{
  "id": 14426520,
  "title": "A drug-free trance can blur the line between self and surroundings",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/a-drug-free-trance-can-blur-the-line-between-self-and-surroundings",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-14T10:00:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/a-drug-free-trance-can-blur-the-line-between-self-and-surroundings/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A study published in Neuroscience of Consciousness reveals that a drug-free trance technique can drastically alter one's perception of self and surroundings. Practitioners of this technique reported reduced self-focused thoughts, blurred body boundaries, and a strong sense of oneness. Researchers found that the trance altered the narrative self, the internal storyteller, which is responsible for thoughts about past, future, and personality traits, and diminished the minimal self, which consists of immediate, wordless physical sensations. The trance practice, called auto-induced cognitive trance, involved deep sensory immersion, spontaneous body movements, and vivid mental imagery. Participants described a strong sense of oneness and a loss of time perception during the trance state. They also experienced a dissociation, feeling detached yet connected to their bodies and movements, and reported a significant reduction in bodily control. Despite these changes, participants maintained a sense of control and could exit the trance at will. The study suggests that this self-induced trance practice, which is dynamic, bodily, and expressive, can yield positive emotional outcomes, similar to meditation, but through a different route.",
  "summary": "During a deep, self-induced trance, practitioners say their bodies move on their own, their sense of time vanishes, and the boundary between self and world blurs. A small new study found these accounts were accompanied by greater reported inner peace.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}