The following meditation is derived from research done by neuroscientists all the way back in the 1960s. It is an alternative to the more traditional way of entering a trance, which is by inducing a mental falling effect. I have seen a lot of members who, due to one reason or another, are unable to enter a trance, and I hope this serves as a good foundation that they can use and build upon toward mastery, as the skill becomes exponentially easier once you get the hang of it and do it consistently.
This meditation can be shared with friends and family who are uninitiated, as its effects extend far beyond inducing a trance state, ranging from improved mental clarity to healing and more. It appears simple on the surface, but it has tremendous depth and value in the lessons it teaches.
In essence, what we call "entering a trance" is just the deliberate effort of slowing down one’s brainwaves; the slower the brainwaves, the deeper the trance. Our senses plug us into three-dimensional reality, and the skill of trance acts as the volume control between the physical plane and higher dimensions of energy. The more you take your attention off the physical world—your body, problems, responsibilities, etc.—
the more you tune into vibration, energy, and frequency.
This is the reason why trance is essential for higher-level meditations and magick; it amplifies spiritual workings tremendously.
In our day-to-day lives, we are, most of the time, focused on something, engaged in an activity of some kind that demands our attention. This fixation on physical reality keeps our brains operating in the Beta range of brainwaves. When a person is in Beta, they are fully awake and alert, able to concentrate, and do cognitive tasks.
Beta is also associated with survival and the stress response. The more stressed and worried you are, the more fixated on your environment and physical world you become. Meditation in this state is extremely difficult, as the faculties that enable visualization and sensing energy are focused on the outside world. One must be able to self-regulate and relax.
As you begin to relax, your brainwaves slow down into Alpha. Alpha is associated with relaxation, creativity, daydreaming, and so on. This is where most power meditation takes place, as the act of vibrating a mantra will prevent the majority of people from entering deeper into Theta and Delta.
In Theta, the body is in a light sleep, while the mind is awake. This is where you start to gain access to the subconscious. Delta is the slowest brainwave frequency. Here, the body is in deep sleep, and there is very little brain activity.
Now, onto the meditation:
Neuroscientists figured out that broadening your focus and sensing nothing but space causes your brainwaves to slow down. Remember, to enter a trance, you need to completely take your attention off the physical world, this includes your body. In order to disconnect from your physical senses, there must be nothing for you to sense, and the only way to do that is in a vacuum or complete darkness. Being in a space devoid of all matter causes you to go from a narrow focus to a broad focus, and the act of sensing space causes you to stop thinking and analyzing.
1. The first step is to relax your body completely.
Since relaxation of the body is essential to achieving a trance state, you must find a comfortable resting position. Sit upright; this way, your mind will stay awake even if your body falls asleep [as with a deep trance].
Keep your hands as close to your body as possible. If you put your hands on your knees or thighs, they will very quickly get tired, causing your shoulders and back to hurt and ruining your meditation. If you wish, you can hold the dhyana mudra:
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This is optional and will not have a big impact on your meditation. If you decide to apply the mudra, rest your hands on your crotch.
If you are sitting with your legs crossed, your hips should be higher than your knees. If your knees are higher, blood will not circulate properly, and they will fall asleep. To elevate your hips, simply sit on a cushion, a folded blanket, or a pillow.
Once you are set up properly, perform the following breathing exercise 5 to 10 times: “Breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, and exhale for a count of four.” Four is given only as a guideline; use whatever number you feel comfortable with.
Then, begin mentally scanning your body from the head down. As you go through each part of your body, become aware of any tension in your muscles and relax them. If you find that a part of your body is uncomfortable, now is the time to make any final adjustments to your sitting position.
2. The second step is broadening your awareness and sensing space.
This meditation is best done in a dark room or with a blindfold on.
Close your eyes and tune into the ensuing blackness.
Don’t visualize anything! Understand that nothing exists there, not even your physical body. You are simply
an awareness in the dark, nothing more.
Now, as if you had no eyes, no body to feel, sense the infinite depth of the blackness. Again, don’t visualize anything; simply
become aware of the infinite space.
- Sense the infinite space in front of you.
