Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer getting into photofocus

Hi folks! The topic of how to get into photofocus is probably one of the most frequent to appear on this discussion forum (I think), and I'm sorry if I'm exhausting any of you by bringing it up again. I have a serious problem with getting into photofocus. I absolutely cannot achieve it-CANNOT. I know by now that one must be in a relaxed, alert state to even go any further with photoreading, so my being stuck is greatly hindering any potential I may have with the program. You see, specifically, my problem is that no matter how I try, I cannot become relaxed. Knowing consciously that I'm going to photoread something makes me all jittery. I am a very anxious person. I've tried thinking about peaceful meadows and pastures. I've tried imagining the tangerine, I've tried breathing more slowly and deeply. Nothing has worked and I'm finding myself drifting farther and farther from my goal of being able to photoread at all. I have already asked for advice on this predicament back in December/January (or even earlier). If no one can give me any further helpful advice, I'm afraid I will have to call it quits. I think Pete Bissonette should have stressed in the infomercial that photoreading is not for anxious people like me. My conclusion? Photoreading DOES NOT work for everyone, unfortunately. Pete, or Paul, if you have anything to say to help me, I would be infinitely grateful. Thank you and God bless!

I know this is going to sound odd but have you thought of just 'pretending' that you are relaxed.

You know like play... act as if... don't worry if you are or are not relaxed. Many people seem to worry if they are relaxed enough or not or if they are in the right 'state'... different people have different levels of relaxation. Initally you might not be as relaxed as someone else thats ok.. just pretend that you are relaxed... follow through with the action of photoreading. Give yourself permission to do poorly for a while... remind yourself that you are learning. Say the affirmations and perhaps add "my photofocus is improving everytime".

Following the steps(3 to 1) and just say "I am relaxed now" don't bother checking to see whether you are or are not... as far as you're concerned you are... no ifs no buts.. and carry on as if you are... then while you are staring (looking with a constant focus)at the middle of the spine like you can see though it (pretend ok?) become aware of the pattern of white spaces the words are leaving as you flip pages... you don't care about the words, they are just there... might even be a bit blurred...thats fine, noticing the 4 edges of the book all the while. Say the afirmation again when you've flipped to the end, along with the others. Then let it go. Don't make any judgement at all about how you think you did.

You may not have photofocus on every page but that's OK... nobody's watching... nobody's keeping score. The idea of pretending for a while is to overcome your performance anxiety. Then all of a sudden you are really doing it.

Do you have the same performance anxiety when looking at stereograms? Most people who had problems with the photofocus stage practiced looking at stereograms. print some out from the web... doesn't matter if they colour and you only have b/w printer.. it works just as well. If you can't see them yet.. give yourself a break and print them out ... it harder to get the focus on the computer. If you can see them... you have photofocus... it feels the same when you photoread. If you don't see stereograms GREAT.... it doesn't matter for photoreading.

Photofocus is really just looking at the page without looking at the words... having an awareness of the 2 pages... noticing the changing patterns of the white as you turn the pages, keeping the 4 edges of the book in view. While remaining relaxed as "you can," Being relaxed for you might just be a "right now I'm just going to look at these pages as I turn them and I couldn't care less about anything else right now and I don't even care if I'm doing it right."

Go easy on yourself. Listen to the memory supercharger tape and the genius one or any others you might have... they all help for general relaxation. When Paul says play with it.. it is because that is the best way to learn it... by making a play of it.

I know my suggestion sounds unorthodox. This suggestion may not be as structured as the method or even the general suggestions on the forum. But if you've already wound youself up that much that you're ready to throw the whole thing in perhaps a less structured method will help you over your hurdle.

We often forget that rules are for testing and when appropriate breaking... Laws are something else

Hopefully something of what I wrote is helpful.

Alex

Have you tried the eye thing?

Recite the following to yourself, accompanied with listed actions:
1) I am counting from 5 to 1, and each time I count a number, I feel myself relax just a little more. (right about now you might close your eyes if you haven't already, slowly letting your eyelids drop, letting yourself relax).
2) 5. As you exhale, you feel the tensions release from your legs, almost going numb. As your eyes are closed you image a TV screen just above your head. As you roll your eyes to look through the top of your head, you can just barely see a word on the screen. Breath in, feeling air saturated in calm fill your lungs.
3) 4. Exhaling and still looking through the top of your head, the word sharpens just a little bit. As you are exhaling, tensions start releasing from your arms, which might just be resting on your laps, hands resting gently. As you inhale, you can see the word is made up of five letters, which start to sharpen ever so slightly.
4) 3. As you exhale again, looking through the top of your head with just your eyes, tensions release from your chest and back. You might feel yourself breathing deeper and your pulse slowing down as you relax. Inhaling, the words on the television screen above your head sharpen again, ever so slightly, and if you haven't noticed already, you can now see that they are floating slowly around the screen.
5) 2. You exhale again, this time tensions relaxing from your shoulders and neck, your breath is deeper now than before. As you inhale again, you can just barely make out the word above your head, which you are peeking at through your head. Your eyes are rolled back enough to see the word. It's sharpening.
6) 1. You exhale, and you feel your whole body relaxing, any tensions unrelieved are now gone. As you exhale, you can now see the word. It says, "R-E-L-A-X". You now look forward, and slowly open your eyes, the text in front of you. You say to yourself, "All I will photoread will leave a lasting imprint on my other than conscious mind. As you turn each page, you say to yourself, "relax", keeping the vision of the word on the pages in front of you.

