Altered states of consciousness, or trance states, are just as normal as the waking reality
most of us experience every day. Trance can enhance creativity, deepen relationships and
bring you closer to your spiritual center. Sure, these states can be accessed with drugs or by putting the body under the intense stress of narcotic or opiate addiction. But you can also alter the way you
experience the world naturally
by learning to "get high" by controlling your own brain wave patterns with music, trance dancing,
drumming, lucid dreaming, meditation & guided visualizations, chanting, brainwave tweaking "mind machines", or some of these other ancient and
modern mind-altering modern and ancient shamanic techniques.
Stewart Wavell suggested in 1966 that one day trances will become as accessible to us in
western civilisation as the electric light, and that this will open ‘immense new
possibilities’. He felt the consequences of this will be felt in diverse fields from
space travel to pop music - a prophetic statement in view of what is currently
occurring in the rave culture. Wavell refers to trance as ‘a state of liberation’,
freeing the trancers from the bounds of ordinary reality, from ‘the prison of the senses’,
and Wavell suggests that perhaps through trance it will be possible to transcend space and
time. This could well be why there is a particular awareness in rave culture of ideas
such as evolving consciousness and spirituality; for example in 1996, raves in
Johannesburg have had names such as Spiritual Awakening and Operation 1: Consciousness .
A new rave culture magazine was launched in South Africa in December 1995 called Evolver,
combining in this title references to both Ecstasy and Evolution.
"You've got absolutely amazing frequencies coming out to those speaker boxes.
And once you start dancing for a while you just start to resonate with those frequencies,
they go right through your whole cellular structure, so that your whole body starts to vibrate.
And when you're all dancing en masse, with a number of other people, you all start to vibrate
with that frequency, then the whole dance floor becomes a single organism." -
Krusty, DJ, convenor of Rainbow Serpent Festival in an interview
in the film
Dances of Ecstasy
by Michelle Mahrer and Nicole Ma, available on DVD.
The mind runs like a machine, at cycles per second, and depending on the slowing down of the
brain cycles you can change your "state of mind" and that is all
altered states are!
BETA runs at about 15-40 cycles per second and is the usual state we are in.
ALPHA runs at about 9-14 cycles per second and is considered an Hypnotic state
which includes; REM, access to memory, Light Trance, Clairvoyance and Clairsentience.
THETA runs at 5-8 cycles per second and is Yogic and Deep Meditation, and Mediumistic Trance.
DELTA is Sleep, typically 2-3 cycles per second.
Meditation, yoga, dancing, chanting, drumming, listening to certain sound patterns or watching
specific patterns of flashing lights can alter consciousness.
Working with your dreams, especially lucid dreams, can also expand consciousness in waking life.
I've just started a section for Mind Machines (light and sound machines,
biofeedback & the amazing
Journey to Wild Divine interactive computer game.
Eventually I hope to make separate sections for each of these trance inducers and mind trainers but
'til I get around to it ;-) here are some books and CDs to inspire and guide you.
If you'd like to learn more about one of them, clicking on the picture or title will take
you to the item in Amazon's online catalog.
Mind Expanding Music & Guided Journeys
CDs by James Asher James Asher's earth centered world beat music, inspired by African drumming, Aboriginal chants &
ancient middle eastern & Indian sacred sounds, is both danceable and traceable :-)
CDs by Gabrielle Roth & the Mirrors
Gabrielle is an inspiring musician, trance dancer & teacher.
I love all her CDs.
Also check out her video package,
Ecstatic Dance
"... for me God is the dance. God is energy, motion, energy in motion, motion is energy and
that's all one thing for me. And I can rely on it, because there's no dogma in the dance.
There's nothing to believe there is nothing to hold onto. There's only a force,
a current, a wave, a cycle, a pattern to continually surrender to and to allow that
to shift and change us, to take that which is disparate or divided and make it whole". -
Gabrielle Roth interviewed in the film
Dances of Ecstasy
CDs by David Hudson The Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo is
an incredible trance-enhancing instrument especially in the hands of a master player like
David Hudson.
