trance states
Deep mental absences
Trance states are altered states of consciousness characterized by reduced awareness of surroundings and heightened focus or absorption.
They occur in meditation, hypnosis, religious ecstasy, and certain repetitive activities like drumming or dancing.
A person in a trance may appear detached or unresponsive: The shaman entered a trance state to communicate with spirits.
The term spans clinical psychology, spiritual practice, and everyday absorption—being "lost" in music or daydreaming edges toward trance.
- hypnosisInduced trance state
- going underFailing or submerging
- shamanismMediation between worlds
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- out of bodySensation of leaving flesh
hypnotic state · spirit possession · divination · breathwork · meditation · mysticism · automatic writing · vision quest · mediumship · drum circle · sweat lodge · glossolalia · absorption · lost in thought · zoning out · flow state · dervish · ecstatic dance
- ancient religiongods, goddesses, pantheon, deity, polytheism
- altered stateshallucination, altered perception, consciousness expansion, derealization, euphoria
- Hypnotismhypnosis, hypnotism, hypnotist, mesmerism, mesmerist
- indigenous beliefsshamans, ancestor spirits, nature spirits, spirit world, sacred rituals
- mystical statesecstasy, rapture, religious ecstasy, mystical union, divine union
- spiritualismseance, mediumship, seances, medium, channeling
trance stateswakefulness
State of being conscious
hyperawareness · vigilance · lucidity · clear-headedness · presence of mind
trance statesdistraction
Thing diverting one's attention
mind-wandering · multitasking · divided attention · hypervigilance