It is quite beautiful when you see people go into depth and they can completely immerse themselves in what they are doing and they can, as it were, enter a trance. Sometimes it starts as a conscious process that one is then involved in and sometimes it is completely unconscious. How does this work in the brain at such a moment and can it cause harm?
Trance
It feels like a trance, because it gives such a nice liberating feeling and slowly but surely you become less and less aware of yourself and you gradually become absorbed in the environment. You are, as it were, in a kind of different consciousness and the impressions that normally come to you pass you by. Sometimes you pick them up latently, but it doesn’t matter in this state. This may sound strange to some people, but someone who has experienced this will recognize it. It is separate from the use of stimulants and is taken up by the mind at some point. Furthermore, it is an innocent process, a normally functioning mind will automatically return to its positive state at some point.
Reporters
There are various indicators to get into the aforementioned trance. Below are some of the ones we encounter more often. But strictly speaking, many more things can put you in a trance. It has to do with the depth in which you can be involved in something and that often has to do with the passion you have for something. If it goes very deep, you can lose yourself, popularly speaking. Losing that is then a trance that you can end up in. Some examples:
Music
Music is an indicator of falling into trance. On the one hand the musician who is absorbed in a piece or a joint session with other musicians and on the other hand the listener who lets the music penetrate him and no longer experiences anything or anyone around him. This also applies to the man or woman who dances to that music. Images and feelings also often come to mind that you associate with a pleasant and pleasant feeling. The dancer can experience the ultimate free feeling with certain music, which can directly translate the feeling into the dance.
To write
The writer, poet, anyone who tries to express images, feelings, facts as beautifully as possible (so that the reader places them as an image in their own brain), can also become absorbed in what he/she does. When you are in a story you have an image of the structure (that is a rational process), but your brain can, as it were, run wild and words can appear on the paper as if they ended up there almost by themselves. The environment slowly fades away and you barely notice it, and then you become absorbed in the story. Sometimes you don’t realize how much is suddenly on paper.
Source: Skeeze, Pixabay
Sports
We all know the top athlete who starts something with great concentration. A good example is the sprinter who steps into the starting blocks to preferably cross the line as the winner after 100 meters. He/she is so in a trance that only that finish line is in sight and it must be achieved as quickly as possible. When it really matters (i.e. a final) he/she sees nothing or no one other than the finish line. It goes without saying that the 100 meters are completely in your legs, where you can still accelerate, etc. But such a moment goes further than just good concentration.
How does that work in the brain?
The phenomenon occurs because in your brain (to be precise, your left frontal lobe where, among other things, the sense of time can be found) everything is handled more loosely. Normally it is tightly controlled traffic control, but not at such a time.
On the right side is the feeling of atmosphere, inspirations and the environment. This part is very active at sunny times and takes up some extra space, as it were. When the ,indicator, stops, the feeling may persist for a while, but slowly the left frontal lobe takes over again.
Finally
Normally, being completely absorbed in something is not dangerous, unless you are in a strange environment where something can happen. Somewhere where you could accidentally end up in the water or hurt yourself. Excluding these things, getting lost in music, your sport or whatever is not a bad thing. It feels very liberating and can just give you extra energy. Perhaps the man or woman who is described as a control freak can do less with it, but especially for this group of people, that feeling can actually be a good one!