Trance

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Contents

[edit] Trance: etymology

Trance is from Latin 'transpire': 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.

Trance, n. [F. 'transe' fright, in OF. also, trance or swoon, fr. 'transir' to chill, benumb, to be chilled, to shiver, OF. also, to die, L. 'transire' to pass over, go over, pass away, cease; trans across, over + ire to go; cf. L. 'transitus' a passing over. See Issue, and cf. Transit.

An intransitive usage of the verb 'trance' now obsolete is 'to pass', 'to travel' which resonates with shamanic journeying and vision quests.

[edit] Trance: synonyms & related terms

[edit] Synonyms

Verb or process synonyms for trance:

  • Enchant: (en- + cantare) or sing (see chant) (from French 'en-chanter' and Latin 'incantare'): (a) transitive. To exert magical influence upon; to bewitch. Also, to endow with magical powers or properties. Also figuratively, (b) To influence as if by a charm; to hold spellbound; in bad sense, to delude. (c) To charm, enrapture.
  • Enthrall: (en- + thrall) also (in+ thrall): To hold in thrall; to enslave. Also figuratively, now chiefly in sense 'to hold spellbound by pleasing qualities'.
  • Entrance: as a verb may refer to: (a) transitive. To throw into a trance. (b) To put 'out of oneself'; to overpower with delight, fear, etc.; to carry away in or as in a trance (from, to).
  • Enrapture: (en- + rapture): (a) to throw into a poetic rapture. (b) To delight greatly. (c) to carry away in ecstasy; hence to be absorbed in contemplation; enraptured. Sometimes undestinguishable from 'enwrapt', figurative.
  • Glamour: (also glamer): (a) magic, enchantment, spell. (b) A magical or fictitious beauty attached to any person or object; an alluring charm.
  • Mesmerise: (after Franz Mesmer the German physician):...
  • Spell
  • Transport: (a) The action of transporting; conveyance. (b) ....

[edit] Antonyms

  • Dispel
  • Antispell
  • The religious understanding of awaken as different to general waking consciousness, refer etymology of buddha.

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Trance: working models

Trance is increasingly used as a meta-paradigm and inclusive term for different states of consciousness and what has come to be known as altered states of consciousness. No value judgement on the states is intended. The trance as meta-paradigm model has been developing through the confluence of various fields over the last few decades.

Hoffman (1998, p.9) asserts in relation to trance that: "Over the past few decades, less of a value judgement has been made regarding whether these states are deeper or lighter or better or worse than ordinary consciousness. This means that usual, everyday consciousness no longer unequivocally ranks first, as it had for so long in the West."

[edit] Trance: critique of term usage

Some people respond passionately to the usage of the term trance. Trance has a parallel history of negative associations and connotations. This article seeks to embrace these differences and engage them as a mutually rewarding dialogue, rather than contrive a homogenous position. Brian Inglis (1989) provides an interesting literature review and overview of the absence and oversight of 'trance' in reference materials.

[edit] Trance: 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
  • Capture: attract; cause to be enamored; "She captured all the men's hearts"; in the sense of entranced
  • a condition of apparent sleep or unconsciousness, with marked physiological characteristics, in which the body of the subject is liable to possession
  • A state in which the soul seems to 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.
  • One of the most common altered states of consciousness Trance is characterized by extreme disassociation often to the point of appearing unconscious.
  • A state of hypersuggestibility.
  • An induced or spontaneous sleep-like condition of an altered state of consciousness, which permits the subject's physical body to be utilized by the discarnate as a means of expression
  • 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 trance induced by the use of hypnosis; the person accepts the suggestions of the hypnotist
  • meditation is a form of trance

[edit] Trance: 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 ~ 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. There is a extensive history of trance. Principles of trance are being explored and documented as are methods of trance induction. Benefits of trance states are being explored by medical and scientific inquiry. Many traditions and rituals employ trance. Trance also has a function in religion and mystical experience.

Castillo (1995) states that: "Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain and depend to a large extent on the characteristics of culture. Culture-specific organizations exist in the structure of individual neurons and in the organizational formation of neural networks."

