Many have heard the term "trance channeling." It is interchangeable with the term "channeling." This means that a person is in a trance while channeling. A trance is nothing more than a deep, meditative state. When you are in a trance, the book writes itself for you, music writes itself, art paints itself, and whatever you do is effortless. Effortlessness is the essence of being in trance. The way to know if you are in a trance is that you will suddenly feel as if you have become very wise. There will be a shift, or a clicking of gears in your consciousness. You will feel relaxed yet very alert. There will most likely be an absence of physical sensations, or physical sensations will at least be very vague. You might feel a tingle in the neck, the top of the forehead, or the spine. You might even feel tightness around the forehead or crown chakra. The rhythm and tone of your voice may be different, and you will be aware of expansion and/or contraction of consciousness. Sometimes, a particular entity will even have an accent or dialect unlike your own.

Here are a couple descriptions from other channels about their experience, from William H. Kautz and Melanie Branon's book Channeling: The Intuitive Connection (1987):

Jon Fox describes channeling: "As I go into trance, a warm sensation flows from my lower back up through my spine. Sound changes frequency and I feel a slight pressure inside my head. As Hilarion enters, I clearly sense an altered space. When the transition is complete, I become less aware of any sensations."

Penney Peirce describes channeling: "When I enter an intuitive state, I diffuse my personality. I become softer and softer until I become very large. In that largeness I have access to a wealth of fine information that somehow conveys itself back through my memory patterns to my conscious mind—where I'm ready to grasp it with words and describe it."

The signal I use to know that I am in trance and ready for channeling is rather unusual. First I feel a contraction as if I am becoming very small. Then there is an explosion of expansion, sort of like an atomic bomb going off in my consciousness. I feel as if suddenly I spread out far and wide, and my consciousness is flat and thin as paper spreading across the universe. Immediately following this is a slight headache for a moment that moves from my forehead to the back of my head and neck. Then it is gone. What is left is empty space that holds nothing but consciousness. This is when I know I am ready for channeling and the connection has been made. Each person will have their own unique signal that will let them know when they are ready to channel. As you practice with channeling you will find your own personal signal that lets you know when you have made the connection and are ready to speak as your guide.

The technique I like to use for getting into a trance very quickly, and one I discovered quite by accident is what I call the snoring technique. I am not exactly sure how I learned this, but it is very effective. All you have to do is simulate sleep! Draw the breathing into the nose, pull it into the forehead, snoring, and feel the energy go up over the head and down the back of the neck. I call this the "snoring technique."