Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Is "blurry" the right word?

I have read several posts wherein they describe the text on the page while photoreading as "blurry". Is that accurate?

When I get the blip page, I see some text from one of the 2 pages right in the middle of my line of sight. Something like the word "Albuquerque" right smack dab in the middle. I can tell it is "Albuquerque". It is clear as day, definitely not "blurry"
Again, I see the blip, and words on the fringe of the pages are not clear, but the words in my immediate line of sight are clear. Am I not doing something? Or have the other posters just not mentioned the visual clarity of the words in the center? Thanks,
Ron

Blurry is probably not the correct word... it really is a focus like looking through a camera ... some of it is sharper than others. It is difficult to come up with a word to describe a change in focus. Have you ever seen a photo where the background is in terrific sharp focus and the people or object in front looked softer... not as sharp... they are still clear and recognisable... how would you decribe it.... kinda blurry? When you photoread thats the kind of mental snapshots you are trying to take.

It is a case of where the attention is. What you notice (and I have your experience too) is that the words are still legible near where we are focusing through the book... and this is one reason it is often suggested that the book be photoread upside down... so as not to lose photofocus and get caught up in recognising words because once you start recognising words you slip into refocusing more of the text.

The thing is the inner mind still recognises letter forms right way up or upside down. It's not so much the letters themselves but the white space that surround the letters that helps us to recognise letter and groups of letters that form words because of the shape that is the white space. Really when the letters appear "blurry" it is because the focus is going into that white space past the letters themselves.

Alex

It is possible to see the blip page without the words being blurry: when you cross your eyes. If you find yourself seeing the blip page with the words still in good focus, then you may be doing this, and you need to stop. One reason for PhotoFocus is that your eyes are relaxed, that there is no strain in keeping them focused.

With practice the words can become even clearer so you are not necessarily looking at them crossed eyed... Check/test by looking at a stereogram if the image recedes then yes you are using the cross eyed. If the image comes forward then you are using parallel vision which is correct for photofocus.

Just how blurred it seems in photofocus is a personal thing. Eg not everyone wears glasses

Alex

In my opinion photofocus isn't an end in itself, it's the frame of mind that accompanies it. If you read any neuroscience texts it is clear that you cannot maintain alpha brainwaves patterns (associated with accelerated learning) with your eyes open. However i believe that by not hard focussing on anything maybe you could achieve the alpha state while open-eyed. What i mean to say is that it's probably not necessary to get hung up on the mechanics of what your eyes are doing.
Nick

Very true. The state's the thing. Meditators can certainly go into alpha, theta and delta, yet many meditate with the eyes at least a quarter open and just let them go out of focus.

I'd be interested in reading your resources about alpha. I agree about the frame of mind.

Information that I have found says that children up to the age of about 10 are predominately in theta/alpha brainwave patterns. Then thoughout the teenage years the presence of alpha waves tends to become less as beta waves increase. However those trained in meditation at a young age or never went to school tend to retain higher levels of alpha wave pattern. It also showed that people who later learn to meditate have an increase of alpha wave functions.

If youngsters can do it why can't we all?

Other sources I have come across indicate that all brainwave patterns are all present at all times.. the intensity of each making up a unique signiture for each person. My research has also found that it is when the eyes are in soft focus that alpha waves do occur. This is commonly found during bouts of daydreaming... where the person is staring off into the distance. It seems to be a fact that when the eyes are focusing that beta becomes the main brainwave pattern.
Children don't seem to notice things as far into the distance or with a clarity of adults, might this be due to the fact that they are not functioning as as much in a beta state?

In an article that I came across on the web yesterday I found an interesting comment that testing equipment like EEG and biofeedback cannot tell exactly what the mind is processing ( browser crashed and I couldn't relocate the site for further reading). The article led me to wonder... What comes first?

Do we have to have 'right alpha' wave patterns first, to achieve/reach the accelerated learning state? Or is it because we train ourselves to enter the accelerated learning state that alpha waves start to appear?

Like learning to balance while riding a bike at first our reactions are wobbly but then the brain reacts, we get the feel for it and it, balance, becomes automatic.

It seems to me that it is feasable that the 'act of learning' to enter the accelerative learning state is more important than controlling the brain wave patterns. The brain wave patterns are perhaps a byproduct of entering the accelerative learning state.

It might even explain why the ones who trust the process have less difficulty than the ones who believe that they cannot 'relax enough' or believe that their brains 'have to' be functioning at a certain frequency for the whole photoreading thing to work.

In an article I found today it stated categorically that doubt is the ultimate blocker and "keeps the person functioning at the higher beta waves".

So now my musings become... How does one remove doubt? We usually recognise when we are doubting. How do we get ourselves out of that loop long enough to let go and try?

Yes I agree it is a "frame of mind that accompanies it".
Just my thoughts.

Alex

TailetheWise,
Something you said intensely intrigued me...
You said I could be crossing my eyes, daggone! How come I haven't been told this could be possible I wonder? How might I know/ How might everyone else know if they are actually crossing? AlexK, I do see the stereogram image (the bird, or dog) in the foreground and the platform in the background. But how do I "apply" that type of focus to a book? I'll tell you what I did just now, it's a funny, don't spread the word if you think this is insane.... I cut a hole in the middle of an expendable book so that I could look 6 inches or so past the book. By the way, is the essense of being able to see the blip page focusing 6 inches past the book, period? Thanks for your help.
I hope I haven't been wasting my time crossing my eyes.

Thanks,
Ron

I bet it worked! Brilliant Idea. Hopefully others will read your post and try it themselves. The creation of a simple tool for learning. Looking through the book is the essance. Might be more than 6 inches.

If your eyes felt relaxed as they do when you look at stereograms and you had an awareness of the 4 sides of the book while you were photofocusing it's unlikely you were looking at it cross-eyed. If you were you would have had sore eyes in no time.

Alex

Another way to get the 'feel' of the 'photfocus' would be to put two dots at the top of the page. When you photofocus as stated in the book, the two dots will become three because you will see two sets of of two dots that will be slightly offset to the point that one dot from each set of two will over lap and you will see three dots. I know that sounds kind of complex, but it really works.

I have been able to focus my eyes like that since I was in high school about 25 years ago. That was before they made a big deal about stereo grams because they could not be made easily since the PC had not been made widespread yet. I learned how to focus my eyes that way from look at stereographs or photos that are in sets of two in which the pictures have been take at slightly different angles to compliment the placement of the eyse.

Anyway, hope that helps.

By the way, I am new to photoreading and am not successful in it yet, but I have a possitive outlook on it.

Thanks