this being the cause.  My main one is I had at the time listened to several non gateway hemi-sync products for several years prior without any similar issues also since this gateway experience I have listened to many other binaural beats without any issues.  So unless there is just something about the tones they use in the gateway series I'm not sure the audio is the issue.  Another thought I had was it could be due to a reaction to the hypnosis nature of the tapes.

You might want to try and play around with it and when it comes on or if it is there always just pick a moment and be mindful of it.  One of the things I found is I wasn't really dizzy in these states of mind, I didn't have any of the physical effects of dizziness such as balance issues etc.  It was more like there just was a feeling in my head which reminded me of how I feel when I am dizzy.  I personally don't think this is anything to worry or be freaked out about, though I understand those feelings as I was when I first experienced it as well.  Like I said I'm not sure exactly what the cause is but my guess is you have changed your energy requirements of your body and this is an effect or hangover from that, which as you put it could be looked as a spiritual balance issue.

Just out of curiosity what have you been doing the last 7 months?  Do you still listen to any binaural beat style tapes, do you listen to any guided meditations, are you doing any meditation or energy work or have you just stopped everything and are still having these feelings?

Thanks again for sharing it was interesting to see someone having a very similar experience to what I had to the same product.

[SACOLUCCI]

Thank you for replying.

Well, I had really bad vertigo and doctors told me it was an inner ear issue due to lose crystals in the ear. But I still have an imbalance and now they can't find anything wrong. The only thing I can think of is I was playing around with brainwaves, like you say.

This actually makes sense to me and perhaps not fully protecting myself or even full returning to C1. I admit at times I would just shut the tapes off without returning back and maybe this has left an impact.

I haven't been doing anything since. I've had a lot of anxiety over my symptoms.

[baro-san]

When I felt a little burned out, I slowed down, even took a few days break. It is the same with working out your muscles: you need to allow them time to recover from stress.

Those tapes use a combination of hemi-sync and hypnotic suggestions. Both should be safe to use by healthy people, as they say in their brochure.

[astralm]

I wish you all the best as you move forward and will keep you in my thoughts.  Hopefully you are at the tail end of whatever this is and will be feeling better soon.  If you are into things like qigong I suggest you give something like that a try.  I find it very relaxing and is good for "energy balancing" especially if you go into it with positive intention and affirmations.  "Yoqi Yoga and Qigong" is a youtube channel I like for some good qigong flows.