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Trance

Trance is an overarching generic term that is used to denote a variety of processes, techniques, modalities and states of mind and consciousness.
The term "trance" may be conflated with others such as meditation, play, magic, and prayer. Trance is from Latin 'transīre': to cross, pass over and the multiple meaning of the polyvalent homonym "entrance" as a verb and noun provide insight into the nature of trance as a threshold, conduit, portal and/or channel. An intransitive usage of the verb 'trance' now obsolete is 'to pass', 'to travel' is cognate with vision quests.

Working definitions
Definition
Trance and Consciousness
Trance induction
Trance and health
Trance and spirituality




Working definitions

. Enchantment: a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation

. A state of mind in which consciousness is fragile and voluntary action is poor or missing

. A state resembling deep sleep

. A condition of apparent sleep or unconsciousness, with marked physiological characteristics, in which the body of the subject is liable to possession

. An out-of-body experience in which one feels they have passed out of the body into another state of being, a rapture, an ecstasy. In a general way, the entranced conditions thus defined are divided into varying degrees of a negative, unconscious state, and into progressive gradations of a positive, conscious, illumining condition.

. A state of hyper or enhanced suggestibility.

. An altered state of awareness induced via hypnotism in which unconscious or dissociated responses to suggestion are enhanced in quality and increased in degree

. A state of consciousness characterized by extreme dissociation often to the point of appearing unconscious.
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Definition

Trance conditions include all the different states of mind, emotions, moods and daydreams that human beings experience. All activities which engage a human involve the filtering of information coming into sense modalities and hence, brain functioning and consciousness. Therefore, trance may be understood as a matter of functionality and efficiency equal to economize consciousness resource usage.
Trance states may also be accessed or induced by various modalities and is a way of accessing the unconscious mind for the purposes of relaxation, healing, intuition and inspiration.
Today hypnotherapists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychologists, sports psychologists and NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) practitioners, amongst others, use various forms of trances.
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Trance and Consciousness

Beta brain waves designate the general state of waking consciousness. As a consequence, this state has been 'normalized'. This normalization is a challengeable value judgment. This consciously awake beta state may still be considered as a trance because it involves the selective filtering of information and utilizes cognitive, awareness and mentation resources in specific ways. Consciousness [normal waking] is a state of light Hypnosis and few people are ever truly awake!
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Trance induction

Trance-like states which are often interpreted as religious ecstasy can be deliberately induced using a variety of techniques, including prayer, religious rituals, meditation, pranayama (breathwork or breathing exercises), physical exercise, coitus (and/or sex), music, dancing, sweating (e.g. sweat lodge), fasting, thirsting, and the consumption of psychotropic drugs such as cannabis. Sensory modality is the channel or conduit for the induction of the trance. Sometimes an ecstatic experience takes place in occasion of contact with something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy. It may also happen without any known reason. The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually one that is associated with that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions. As a result, an ecstatic experience is usually interpreted within the context of a particular individual's religious and cultural traditions. These interpretations often include statements about contact with supernatural or spiritual beings, about receiving new information as a revelation, also religion-related explanations of subsequent change of values, attitudes and behavior (e.g. in case of religious conversion).
Trances may be induced (intentionally, spontaneously and/or accidentally) by different methods:

. Auditory driving through the sense of hearing by chanting, auditory story telling, mantra, overtone singing, drumming, music, etc.;,

. Kinesthetic driving through the sense of feeling and movement through the kinesphere by dance, story telling by movement, mudra, embodying rituals, yoga, breathwork,oxygen deprivation, etc.;

. Visual Driving through the sense of sight by yantra, visual story telling, mandala, cinema, theater, art, architecture, beauty, strobe lights, form constants, symmetry;

. Olfactory driving through via scent through the sense of smell by perfume, pheromones, incense, flowers, pollen, indeed any scent for which we have an association or memory, etc.;

. Gustatory driving through the sense of taste and indigestion; including: starvation, herbs, hallucinogens and drugs. As the intake of food and beverage entails intra-bodily chemical reactions through digestion, some infer that all food may be considered 'medicine' or 'drugs' and therefore contribute to the induction of discernable psycho-physical states (refer Ancient Medicine). It is sometimes attained through the ingestion of psychoactive drugs such as alcohol and opiates, or psychoactive plants and chemicals such as LSD, 2C-I, peyote, marijuana, mescaline, Salvia Divinorum, MDMA, psychedelic mushrooms, or datura (Jimson weed).

. Disciplines: Yoga, Sufism, Surat Shabd Yoga; meditation; and

. Miscellaneously: traumatic accident, sleep deprivation, nitrogen narcosis (deep diving), fever, by the use of a sensory deprivation tank or mind-control techniques, hypnosis, meditation, prayer; and

. Naturally occurring: dreams, lucid dreams, euphoria, ecstasy, psychosis as well as purported premonitions, out-of-body experiences, and channeling.
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Trance and health

Trance has been shown to be very psychologically beneficial, by helping to relieve built up stress, allowing one to reflect on life issues without censorship or guilt, and generally giving the psyche respite from operating at alpha or delta states. Trance forms though such as meditation may be contraindicated for certain individuals with a history of mental illness and people on certain psychotropic medications.
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Trance and spirituality

The Vaishnava Bhakti Schools of Yoga defines Samadhi as "complete absorption into the object of one's love (Krishna)." Rather than thinking of "nothing," true samadhi is said to be achieved only when one has pure, unmotivated love of God. Thus samadhi can be entered into through meditation on the personal form of God, even while performing daily activities a practitioner can strive for full samadhi.


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