Trance a form of ASC, or altered state of consciousness. Many of us use trance in our practices in order to help facilitate consciousness projection, spirit work, and otherwise journeying inside the self, among other things. When people talk about getting into a light meditative state, they are referencing the first form of ASC. Trance tends to be deeper ASC than what meditation alone offers (in my experience).
There will be very many different ways to achieve an ASC including (but not limited to) paying attention to your breathing patterns, use of rhythm (such as movements, mandalas, labyrinths, and drum circles), or causing physical pain;not recommended if you don't know what you're doing or if you're starting out, so I'm not listing those examples.
Meditation tends to be about clearing your mind of your day to day thoughts to allow for deeper consciousness, but if you are like me where my thoughts race constantly, this is not a desirable method. We can never truly clear our minds and newbies often get tripped up when they start this method because they think that they are not capable of doing this correctly. This gives them the mentality that anything to do with ASCs are hard, when in fact, they are not. Everyone does things differently and if something works for someone else and not for you (provided you're not trying to break the laws of physics), that does not automatically mean you are bad at it. It just means that you might be good at something else.
To circumvent the very Eastern forms of entering a deeper state of consciousness brought by meditation, I utilize recognition of previous altered states and use my favored methods of entering ASC. This includes dance, song, emulating the feeling of sinking into myself, and using imagery often found in the form of guided meditation (I can't stand listening to other people talk unless their voices are just right, so I memorize the material and then go about it on my own). Because my thoughts race, I have learned to allow a thought to come up and let it go instead of focusing on it. Trying to suppress it often ends up in feeding the thought, making it go on longer than it originally would have been (and often times, more annoying). This may or may not be a problem for you and I sincerely hope it is not. It took me my whole life to get over that obstacle.
The point is that if you feel you can't do something, don't automatically give up and think you'll never be able to do it. This creates a mental block that will often take serious self development to overcome later in life if you ever do try to tackle it. Instead, just experiment and be relaxed about it. Trial and error happens with all of us.
