Conciousness Web Resources 

Mind Media's Guide to Hypnosis and Altered States of Consciousness

Mind Media's Guide to Hypnosis and Altered States of Consciousness Directory of Internet Web Resources

Island New Culture Web Guide

Island New Culture Web Guide

Bruce Eisner's Writings: Why We Get High

Bruce Eisner's Writings August 28, 2004 Why We Get High Why We Get High
Bruce Eisner Begins: "Almost all of you have gotten "high." You might call it "getting stoned" or "tripping" or "having a session"

Altered States Software: Neuo-Programmer 2 

What Produces An ASC? 

When Charles Tart, the writer/editor of the book Altered States of Consciousness, investigated the subject in the 60's, it was difficult when the evidence was gathered in, to say exactly what can stimulate an ASC. The reason being that almost anything can be the trigger. It has been said that to list the triggers becomes comic in that one has to include almost everything from scratching ones ear to taking a drug such as alcohol or LSD. Even something as common as a drink of coffee can produce an altered state. Sometimes there is apparently no obvious trigger at all. My experience of hearing John's voice calling occurred without me even knowing what it was, until the telephone call. Perhaps many experiences of altered state happen in this way and go unnoticed.

There are classic ways of producing ASC's however, and each culture has its own traditional methods. But because there are so many different 'places' an ASC can take us - everything from apparent time travel to contact with the dead - it has to be understood that some of the techniques relate to specific areas of experience. Alcohol for instance has a general tendency to make one less capable physically. Some of the best known techniques are listed below.

• Meditation and prayer in their many forms. See: meditation - goals of. These may use imagery and fantasy; the mental repetition of a phrase, question or prayer; the stilling of the thoughts and emotions; the evoking of love and passion for a god or God; the directing of attention along particular pathways. This latter may be done by concentrating deeply on a question or problem. In this way one calls on what is 'out of sight' within the psyche to respond.
• Body postures, movements and dance. Experiments with some body postures in particular setting have produced marked changes in states of awareness. See Body Posture and Religious Altered States of Consciousness by Felicitas D. Goodman which appeared in The Journal Of Humanistic Psychology, Summer 1986. Also see Magnetism And Magic by ***. Allowing spontaneous body movements, as occurs in many forms of sacred practices such as early Pentecostalism, Shaktipat in India, Subud in Indonesia, can quickly lead to pronounced ASC's. See: movements during sleep. Given movements, such as the dance of the Dervishes, is also a way many cultures use to produce particular forms of ASC. In many of these practices, the results may be due to the movements or posture helping the person to let go of their thinking and will, enabling an easier emergence of mental phenomena usually suppressed by dominant processes. The whirling of the Dervishes is particularly expressive of this.
• Consciously directing the breathing in some way. See: yoga and dreams. Because the breathing is so intimately connected with body processes, mood and emotion, consciously changing it can be a powerful form of producing an ASC. In general, fast full breathing is an accelerator. It speeds heart, over oxygenates, and reproduces the sort of physical state of excitement, high activity and high emotion such as laughing or crying. It reduces the muscular and psychological barriers we may habitually hold to prevent ourselves openly expressing emotions through the physical movements of sobbing or laughing. This is why it is used a great deal in popular therapy movements such as 'Rebirthing'. IT may produce the release of long held emotions or spontaneous fantasy, including powerful body movements and emotions. The fantasies are explained in many ways, such as memories of past lives, release of childhood trauma. This needs careful handling. See: tools for exploring the mind. In the opposite direction slowing the breath brings control of emotions, a slowing of the mental processes, and when used successfully produces an ASC where the thoughts stop and one moves into a completely different experience of oneself.
• Use of stress, such as fasting, isolation, warfare, disorientation, etc. Any form of stress can trigger a marked ASC. Fasting was often used probably because it is a fairly controllable form of stress, and might even produce a sense of dying.Many people have an ASC following a car accident, or during any natural upheaval such as an earthquake or flood, or after a medical operation. In R. D. Laing's book "The Politics of Experience." the experience of Jesse Watkins is quoted. The barriers between Jesse's known self, and wider self had been broken down by a change of job and lifestyle, overwork, fatigue, a dog bite, and a visit to hospital.
• Penetrating ones dreams through learning to move beyond their surface imagery to the underlying emotions, past experiences and realisations from which they emerge, is a classic way of experiencing ASC's. The reason for this has already been described above in the example given of the image on the screen of a computer which links to a program on the hard disk. The dream image has direct links with memories or processes that are not on the screen of waking awareness until accessed via the image.
• Herbs, drugs, and various forms of diet have been associated with altered states of consciousness since the beginning of history. Some people believe that drugs such as psilocybin were the source of all religious visions. This seems unlikely considering how many things can lead to an ASC. The readiness with which some drugs, or herbs containing hallucinatory drugs, can lead to powerful ASC's, does however, make them one of the major pathways toward the wealth of experience provided by ASC's. As with anything which can provoke powerful hallucinations and emotions, there are dangers attached to the use of such drugs. When we want to drive a car, which is also a dangerous undertaking, society provides means of learning how to safely handle the vehicle, but such drugs are easily accessible, and yet there is no schooling in their safe usage. See: drug initiation; hallucinations and hallucinogens; tools for exploring the mind.
• Not interfering with the workings of ones psyche is probably the simplest and most fundamental form of allowing ASC's. This approach is taught in many of the traditional schools such as Buddhism, Christian mysticism, Islamic mysticism, Subud, and most recently by Carl Jung in his methods of accessing the unconscious. In Buddhism Vipassana meditation is the way of not interfering, not giving oneself a goal in meditation. One simply observes what the mind and emotions do when one stops forever editing or directing. In Christian mysticism the book The Cloud Of Unknowing describes a similar process, but from a very different standpoint.
• Excerpted from Altered States of Consciousness by Tony Crisp

