Trance, an ancestral practice present in many cultures, is now studied in laboratories. For several years, this modified state of consciousness has been attracting growing interest from the scientific community, thanks in particular to ethnomusician Corine Sombrun.
The first Western woman initiated into the Mongolian trance, she wished to submit to numerous observations by electroencephalograms and has since co-founded the TranceScience research institute, which brings together 150 researchers and clinicians from different disciplines.
How does the trance state modify brain activity? What are scientists trying to understand and what could be the applications of current research?
Annick Cojean, senior reporter at World, signed a long investigation into the strange powers of trance and participated in an initiation course. She tells us about it in this episode of the “L’Heure du Monde” podcast.
An episode produced by Clément Baudet, directed by Amandine Robillard and presented by Jean-Guillaume Santi.
“The Hour of the World”
“L’Heure du Monde” is the daily news podcast of the World. Listen every day, from 6 a.m., to a new episode, on Lemonde.fr or on Spotify. Find all the episodes here.
In this episode:
- The insights of François Féron, professor of neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine of Marseille and president of the TranceScience research institute and Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse and neuropsychologist and researcher at the hospital and at the University of Liège in Belgium,
- Excerpts from interviews with Corine Sombrun: programs “For interior” of July 22, 2007 and “Les Racines du ciel” of January 13, 2013 (France Culture)