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Read the intriguing history of remote viewing a psychic phenomenon. Learn how remote viewers can allegedly use their minds to access information from afar.

Explore more [topic] on Gaia Start Free Trial SeriesDocs & FilmsYoga Yoga Home Yoga Practices Yoga Series Yoga Lifestyle Yoga Teachers Yoga Pose Library Fitness & Pilates MeditationNew VideosTopicsArticlesGaia+ Gaia+ Home Watch On Demand Watch Live Shop ... RecipesAlternative HealingFood & NutritionEnergy HealingLongevity & WellnessTransformationSpiritual GrowthPersonal DevelopmentExpanded ConsciousnessSeeking TruthMetaphysicsSecrets & Cover UpsAncient OriginsParanormal & Unexplained English English Log In What is Remote Viewing? Declassifying a Psychic Phenomenon 11 min read By Dr. Simeon Hein | January 3, 2025 | Transformation , Expanded Consciousness , Psychic Abilities Remote viewing is the psychic ability to acquire accurate information about a distant or non-local place, person, or event without using your physical senses or any other obvious means. It’s associated with the idea of clairvoyance, seemingly being able to spontaneously know something without actually knowing how you got the information. It is also sometimes called “anomalous cognition” or “second sight.” Many of us experience this from time to time as an intuitive flash of insight that turns out to be correct. Many well-known entrepreneurs and business people, like George Soros, Conrad Hilton, Thomas Alva Edison, and Akio Morita, the co-founder of Sony, have attributed their business success to this ability. And we’ve all seen natural psychics perform seemingly amazing feats of mental skill on TV. The difference between natural psychic receptivity and remote viewing is that the latter is a trained skill, a controlled process, that the average person can learn to do to some degree. This ability seems to be distributed in the human population in varying degrees, just like a musical skill—some people are really good at playing an instrument, but almost everyone can hum a tune or whistle. History of the Remote Viewing Program Remote viewing in modern times originates from the U.S. government’s interest in psychic espionage during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Back during World War II, the Soviets had heard rumors that the U.S. military was using psychic spies and communications at sea. While it’s not clear now whether this was true, the Soviets believed it and started their own psychic training within their military and intelligence agencies many decades ago. The U.S. government learned of this program and, in the early 1970s, decided to create a remote viewing CIA training program. Stanford Research Institute Remote Viewing Experiments Money and resources were given by the Central Intelligence Agency to Stanford Research Institute (SRI), located on the campus of Stanford University at the time, to test the possibility of remote viewing. The goal was to disprove that psychic functioning was real. No one wanted it to exist. It was the last thing the military establishment wanted to worry about, especially if it was a new Soviet threat. Physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, working at SRI, were tasked with determining whether extrasensory perception (ESP) and related phenomena were real or not (known as parapsychology). During their parapsychological research, Targ and Putoff set about to locate some natural psychics and test them. Their first subject was artist, psychic, and scientist Ingo Swann of New York City, who had demonstrated an ability to accurately “remote view” weather in various American cities. He also published some articles about ESP and psychokinesis (the ability to mentally affect distant objects) when he worked with researcher Gertrude Schmeidler of City College and the American Society for Psychical Research. Working with Schmeidler, Swann had shown that he could affect the temperature of thermistors sealed in insulated thermos canisters twenty-five feet away from him. At a friend’s request, Swann sent his published findings to Putoff, who asked Swann to come to SRI and demonstrate his abilities. The first thing they had Swann do was to see if he could affect a super sensitive, electromagnetically shielded quark detector buried five feet underground in a cement floor. Every time Putoff asked Swann to think about the detector (used to detect subatomic particles), the readings from the device would noticeably deviate from the baseline readings. Putoff was convinced that Swann had special abilities, and so the program to test and develop remote viewing began. Expanded Scope At first, they had Swann view objects in a box; this was a practice he was good at but quickly became bored with. Swann said to them, “I can view anything in the universe; this is a trivialization of my abilities.” A few days later, he came up with a new way to do remote viewing: viewing map coordinates. Targ and Putoff went out and bought the biggest atlas they could find at the local bookstore. Swann’s coordinate map viewing turned out to be a big success. A critic at the Central Intelligence Agency suggested that maybe he had memorized the en...

What is Remote Viewing? A Psychic Phenomenon Explained | Gaia