Zoning out

Just had an interesting question asked on another forum I look at.
They needed to stay still modelling for an art class, and asked how they could 'zone out' while remaining focussed enough to stay in place.
It's something I'm pretty good at - doing wildlife photography I may need to stay absolutely still for an hour or more while being ready to operate the camera at any time.  However, how is it done?
Eastern sects talk about a beginners or empty mind, and it seems to me there is a need to 'switch off' the conscious decision making and critical parts of the mind.  Achieving this state may be the same as the states named 'meditation', 'trance', 'self induced hypnosis'.
I get there by physical stillness and practising a variety of shamanic exercises I've learnt over the last few years on bushcraft and holistic courses.  It is remarkably similar to the state of mind I used to experience while Kart racing, however strange that may seem.  The Kart racing required hours of practise of the techniques of cornering, braking, balancing the kart on the throttle round bends.  Once these techniques became second nature, actual racing ceased to need the concious part of the mind and the instinctive, subconscious mind took over and did a far better job.  I've heard similar descriptions from musicians, artists and combat soldiers.
What's going on?
One of the reasons I took to bushcraft was being made redundant/early retirement from my main job.  While on outplacement training I received advice on interview technique.  A point it made was that decisions by the interviewer are often made unconsciously - The need for good hygiene, neat haircut, trimmed nails, pressed shirt are not to impress the conscious decision making, but the unconscious.  Our logical minds can process just 3-7 pieces of information at one time.  The unconscious processes 2-3 million pieces of data simultaneously.  Just think - every single nerve ending in your body, every cone and rod in your eyes, every olfactory cell, your balance and sense of acceleration is sending information to your brain constantly.  The remarkable barely understood organ has to filter out what's important and present it to the part known as conscious thought.
If you can let go conscious control and trust that the programming you've provided by rehearsing the techniques required for any activity, you instinctive or unconscious mind has far more data at it's disposable, and less inhibiting criticism to get on with the job far better.
There's also the aspect that we are happy to assume animals have evolved instinctive behaviour during evolution.  Surely humans, with their advanced evolution, must also have a store of instinctive wisdom held somewhere in their being.  We can't seem to access this consciously, so again 'letting go' with the conscious mind may just allow us to make use of this instinctive behaviour.

Try this exercise, based on shamanic rites -
Stay 100% still.  Now concentrate on the nearest sound you can  hear - listen just to that sound.  Now move to the furthest sound you can hear - listen just to that sound.  Without allowing your logical mind to criticise, build a mental picture of what the furthest sounds represent.  Come back to the nearest sound - if it's, say, a clock ticking, build a mental image of the workings, whatever, let your mind build a picture of what the sounds represent.  With practise you may find some remarkable results.  To my mind you're not tapping in to mysterious energies or receiving message from god, you're just tapping in to the vast streams of information that are normally filtered out before they reach your conscious mind.
Warning, you may feel strange or dizzy after doing this properly, take a few seconds to gather your wits once back in the room.

Just another thought - how much are the rituals of religions intended to get the faithful to drop their logical, conscious faculties in the interest of belief in the supernatural.