The Trance

What happens while I am in trance?

Depends on how deep you go.

What exactly IS a trance?

According to Michael Streeter in his book Hypnosis: Secrets of the Mind:

“An important part of hypnosis is the trance state. It is here that the unconscious mind is fred from the critical fetters of the conscious mind and is open to suggestion. First of all, let us consider the different states of mind that we experience. The first is usually experienced in our waking lives and is known as the beta state. In this state our brains are highly alert, and this is when reasoning and logic are employed. Scientists have measured the activity of our brains during different states and can monitor the activity using an electroencephalograph (EEG). At beta state our brain waves vary between about 14 and 30 cycles per second (c.p.s.).

The second state of mind is called the alpha state, when our brain waves operate between 8 and 12 c.p.s. In this state our minds are still alert but are more relaxed. We are generally more creative in this state of mind, more open to information and imagination. Some hypnotists see this state as the gateway from the conscious into the unconscious mind. The alpha state is an everyday experience for us, whether we are wrapped in a movie or going into or out of sleep. Hypnotists say that when we enter the alpha state we are moving into a trance.

The third state is called theta, in which the brain waves are between 4 and 8 c.p.s. This state is associated with deep relaxation, tranquility, and dreams. Theta is sometimes known as the dream state. We pass through the theta state on the way to and from deep sleep.

The final state is called delta, when the brain waves are below 4 c.p.s. This is the deep-sleep state where there is total unawareness from the mind, and is not a state reached in hypnosis.

It should be pointed out that these levels of brain waves are not neatly restricted to one state of mind. For example, there are alpha waves or theta waves in our brains even when we are in the beta or waking state. The four stages refer to the occasions when those particular wavelengths predominate. The significance of these states for is that during the alpha and theta states that the hypnotic trance exists. It is then that suggestions to the always – present unconscious mind are not obstructed by the critical faculties of the conscious mind. When the patient has begun to allay those critical faculties – the process of suspension of disbelief – then suggestions cna be used to work on the unconscious.

The hypnotic trance is often divided into sex different stages or depths, which occur in the alpha and theta states right down to the beginning of the delta state.

Each of these six stages is associated with different experiences that can be induced by the hypnotist. Hypnotists learn both how to induce these different levels of trance and how to identify them.

Stage One

This is associated with lethargy and the start of relaxation. It is at this point, to use the old hypnotic cliche, you “are feeling sleepy.” In fact, hypnosis is not sleep but this is the time when the hypnotist can induce the first catalepsy. This means some of your muscles begin to feel heavy and you cannot move them. The first area affected is normally the eyelids, where the muscles are small. The hypnotized person’s eyes will be shut tight and the subject will feel that he or she doesn’t have the strength or energy to open them.

Stage Two

At this level patients will experience catalepsy in particular groups of muscles for example an arm. They may also have the sensation of being heavy, or of floating. As with Stage One, this level is considered to be a light trance. As the level deepens towards Stage Three, which is considered a medium trance, then the patient may experience catalepsy in both legs or perhaps the whole body.

Stage Three

In the first level of a medium trance, as well as experienceing catalepsy the patient can be induced to smell and taste differently. This is where the hypnotist could hold a scented rose underneath the patient’s nose and suggest to the subconscious that it smells like an old sock, to which the body will react accordingly. At this level the patient can also be made to discount the existence of a number. For example the hypnotist may suggest that the number three does not exist. When counting to five, the patient would jump straight from two to four, missing three.

Stage Four

Further into a medium trance, the hypnotist can induce amnesia – loss of memory – in the patient. This can be used with post-hypnotic suggestions (regarding the desired changes in the habits or behavior of the patient) to ensure that the ptient’s conscious mind does not get in the way of the work of the unconscious. Other phenomena include anesthesia – numbness – of parts of the body and analgesia – the state of painelessness.

Stage Five

The first level of a deep trance is often associated with positive hallucination. This means that the hypnotist can induce the patient to see or hear something that is not there. For example, the hypnotist might say that an empty vase contains a certain type of flower, and the patient will be able to describe it. This is also the level at which stage hypnotists often employ unusual post-hypnotic suggestions so that, when the subject “wakes,” he or she might quack like a duck or flap his or her “wings” like a bird.

Stage Six

At this deepest level of trance, patients can experience anesthesia, when surgical operators can be carried out on them. Another phenomenon is negative hallucination, when the patient can be induced not to see or hear things that are really there. Somnambulism – sleepwalking – can also occur at this stage.

These states are approximate guides to the phenomena experienced under hypnosis, though patients may experience some of them at different times. Also individuals can vary greatly as to how deeply they go into trance and what behavior they display.

Much of the healing work of the hypnotherapist can be carried out in the first three, lighter levels of a trance, which are known as the mnesic (memory-retaining) stages. The second three stages of a deeper trance are often called the amnesic stages. ”