Resonance Trance Attention For Personal Growth

There is a key distinction in communication and change: speaking and listening. Speaking involves the creation and sending of messages. Listening involves the receiving and processing of messages. Both are required for any communication to occur…well almost any communication.

What’s the big deal about speaking and listening…it’s simple and straightforward…isn’t it?

Well, communication is absolutely essential for personal success, personal growth and personal performance…and when you look deeper it’s not as easy as you may think.

Let’s take for example a conversation between two people, John and Harry. John says something (speaks) to Harry and Harry hears what John says (listens). Then Harry replies (speaks) and John and now John hears what Harry is saying (listens).  During a typical conversation this exchange and flip-flop will occur naturally.    Then it starts to happen …one of them says something and before he is done, the other one starts to talk. This is called simultaneous speaking or simply put ‘interruptions’.

Both individuals are in a speaking (send no receive) mode. Often when interruptions occur one of the speakers fairly quickly quits speaking and begins to listen. At other times both parties will simultaneously pause and silence will occur in their conversation. Both are in a listening (receive no send) mode. Then one of them breaks the silence and we have speaking and listening once again.

Looking deeper, the speaking/listening distinction is not so clear-cut and straightforward. You are observing this communication between John and Harry…but what’s happening with you…the observer? You probably think that you’re only in listening mode; since all you’re doing is paying attention to what they are saying.

It isn’t long, and then before you know it you’re doing more than listening to them. Internally you begin speaking, making comments about the conversation, i.e. “This is boring…” “What the heck are they taking about?” “I wonder if the know…” “That doesn’t make sense at all.”

You’ve shifted your listening, i.e. your state of attention from the conversation between John and Harry to your own internal dialogue.  This is represented as a shift from Auditory External Narrow (AEN) and Visual External Narrow (VEN) to Auditory Internal Narrow (AEN).  More on “states of attention in future posts, but for right now the transition of your attention has move from the external conversation to your internal conversation.

You now move back and forth between external and internal auditory experience, and sometimes lose the distinction between who is doing the speaking: John or Harry or yourself. Equally important is the distinction between where the listening is occurring: auditory external or auditory internal.

Know imagine this scenario happing with three, four or more people attempting to communicate.  There is this unconsciousness shift and fade between internal and external locus.  You can probably see how a simple conversation can become so much more can’t you?

Mystics, sages and shamans are known for taking delight in paying attention to experience, and for developing greater understanding of experience. At the core were a couple of key questions “How could we get clearer in experiencing the speaking/listening distinction?” And “How could we better pay attention to the sources of speaking and listening while they are occurring?”

It was observed that not only did the external and internal speaking/listening distinction create complexities worth considering, but also that there were many important distinctions in the realm of internal speaking/listening. For example, if one paid attention, internal speaking occurred in a variety of tonalities and “voices.” For another example, with additional attention, one could notice that the internal speaking would come from different locations. A certain tonality or “voice” might speak from the right side of the head. Another tonality from the left side. Sometimes the internal speaking didn’t even seem to be inside oneself, but came from behind, or was a speaking into the right ear or the left ear. Sometimes the speaking was a whisper. Other times it was yelling, shouting, or normal conversation volume. Sometimes the speaking had a critical tonality and vocabulary. Other speaking was encouraging and motivating.

And all this is for a “normal” individual….I’m sure you’ve experienced something similar to this haven’t you?

One technique that arose from this curiosity of internal communication is Resonance Trance Attention.

Resonance Trance Attention is a simple mechanism for more clearly experiencing and understanding the intricacy of the speaking/listening distinction. To effectively utilize The Resonance Trance Attention it is important to pay attention to the location and tonality of the internal speaking. From where is the sound coming? How loud or soft is the sound? Is the tone full and robust or thin and flat?  Yes, this will take mental strength and discipline to do and the rewards are well worth it.

Resonance Trance Attention in Practice

1. Find a location that is quiet and free of distractions.

2. Get into a physically comfortable and relaxed position.

3. Select a number, and say it once, silently, to yourself.

4. Notice the location and tonal quality of that number as you hear yourself speak it silently.

5. Relax and wait silently until you hear the echo of that number being spoken. Note any shifts in the location and tonality of that number.

6. Wait silently for the next echo of that number and note any shifts in location and tonality.

7. Wait silently for the third echo of that number and note any shifts in location and tonality.

8. Wait silently for the fourth echo of that number and note any shifts in location and tonality.

9. Now select the next lower number from what you chose in step three, and say it silently to yourself. Note location and tonal quality.

10. Repeat the process of listening for the four echoes of that number and notice their locations and tonality.

11. And go deeper to the next lower number, listening for the four echoes and notice locations and tonalities. . . . and then the next lower number, and the next, and the next, on down . . . that’s right . . .

Regular employment of Resonance Trance Attention on a daily basis for about a month appears to “hard wire” it into one’s neurophysiology so that one develops the ability to have a clear focus on the speaking/listening that is occurring at any given time.  Practicing this process will increase your effectiveness as both a speaker and listener.

A variation on Resonance Trance Attention you might find useful is to select a word or phrase of some importance, speak it silently and then listen for the four echoes while noticing locations and tonalities. For example, you might take a phrase like “Thoughts are real things,” now what happens when you take this phrase and through Resonance Trance Attention. Find other important words that reflect your values and outcomes, speak them silently and attend to the echoes, i.e., health, abundance, love, peace, acceptance, etc.

Your mission is to practice Resonance Trance Attention until it becomes a natural and easy way of meta listening.

Additional Resources:

The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. Speaking (La Parolé) by Georges Gusdorf

OK…what are your thoughts about all these voices in your head and how to use, play and learn from them?  Let me know in the comments below.

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• Trance Dance: Entering Our Body-Mind-Soul Consciousness (warriormindcoach.com)