Hoffman (1998: p.9) states that: "Trance is still conventionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness, or a somnolent state. However, the more recent anthropological definition, linking it to 'altered states of consciousness' (Charles Tart), is becoming increasingly accepted."

Hoffman (1998, p.9) asserts that: "...the trance state should be discussed in the plural, because there is more than one altered state of consciousness significantly different from everyday consciousness."

[edit] Notables in trance

[edit] Trance: origins & history

[edit] Temple of Epidaurus: healing sleep

According to Hoffman (1998: p.10), pilgrims visited the Temple of Epidaurus an asclepieion in Greece for healing sleep. A seeker of healing would make pilgrimage and be received by a priest who would welcome and bless them. This temple housed an ancient religious ritual promoting dreams in the seeker that endeavoured to promote healing and the solutions to problems, as did the oracles. This temple was built in honour of Asclepios, the Greek God of Medicine. The Greek treatment was referred to as incubation, and focused on prayers to Asclepios for healing. The asclepion at Epidaurus is both extensive and well preserved, and is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Asclepius. (For a comparable modern tool refer dreamwork.)

[edit] Oral lore & storytelling

Stories of the saints in the Middle Ages, myths, parables, fairy tales, oral lore and storytelling from different cultures are themselves potentially inducers of trance. Often literary devices such as repetition are employed which is evident in many forms of trance induction. Milton Erickson used stories to induce trance as do many NLP practitioners.

[edit] Mesmer and the origin of hypnotherapy

  • Mesmer
  • Milton Erickson, the founder of hypnotherapy who died in 1980, introduced trance and hypnosis to orthodox medicine and psychotherapy - hypnosis here, is something different from traditional clinical hypnosis.

[edit] Trance in American Christianity

Taves (1999) charts the synonymic language of trance in the American Christian traditions: "power" or "presence" or "indwelling" of God, or Christ, or the Spirit, or spirits. Typical expressions include "the indwelling of the Spirit" (Jonathan Edwards), "the witness of the Spirit" (John Wesley), "the power of God" (early American Methodists), being "filled with the Spirit of the Lord" (early Adventists), "communing with spirits" (Spiritualists), "the Christ within" (New Thought), "streams of holy fire and power" (Methodist Holiness)), "a religion of the Spirit and Power" (the Emmanuel Movement), and "the babtism of the Holy Spirit" (early Pentecostals). (Taves, 1999: 3)

[edit] Anglo-American Protestants: a case study in trance

Taves (1999) well referenced book on trance charts the experience of Anglo-American Protestants and those who left the Protestant movement beginning with the transatlantic awakening in the early Eighteenth Century and ending with the rise of the psychology of religion and the birth of Pentecostalism in the early Twentieth Century. This book focuses on a class of seemingly involuntary acts alternately explained in religious and secular terminology. These involuntary experiences include uncontrolled bodily movements (fits, bodily exercises, falling as dead, catalepsy, convulsions); spontaneous vocalizations (crying out, shouting, speaking in tongues); unusual sensory experiences (trances, visions, voices, clairvoyance, out-of-body experiences); and alterations of consciousness and/or memory (dreams, somnium, somnambulism, mesmeric trance, mediumistic trance, hypnotism, possession, alternating personality). (Taves, 1999: 3)

[edit] Current trance practice

Today hypnotherapists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychologists, sport psychologists and NLP practitioners, amongst others, use various forms of trances.

Neurolinguistic Programming (or NLP) which is so popular today, is a further development of Milton Erickson's hypnotherapy, for which, however, he did not supply an orthodox methodology. Erickson would put his patients in trance with short stories. While keeping the ego of his patients occupied, he would target his healing messages straight at their unconscious mind, which he believed to have considerable self-healing powers. In this way he healed himself of the paralysis that affected him when young and which he did finally succumb later in life.

[edit] Trance and Consciousness

Beta waves designate the general state of waking consciousness. As a consequence, this state has been 'normalised'. This is a value judgement. This consciously awake beta state may still be considered as a trance because it involved the selective filtering of information and utilises cognitive, awareness and mentation resources in specific ways.

