I just received my PhotoReading Personal Learning Course on Friday and I am officially starting the course today (though I did listen to tape one over the weekend, which was mostly introductory material). In this thread I am going to completely document my experience learning PhotoReading, which will hopefully enrich the experience for me, but also I hope that it may be of service to others who are seeking to learn this system.

A few weeks ago I did buy the PhotoReading book and I have read the book and done some initial experiments with PRing. Also, I will give some background about myself so you may better understand my attitudes and dispositions.

I am a dedicated learner - I love to learn new things and am always seeking to expand my mind and my understanding of things. I have always had a somewhat untraditional approach to learning and perception in general - I am artistically inclined and am what some people call a "sensitive", so forgive me if my point of view may seem a bit bizaare to yours.

For instance, I naturally developed a method to help me with my understanding of books, that I believe has some connection to what PRing is about. I would hold the books in my hands and with the intention that I was opening my minds receptivity to the materials that I was about to read. In a way, for me, this process was like placing a tea bag in a kettle of hot water. To my understanding, my aura or personal energy field, is like the kettle of hot water, and the book is like the tea bag - I imagined myself steeping in the energy of the book.

Then I would turn through all of the pages of the book about as fast as I could turn the pages completely opening the book and seeing the pages with a soft gaze - I don't think I was using the gaze suggested in the PR book though. I did play with this a bit, because of my personal understanding of the aura I would sometimes scan the pages with my hands, with the intention again that I was absorbing the energy of the book - I wouldn't even care about whether I was looking at the pages at all - but I would be in a meditative state while I was doing it and I would probably have my eyes holding a diffused gaze while I was doing this.

Then I would read the books as I normally read - I have a pretty good regular reading speed - in the 500 wpm range. I did this, as I said, to aid my comprehension and to firmly set in my mind my openness and harmony with the energy of the books.

So, after reading the Photoreading book, I immediately started using the Photoreading technique to do this again with some of the more deep, esoteric books that I study. I am not really concerned with any kind of "photographic recall" of the books - my intention is to open my mind to the deepest understanding of the ideas in the books that I am reading. I am also trying to open as much as possible the communication between my other than conscious mind and my conscious, in the brain, thinking.

So I have photoread a good stack of my esoteric, metaphysical books a few times. These are books such as The Secret Doctrine by H.P.Blavatsky, the books of Alice A. Bailey and Manly P. Hall.

I am also an avid tennis player and so I have PRed a stack of 10 tennis books, which I am seeking to activate through my tennis play.

Right now, I am seeking to read all that I can find on Success Consciousness - books such as those by Anthony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Robert Allen, Stephen Covey and so on. With my developed PRing skills it is my goal to read many hundreds of books in the coming year along this line of thinking and development.

Welcome to the club. I'd recommend a visit to my site: http://www.geocities.com/doc5587

Or geocities/doc5587 for short.

-youngprer
geocities.com/doc5587
pub117.ezboard.com/btheworldofyoungprer

Thanks for the welcome youngprer.

I did visit your site.

I also had previously visiting your forum, and even posted some comments, but it doesn't look like there is any real activity there yet.

Welcome, livingsuccess. I am a high school student and have been integrating the PhotoReading system into my academic life for the past approximately two months. My reading initial, untrainted reading speed was not above average like yours, and this was one of the key reasons why I began teaching it to myself. I say 'to myself' because I only have the PhotoReading book, not the tapes.

I also play tennis, though in recent years, I've only played once a week in order to devote more time to my school work. Thus, my game is good, even great at times, but I simply don't yet have the consistency from more frequent practice. I actually have not yet tried PhotoReading any tennis books, but it is on my list :-). One thing I have tried, however, is using the Personal Genius tape before taking a lesson. I did this after having not played the entire summer, and I had been running cross country for the beginning of the school year. Normally, such neglect would in the past have caused me to have a really rough and slow startup. I was open to the possibility of playing even an better lesson than I'd ever had before, (this way the goal I decided on, listening to the tape) and sure enough, this is exactly what happened. Yet I also know from other experiences with the Paraliminals that as I would have guessed, they are not magic. They merely allow you to stop defeating yourself in order to allow your true abilities to play out unhindered.

From what you said, you already have a very good starting point, attitude-wise, so I am sure that you will meet great success with the course. I am still learning how to best activate material as that is undoubtedly the single most challenging aspect of the system. I've found that, at least for me, it is almost solely due to underlying the simple yet powerful emotional fear, mainly of failing or not doing something entirely right. So in other words, I have learned from my PhotoReading experience so far that I was a perfectionist. And I know that I still have a little of that working against me, but I'll be ready to let go if it soon. Strangely enough, a semi-emotion/belief that held me back for a while was guilt. Guilt? Of what? I actually felt guilty that I appeared to be doing much less WORK than I was presumably SUPPOSED to be doing on my homework reading. This should not be much of an issue for you, of course, because it doesen't sound like you face any school pressures. Now that I'm over that 'guilt for not working hard enough' thing, I am much more readily able to relax and trust subtle subconscious cues. I still have not received any undisputable hard evidence by spontaneous activation, but I have also made my peace with it, knowing that it may take time and further development in order to become open enough to have such experiences.

