When we enter ecstatic trance, we are not merely exploring aspects of our individual psyche, but rather opening a door into an alternate aspect of reality that is usually closed to many people living their daily lives. This is one woman's description of her first ecstatic trance experience. "With the first loud, cacophonous shares of the rattle I feel an incredible surge of energy that seems to propel me through the top of my head, making my body grow taller. My eyelids flutter, and bright colors pulse to the beat of the rattle-yellow, orange, magenta-like solar flares. A great emotion wants to break from my chest and I sing it, the sound a clear, wide channel from my chest to my mouth. My voice rises higher, along with the others. I feel we're all ascending together, trying to take flight." From "Sing the Body Ecstatic" by Kristin Barendsen, Yoga Journal, March/April 1997.