William James (Neophytou, 1996):

“ Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it by the flimsiest screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different…. No account of the universe in its totality can be final, which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. ”

Gurdjieff (Neophytou, 1996):

“ Consciousness [normal waking] is a state of light Hypnosis and few people are ever truly awake. ”

Aldous Huxley (Neophytou, 1996):

“ Normal consciousness is a narrow segment of our potential consciousness. [He regarded the brain and sense organs as a kind of reducing valve thru which experience was funneled to protect us from being overwhelmed. ”

[edit] Trance: NLP, Hypnosis, Possession, Channelling, Altered States of Consciousness

[edit] Trance induction and sensory modality

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 sex, music, dancing, sweating (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 behaviour (e.g. in case of religious conversion).

Benevolent, neutral and malevolent trances may be induced (intentionally, spontaneously and/or accidentally) by different methods:

and

[edit] Auditory Driving; trance and music

Charles Tart provides a useful working definition of auditory driving. It is the induction of trance through the sense of hearing. Auditory driving works through a process known as entrainment.

The phenomenon of auditory driving is culturally still clearly evident and may be found in electronic dance music culture, which in many ways may be considered a modern version of shamanism. The same effect is caused by many jam bands. Churches which chant their services may also induce the same effects resulting in a trance state through the use of odd inflections and off-kilter or polyrhythmic structures.

[edit] Rhythmic induction

The usage of repetitive rhythms to induce trance states is an ancient phenomenon. Throughout the world, shamanistic practioneers have been employing this method for millennia. Anthropologists and other researchers have documented the similarity of shamanistic auditory driving rituals among different cultures.

Said simply, entrainment is the sychronization of different rhythmic cycles. Breathing and heart rate have been shown to be affected by auditory stimulus, along with brain wave activity. The ability of rhythmic sound to affect human brain wave activity, especially theta brain waves, is the essence of auditory driving, and is the cause of the altered states of consciousness that it can induce.

[edit] Photic or visual driving; trance and visual art

Charles Tart provides a useful working definition of photic or visual driving. It is the induction of trance through the sense of sight. Photic or visual driving works through a process known as entrainment.

Nowack and Feltman have recently published an article entitled "Eliciting the Photic Driving Response" which states that the EEG photic driving response is a sensitive neurophysiological measure which has been employed to assess chemical and drug effects, forms of epilepsy, neurological status of Alzheimer's patients, and physiological arousal. Photic driving also impacts upon the psychological climate of a person by producing increased visual imagery and decreased physiological and subjective arousal. In this research by Nowack and Feltman, all participants reported increased visual imagery during photic driving, as measured by their responses to an imagery questionnaire.

Dennis Wier (http://www.trance.edu/papers/theory.htm Accessed: 6 December 2006) states that over two millennia ago Ptolemy and Apuleius found that differing rates of flickering lights effected states of awareness and sometimes induced epilepsy. Weir also asserts that it was discovered in the late 1920s that when light was shined on closed eyelids it resulted in an echoing production of brain wave frequencies. Weir also opined that in 1965 Grey employed a stroboscope to project rhythmic light flashes into the eyes at a rate of 10-25 Hz (cycles per second). Grey discovered that this stimulated similar brain wave activity.

Recent research by Budzynski, Oestrander and others, in the use of brain machines suggest that photic or direct electrical stimulation of the brain in the theta range appears to facilitate rapid learning, produce deep relaxation, euphoria, an increase in creativity, problem solving propensity and may be associated with enhanced concentration and accelerated learning.

[edit] Kinaesthetic Driving

Charles Tart provides a useful working definition of kinesthetic driving. It is the induction of trance through the sense of touch, feeling or emotions. Kinesthetic driving works through a process known as entrainment.

The rituals practiced by some athletes in preparing for contests are dismissed as superstition, but this is a device of sports psychologists to help them to attain an ecstasy-like state. Interestingly, Joseph Campbell had a peak experience whilst running. Roger Bannister on breaking the four-minute mile (Cameron, 1993: 185): "No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed." Roger Bannister later became a distinguished neurologist.

Mechanisms and disciplines may include kinesthetic driving may include: dancing, walking meditation, yoga and asana, mudra, juggling, poi (juggling), etc.

