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A good way to help yourself become open to the power of suggestion is to help your mind escape the habits and beliefs of its normal conscious state. This ''voice of reason," or logical mental state, keeps you trapped in old thought patterns, along long-established neural pathways, and thus closed off to new ways of thinking and intuiting. So what option do you have? |
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The answer that has come to shamans, visionaries, and mystics for millennia and to psi researchers recently is: Induce an altered state of consciousness. The word commonly applied to this state is "trance." A trance is really an umbrella term that covers any state in which the conscious mind "takes a backseat" long enough to let the subconscious mind come to the fore. Because the conscious mind usually creates a barrier to information that comes from other areas, a trance state allows you to have a more direct view of certain emotions and actions. This does not mean that it stops working or being aware of what's going on. It doesn't "shut off" the brain. It continues operating simultaneously with other levels of consciousness that are induced. |
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Indeed, alternative states of consciousness are based on consciousness with a different emphasis, wherein you become extremely conscious. "Taking a back seat" suggests that the rational, logical side isn't trying as hard as usual to run the show. |
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Several steps appear integral to achieving a trance state, including: |
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1. Relaxing |
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2. Concentrating |
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3. Turning inward |
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4. Focusing on specific sounds, words, or images |
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5. Choosing to change one's conscious state |
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Interestingly, taking these steps can help you achieve a variety of altered mental states all of which can fit into the category of trance. You can enter into a trance using any number of techniques, including meditation, communion, prayer, spiritual transcendence, and the best-known form of trance: hypnosis. |
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