Altered States Scene from Movie by Ken Russell on YouTube 

Hypnosis and Altered States 

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Altered States Books Amazon 

Altered States of Consciousness

Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)

The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness

by J. Allan Hobson

Amazon Price: $19.20 (as of 10/10/2008)

Meditation: Self-Regulation Strategy and Altered State of Consciousness

by Jr., Deane Shapiro

Amazon Price: $33.79 (as of 10/10/2008)

Altered States of Consciousness a Book of Readings

by Charles T. Tart

Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)

Altered States of Consciousness: A Book of Readings.

by Charles T. Tart

Amazon Price: (as of 10/10/2008)

Shamanic Altered States of Consciousness 

Shamanism springs from the perennial human propensity to alter
intentionally one's nor­ mal waking state of conscious­ ness in order to
achieve certain ends, such as healing, divination, and understanding one's universe. It is found in a variety of cultures and con­ tains a vast array
of permutations. However, there are underlying struc­ tural similarities
that make it possible for particular beliefs and behaviors to be assigned
to the category of shaman­ ism. This richness is matched, if not exceeded,
by the complexity of the hu­man brain, which also has underlying
identifiable structures and functions. The underlying structures of both
make it possible to explore the correla­ tions between the two; the
vastness and complexities of both ensure that the wonder and mystery of human ex­perience will remain uncompromised.



What is a Shaman, and What Are Shamanic Altered States of Consciousness?

In any study of shamanism and al­ tered states of consciousness (ASCs),
clear definitions are necessary. Ac­ cording to Dobkin de Rios and M.
Winkelman (1989), "general anthro­ pological consensus, which is sup­
ported by cross-cultural research, is that the shaman is (and was) found
throughout the world in hunting and gathering societies and forms the basis
for the universal distribution of practi­ tioners who use trance states in
healing and divination" (2). Characteristic of shamanism is an ecstatic
state in which the shaman's soul is believed to journey to the spirit
world, underworld, or ani­ mal spirit world; however, not all of the
shaman's work involves such journeys. The goal of shamanic work includes
the diagnosis and treatment of disease, especially where "soul loss" is in­
volved, escorting dead souls to other realms, locating animals for
successful hunting, predicting and altering the weather, or divining the
past, present, and future -- all for the benefit of the community ( Hamer
1980, Hultkrantz 1968).

Altered states of consciousness in shamanism either have been identified as
uniform or intensive, or highly vari­ able and depending upon the nature of
the work. The soul journey is the most distinctive of the ASCs used by sha­
mans. It includes spontaneous imagery and the ability to recall the events
of the journey. It is characterized by the experience of volitional control
of spirit helpers by the shaman and his or her conscious interaction with
other spirits or gods and goddesses. Very light trance1 states, ecstasy
without the journey, and extremely deep trance states have all been found
in the shamanic practice of various cultures.

From A Psychobiological Approach to Shamanic Altered States of Consciousness by PEGGY A. WRIGHT (excerpted from Questa)