Sufism (the mystical branch of Islam) has theoretical and metaphoric texts regarding ecstasy as a state of connection with Allah. Sufis practice rituals (dhikr,sema) using body movement and music to achieve the state. Idries Shah amongst others, have asserted that the source of G. I. Gurdjieff's teachings are the Naqshbandi Sufis.

[edit] Trance: types and varieties

  • Maenads & Bacchae: In Greek mythology, Maenads were female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine and intoxication, and the Roman god Bacchus. The word literally translates as "raving ones". They were known as wild, insane women who could not be reasoned with. The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in copious amounts of violence, bloodletting, sexual activity, self-intoxication, and mutilation. They were usually pictured as crowned with vine leaves, clothed in fawnskins and carrying the thyrsus, and dancing with wild abandon. They also were characterised as entranced women, wandering through the forests and hills.¹ The Maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) in Roman mythology, after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a fox-skin, a bassaris.
  • Bhakti: (Devanāgarī: भक्ति) is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning devotion and also the path of devotion itself, as in Bhakti-Yoga. Within Hinduism the word is used exclusively to denote devotion to a particular deity or form of God. Within Vaishnavism bhakti is only used in conjunction with Vishnu or one of his associated incarnations, it is likewise used towards Shiva by followers of Shaivism. Saints in these traditions exhibit different trance states or ecstasy.
  • Rapture or Religious ecstasy: is an altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness which is frequently accompanied by visions and emotional/intuitive (and sometimes physical) euphoria. Although the experience is usually brief in physical time, there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime. Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy.
  • Stigmata: In his paper Hospitality and Pain, iconoclastic Christian theologian Ivan Illich "Compassion with Christ... is faith so strong and so deeply incarnate that it leads to the individual embodiment of the contemplated pain." Illich's thesis is that stigmata manifests from exceptional poignancy of religious faith and desire to associate oneself with the suffering Messiah. Interestingly, stigmatics have manifested the Holy Wounds in different bodily locations possibly due to subjective interpretation or envisioning.
  • In hagiography (writings on the subject of Christian saints) many instances are recorded in which saints are granted ecstasies. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia[1], religious ecstasy (called supernatural ecstasy) includes two elements: one, interior and invisible, in which the mind rivets its attention on a religious subject, and another, corporeal and visible, in which the activity of the senses is suspended, reducing the effect of external sensations upon the subject and rendering him or her resistant to awakening.

[edit] Tools of trance

Hoffman (1998: p.10) asserts that: "...as the anthropologists and ethnologists (for example Felicitas Goodman) tell us, there are no traditional rituals or ceremonies that truly work and change our reality without the use of trance."

[edit] Trance and shamanism

Trance states have also long been used by shamans, mystics, and fakirs in healing rituals, being particularly cultivated in some religions, such as Tibetan Buddhism.

Some anthropologists and religion scholars define a shaman as an intermediary between the natural and spiritual world, who travels between worlds in a trance state. Once in the spirit world, the shaman would commune with the spirits for assistance in healing, hunting or weather management. Ripinsky-Naxon describes shamans as, “People who have a strong interest in their surrounding environment and the society of which they are a part.”

Other anthropologists critique the term "shamanism", arguing that it is a culturally specific word and institution and that by expanding it to fit any healer from any traditional society it produces a false unity between these cultures and creates a false idea of an initial human religion predating all others. However, others say that these anthropologists simply fail to recognize the commonalities between otherwise diverse traditional societies.

Achieving ecstatic trances is a major activity of shamans, who use ecstasy for such purposes as traveling via the axis mundi to heaven or the underworld, guiding or otherwise interacting with spirits, clairvoyance, and healing. Some shamans use drugs from such plants as peyote and cannabis (also see cannabis (drug)) or certain mushrooms in their attempts to reach ecstasy, while others rely on such non-chemical means as ritual, music, dance, ascetic practices, or visual designs as aids to mental discipline.

