Robert Monroe's 1971 first-person account of his out-of-body experiences beginning in 1958 — the spontaneous onset, the methodical journals, his eventual collaboration with Charles Tart at UCLA on laboratory documentation, and the framework he developed for navigating what he called "Locale I, II and III". Monroe later founded the Monroe Institute in Virginia, which developed the Hemi-Sync binaural-beat technology.
The twenty-one chapters move from a personal preface ("Not with a Wand, nor Lightly") through Monroe's account of search and research, into descriptions of the three locales — the here-now of the physical world, the infinite non-physical environment of Locale II, and the reverse-image Locale III — before turning to the anatomy of the second body, the mechanics of separation and the preliminary exercises Monroe used to induce the state at will. The closing chapters present Monroe's statistical classification and his attempt at a rationale.
First lines
In our action-oriented society, when a man lies down to sleep, he is effectively out of the picture. He will lie still for six to eight hours, so he is not "behaving," "thinking productively," or doing anything "significant." We all know that people dream, but we raise our children to regard dreams and other experiences occurring during sleep as unimportant, as not real in the way that the events of the day are.
Contents
Not with a Wand, nor Lightly
Search and Research
On the Evidence
The Here-Now
Infinity, Eternity
Reverse Image
Post Mortem
’Cause the Bible Tells Me So
Angels and Archetypes
Intelligent Animals
Gift or Burden?
Round Holes and Square Pegs
The Second Body
Mind and Supermind
Sexuality in the Second State
Preliminary Exercises
The Separation Process
Analysis of Events
Statistical Classification
Inconclusive
Premises: A Rationale?
Reception
The book that made the term "out-of-body experience" usable in serious English-language conversation — Charles Tart's involvement gave it laboratory-adjacent legitimacy that the OBE field has not entirely sustained. The Monroe Institute is now a significant alternative-research institution and Hemi-Sync has been used by figures from Joseph McMoneagle (the Stargate Program remote viewer) to ordinary biofeedback users. Sceptics including Susan Blackmore have argued OBEs are well-explained by neurological mechanisms (temporo-parietal junction activity); Monroe's response, in subsequent books, was that mechanism does not preclude reality.
Frequently asked
What is Journeys Out of the Body about?
It is Robert Monroe's 1971 first-person account of his out-of-body experiences beginning in 1958 — the spontaneous onset, the methodical journals, his collaboration with Charles Tart on laboratory documentation, and the framework he developed for navigating what he called "Locale I, II and III." The twenty-one chapters describe the three locales, the anatomy of the second body, and the preliminary exercises Monroe used to induce the state at will.
Who was Robert Monroe?
A Virginia broadcasting executive (1915–1995) who began spontaneously having out-of-body experiences in 1958, kept detailed journals over more than a decade, and eventually founded the Monroe Institute in Faber, Virginia. The Institute developed Hemi-Sync — an audio technique based on binaural beats — and trained both civilian and U.S. military personnel through its Gateway program.
Did the laboratory work confirm Monroe's out-of-body experiences?
No. Charles Tart's lab studies with Monroe produced no veridical results — Monroe's description of remote targets did not match. The book sits at laboratory-adjacent rather than laboratory-confirmed status. Sceptics including Susan Blackmore have argued OBEs are well-explained by neurological mechanisms; Monroe's response, in subsequent books, was that mechanism does not preclude reality.