On trance

Trance is an outpost toward stars. An aspirant must understand its nature, which is about all, natural, and easy for every soul. There is no mysticism in this occurrence, just a divine combination of biological and natural processes of the brain. Using methods that requires hours or years just shows that we do not understand the very mechanism of trance, as well as the mechanism of our mind.

I want to mention to you right from the start that the Mantra is just one of the steps. The essence lies in binding the mind and increasing the attention. Mantra is a deliberate distraction to all perceptions, except, of course, the perception of Mantra; it is the initiator of the ultimate Yoga which is realized in the Aspirant’s mind in the “moment” of Samadhi, or Enlightenment. The meaning of Mantra alone is irrelevant, though it can sometimes be important – as long as the meaning serves a single purpose – attentive focus.

The use of a Mantra is a risky process. There is twofold danger: the danger of monotony and the danger of intrigue. The proper use of the Mantra will never result in anything interesting, and then again, it will not be anything ordinary. Now you can become aware that Mantra is a deception. It acts on the mind, not with its meaning but with pure mechanics. This may be strange to those who think that Yoga is a goal worthy only of sublime minds who shrewdly interpret dark symbols and understand the speech of unconscious nature. This is not about that at all. The realization of Yoga with the Mantra is a thousand times closer to the most basic physics than to mysticism. Therefore, let us be pragmatic. In its essential form, a Mantra is a signal that disturbs the mind and makes it work differently than usual. Suppose a steady mind is regulated to work at a specific frequency. In that case, a Mantra is a tool that will stop oscillations, not by resting but by accelerating the pace until the “wire” that oscillates simply breaks. Silence is not achieved here by turning down the sound but by destroying its sound apparatus. Suppose the mind is a string, then you will tighten the string with a Mantra, raising the tone until the string snaps. At that moment, a condition for Yoga has been set. But you should think mainly that the object of enlightenment does not make enlightenment an object.

You can ask me what it looks like in practice. Everything is very peculiar and needs some time to master. Once learned, one understands not only the method of a Mantra but the whole of Yoga. Once you have chosen a Mantra, impartially, you will sit down in your favorite position, the way you have learned and in the way your own experience tells you. When you have abolished the conscious occupation toward your corporeality after a certain time, you can move on, although this can also be skipped if you can focus firmly on what follows. Say a Mantra as slowly as possible. Then repeat in the same way, without any variability in mood or accent; what is required is rough monotony. Now speed up the pace a bit, but just enough to have a clear hunch of acceleration. At the same time, lower the volume of your voice as much as you have accelerated. What happens is a specific feeling about the compression of time that affects the change of consciousness. You will continue like this until you can pronounce a Mantra so quickly that your lips will not be able to follow it with clarity so that you will repeat a Mantra in your mind only. Practice shows that this is much simpler than it may have seemed at first. Also, the volume decreases until it fades into silence. This must be spontaneous, without accent or excessive formality; otherwise, the effect of a Mantra will be diminished or will disappear completely. If this is done correctly, at one point, there seems to be a snap, a mental oversaturation of the whole act. Within that moment, your mind will reach Oneness or the precondition of Oneness, or the precondition of the precondition of Oneness. This is enough because Oneness is only one; a Mantra will remain far behind it.

We shall mention one valuable variant of this exercise which is particularly useful to prepare for the Body of Light technique. After you choose a certain Mantra, say it quite slowly at first. Repeat it a couple of times at a slower pace. Try to do the next two things; slow recitation of the Mantra, but also a long pause between repetitions. After a few times, and you must not count, say the Mantra a little faster while also shortening the pause between utterances. After several such repetitions, you should recite the Mantra even faster, with even shorter breaks, until the Mantra is so fast that you will say it without any interruption mumbling it with your lips. Now speed it up even more. The mumbling becomes just a miniature movement of the lips, as the Mantra turns into a pure sound. Now, speed it up to the extremes. No lips can move anymore; no sound can be heard; let the whole feeling of the Mantra be within your mind imagining how the inner sound accelerates even more and becomes pure light. It radiates more and more as it keeps accelerating. Imagine how warm and radiant that pulsing light is, and now all your thoughts are like flies clinging to that light. Millions of flies keep on sticking, more and more, all flies from the wilderness of your mind, with that light attracting them faster and faster. Finally, the last step is the easiest one – now, turn off that light.

There is one more practical tip related to the Mantra; when you repeat it, imagine there is a dark cave in the center of the Chakra. Try to use the Mantra to call the one who is in that cave to go outside. This small detail only is enough to trigger things in a completely different manner and bring a whirlwind of ferocity that changes the consciousness of the Aspirant so indisputably and to such an extent that he will remain boyishly enthusiastic for days for he has discovered such effective magic.