[edit] Trance and divination

Divination is a cultural universal which anthropologists have observed as being present in many religions and cultures in all ages up to the present day. Divination may be defined as a mechanism for ascertaining information by interpretation of omens or an alleged supernatural agency[1] and as divination often entails ritual as different to fortune-telling is often facilitated by trance.

[edit] Nechung Oracle

In Tibet, oracles have played, and continue to play, an important part in religion and government. The word "oracle" is used by Tibetans to refer to the spirit, deity or entity that enters those men and women who act as media between the natural and the spiritual realms. The media are, therefore, known as kuten, which literally means, "the physical basis".

The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in northern India, still consults an oracle known as the Nechung Oracle, which is considered the official state oracle of the government of Tibet. He gives a complete description of the process of trance and possession in his book Freedom in Exile. [2].

[edit] Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce (1877 – 1945) was an American psychic who claimed to channel answers to questions on subjects such as health, astrology, reincarnation, and Atlantis while in a kind of sleep trance. Cayce's methods involved lying down and entering into what appeared to be a trance or sleep state, usually at the request of a subject who was seeking help with health or other issues (the subjects were not usually present). The subject's questions would then be given to Cayce, and Cayce would proceed with a "reading". At first these readings dealt primarily with the physical health of the individual ("physical readings"); later readings on past lives, business advice, dream interpretation, and mental or spiritual health were also given.

[edit] Australian shaman, The Dreaming and trance

Lawlor (1991: p.374) states that:

The supernormal, supersensory powers of Aboriginal wise woman and men of high degree, by their own accounts, comes directly from initiations administered by the ancestral sky heroes themselves and by the totemic spirits. Those who have gone through these initiations alone, in a deep trance that makes them lose their personal identities and confront manifestations of the ancestral powers, are held in the highest regard.

[edit] 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 a break from consistently operating at alpha or delta states. Generally, one is only in a theta state for a period of minutes, right before going to sleep, and when waking up. Being in a theta state for 15 minutes is considered to be an 'extended period'. With the use of auditory driving, or other meditative techniques, this time can be extended significantly.

[edit] Trance and scientific disciplines

Convergent disciplies of neuroanthropology, ethnomusicology, electroencephalography, neurotheology and cognitive neuroscience, amongst others, are conducting research into the trance induction of altered states of consciousness resulting from neuron entrainment with the driving of sensory modalities. For example polyharmonics, multiphonics, and percussive polyrhythms through the channel of the auditory and kinesthetic modality.

Neuroanthropology and cognitive neuroscience are conducting research into the trance induction of altered states of consciousness (possibly engendering higher consciousness} resulting from neuron firing entrainment with these polyharmonics and multiphonics. Related research has been conducted into neural entraining with percussive polyrhythms. The timbre of traditional singing bowls and their polyrhythms and multiphonics are considered meditative and calminative and the harmony inducing effects of this potentially consciousness alterning tool are being explored by scientists, medical professionals and therapists.

[edit] Trance, brain waves & brain rhythms

Scientific advancement and new technologies according to Wier such as computerized electroencephalography (EEG), EEG topographic brain mapping, positron emission tomography, regional cerebral blood flow, single photon emission computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, amongst others, are providing measurable tools to assist in understanding trance phenomena. All brain waves are analogous to different types of trance in that they utilise brain and consciousness resources differently and provide different input and information filters.

Though a source of contention, there appear to be three current streams of inquiry: the neurophysiological, the social-psychological and the cognitive behaviorialist. The neurophysiological approach is awaiting the development of a mechanism to map physiological measurements to human thought. The social-psychological approach currently measures gross subjective and social effects of thoughts and some critique it for lack of precision. Cognitive behaviorialists employ systems theory concepts and analytical techniques.

There are four principal brain wave states that range from high amplitude, low frequency delta through to the low amplitude, high frequency beta. These states range from deep dreamless sleep to a state of high arousal. These four brain wave states are common throughout humans. All levels of brain waves exist in everyone at all times, even though one is foregrounded depending on the activity level. When a person is in an aroused state and exhibiting a beta brain wave pattern, their brain also exhibits a component of alpha, theta and delta, even though only a trace may be present.

