The Thorn Institute

Clicking out: what it is, and why it isn’t just falling asleep

By Daniel Spina, Melbourne · 2026-11-02

If you’ve done one of the Monroe Institute’s audio exercises, this has probably happened to you. You remember lying down, putting on your headphones and following the guidance. Then at some point you seem to come to. Maybe the exercise is ending, or maybe you’re somewhere in the middle of it. You’re awake and alert, but you’re a bit confused about where the time went.

This is called “clicking out”. It’s one of the most common things people experience with Monroe audio. It’s not that it’s misunderstood, it’s just that people have different takes on it. It’s probably easiest to say that it’s not real sleep, and that the effects of the exercise are still happening.

When do click-outs happen?

Sometimes click-outs will happen in the middle of an audio exercise. Sometimes they’ll happen right at the end. And this is actually one of the keys to understanding why it’s not regular sleep.

Monroe Sound Science uses a range of sound-based methods to guide awareness into specific states, including binaural beats, monaural beats, isochronic tones, frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, phase modulation, spatial angle modulation and gamma entrainment. You can read more about these on our Sound Science page.

At the end of Monroe Sound Science exercises, they tend to be bringing the listener back to a state of regular, alert, “C-1” waking consciousness.

Frequencies in the beta range, which are associated with mental alertness and wakefulness, are embedded in the audio for that specific purpose: to bring you back.

The words obviously help bring you back too, but not always. Often the voice will talk through the entire exercise, and you won’t come back until they change the tones. Experientially, I know that’s exactly what brings me back.

What I don’t know is whether the tones act differently if you’ve clicked out compared with if you’re genuinely asleep. But people who click out very often come back right at that moment, alert, as if on cue.

Do you still get the benefits of an audio exercise if you click out?

We’re quite sure the answer is yes.

Probably the most obvious point is that the Monroe Institute has been running for more than 50 years, and has been seeing this phenomenon for all that time. It has never come out that, oh, that person clicks out, so they can’t do anything. Some of the most experienced people, who’ve been doing this for many, many years, continue to click out, and they’re still developing their abilities.

As an example, I’ve been wired up to an EEG while doing guided exercises as part of one of Monroe Institute’s partner programs. In several of the exercises, I clicked out for a large portion of the exercise. However, the readings showed that my brain was still in the target state, and still following the guidance. The EEG we used was looking for what’s called the Awakened Mind pattern, from the work of Judith Pennington at the Institute of the Awakened Mind. In plain language, it’s a pattern where all four main types of brainwave (alpha, beta, theta, delta) show up together, in balance. Alpha was the relevant one here. We know it works like a bridge between your conscious, thinking mind and the deeper layers. And when someone actually falls asleep, alpha is one of the first things to drop away. That’s how sleep researchers usually spot the moment someone drifts off.

During my click-outs, alpha didn’t drop away. The pattern was still there, and it kept shifting with the guidance, even though I had no awareness of any of it.

For all intents and purposes, it looked like I was doing the exercise, and that I was completely awake.

This is what convinced me personally that clicking out is different from sleep. I always believed it was, because over the last few years of doing these audio exercises, I’ve noticed my skills, abilities and benefits accrue. But it’s really good to get that scientific validation.

Most people think they’ve missed everything. Maybe they don’t consciously recollect it, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened.

What clicking out feels like

You may remember the start of an exercise and the end, but there’s a gap for the period you clicked out.

There’s not a feeling of drifting off. It’s more like a cut, as if someone has edited a section out of the recording.

You come back quickly. Definitely a “wait, where was I?” kind of feeling, often right when the audio brings you back, rather than slowly and groggily.

You can sometimes drift in and out of awareness too, but that’s probably a bit different from clicking out. Drifting is gradual. Clicking out tends to be more episodic, and quick.

How is it different from sleep?

When you wake from sleep, you usually feel that time has passed, and you can be groggy for a while. After you click out, you tend to return suddenly and alert, as if no time has passed at all.

But if you hear yourself snoring, is that sleep, or is it clicking out? Honestly, it’s hard to say, and I don’t think anyone can tell you for certain. Both can happen in the same exercise.

Why does it happen?

The Monroe Institute’s view is that clicking out isn’t a failure. They describe it as an automatic subconscious response, and say it has a purpose. Their trainers give a few reasons it might happen:

Too much, too fast. You may be taking in more information than your conscious mind can process in real time.

No frame of reference. If the experience doesn’t match anything you’ve known before, your mind may have no words or pictures to hold it, so it doesn’t get stored as a normal memory.

