Trance


Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli or is selectively responsive in following the directions of the person who has induced the trance. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.
The term trance may be associated with hypnosis, spirit possession, magic, flow, prayer, psychedelic drugs, and altered states of consciousness.

Etymology

Trance in its modern meaning comes from an earlier meaning of "a dazed, half-conscious or insensible condition or state of fear", via the Old French transe "fear of evil", from the Latin transīre "to cross", "pass over".

Working models

Wier, in his 1995 book, Trance: from magic to technology, defines a simple trance as a state of mind being caused by cognitive loops where a cognitive object repeats long enough to result in various sets of disabled cognitive functions. Wier represents all trances as taking place on a dissociated trance plane where at least some cognitive functions such as volition are disabled; as is seen in what is typically termed a 'hypnotic trance'. With this definition, meditation, hypnosis, addictions and charisma are seen as being trance states. In Wier's 2007 book, The Way of Trance, he elaborates on these forms, adds ecstasy as an additional form and discusses the ethical implications of his model, including magic and government use which he terms "trance abuse".
John Horgan in Rational Mysticism explores the neurological mechanisms and psychological implications of trances and other mystical manifestations. Horgan incorporates literature and case-studies from a number of disciplines in this work: chemistry, physics, psychology, radiology, and theology.

Trance states

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 this influences brain functioning and consciousness. Therefore, trance may be understood as a way for the mind to change the way it filters information in order to provide more efficient use of the mind's resources.
Trance states may also be accessed or induced by various modalities and are considered by some people to be a way of accessing the unconscious mind for the purposes of relaxation, healing, intuition, and inspiration. There is an extensive documented history of trance as evidenced by the case-studies of anthropologists and ethnologists and associated and derivative disciplines. Principles of trance are being explored and documented as are methods of trance induction. Mind functioning during trance and 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 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 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', is becoming increasingly accepted."
Hoffman 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."

History

Mystics

As the mystical experience of mystics generally entails direct connection, communication and communion with the divine; trance and cognate experience are endemic.
As shown by Jonathan Garb and Stesley, trance techniques also played a role in Lurianic Kabbalah, the mystical life of the circle of Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto and Hasidism.

Military

proposed the term "battle trance" in 2011 for a mental state when combatants do not feel fear and pain, and they lose their individual identity and acquire a collective identity.

Christian mystics

Many Christian mystics are documented as having experiences that may be considered as cognate with trance, such as: Hildegard of Bingen, John of the Cross, Meister Eckhart, Saint Theresa, and Francis of Assisi.

Mesmer and the origin of hypnotherapy

  • Mesmer, an influential but discredited promoter of trance states and their curative powers.
  • Milton Erickson, the founder of hypnotherapy who introduced trance and hypnosis to orthodox medicine and psychotherapy—hypnosis here is something different from traditional clinical hypnosis.

    Trance in American Christianity

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", "the witness of the Spirit", "the power of God", being "filled with the Spirit of the Lord", "communing with spirits", "the Christ within", "streams of holy fire and power", "a religion of the Spirit and Power", and "the baptism of the Holy Spirit".

Trance and Anglo-American Protestants

Taves 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 18th century and ending with the rise of the psychology of religion and the birth of Pentecostalism in the early 20th 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 ; spontaneous vocalizations ; unusual sensory experiences ; and alterations of consciousness and/or memory .

