After however many years of conditioning to relax and go to sleep, it is easy to get in the habit of falling asleep after taking on a similar posture, closing the eyes, and beginning to relax. Sleep deprivation makes it worse. The difference between ordinary going to sleep and developing a trance state is that the mind is given something to hold on to for the purpose of keeping it awake while the body goes to sleep. It can't be too stimulating or activating because then the mind will keep the body awake. Another thing to keep in mind is that just as it is possible to go to sleep while tension remains in the body, it is also possible to enter trance with tension remaining. That will make it more difficult to leave the body or to push energy through the tense areas.
But how can i know when i actually reached a trance state?
David
Unfortunately, the only test I know of for going into trance is to come out of it and find the contrast. When it becomes more familiar and my consciousness becomes stronger within trance, better answers will come to mind. Until then the advice I gave to myself is this: decide that it has worked and go from there.
Thanks for all your help and time!!!
David
Tom -
i like your answers. They line up with my own experience.
Patty
i'm not sure if this is exactly a trance sensation but i find that sensory input changes when i get relaxed- there is a sudden change in sounds, i feel floaty and thoughts seem to fade away.
That sounds right. Those sound like signs of being in a trance state. The symptoms don't have to be present for it to count, but they are good signs when they occur.
You can always try to move an arm and see if it feels like it weighs 30kg! Although I guess this does bring you out of trance a little bit. Im still yet to reach a depth where I lose all body awarness but I can only keep trying!
regards
David
P.S Astralmaster I think your real name is a great one!
Veni Vidi Vici
Fenris,
Thanks for the tip about my name :-)
David
As i think someone else stated, Trance is when your mind is fully awake but your body is "asleep". I put "asleep" in quotations because im not sure this is the right term. While i am entering trance my body starts to feel a little numb and heavy and eventually i "forget" about how my body feels as it lays touching the bed or chair. I never feel sleepy in trance, in fact my mind feels much more alert than ordinary waking consciousness. Other things i experience in trance is a warm, fuzzy pleaseant feeling that is hard to describe, and sometimes a floating sensation. Some of the deeper states of trance i have experienced brought on a dizzy free-falling sensation as though i was falling "into" myself.
I find that keeping absolutely still helps to enter the trance state, as well as some form of breath awareness meditation. I also try to Imagine that i am melting into my bed as my body becomes more relaxed, which seems to help.
Macarthur,
Wouldn't you say, though, that in order to put your body to "sleep", you need to be sleepy? Even RB says that feeling lethargic is one of the sensations.
A penny for your thoughts...
David
if you try when sleepy you will fall asleep, but if you are able to relax and enter trance while not tired you can enter the state of mind awake, body asleep. i was able to first do obe's after waking in the early morn because my body was somewhat rested but my mind was still mostly asleep.
There is relaxing and going to sleep physically and mentally. No particular technique is used. Then there is using a technique to keep the mind awake while the body goes to sleep, and this causes the body to go to sleep faster than it otherwise would and you have your trance state. Then there is a third possibility, when the mind is kept too active and the body is kept awake. A technique does not just help keep the mind awake. It is also supposed to help the body to sleep.
Hi everyone,
This is my first post! I have read Astral Dynamics and was wondering: What is the difference between a full trance and just being really sleepy and relaxed? Robert Bruce says that you should be in that sleepy state, but not tired. So that you don't fall asleep. So my question is; what is the difference between a trance and being on the verge of sleep? In order to get to that state i have to "make myself" Tired.
Thanks for you help!
David