- Sense the infinite space behind you.
- Sense the infinite space on both sides of you.
- Sense the infinite space above and below you.
Spend 1 to 2 minutes sensing each direction. When you get the hang of it, you can even sense multiple directions at a time, if you wish. You will definitely know if you're doing it right; it's an unmistakable feeling of connection or even of being pulled slightly in the direction you are sensing.
Note: If you get impatient or frustrated with yourself, you will drive your brainwaves into Beta. You cannot do this exercise by trying hard and forcing it to happen. This is much like going to sleep; you don’t try as hard as you can to do it; you simply relax and let go. It takes no more effort to direct your awareness in a given direction than it does to put it in your hand or heel.
If you do it right, you should be overcome with a profound sense of inner peace and have no mental chatter in your mind. This means you are firmly in a light to medium trance.
How you deepen the trance from this point is by staying in the blackness and not allowing any thoughts to surface in your mind. The longer you stay in the blackness and think about nothing, the more you will forget about yourself, your body, the problems in your life, your work, etc. When this happens, your brainwaves slow down even more because there is no activity in those circuits of your brain. If you find yourself thinking about people or problems in your life, don't get frustrated; just unfold back into the darkness.
This meditation also has healing properties as it naturally recalibrates the brain. People with chronic stress and anxiety are often shown to have too much energy in their brains, causing them to be constantly overstimulated. Conversely, people with depression, problems with attention, memory, coordination, learning, etc. generally don’t have enough energy in their brains [or specific compartments of the brain] to function correctly. All of this has been measured by brain scans, and this meditation has helped many people correct these imbalances when it is done consistently.
It also gives you all of your attention back. Remember, where you place your attention is where you place your energy. If your attention is scattered on all the problems in your life and you are completely focused on the physical world, then you have no energy left internally for growth and repair, because it’s not a time for that; you are literally trying to survive. No organism can live in survival mode for extended periods of time. The first time I performed this meditation, I got an energy buzz, just from getting my own power back. That’s how spread thin I was; you could be too.
This is an excellent practice to do before any meditation, ritual, or magick, as the effect of any working will be severely weakened if you are just mindlessly vibrating a rune because your attention is on a videogame or something.
I believe the reason why people find trance difficult is that if 95% of what we are is a set of programmed behaviors, then it’s natural for the body, as the subconscious mind, to keep trying to go off and do the usual things it does instead of staying still for meditation. I want you to know that when those thoughts come up, you're actually doing your meditation right. Yes, your body will kick and thrash around like an animal, but sooner or later, it will surrender to you. This is the time to face and overcome yourself.
Extra information:
I am putting this after the article as I didn't want to distract from the main point. When talking about brainwaves, the Gamma brainwave pattern is by far the most obscure. This is the highest recorded frequency range, much higher than Beta. Gamma is associated with intense concentration and problem solving, but for normal people, it is difficult to achieve as it takes a lot of energy to sustain this state of consciousness.
Sustained Gamma brainwave patterns only appear to be possible when energy from the chakras can flow freely up into the brain. In a healthy, clean soul, the energy naturally flows from the base to the crown, and as it goes up each chakra, it increases in frequency. When there is a constant stream of high-frequency energy passing through the brain, it naturally moves into Gamma.
Unlike the high Beta waves of stress and survival that are very erratic and chaotic, Gamma waves are orderly and coherent. The different parts of the brain begin to synchronize and work together. This is often called superconsciousness.
This takes a lot of advancement to achieve. Even if your chakras are completely clean and open, fear, shame, guilt, traumas, repressed sexuality, and any myriad of unresolved issues can keep the energy in the lower chakras and prevent it from flowing up.
However, it is possible to temporarily bypass this and have a life-changing experience. By applying this meditation and reaching a depth of trance where you
completely forget about yourself, there will come a moment where the energy is no longer reinforced in the lower chakras and it will begin to flow to the crown. Again, this is only temporary until you resolve all underlying issues, and it only works if your chakras are clean and open enough.
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References:
Most of what you see in this article is put together from the many great works and research of Dr. Joe Dispenza.