Trance induction and sensory modality

Trance-like states are often interpreted as religious ecstasy or visions and can be deliberately induced using a variety of techniques, including prayer, religious rituals, meditation, pranayama, physical exercise, sexual intercourse, music, dancing, sweating, 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.
Benevolent, neutral and malevolent trances may be induced by different methods:
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 usage of repetitive rhythms to induce trance states is an ancient phenomenon. Throughout the world, shamanistic practitioners have been employing this method for millennia. Anthropologists and other researchers have documented the similarity of shamanistic auditory driving rituals among different cultures.
Andrew Neher wrote about the importance of drumming in trance in A Physiological Explanation of Unusual Behavior in Ceremonies Involving Drums. Neher wrote that "there has been little investigation in the unusual behavior observed in ceremonies in different parts of the world, which involve drums. This behavior is often described as a trance state in which the individual experiences unusual perceptions or hallucinations. In the extreme case, twitching of the body and a generalized convulsion are reported. These physiological and psychological states, and the importance of the use of drums have remained a mystery."
Neher's article which is considered by modern scholars who study trance to have made very important connections between trance and drumming. Melinda Maxfield, who received a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Menlo Park, is quoted as saying “It was not until the pioneering work of Andrew Neher that the acoustic stimulation in connection with the drum was tested.”
Theta brainwaves are referred to by Neher as “theta rhythms” which are theta brainwaves in the context of music and drumming. Neher found that individual differences in basic brain wave frequency is between 8 to 13 cycles per second during drum rhythm. The importance of theta brainwaves was proved by later studies done by Maxfield and Mateusz Konopacki. The difference between alpha, beta, theta, and delta waves is the range of hertz that each falls between. Alpha and theta brainwaves are most associated with drumming and tested by Maxfield and Konopacki. Both of them found that theta brainwaves are increased with drumming while alpha brainwaves decrease during drumming.
Maxfield’s article The journey of the drum discusses the use of drumming and acoustic stimulation. The auditory tracts pass directly into the reticular activating system of the brain stem. The RAS is a massive "nerve net" and functions to coordinate sensory input and motor tone and to alert the cortex to incoming information. The sound traveling on these pathways is capable of activating an entire brain. Maxfield proposes that “strong, repetitive neuronal firing in the auditory pathways and ultimately in the cerebral cortex, such as would be experienced from drums, could theoretically compete successfully for cognitive awareness. Other sensory stimuli from ordinary reality, including pain, could thus be gated or filtered out. The mind would then be free to expand into other realms.”
Maxfield conducted an experiment with 12 participants to test the use of drumming in indigenous communities and how trance is achieved through drumming. The most common experiences for the participants included:
  • Loss of time sense--Seven of the twelve participants stated that they had lost the time continuum, thus having no clear sense of the length of the drumming session.
  • Movement sensations--This category includes the experience of feeling:
  • * the body or parts of the body pulsating or expanding
  • * pressure on the body or parts of the body, especially the head, throat, and chest
  • * energy moving in waves through the body
  • * sensations of flying, spiraling, dancing, running, et cetera
The experiences from the 12 participants align with the experiences of the trance state. Maxfield’s experiment proved to show that drumming can and will induce a trance-like state. This proves Neher was correct to assume that trance can and has been induced from drumming. However, the use of drumming by shamans to achieve a trance state could have been impacted by other factors such as body position, substance use, and chanting. All of these factors could change the trance by either enhancing the trance or creating a different experience than by just drumming.
Maxfield said that most indigenous cultures do not separate psychological from spiritual processes. Maxfield quotes Tart "many primitive peoples... believe that almost every normal adult has the ability to go into a trance state and be possessed by a god; the adult who cannot do this is a psychological cripple." Maxfield builds upon both Tart and Neher to prove that drumming induced trance is not just an ancient practice but a modern one that can be found in small communities around the world.  
Mateusz Konopacki conducted a similar experiment with 24 participants that “aimed to determine, if suggestion to experience trance state could increase the relative alpha and theta amplitude and the intensity of experienced state.” Konopacki found that experiencing a state of trance might decrease alpha frequency brainwave activity when listening to shamanic drumming. This indicates that a deeper state of relaxation occurs instead of the predicted trance state. Konopacki notes that the trance state might be induced from other characteristics of a ritual or the anticipation that oneself is going into a trance state. This could create a type of placebo effect which would not equate to a trance state. Konopacki’s experiment did not replicate the results of the previous studies which demonstrates that the phenomenon of trance induced by shamanic drumming is still not fully understood.
Drumming can induce a trance state, however the intensity of the trance can vary with some people experiencing a mix of temporal and spatial changes such as loss of time or movement. The difference in trance experience from drumming can be traced to the conditions of the environment of the trance. The environment is key to achieving a trance state as noted by Maxfield and Konopacki as they control the environment where the participants are entering a trance state. A controlled environment either by the one drumming or the shaman who is drumming allows for the trance to occur, rather than an environment where the drummer is dependent on outside factors for the trance state. The alpha brainwaves are not activated as much as the theta brainwaves which allows for the trance state to be achieved. The use of drumming induced trance is commonly found in small indigenous communities.
Said simply, entrainment is the synchronization of different rhythmic cycles. Breathing and heart rate have been shown to be affected by auditory stimulus, along with brainwave activity. The ability of rhythmic sound to affect human brainwave activity, especially theta brainwaves, is the essence of auditory driving, and is the cause of the altered states of consciousness that it can induce.