On February 14, Nika Annon, a certified neurolinguistic programming coach, will lead a one-day workshop to teach the ancient art of ecstatic trance. “This safe mind-body journey supports an introspective exploration into your inner wisdom and presence of your spirit,” she says.

Workshop participants will experience trance through the ecstatic body postures of our spiritual ancestors combined with the accompaniment of rhythmic sounds of a rattle to stimulate a waking dream state, Annon says. The goal is to take participants beyond their daily constructs, barriers and filters and move them outside their habitual behavior and thought patterns. “The rattle takes us on into a deeper part of ourselves and allows us to move into a theta brain waves state,” she says.

One of Annon’s teachers, the late linguist and anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, argued that the human body is wired for ecstatic experience—that we need to feel connected to everything around us rather than isolated. “Dr. Goodman taught that ecstatic postures are an entry to alternate realities,” Annon says.

The workshop will be held February 14 from 2 to 5 p.m. at Balance Arts Center, 34 West 28th Street (between Broadway and 6th), 3rd floor. To register, visit NikaAnnon.com/events.