Why Do People Participate In Trance Rituals?

Trance Dance is an indigenous ritual practiced by San communities in the Kalahari region, aiming to achieve altered consciousness through movement and connection with primal energy. The journey of the Trance Dance is divided into three stages, with the San community in the Kalahari region practicing it. Trance Dance is a unique blend of healing sounds, dynamic percussive rhythms, transformational breathing techniques, and the innovative use of a blindfold or blindfold.

To experience a state of trance or enter a shamanic state of consciousness, one must achieve an ecstatic awareness and perception that extends beyond the physical senses and functioning of the ordinary mind. Trance dance rituals take place over an entire night, with participants sometimes tying offerings to animal spirits to the trees and using drums to contact animal and spirit beings.

For the San, the activation of energy and contact with the spirit world is achieved through the communal trance dance. After many hours of dancing, village priests and their attendants control unpredictable action to avoid injuries. After the performance, the priests sprinkle the participants with holy water, thus promoting a state of trance.

There are many types of trance rituals, some of which can only be done by specified people, such as virgins or whole villages. The purpose of participating in a trance ritual is to carry out religious rituals and specific creative and strict views and testimonies. Some purposes include welcoming and appeasing spirits, acting as a medium for spirits to visit, or purification.

Trance rituals in Indonesia are important for cultural preservation and personal enlightenment, with examples like the Kris Dance and the San. Trance dance is performed for various reasons, including social cohesion, healing, or bringing rain. While the intent is to engage painful feelings through the body in trance, such engagement is not always successful.

Trance dance allows the mind to empty itself of itself, and through the healing power of unedited movement, spirit is invited to reside within. Trance rituals are important to the people of Indonesia because they are ancient traditions that are part of their culture.

What is the importance of trance?

The state of trance is characterised by heightened focus and concentration, which can enhance creativity, problem-solving abilities, and mitigate stress and anxiety.

What happens in the brain in a trance?

Experienced psychographers showed lower levels of activity in the frontal lobe regions of the left anterior cingulate and right precentral gyrus during psychography, which are linked to reasoning, planning, language generation, movement, and problem-solving. This may reflect an absence of focus, self-awareness, and consciousness during the process. Less expert psychographers showed the opposite brain behaviors, such as significantly increased blood flow in the same areas during psychography, possibly due to the need to “work harder” during the process. Researchers suggest that this may be related to the difficulty of the task.

What is the importance of trance rituals in Indonesia?

The sanghyang dance is a ritual purification ritual that involves trance performances, such as men in the pig trance eating dirt to purify their community. Village priests control unpredictable actions to avoid injuries and sprinkle participants with holy water to help them regain consciousness. The most famous form is the sanghyang dedari, performed by pre-adolescent girls. These performers are usually temple servants or relatives of the priests, but without dance training.

They are induced into a trance, perform an intricate dance based on ancient animal movements, and are lifted onto the shoulders of men. They dance on glowing coals and are brought back to normal consciousness. The young performers are believed to be possessed by celestial nymphs, and the almost feverish vocabulary of the sanghyang dedari has influenced other dance forms like the classical legong.

What is the goal of trance?

Trance states are a form of relaxation, healing, intuition, and inspiration that can be accessed through various modalities. They have a rich history, documented through case studies by anthropologists and ethnologists. The principles of trance and methods of induction are being explored, and their benefits are being studied in medical and scientific fields. Trance is used in many traditions, rituals, religion, and mystical experiences. The key psychological mechanism of trance induction is intense focusing of attention, which is tuned into neural networks in the brain and depends on cultural characteristics.

Trance is traditionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness or somnolent, but a more recent anthropological definition linking it to altered states of consciousness is becoming increasingly accepted.

Why do people go into trances?

Trance states are a form of relaxation, healing, intuition, and inspiration that can be accessed through various modalities. They have a rich history, documented through case studies by anthropologists and ethnologists. The principles of trance and methods of induction are being explored, and their benefits are being studied in medical and scientific fields. Trance is used in many traditions, rituals, religion, and mystical experiences. The key psychological mechanism of trance induction is intense focusing of attention, which is tuned into neural networks in the brain and depends on cultural characteristics.

Trance is traditionally defined as a state of reduced consciousness or somnolent, but a more recent anthropological definition linking it to altered states of consciousness is becoming increasingly accepted.

What is the function of trance?

Trance is a state of consciousness characterized by cognitive changes, often leading to mental silence. This state can be triggered by mental silence, and it can also be triggered by mental silence. This information is sourced from ScienceDirect, a website that uses cookies, and is copyrighted by Elsevier B. V., its licensors, and contributors. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining and AI training.

What are trance rituals?

The trance dance, an indigenous ritual practiced by San communities in the Kalahari region, involves rhythmic dancing and hyperventilation to achieve altered consciousness. It is used for healing sickness in individuals and negative aspects of the community. The experiences of San shamans are believed to be recorded in southern African rock art. The San people, originally known as Bushmen, are descended from some of the oldest surviving lineages of modern humans.

Their traditions and way of life may be preserved from ancient times. The trance dance is their most prominent religious practice and can take various forms. Many adults, both men and women, become healers in San communities.

What are the benefits of trance?

Trance-like states, like those experienced during mind-wandering, can activate brain networks that enhance creative thinking and subconscious problem-solving by allowing the brain to form new connections unconsciously. A study by Baird et al. found that engaging in undemanding tasks that induce mind-wandering and daydreaming can significantly increase creative solutions to problems. This effect is due to the enhancement of unconscious associative processing during mind-wandering, facilitated by the brain’s default mode network. Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies have linked greater activity in this network to higher creativity scores.

What is the primary purpose of the trance dance?

San rock art often depicts the trance dance ritual and the spirit world, which is performed for various reasons such as social cohesion, healing, or bringing rain. The dance is a circular dance of men and women, followed by each other, and is danced all night. According to Qing 1873, the dance was given by Maggen to dance to, and he would give charms to raise people again. The ritual is believed to bring rain and promote social cohesion.

What are the benefits of being in a trance?

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that states of consciousness characterised by a lack of focus, such as mind-wandering, can facilitate the activation of specific brain networks. This process has been linked to enhanced creative thinking and subconscious problem-solving, whereby the brain forms novel, unconscious connections.

Why do humans go into a trance?

It is possible to induce trance states in everyday activities such as walking, running, or commuting. Additionally, trance states can be induced when an individual is deeply engrossed in the moment, such as when watching a football game or reading an absorbing book.