My Day at The Integratron

I am definitely feeling the season this year. The marine layer coming in from the Pacific in the evenings is making Los Angeles feel a little spooky. Now is the time for murder mysteries, haunted hayrides, Día de los Muertos, and costume parties. This season reminds me of a trip I took to the middle of nowhere to receive the benefits of alien healing. I know that this sounds like the most Los Angeles thing I have ever written–I think so too. This post documents my day at The Integratron. 

I had heard the word Integratron float around for a while. A mysterious place out in Landers, CA, in the middle of nowhere. I heard about its vibrations and alien frequencies. This somewhat vague description led me to want to see what it was all about.

The desert is a mysterious place. It is a place that is filled with paradox, where the new age meets evangelicalism. The High Desert is a place where people come to feel vibrations–no matter where you feel that comes from. It is lonely, beautiful, harsh, and surreal. The desert can mean many things too many people. 

That is what The Integratron is for.

The History of The Integratron

To George van Tassel, the creator of The Integratron, the desert meant a place for him to receive a message. This mathematical genius, and test pilot, who often sojourned to the High Desert to meditate and try to communicate with extraterrestrials. One day he was lucky and was visited by the Venutians, the beings that call Venus home. These visitors were so distressed by the downward spiral of the beings of Earth and gave van Tassel a mathematical formula to heal the human race. He used this formula to create the Integratron. 

My day at Integratron

A group of us left Los Angeles, crossed the desert, and headed up dirt roads twenty miles north of Joshua Tree. The dome of the all-white building reflects the sun and peeks between the hills and famed trees of the High Desert. 

The way the formula given to Van Tassel by the Venutians is delivered is by sound bath. I will get into what this means later in the post. Our reservation was for a public sound bath meaning that you were also experiencing it with strangers. I will get to why this matters later.

Before you experience a sound bath there are some things to keep in mind

All messaging from the business asks you to arrive early to the site as there is no late entry. Once the sound bath is started they do not let you in–fair warning. Arriving early has its benefits though and I recommend it. The property very meditative space filled with areas to contemplate before heading inside the dome. Sit in the hammock village and see the house that really killed the Wicked Witch of the East. 

When I went, they had recently brought back the public sound bath option. They had stopped for a while because people would fall asleep and snore really loudly drowning out the sound of the quartz bowls. When you can’t hear the sound bath you paid for, there were issues of bad reviews and complaints. You are cautioned a few times to not fall asleep during your sound bath.

Inside the dome

I recommend exploring the bottom floor of the dome once you are inside. There you learn the concept behind the Integratron and how it is experienced today. This is also a very cool space, and if you are going in the summer, you might welcome spending some time here.

To get to the sound bath, you will need to climb a wooden ladder to the top floor. The space is designed with acoustics in mind. You can have clear-as-day conversations with someone on the other side of the room. I suggest you try it. Tell them a secret and maybe debate the existence of aliens.

Off to one side of the space is a series of quartz bowls of varying sizes. As soon as you can, choose a space on a mat–which has a bolster for your head and a yoga blanket in case you are cold. I recommend finding a spot with a clear view of a window.

As you lay down, one of the sisters who curate The Integratron gives you the origin story of the place, what you can expect, and a final warning not to fall asleep during the sound bath. So with that being said we settled in to experience The Integratron. 

The sound bath experience

For thirty minutes the quartz bowls–or crystal singing bowls– were played like an instrument. The player uses a wooden baton to tap and drag the sound around the bowl and incorporates other bowls varying in size and tone. The player sits in the center of the bowls making continuous layering sounds for thirty minutes or so. The sounds fill the room and at times fill your body with vibration. You can feel it more when the larger bowls are played, the bass notes vibrating the floor and your back and chest. I chose to keep my eyes open, peered out the window, and watched the clouds change and pass along with the sounds. This is a meditative experience, I find having a sound to latch onto stops my wandering thoughts.

I enjoyed my experience for ten minutes or so before one of the guests started snoring so loudly that it competed with the quartz bowls. As sound is amplified here as I mentioned, it felt like this linebacker of a man had cuddled up next to me–I was Yoko to his John– and snored through a bullhorn into my ear. This is exactly what the curator of the space warned us of. I was really surprised that the people he came with or one of the curators didn’t give him a tap. At times I wanted to laugh, but mainly I felt annoyed–which probably wasn’t what the Venutians had in mind for me.

I feel like being able to experience the sound bath without the extra accompaniment would have given me the experience I was supposed to have.

If I were to do it again

An Integratron do over is something I am totally up for–any excuse to go to the desert. Now that I know, my recommendations are getting a group of friends together and buying out the space. I would have less of a problem letting a friend know that they are snoring and potentially ruining the experience for others. I also recommend drinking a strong cup of coffee before you go.

Hours, cost, and other information

• Website: https://www.integratron.com/
• Address: 2477 Belfield Blvd. Landers, CA 92285
• Cost: Ranges $50 for the public sound bath to $1800 for renting out the space. 
• Other: I don’t remember there being an option for those who have issues with climbing

So, that was my day at the Integratron and a post about aliens during this Halloween season. If you are feeling the season too, here is a post about a cemetery, a time I got my fortune told, and a woman dressed as Marilyn Monroe.