From the Biodanza Book | From the TOMOS |
In his book Biodanza, LSD is mentioned once in the context of explaining the different types of trance. Toro used the term trance instead of regression before he started to use it in the sense of transire, i.e. ‘go across’ and defined it as "a change of the state of consciousness." He saw it as a physiological mechanism that could lead us into "a state of extreme receptivity and surrender to internal and external forces, with the partial or total loss of one´s own (sense of) identity." In Biodanza, trance is induced through the power of music, more specifically, through losing ourselves to the music. As the awareness is flooded by the music our sense of self dissolves and we become one with the music. As regards the subjective experience of trance, Toro says that people feel "part of the whole universe". Connecting with other people they see their essence and identify with them. Furthermore, they experience a sense of "physical wellbeing beyond comparison and a sensation of intense love for life that is difficult to describe. The limits of the body become infinite. The body becomes voluptuously receptive and acquires an evanescent quality. In certain moments the ecstasy is so intense that the musical stimuli are perceived as pleasurable discharges that run through the whole body. Furthermore, there appears a sentiment of fraternity with everything that exists. During the vivencia of musical trance induced by Biodanza, the dancers become the music." They open up to the joy of connection and feel reenergised when they recover their sense of self. Toro also mentioned the type of trance induced by psychoactive drugs. "It is necessary to clarify the radical difference between the psychoactive substances that induce dependence and damage the organism and those called ‘hallucinogenic’, whose effect is to produce the expansion of consciousness. The first (e.g. amphetamines, cocaine, tobacco and caffeine), activate vigilance and the intellectual and motor functions in an exaggerated way, while the others (e.g. LSD-25, mescaline, psilocybin) provoke states of trance with completely different characteristics, among which we can cite the amplified perception, the intensification of the emotions, and the accentuation of the significance of real facts on the basis of an existential prospective, independent of cultural criteria." | As you may know, Biodanza facilitators can specialise in different fields. One of them is Biodanza and Addictions. In the Tomos we find texts about this application. Here is a passage about LSD (my translation). "The experiences with hallucinogenic drugs such as mescaline, psilocybin, yagé, "cannabis sativa" or marijuana, and lysergic acid, induce changes in the perception of reality, profound cenesthesic changes, altered states of consciousness and vivencias of transcendence. The quality of these changes varies according to the type of drugs, the level of individual integration, and the circumstances of the moment. Lysergic acid is one of the purest examples of drugs that often give access to the lost unity. We will leave aside the negative experiences induced by these drugs in poorly integrated people. Here are some statements from people under the effects of LSD-25 (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide). "I came to my right measure. I feel the exaltation of being inside me. I am everywhere and in everything. I realize that I am breaking away from daily concerns. I have to make the jump. But I am inside and outside." "Fire produces vertigo. Things have music. All the sounds of the fire have music." "I feel God dancing with the music. God-energy, God-woman, creation." "I knew the world of stone, but now everything has life. Little details become alive." "I can swallow saliva and go into ecstasy." "I remember the idiotic years of psychoanalysis. Now, perception of the organs near the genitals: stones, bones, ashes, marble ... I want to find something warm in this whole sexual sector. I want contact. I feel like I'm moving away from something that was dead. Now I begin to live." "The whole world of a drop of water travelling on the outside of a tap is mind-blowing. What terrible and beautiful things I see. I have entered the cosmos." Toro ends by saying that, "it is obvious that the (LSD) experience takes the individual back to an original and essential reality." |