Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Err... Cant think of a title, just a few questions...

I just got the PR book a few days ago. Ive read it through pretty quickly and now Im going to go back and re-read the instructions so I can follow them. Hopefully. Anyway, just wondering a few things;

I have no problem with diverging my eyes and seeing the blip page etc. When my eyes are diverged I can either let the text go blurry so that it just looks like a loada grey smudges, or I can make the words look clear. Which should I try and do when photoreading? Also, the blip page sometimes becomes more like another paragraph than a page- I mean the two lines of the books centre which are on either side of the blip page sort of dissappear and it looks less 3d and more like a middle paragraph (did that make sense??) If i blink a few time it goes back to looking more like a page, but what's it supposed to look like??

How do you actually know a) when you're relaxed enough and b) when you're in photofocus??

Also, on one page it the book has tips for using your periheral vision- noticing what jewellery people are wearing while looking at their faces etc etc, - does that actualy improve you're prfrl vision or just help you get used to using it?

Oh and one last thing- my maths teacher yesterday after handing out a sheet;
'Now for all you 'speed readers' in here, I want you to slow down and read this through properly, if you skim through it you'll miss all the details and get the questions wrong; Make sure you READ THE QUESTIONS and understand them properly before you answer'

hmmm...

Laura

Laura,
When i see the blip page, the words in the blip overlap but they are clear.

Photofocus is periphereal vision. Relax your eyes and do this by relaxing your eyelids. Then just widen your vision. To use the example DAna did for me Photofocus is when you see the whole tree and not just a specific branch or leaf. Let your vision take in the whole room.

Three deep breaths is relaxing. Any soothing music will do. Counting backwards from 10 down to 1 will also relax you. Think of a time when you were relaxed like at the beach will also relax you. And, of course, getting your special quiet scene will relax you. I think that's in the book. Go over that part and really get it down.

Yes, it does improve your ability to see in a periphereal way. It's useful in many ways such as problem solving. It keeps us from tunnel vision, which means seeing only 1 way to solve a problem. By relaxing into an alpha brain wave, you'll suddenly see 3 or 4 additional ways to solve a problem. At work, i just go into photofocus (tangerine) and let other solutions come up. It really is a technique.

PhotoReading is not speed reading. PhRing is lightening and it doesn't miss the mark.

Laura, A relaxed gaze is all that is required. if you get the blip page without discomfort then thats how you go about it. Blurry is better in the beginning as it helps you avoid getting caught in reading the test. If you have the text clear turn the book upside down to aviod getting sidetracked into regular reading.

I mean the two lines of the books centre which are on either side of the blip page sort of dissappear and it looks less 3d and more like a middle paragraph (did that make sense??)

Yes that what happens. razordu30 has made some pictures of what the blip page looks like. the link is below. http://www.learningstrategies.com/forum/ubb/Forum8/HTML/002421.html

How do you actually know a) when you're relaxed enough and b) when you're in photofocus??

At your age the relaxed enough state is when you feel relaxed. It is easy enough for you to achieve, you feel free from stress or worry nothing is distracting you or bugging you. Like soaking in a nice warm bath. That is when you are relaxed enough.

You're in photofocus when you relaxed your eyes and are looking at the pages with parallel vision. You know you got it when you see the blip page because the blip page is the tool to tell you that you're looking at the pages with a different focus to regular reading.

Also, on one page it the book has tips for using your periheral vision- noticing what jewellery people are wearing while looking at their faces etc etc, - does that actualy improve you're prfrl vision or just help you get used to using it?

Yes it actually does help. So does watching TV side on

Yep, It is important to read the questions that's why in a good book they are followed with a '?' what better cue can a photoreader ask for.

Alex

[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited September 09, 2002).]

OK thnx, one more question, about this tangerine technique,- I dont quite get what it is. Is it supposed to help you diverge your eyes or something else? Whenever I try it I open my eyes and things look exactly the same as normal, I dont seem to be noticing anything to the sides any more than I normally would

quote:

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Originally posted by AlexK:

You're in photofocus when you relaxed your eyes and are looking at the pages with parallel vision. You know you got it when you see the blip page because the blip page is the tool to tell you that you're looking at the pages with a different focus to regular reading.