Hope that helps. The bulk of it is looking through the top of your head by looking upwards with your eyeballs. For most people this sends your brain straight into alpha state in seconds. It relaxes me pretty well.

Good luck. Give it a shot.

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com ("Heeeeee'ssss baaaaaack...")

Look about 20 degrees up... I.E your physical eyes look up to about the eyebrows....the top of the head part you let you mind do.. no need to force the eyes to go higher ... Any higher becomes uncomfortable and difficult to maintain.. infact when you've got your eyes shut don't worry about their position its you mental focus that takes over then.

It is good practice to look at a spot on the wall about 20 degrees above the horizontal... after a while it causes you eyes to defocus somewhat and brings on a subtle relaxation... enough to bring on the photofocus state... if you don't counter it by getting anxious about it.

Alex

Welcome back, Ramon. Good to 'see' you.

Thanks =)

I've been grilling myself for finals, so I haven't been around. Hopefully I'll pull myself out of the hole I dug myself into last semester.

If not, I'm in deep doo-doo.

Of course, it doesn't help that I'm procrastinating on reading a book at 5:32 am for a final at noon.

Oh boy. I'm in trouble =(

-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com

Hi,

To me it sounds like you need to get dissociated from the anxious state first. I mean any other state than the anxious one! Here is one good old NLP exercise to do it:

Take a few deep breaths and think the last time you were anxious. Look at yourself being anxious. I mean it literally, imagine there is another you in front of you, perhaps like a mirror-image... Look at the other you closely. What kind of posture the other yoy has while being anxious? The shoulders, head, hands, back, etc. Look very closely, very closely...

Now, that you have looked at the other you 5-10 minutes, notice how the posture of the other you is different from your actual body posture. They are different, aren't they? How exactly are they different? Go through the whole list, head, shoulders, etc.

You know now the differences of the anxious state and some other state. Probably the other state is more relaxed? If you did the exercise, the other state is designed to be relaxed.

Now, ask your oteher-than-conscious mind, "What could I do to be relaxed while Photoreading? How would my body posture be then?" Follow any hints and hunches your other-than-conscious mind gives you. It may be even that it automatically adjusts you posture and state suitaple for PhRing the next time you do it. Your other-than-conscious mind may give you a pleasant surprise!

Be well, -purjo

I have struggled with this too, so don't get discouraged and give up. Just keep practicing. Say affirmations. Can you see the blip page ? If you can see the blip page, then you are in photofocus state? Don't worry about if you are doing it right, just keep doing it. I photoread each book twice, once upside down, then regular side up. If I still feel stressed after that, then I listen to the Activation tape and photoread the book 2x times. Before the second time I photoread the book, I say a Hail Mary to myself. Just don't give up !!!! Be positive and believe in yourself. Society is negative enough, don't put extra criticism on yourself. You are doing it.

Hello everyone! I thank you all for being so supportive and encouraging! However, after trying all your suggestions, I still can't rid myself of the anxiety that engulfs me. As much as I hate to say it, I'm giving up and returning the system. It just doesn't work for me, no matter how I try to "play" with it. You have no idea what an anxious person I am! But I don't feel this is a great loss; I'm 18, and am an operatic tenor in training. I don't think I will need to read much further =P And no, I'm not being negative on myself, I'm being REALISTIC (I purchased the system in November, tried it till now with the extended warranty, and still the system doesn't work for me). Again, I thank you all for trying to help me anyway! God bless you all tremendously!

Okay, I have a few things to say in this matter.

A.) Returning the course is a MISTAKE. If you do that, you'll miss out on something so useful that even Martha Stuw. . .okay, well - you'll regret it!

B.) Don't get anxious. Don't even CARE if you get it right or not! Just say to yourself, "AGH! Whatever!" and just try to do it lazily, without much effort to the photofocus state. Or, if you can, just blur your eyes slightly.

C.) Could you see the stereograms,or no?

D.) Ramon! I've missed ya! But - better not procrastinate! (Eh, I got homework to do, but. . .I'm not procrastinating! )

E.) Gotta go, kids. And so sorry to hear your news, servant! I believe I speak for all successful with the system here when I say that you should reconsider and be persistant.