nosis, hipnose, neurhypnology, hypnotherapy, hipnoterapie, selfhipnose, self
        Henk Boshoff
        The Garuda Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

What is a trance state?

Notice the TWO WORD: 'trance' and 'state'. a Trance is a state of a specific nature; it meets certain requirements. The basic characteristics of a trance state are:

    1. a High degree of attention focused on one activity, by excluding
        attention on other things.

    2. The whole human system, Mind, thoughts, attention, feelings, and body etc.
        are all geared towards, or aligned to working on that activity.

Basically any state of high focus and alignment of the system is a trance state. I equate a trance state to a quality state. One can sort-of concentrate, or really concentrate, the difference lies in the quality of the state.

Whenever a state is of high quality, it is a trance state. So one can have a reading trance, a TV or film trance, a sport trance (eg. Tennis or golf), a knitting trance, a hysteric trance, or a meditative trance. The more attention and whole being commitment that goes into a current activity, the 'deeper' that state.
Thus a trance is a quality state of the system of the whole person, REGARDLESS of the activity that person is engaged in.

Quality of a state vs. Activity in a state

The depth of the state and what one does in the state are different things. The most common error in logic or thinking follows people equating the nature of the state with what is being done in that state.
The quality of the state of a top tennis player in a competition is as high as that of a monk meditating. The quality, or 'depth' of their states are equally high, hence both are in a state of trance. What they do in that state are completely different.

Types of states

Different activities require, or fit better with different types of states. Clearly a tennis player cannot sit relaxed during a match, nor can a monk focus inwards while chasing
a ball around a court. So the requirements, or configuration of the human system differs for different activities.
The table below indicates some system qualities in a tennis and a meditative state:

Thus the focus, the concentration, the quality or depth of the state is high in both cases. The differences in the physical part of the human system, and emotional processes are however completely different. So, one can engage any activity in a state of concentrated focus (trance) or in a shallow, less committed manner.

(Some activities by nature demand a less focused state, but even this is a type of focus or concentration that one can do well, or poorly. Depth in such states do not appear trance-like in the commonly misunderstood sense, yet they are quality states.)

All this serves to point out the valuable learning that performance depends greatly on state. One can act while 'not in the mood', or as 'fully committed'. Logic and experience shows that the latter is preferable. 

Conclusion:

Trance indicates any state that is of high quality, or 'deep', which implies:

a) Committed personal resources: The whole human system, Mind, thoughts, attention, feelings, and body etc. are all geared towards, or aligned to working on one goal
.
b) Focused attention: a High degree of attention focused on one activity, at the exclusion of attention to other things.

What one does in a state is something different from the state itself. They appear one because one cannot not be in a state. 

                                Copyright (c) 2006, The Garuda Centre


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