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So if Im relaxed and have my eyes diverged am I actually IN photofocus or do I need to do other stuff (t.technique etc) aswell???

~Laura~

Oh and BTW, depending on how wide the page margins are, the words may or may not overlap in the blip page. does it matter if they do or dont???

[This message has been edited by Laura (edited September 11, 2002).]

Laura,
You wrote in your first post, that you can see the blip page. So you have it. The key is to practice it. You have to get it to the point where it'll stay as you turn pages. Get your technique down for smooth page turning.

The tangerine technique is to help people relax into peripheral vision. Our eyes are not diverged in peripheral vision.

Relaxing the eyes into peripheral vision OR using the tangerine technique (both mean the same thing for the eyes), is a first step to diverging the eyes which is the same thing as photo focus.

photo focus = diverging eyes = blip page

peripheral vision = tangerine technique = soft gazing

[This message has been edited by Margaret (edited September 11, 2002).]

I can usually keep my eyes diverged as I turn the pages but I sometimes re-focus; I guess that will improve with practice as you said. I find it v.easy to diverge my eyes coz when I was youger Id mess around making all the pictures and words look doubled (Im easily amused ) but I dont know about this tangerine technique; if Im relaxed and can see the blip page is that it or is the t. tech. something different? I mean what IS 'soft gazing'???

Think of it this way.....

It's almost identical to the vision we use when we're driving a car. We look through the windshield and see everything in front of us with a "soft gaze."

If something in front of the car requires our immediate attention, such as someone else's brake lights, we hard focus immediately and respond.

The only difference with a book is, we don't stop to "hard focus" anything. Just keep flipping those pages at about a page per second in a steady rhythm and comfortable pace.

Use the "4-3-2-1" chant to keep your conscious mind preoccupied, while you absorb all the patterns of text through the rod vision in your cornea directly into the greater processor of your inner mind.

Hi All!
One thing people very rarely talk about here when it comes to photofocus (and the book only really hints at it) is that it is not strictly the same as just looking into the distance or through a window. There are two processes that occur when accommodating for distance vision:

1. The eyes must diverge (as all the diagrams show).
2. The lens of the eye must change in order alter the focal distance.

However when we switch into P-focus we must do 1 but not 2, so that if we cover one eye while in p-focus the page can still be read normally. Surely the brain can't understand out-of focus written-haze or else we could 'read' any sort of haze or random pattern that we chose to PR?

I could be completely wrong but this was a problem that bugged me for a bit.

Cheerio!

Nick
:-)

[This message has been edited by nickuk (edited September 12, 2002).]

OK, now Im really confused . Whats the deal with the lens of the eye changing??? Also, when you do the tange.tech, is it obvious when you're doing it right? Coz whenever I try it it just feels like.. well... nothing, really. Im not too good at relaxing either...

Laura, This site has a couple of images that give you the general idea of what your eyes do when you read normally and then the parallel view (which is what we use for photoreading) Most of the time when you look at a page with parallel view you wind up getting a blip page.

When you first start photoreading the blip page often disappears while turning the page, because of our habit of going into focus for regular reading. It is easy enough to break that habit by staying with the chant and keep turning the pages, just noticing that you can see the outer edges of the book.

With the Tangerine Technique pretend that you are actually holding a tangerine. Toss it from hand to hand as described in the book and actually put it on your head by touching the top back of your head with your hand. That touch will act like a trigger for the tangerine technique. You'll remember what it felt like when you touched your head there and that's how you come to know. Later it just comes with thinking about it.

As for getting relaxed. I'm going to guess that you daydream. Think back to a time that you daydreamed about something you enjoyed. When you think about it you were relaxed, right? The relaxed state is just a soft, at ease, free from concerns about anything in particular 'for the moment' feeling. I once described it as; relaxed = a feeling similar to lying back in a nice warm bath. *not* relaxed = when you feel like some crazy person is chasing you with a stick.

Alex