Upon waking from a deep sleep in preparation for arising, your brain wave frequencies increase through the different stages of brain wave activity, moving from delta to theta and then to alpha and into beta.

[edit] Alpha waves

Alpha waves are any of the electrical waves from the parietal and occipital regions of the brain, having frequencies from 8 to 12 hertz (cycles per second). Some scientists consider the range 8 - 13 Hz and are most usual when we are mentally alert, calm and relaxed, or when day-dreaming. Alpha waves are a sign of relaxation, as they indicate a lack of sensory stimulation in a conscious person.

[edit] Beta waves

Beta waves are the most common of the brain wave patterns that occur when awake. These occur during period of intense concentration, problem solving, and focused analysis. The frequency of beta waves is between 13-30 Hz (cycles per second).

[edit] Delta waves

Delta waves occur primarily during deep sleep or states of unconsciousness. The frequency of delta waves is between 0.5-4 Hz (cycles per second).

[edit] Gamma waves

Gamma waves

Need's thumbnail description.

[edit] Theta waves

Theta waves occur when we are mentally drowsy and unfocused, during deep calmness, most daydreaming, relaxation or tranquility, as for example we make the transitions from drowsiness to sleep or from sleep to the waking state. The frequency of theta waves is between 4-7 Hz (cycles per second) though some researchers regard theta to be 5 to 8 cps.

In brain wave frequencies, theta is the frequency range where drowsiness, unconsciousness, dreaming states and deep tranquility happen. Most daydreaming occurs while in the theta range. It is normally a very positive mental state and prolonged states of the theta brain wave frequency while conscious can be extremely productive and a time of very meaningful/creative mental activity.

With practice, meditation can also lower a person's brain wave frequency to theta while allowing the meditator to remain conscious.

[edit] Trance and spirituality

God Good Godspell Gospel Spell Hymn Chant Mantra Overtone Overtone singing Transcendence Immanence Union Satchitananda Samadhi Rigpa Entrainment

The Vaishnava Bhakti Schools of Yoga define 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.

[edit] Notes

  • ¹ Wiles, David (2000). Greek Theatre Performance: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. Source: [3]

[edit] References

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  • Inglis, Brian (1990). Trance: A Natural History Of Altered States Of Mind. London, Paladin. ISBN 0-586-08933-0
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  • Hoffman, Kay (1998). The Trance Workbook: understanding & using the power of altered states. Translated by Elfie Homann, Clive Williams, and Dr Christliebe El Mogharbel. Translation edited by Laurel Ornitz. ISBN 0-8069-1765-2
  • Piers Vitebsky, The Shaman: Voyages of the Soul - Trance, Ecstasy and Healing from Siberia to the Amazon, Duncan Baird, 2001. ISBN 1-903296-18-8
  • Nowack, William J & Feltman, Mary L. (date?) "Eliciting the Photic Driving Response". American Journal of Electroneurodiagnostic Technology. Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 43–45.
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  • Rich, Grant Jewell (2001). Domestic Paths to Altered States and Transformations of Consciousness. Volume 12, Number 2 (September-December 2001).
  • Wallis, Robert (1999). Altered States, Conflicting Cultures: Shamans, Neo-Shamans and Academics. In Anthropology of Consciousness. Volume 10, Numbers 2-3 (June-September 1999).
  • Goodman, Felicitas D. (1999). Ritual Body Postures, Channeling, and the Ecstatic Body Trance. In Anthropology of Consciousness. Volume 10, Number 1 (March 1999).
  • Castillo, Richard J. (1995). Culture, Trance, and the Mind-Brain. In Anthropology of Consciousness. Volume 6, Number 1, March 1995, pages 17-34.
  • Heinze, Ruth-Inge (1994). Applications of Altered States of Consciousness in Daily Life. In Anthropology of Consciousness. Volume 5, Number 3, September 1994, pages 8-12.
  • Taves, Ann (1999). Fits, Trances, & Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Smith, Huston (2000). Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals. Tarcher/Putnam, ISBN 1-58542-034-4, Council on Spiritual Practices, ISBN 1-889725-03-X
  • Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

  • www.trance.edu
  • www.tranceresearch.org
  • www.trancefix.nl
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