African style dancing and belly dancing have also triggered altered states for me. These
videos are excellent introductions:
This collection of four CDs or cassettes provides wonderful ambient music to meditate by.
Just listening, preferably with headphones, can alter your consciousness as it gently
nudges your brainwaves into configurations that promote relaxation & intuitive understanding.
Played right before bed, you'll probably sleep deeper and experience some very interesting dreams.
Relaxing, energizing, inspiring, liberating... highly recommended.
There are 2 CDs: one with instructions over the music, and one with just music.
CDs by Frank Natale, author of "Trance Dance", and Professor Trance and the Energizers.
This music is mind bending and just plain fun, whether you're dancing alone or at a party with friends.
Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead and now solo/freelance-colaborative artist, has the heart and hands of a shaman.
This is great stuff!
Power Animal Journey A beautiful guided meditation with drumming by Kay Cordell Whitaker.
2 excellent CDs for those who wish to try shamanic journeying but don't have drums or a drummer:
"Drumming To Journey" by Kay C Whitaker and "Shamanic Journey Drumming" by Rysdyk & Knowlton
Master musicians playing Tibetan singing bowls, whether made of the traditional seven metals or of
natural crystal, have created some of the most beautiful
& strongest psychoactive music I've experienced. Some of my favorites are
"Seven Metals" by Benjamin Iobst, "Sounds of Light: The Pure Tones of Crystal Singing Bowls" by
Crystal Voices, "Crystal Portal Singing Crystal Bowl Journeys" and
"Journeys to Wholeness" by the
Crystal Vibrations Music Ensemble the "Tibetan Bells" series by Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings.
For more information, visit my new Singing Bowls page
Just want to get a good night's sleep?
Try SleepPhones,
soft headphones that can be worn while
sleeping. They're actually a soft headband with a speaker built into each side and come with a binaural beats-based CD of 2 "get to sleep" programs and one
"wake up gently" program. I use my SleepPhones with a CD player but you can also use it with an ipod.
This set of six audio tapes is designed for those drawn to the
mystical, shamanic side of dreaming... especially conscious, lucid dreaming.
The author shares personal experiences and guides the listener through exercises
to enhance and deepen the journey into Dream.
I play these tapes over and over again; there's always something new to discover here.
This set is great inspiration for experienced dreamworkers and a wonderful introduction
for those just beginning
to explore the world of dreams.
I love the Dream Gates tapes so much, I've nearly worn them out so I was thrilled to discover this
new addition to the Robert Moss dreamwork catalog. Programs include the introductory
Dreaming a Life and The Power of Active Dreaming plus six additional programs for
intermediate to advanced dreamworkers (or "frequent flyers" as Robert puts it :-)
Lightning Dreamwork, Dream Re-Entry and Tracking, Dreaming the Future, Dreaming with the Departed,
Dreaming with Spiritual Guides and Dreams of Healing.
Viewing these programs feels like sitting in on a classes with a Dream Shaman... inspiring and exhilerating and
sure to get your unconscious creative juices flowing and bubbling to the surface.
Highly recommended!
By studying the neural activity of people experiencing altered states, researchers have been
able to pinpoint complex and distinct brainwave patterns associated with
intense experiences such as lucid dreaming, out-of-body experiences, heightened insight,
emotional detachment, dissociation, intense happiness, feelings of "floating" and bliss.
Beyond Being uses sound patterns to affect your neural rhythms and reproduce these complex
patterns in your brain. In doing so, this audio collection gives you easy access to some of
the rarest and most intense mental states known to mankind.
All you need is a regular CD player. Headphones or special speaker arrangements are not
required.
Download audio files that help
induce altered
states at
World of Alternatives.
Programs include Astral Projection, Stress Management, Chi Generator, Instant Meditation,
Out of Body, Lucid Dreaming, Remote Viewing, Shaman, Chakra Tuning, Past life Regression,
Energizer, Epsilon Wave, Endorphin Release,
and Alpha, Theta or Delta Meditation.
Search the Amazon.com catalog for more books on trance... or anything else :-)
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