Daily Trances

Whether you do meditation, yoga, self-hypnosis, imagery, biofeedback, prayer, or use some other method, we recommend

In his early consciousness classic "The Natural Mind", Andrew Weil M.D. hypothesized the existence of a third instinct, the instinct to alter consciousness. This notion was the first major modification of Freud's "Instinct Theory" since its inception, within which only the instinctual energies of sexual and aggressive types were included. Weil's revolutionary modification of instinct theory stands to this day as the only major modification of the theory of instinctual energies to prevail over time. And as it has turned out, the instinct to alter consciousness seems to be the most interesting instinct for scientific study and focus, in many ways a great deal more interesting than the study of sexual and aggressive instincts.
How can we optimally channel this inherent tendency to alter consciousness? We will have to decide whether we will channel our compulsion to experience trance into trances that bring excitement and stimulation, or trances that bring healing and restoration. We give detailed discussion and analysis of these types of trances elsewhere, but the summary chart below helps illustrate the difference between the "stimulation/excitement" trance, and the "healing/restoring" trance.

Basic Trance Type	Excitement Trance	Healing Trance
level of arousal	excited	relaxed
level of equilibrium	stressed	calm
behavior	motoric, action-oriented, energy consuming	non-motoric, conservation of action & energy
autonomic nervous system activity	emergency, fight-or-flight, sympathetic system	"all clear", calming, parasympathetic system
dominant biochemicals	adrenaline, testosterone	serotonin, endorphins
brain involvement	limbic, right hemisphere, instinctual circuit	frontal-learned hypothalamic circuit
brain & nervous system integration	cortical & autonomic desynchronization, decoherence	cortical & autonomic synchronization, HRV coherence
methods of induction	high-intensity activity & exercise, risk-taking, thrill-seeking,	sleep. relaxation, inactivity, eating, receptive trances (reading, viewing)
drugs of induction	amphetamines, cocaine, stimulants, caffeine, nicotine	barbiturates, sedatives, narcotics, hallucinogens
state examples	paranoid states, psychotic states, panic states	meditation, hypnosis, relaxation, yoga, prayer
emotions stimulated	anger, aggression, competition, conflict, fear	love, healing, reconciliation, sympathy