The Containment Box is one of those simple techniques that can go a lot deeper than people realize.

Robert Monroe used a version of this in the Gateway Experience, where he called it the Energy Conversion Box.

Before moving into the deeper states of the program, he would have people imagine placing their fears, worries, anxieties, doubts, physical concerns, and anything else that might pull their awareness away into a strong container.

You can call it whatever you want.

I call it the Containment Box.

The idea is not to suppress anything. It is more like setting it aside, containing it, and allowing the mind and body to move forward without carrying all of that into the experience.

I’ve started using a version of this in my own sessions, usually after I guide someone into their safe place. Once they’re there, I’ll have them imagine a box. It can look however it wants to look. Sometimes I’ll describe it as ancient, strong, and able to hold anything they no longer need to carry.

Then I’ll have them open it.

From there, I guide them to begin breathing out anything that feels heavy. Guilt. Shame. Fear. Limiting beliefs. Old energy. The stuff they came in holding.

I’ll sometimes describe the box as having its own gravity, like it is pulling the old energy out of the body and into the container. With each exhale, more of it leaves. Stale energy. Old stories. Things they may not even have words for yet.

I think of it like emptying the cup.

If you’re walking around carrying an old cup of stale coffee, and you come across a fresh well of water, you can’t really drink from it until you empty what you’re already holding.

That’s how this technique feels to me.

You’re not fixing everything in that moment. You’re not forcing some big healing breakthrough. You’re just making space.

After a minute or so, I’ll count down from five to one and have them breathe out the last pieces of that energy into the box. Then they close it. Lock it. Seal it.

Sometimes I’ll have the box sink down into the earth. Sometimes it gets absorbed by the environment. Sometimes it simply disappears.

Then I’ll ask them how they feel now that the energy is contained and out of their body.

Almost every time, there’s relief.

This is a great technique for the beginning of a session because many people come in carrying a lot. Their nervous system is full. Their mind is busy. Their body is holding tension.

Before going into past lives, guides, attachments, inner child work, or deeper subconscious material, it helps to let off some steam first.

Almost like a volcano releasing pressure.

And honestly, I think this can be just as useful on your own.

Before meditation, before an inner journey, before breathwork, or even before sleep, imagine placing everything you do not need into a box. Let the box hold it for you. Let your body feel what it is like to not carry all of it for a little while.

Robert Monroe used it beautifully in the Gateway Experience, and I’ve found it works really well in spiritual hypnosis too.