Trance

Trance ([trɑ̃s]; from Latin transire "to cross over, transgress") is a collective term for altered states of consciousness with an intense mental experience. As distinguished from ordinary waking consciousness, these states are characterized by the following features:

• a highly focused concentration on one process
• with simultaneous very deep relaxation
• an elimination of the logical-reflective mind

Trance states can be induced either volitionally (for example, visual imagination in daydreaming, self-hypnosis, shamanic techniques), by (permitted) extrinsic suggestion (hypnosis), sustained attention to monotonous stimuli (for example, vigilance, mental immersion, orgasm), or by disease (pathological trance and possession states).

Apart from the latter trance, the will and a specific trigger are necessary conditions for trances to occur. With regard to drugs, this is very ambivalent, since they are often taken with a specific intention. Furthermore, the cultural or religious background of the person has a decisive influence on the nature and depth of the state.

Every trance is associated with a narrowing of consciousness to varying degrees of intensity: The sensory perceptions and the sense of personal identity - the ego consciousness - are temporarily strongly restricted or completely faded out.

Trigger

To induce a trance that is neither drug-induced nor traumatically produced, certain stimulus patterns are repeated several times in a loop. A trance becomes deeper with a higher number of repetitions. Most stimuli rely on repetitive, linguistic and rhythmic sensory stimuli and movements such as drum music, dancing, chanting, flashes of light ­and mantras, as well as repetitive linguistic influence. This also includes the combination of a rhythmic trance music with visual stimulation. This combination of music with light effect systems is typical at concerts and in discotheques.

For example, drum rhythms consist of individual notes which together form a theme. Through repetition and variation, the trance can then be controlled. But some trance states occur quite frequently and unnoticed in all people. Sometimes a monotonous sound, such as that of a machine, is sufficient, provided it is heard long enough. If a person then no longer perceives such a noise, although it still exists, it is most likely already a kind of trance.

Similar effects are seen after taking drugs, although the effects are not always desired.

Neurological model

In all trance-like states of consciousness, similar neurological and physical processes can be observed. For example, the onset of trance is often characterized by stiffness of the body, sweating, and heavy breathing. For certain mental states, David Lewis-Williams and Thomas Dowson described the following "neurological model" in 1988.

Trance and other states of intoxication are achieved by "hyper-excitation" or a "hyper-resting state". In both cases, there is a slowing of the summed electrical activity in the brain. According to the neurological model, the changes in consciousness are divided into three phases:

• In the first phase, for example, light interference and geometric shapes such as dots, zigzag stripes, grids, parallel lines and meander lines are perceived. These phenomena are called phosphenes ("imagined light perceptions").

• In the second phase, various geometric shapes emerge, which - depending on their cultural or religious background - are perceived by the people concerned as meaningful symbols.

• In the third trance phase, a kind of whirlpool or swirling tunnel appears that seems to suck the person in. In this phase, profound experiences such as synaesthetic perception (merging of different sensory stimuli), leaving one's own body or entering other levels of reality ("beyond", "spirit world", etc.) are experienced. The impressions of this third trance phase are also frequently reported in so-called near-death experiences.

In trance states, optical, somatic (body perception) and acoustic hallucinations occur. Things are "seen" larger or smaller than they actually are. Often visual hallucinations appear as if they follow one another and then run into one another (palimpsest-like­). Somatic hallucinations are accompanied by the feeling that one's own body is changing into another, for example into an animal. In addition, in trance one often perceives ­flowing water and has the feeling of floating or swimming in it. Such perceptions are mainly related to changes in the amygdala (brain area), which is sometimes responsible for orientation in space and for feeling fear and aggression.

Based on this model, Lewis-Williams has developed a popular theory of a prehistoric shamanism using comparisons with rock art in South Africa. However, the conclusions are considered highly speculative by many critics.