Not ready yet. Some things may stay below your conscious awareness until you’re ready to make sense of them.

They also say that what happened during a click-out can surface later, sometimes days or weeks afterwards, as an insight, a feeling or a moment of déjà vu. Personally, this hasn’t happened for me. But the benefits still definitely accrue.

You can read it in their own words on the Monroe Institute website: Clicking Out: Is It Sleep, or Something Else?

What should you do about it?

Mostly, don’t worry about it.

Don’t judge it. Treat clicking out as part of the experience, not as a sign you did it wrong. We know it still works.

Write down whatever you do remember straight after the exercise, even if it’s only the start and the end, and notice what comes up later.

If you’re trying not to click out, try sitting up instead of lying down, with your eyes open, and without something very busy in your visual field. Also be mindful of how much you’ve eaten recently, and of caffeine, whether you’ve had some or whether you need some.

Have a nap first. Often somebody could do a nap before their planned exercise. The Monroe Institute’s Power Nap audio is designed for exactly that.

Most people find they click out less as they practise, and they stay present for more of the exercise.

Personally, I click out a lot, or genuinely fall asleep a lot. There’s only so many times you can say to yourself, well, obviously my body needed it. It is what it is, but the benefits still accrue.

The CIA Gateway report

You’ll often see the famous Gateway report described as a CIA report. It wasn’t written by the CIA. It was written in 1983 by Lieutenant Colonel Wayne M. McDonnell of the US Army. In other words, it came out of the American equivalent of our Defence Force, not out of the CIA. It’s called Analysis and Assessment of Gateway Process. It ended up in the CIA’s records and was approved for release in 2003, which is why it now sits in the CIA’s online reading room.

McDonnell draws heavily on the work of Itzhak Bentov, the inventor and author of Stalking the Wild Pendulum, which is on our bookshelf, as well as other physicists. Many of the ideas and diagrams in this part of the report come from Bentov’s work.

The idea goes like this. Any wave, including a brainwave, comes to a complete stop for an instant at the top and bottom of each cycle. At those points, the energy briefly “clicks out” of time and space and touches what the report calls the Absolute, a state of infinity outside time. If your brainwaves become fast and coherent enough, the click-outs come so close together that part of your consciousness can stay there, in the dimensions between ordinary time-space and the Absolute.

I’m not able to determine the accuracy of the physics. But it may be a useful construct. You may be able to wrap your head around it, and it may be useful for you. It was definitely useful for me.

The term “clicking out” comes from Bob Monroe and the Monroe Institute. The Gateway report sought to define it and explain it. The two were written at different points in time, and they explain it differently, but they’re talking about the same basic phenomenon.

You can read the original report here. Or you can read the full report here.

Why is there a second version of the report?

The version in the CIA reading room is missing page 25. For years it was a bit of an internet mystery. People filed Freedom of Information requests for it, and the CIA said it never had the page. Eventually, the page was identified in the Monroe Institute’s own archives in Virginia, and it was later published by Vice.

No one claims to know why it was missing in the first place. It may simply have been lost, or missed when the report was copied. And despite the theories, going by the page that was eventually uncovered, it doesn’t appear to contain a secret technique. It covers the universal hologram idea, and the ancient idea of “know thyself”. It’s fascinating reading.

We’ve put the full report back together, with page 25 in its proper place, so you can read it from start to finish.

Page 25 of the Gateway report, identified in the Monroe Institute’s archives.

Questions people ask

Does clicking out mean I fell asleep?

Not necessarily. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, and both can happen in the same exercise. A clue is how you come back: suddenly and alert, often right when the tones change, wondering where the time went.

Do I miss the experience if I click out?

You may not consciously remember it, but we’re quite sure you still get the benefits. People have been clicking out at the Monroe Institute for more than 50 years, and some of the most experienced people still click out and are still developing their abilities.

Will I ever remember what happened?

Sometimes. The Monroe Institute says memories can come back later, often when they’re relevant to something in your life. Sometimes they don’t, and that’s fine too.

Can I stop myself clicking out?

It can feel frustrating, and it’s natural to want to stay present for the whole exercise. Be patient, and be kind with yourself. Try sitting up with your eyes open, and be mindful of food and caffeine. A nap before your planned exercise can help too, and the Monroe Institute’s Power Nap audio is designed for that.

Is the CIA Gateway report’s “click out” the same as the Monroe one?

Yes, it’s the same basic phenomenon. The term comes from Bob Monroe. The 1983 Gateway report tried to define it and explain it in terms of physics.

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