This is the right moment to remind you once again of the astonishing effect of focusing on one point in front of you while keeping your eyes closed, as explained in detail in the spherical darkness technique – this is also a perfect method for trance. Even if we do not go on with getting out of the body, making this kind of trance possible is beneficial for techniques such as regression, working with affirmations, or simply exploring the world of hypnogogy, inhabited by many of our fears, phobias, illusions, and neuroses. The trance achieved by this method refreshes your body in a way that you may have never felt earlier in your entire life. In this state, every affirmation and positive thought about your healing opens up the way to true health much faster and more efficiently. Unfortunately, relaxation has become a luxury today – rare and expensive, yet the instructions for deep relaxation are simple. The simplicity of ultimate happiness in our life is usually a counterpart to ultimate grumpiness, and too often, the reason we are unable to realize the deepest experiences of Selfness is actually simple lethargy, nothing else. As never before, we are within the grasp of all techniques and methods that have been reserved only for select souls for centuries. But the highest, purest and holiest – our soul seems to have so many pressing things to do than deal with its own happiness. Too often, most of our problems and health issues are due to an utterly simple fact that we do not really know how to unwind.

Therefore, lie down comfortably, breathing gently in and out through your nose. Try not to be distracted by any thoughts or sounds. Take your time, there is no need to rush. Flex both feet, pull your toes towards you, push your heels away, hold for a few seconds, then release. Point your toes, then release. Tighten the muscles around your hips and buttocks, then release. Push your shoulder blades together, feel a stretch across your chest, then release. Push your shoulders forwards, feeling a stretch across your upper back, then release. Lift your arms off the floor, straighten your arms, make tight fists with your hands, then stretch out your fingers, and release, allowing your arms to relax by your sides, turn your palms to face up to the ceiling. Tense your facial muscles, your eyes, lips, mouth, forehead, cheeks and nose, squeeze tight, then release. Stretch open your mouth and stick out your tongue, then release. Take a deep breath in, then exhale with a sigh. Repeat twice more, then go back to normal breathing, gently in and out through your nose. Now take your awareness to each part of your body, starting with the back of your head. Imagine your head softening into the floor, releasing tension, your hair flowing freely from your scalp, your facial muscles, eyes, lips, cheeks and chin, soft and relaxed. Now your neck and shoulders, relax the muscles and soften into the floor. Now allow your chest and back to relax and soften into the floor. Now your arms, wrists, hands, fingers and thumbs, rolling out and softening into the floor. Now your hips and pelvis, rolling out and softening into the floor. Now your thighs, knees, lower legs, ankles and feet, rolling out and softening into the floor. Now release your whole body, and imagine it softening and spreading into the floor, as you continue to breathe gently in through your nose … and out through your nose, allowing your belly to gently rise … and gently fall. Rise … and fall.

Another variant that can be a continuation of the first one, but also as a completely independent relaxation technique, is to imagine a bright red door before you. Open the door and get into a hallway descending down the stairs. Lightly walk down the stairs, feeling the movement of each step as you descend with every step lower and lower down. Count the stairs, and after exactly 10 steps you get into a straight hallway at the end of which you can see an orange door. Get to the door and open it. The stairs now lead you further down. Go down slowly, with each step farther and deeper, counting exactly 10 steps. You walk into a straight hallway at the end of which there is a yellow door. You approach the door in the same way, opening it, after which the stairs get you further down. Then again, 10 steps, followed by a straight hallway … with a green door at the end. Then the blue door … then the indigo … and finally, the purple door. You open the purple door and enter the landscape filled with dark purple light, with pleasant warmth all around you. Your body is sailing through that vast purple space, floating carried by serenity and peace. You are experiencing perfect peace; you have achieved a deep trance in which you have perfect control over everything in and around you.

Special use of breathing can quickly get the Aspirant to a trance. In the first way, his breath must be so slow that it does not last less than a minute at first. After such slow breathing, his body will already start working and feeling differently, even resulting in a particular sensation on the skin. Another way is to breathe without Kumbhaka, that is, pauses in inhalation and exhalation – them being carried out intentionally, powerfully, and quickly, allowing marvelous shifts in consciousness after just twenty minutes, lowering the acidity of the body, and bringing back memories from the earliest moments of life. Let the Aspirant investigate. He must investigate.

In the end, we will mention perhaps the most effective method, which, in addition to contributing to the realization of a deep trance in a very short time, is an exceptional aid against insomnia. The technique is extremely simple and comprises two segments. The first is when we concentrate on our breath and try to feel our body at the same time fully. It is best to feel the border of peripheral nerves on the fingers, palms and toes, feeling that limit of what we define as a physical body. With a slow and clear inhale, we seem to increase the awareness and attention our body gives us with its dimensions and limits. As we are inhaling, we feel the boundaries of the skin separating us from the outside world; as if in this way we feel a slight tickling on the tips of our fingers, palms and toes. The feeling is very subtle and special, and it only takes a few breaths to start feeling that subtle tickling or tingling. The second segment is in exhaling when we imagine ourselves falling through the bed, through the floor, down there. The feeling of decay is felt very quickly and easily in the same way as when inhaling and imagining the body and tickling the fingers, especially when associated with exhalation and physical lowering of the chest. After a few minutes of breathing that way, we get into a very deep and powerful trance, which is an ideal starting port for many spiritual endeavors.