Many years ago, I learned from Stephen Gilligan, an Ericksonian hypnotherapist, that our bodies must have trance (i.e. altered state) experiences, and that if we do not get that trance in  healthy ways  such as through meditation, singing, guided imagery, gardening, drawing, etc, we will create it through unhealthy behaviors such as obsessive thinking, compulsions, and addictions.

In an altered state experience, our minds become significantly slower than in our normal state and we are much more in the moment.  As humans, our most powerful insights usually occur, not when we are thinking about them, but when our minds are silent. Creativity is the same in that art, inventions, and scientific inspirations so often emerge during times of stillness.

I will share two experiences where new forms of self-expression were birthed in this way for me. Continue reading “When the Mind is Still” →