Controlled Remote Viewing: Useful Tips and Tricks

“Remote viewing is a disciplined method that trains individuals to obtain information about distant or concealed objects, events, locations, or people beyond normal sensory capabilities.” ~ Jana Rogge, The 12 Principles of Remote Viewing

Discover a concise, practice-oriented guide to one of the most influential remote viewing methods ever developed. Controlled Remote Viewing: Useful Tips and Tricks, authored by Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) practitioner and former International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA) president John P. Stahler, distills decades of military and civilian CRV experience into clear, step-by-step advice that helps you avoid common pitfalls and strengthen your structure from Stage I–VII.

Drawing on declassified program documents, the original Swann–Puthoff methodology, interviews with Swann and his trainees, and operational lessons from Ft. Meade, this book walks you through ideograms, sensory data, movement exercises, Stage IV matrices, advanced modeling, dowsing adjuncts, and even emerging Stage VII phonetics, illustrated with real session pages.

Ideal for serious students and working viewers alike, it offers practical tools to reduce noise, improve data quality, and bring your remote viewing to a truly professional level.

Rather than being a full CRV training manual, this book is designed as a compact companion for students who are already learning original, Ingo Swann–style CRV and want clear, practical “do’s and don’ts” to tighten their session structure.

The author, who previously served as the head of an electronics design firm focusing on digital video processing, has been awarded numerous patents. His inventions have flown as experimental components in NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. He has been involved in remote viewing for over 20 years including roles as an assistant instructor, student mentor, operational viewer, project manager, and researcher. Presently, he serves as vice president and a board member of the Center Lane Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the sharing and preservation of the original CRV methodology as developed by Swann and Puthoff.

All author and publisher net proceeds from this work are donated to the Center Lane Project.

The beauty of this book is that someone wrote it who had to learn remote viewing just like most of you do. That process involves exposure to the words and guidance from former military viewers or their students, plus a great amount of trial and error. Because each of the military viewers have their own variations for performing and teaching remote viewing, to get to best practices often requires exploring the teachings of not just one, but a variety of them.

John Stahler did exactly that, then put what he learned into action. He came out the other side with a great deal of wisdom, focusing especially on controlled remote viewing (CRV). Importantly, he developed a desire to share it with others, so their remote viewing journey could be smoother and more fully realized thanks to the lessons he learned the hard way. In short: John Stahler knows where the remote viewing land mines are and how to avoid them.

His importance to remote viewing, and especially CRV didn’t end with his own education. John’s first steps in going on to serve others in the field started by helping me teach my controlled remote viewing courses. He was a valuable counselor, talking me down off ledges of my own creation, and coming up with insightful solutions to student problems. Along the way, we had adventures. (I still get a kick when I remember his dubious looks as we ferried students around Austin in my van, me with my right foot in a massive orthotic boot, while running the brakes and gas pedal with my left.)

John went on to become one of the most effective presidents of the International Remote Viewing Association. He was also a longtime friend and supporter of remote viewing’s originator, Ingo Swann, and contributed significantly to the biographical film “A Life Gone Wild,” about Ingo. Now as vice-president of the Center Lane Project, John continues to make important contributions to the dissemination and preservation of Swann’s Controlled Remote Viewing legacy.

In the pages of this book, you will find tips, guidance, outlines, context and examples. All of these materials serve to augment and enhance your other learning and training processes in developing a rich understanding and mastery of the CRV methodology. But even if you are learning some other variant of remote viewing, Controlled Remote Viewing: Useful Tips and Tricks will be a valuable tool for you. Though Tips and Tricks focuses on the original Ingo Swann process, the principles and practices discussed here will help you, whether you are learning a variant of the original CRV, or one of its offshoots, or even an unrelated remote viewing method.

In my long association with him, I recognize John Stahler not just as a man of unimpeachable principle and integrity, but a brilliant thinker, a thoughtful practical philosopher, a creative genius, and a kind, thoughtful person who can, nevertheless, be firm when necessary. All of these qualities have come into play in his many interactions in the remote viewing community. They contribute here to the quality and value of Controlled Remote Viewing: Useful Tips and Tricks. I am pleased that you have chosen to take advantage of John’s expertise, letting him teach you some of the nuances of the reality and practice of this transcendent, yet eminently practical, human skill.

Paul H. Smith, Ph.D.,
Major (U.S. Army, ret.)
Former member, Star Gate Remote Viewing Program
President and Chief Instructor, Remote Viewing Instructional Services, Inc.
Twice past president of the International Remote Viewing Association
Advisor, The Center Lane Project