TRANCE IS A META-STATE

As you haven’t caught and realized the richness of the Meta-States Model yet during the last 15 posts, perhaps this one will deepen your appreciation. Here is yet another facet of Meta-States to mention. Namely, every meta-state is a trance. And as with most trance states, most meta-states are also unconscious trances. So when you meta-state, you are tapping into what is called hypnotic language patterns and hypnotic processes. That’s one reason meta-stating is so powerful and why it has such pervasive influences in the mind-body system.

“How does that work?” you ask. Well, take a single state like the learning state. Let’s now ask a meta- state question: What is in the back of your mind when you are in a learning state? That is, what do you think about your experience of learning. What do you feel?

“I just need to learn this subject?” you say. Okay, good. But why? Why learn the subject that you are studying? What is your intention in doing that?

“Well, because it is important for my understanding.” And it’s important because ...?

“Because I will become more skilled and that will open up new opportunities for me.” And when you have that intention and step into a learning experience, what do you feel what learning?

“I feel curious.” You have curious learning? Okay, and what do you think about being curious?

“It’s fun, and it is exciting. ... It makes make life more exciting.” Excellent, it is fun, exciting, curious learning. And what do you think-feel about that?

“Well, it is who I am and who I have become. It’s the way I live my life.” And what do you now expect in our future given all of this?

“Talking about learning in this way makes me aware that I’m actually a pretty good learner, and makes me appreciate the learning experience even more.” Do you have any new understandings about learning?

“It seems that the more you move backward or upward into thinking about your thinking about learning, that is, the deeper you go into it, the more I am finding more of what’s been unconscious in my mind.”

While many people think of and treat trance as such special, near-magical, and mysterious experience, in truth it is an everyday experience for everybody. To be human is to continually transition (hence “trance”) from the waking state of being present in this moment to one of a thousand inner states. You might transition to remembering something or imagining something that will happen or might happen. You might transition to a state about yourself or others, your skills, some meaning, some understanding, a belief, etc. Trance simply refers to altering your state of consciousness and you do that dozens upon dozens a time every day.

What the Meta-States Model offers is a specific way to transition from the waking state to the higher states that govern your everyday experience. Now you can choose your trances, and as you do, you can choose to qualify your trances so that they make you increasingly more resourceful and at your best. What trances can you chose by meta-stating?

Meta-state yourself into a trance of intentional focus by accessing your highest intention. Then you can develop a laser-beam focus on something that you want to concentrate all of your mental and emotional energy on. This is what we do in the APG program. Meta-state yourself into a state of acceptance and appreciation of yourself as a person. We also do this in APG and we do it in order to change and eliminate any self-abuse, self-attack, and self-depreciation. Then, with this trance, you can live in a way in which you are kinder and gentler with yourself. Inside you, you have a more peaceful place to live. Meta-state yourself into a state of unconditional positive regard. To that and you can create a sense of self-worth that will be based on nothing outside. It will be unconditional. Will fully developed, this trance will give you a solid sense of self and, paradoxically, then you can get the ego out of the way. Now the state of self-forgetfulness becomes available to you. Meta-state yourself into a wild and wonderful state of pleasure, then pleasure-of-pleasure. This will do your body good. It will enhance your health, energy, and vitality. It will make you an easier person to live with. Your loved ones will appreciate this. Meta-state yourself with appreciation ... or love ... or trust ... or curiosity ... or resilience ... or a thousand other states. Transition from the outside world into a world of your mind-and- emotions and take, as it were, a daily vacation for a few minutes to get a new lease on life. Now that’s a trance you’d like isn’t it?

The process of meta-stating starts with a primary state that connects with the outside world. At that point, you turn inward. You move back from that state and up above that state (meta) to identify the next level of thoughts and emotions about that state. Even this single-move often takes you to an unconscious state or frame of mind. Do that several more times, and you will for sure be at the levels within a person’s experience that are outside-of-consciousness. And in moving there, you are transitioning more and more from the outside world to the internal world. This is a “trance.”

What does this perspective add to what we already have in NLP about trance? It provides another very specific way to do trance, to get there, to work with trances (especially toxic ones), and to build up effective frameworks for enriching a person’s life. And that’s because, trance, like any other subjective human experience has a structure and when you know it, you have much more control over it— you can manage it more effectively.