You'll have to tell me how your tennis game is improved by your direct learning from those books. I've been thinking that maybe I myself ought to find a stack of ten books on a class in school and see what happens. The more you PhotoRead for a single purpose and subject, the more likely you are to see either spontaneous activation or major leaps in your ability to understand the subject, right?

Any suggestions for what books I might PhotoRead to open me up to confidently receiving 'bubblings' directly from my subconscious knowledge store? Right now most of the time it seems that I'm guessing around, actually looking for some subconscious clues about the material I PhotoRead. Sometimes I must truly be making it up, because my guesses are simply wrong, but others I really do feel like I have more of a familiarity with the knowledge, but still not beyond the possibility of the placebo effect. I, like nearly everyone who's into PhotoReading and similar alternative mind techniques, seek to gain confident access to subconscious knowledge. Is that too much to ask? I know: patience. I would like to accelerate this process in any way possible, however. Maybe you'll gain some fresh insights on this issue, livingsuccess, especially because of your background with alternative techniques.

-Cameron

CameronJ: Thanks for the valuable input to my journal and I always like to hear new questions and will try to help in any way that I can.

I will do some thinking about your question regarding what books to read to help you open up to your "subconscious knowledge store". I have a pretty big library of these sort of books and I know of or have read many that I don't currently have - I want to make sure I suggest books that you can find - either at your local library or bookstore.

A couple that come to mind for there pychological effect are - Kahil Gibran's "The Prophet", "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan, Gary Zukav's "The Seat of the Soul", "The Celestine Prophecy" by James Redfield, "The Tao of Physics" by Fritjof Capra, "The Dilbert Future" by Scott Adams (believe me, Mr. Adams is much deeper than most realize).

Well, that is a good start for a batch for a semi-syntopical reading group. The whole thing about opening up to your other than conscious mind is related to abstract thinking. Anything that you can do to create abstract connections between different ideas is good for this.

I did tape/CD 2 today - this covers previewing and Paul also goes over some superreading and dipping techniques. Working with Paul on the tape/CD program really has felt very powerful compared to what I have been doing on my own experimenting from the book.

I really could feel the difference in my focus as Paul walked us through the tangerine technique and superreading. I could really feel my vision opening up and felt completely relaxed and non-judgemental while I did the exercises. I started to really enjoy the superreading and dipping exercise as well, which I wasn't expecting. I think this is because of the relaxed focus gained by the tangerine technique.

Over the last few days I have continued to work with the Photoreading audio program and to use the Memory Supercharger Paraliminal recording.

Though I have committed myself to just let the experience be whatever it may be, and I have a strong feeling that I am onto something very powerful here through interacting with others on these forums and from speaking on the phone with Pete Bissonette, I have to say that I am already seeing and feeling real progress with the photoreading system.

CD 3 goes over the photofocus state and some of the other technical aspects of superreading, dipping and skittering. Then CD 4 goes into actually photoreading a book. While Paul suggested that we use his PR book, which is included in the program for this lesson, I had already read the book prior to receiving the program. So, I used a book that I have been wanting to read - The One Minute Millionaire by Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen.

After photoreading the book one evening, I took Paul's advice and slept on the information, confident that my other than conscious mind was busy at work making multitudes of connections to other knowledge in my conscious mind and body.

I continued with the program the next evening - and I was amazed at how much I had technically picked up from the previous bits of the program. The relaxed state that Paul helps to describe in the program was very easy and pleasant to get into and it made the rest of the process, such as superreading and dipping, or skittering much easier than I imagined it would be.

Before doing the superreading and dipping phase, I had just playfully flipped through the book and found many areas that I would like to explore more in depth and I wrote down a good handful or two of questions that I wanted to answer through my reading of the book. I really had my purpose for reading clearly in my mind.

It was quite late when I sat down to superread and dip through the book. After an hour I felt that I had already activated much more than I had hoped to get from the book. I just relaxed and let my eyes flow over the pages, moving at a rate well into speedreading areas, ranging from 2000 wpm and less, I am guessing. I would allow myself to be very relaxed and playful with it all - my eyes would move in a frolicking manner sometimes, like a young child flying his fork around here and there before finally landing in their mouth. That landing is the dipping part. You just let your eyes frolick and play until they find a word that they just have to eat up. Then you may slow down breifly to a more "normal" reading rate for a paragraph or two, then zoom back up into the flying superreading perspective.

I am very excited about this process and I can't wait to gobble up the piles of books that I have collected recently. I am putting together various piles of books that I am going to use for some syntopic experiments with photoreading.

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited December 14, 2003).]

Your post is the first inspirational comment I've heard (for beginners). I've had the same results in the past week. The technique is beginning to successfully gel.

In fact, you've just inspired me to get off this computer and go activate I must say, Alex's input towards photoreading a book right before activation (given that you have already photoread it at least a day before) has really helped also.

I'm glad I could help to inspire you BlackBox. That is my intention with this journal. Since I was going to keep a journal anyway of my experiements and progress, I realized that this would be a good example to others seeking to learn photoreading as they could observe the entire process from beginning to mastery through my journal. That is why I have decided to do my journal as a public service for others seeking to learn photoreading.

I have been continuing with my PhotoReading studies and working with the audio program, but I have alowed some of my other projects to take precedence lately.

I keep the audio program out in the office and I one of my assistants has begun to use the program. She noted that she was a bit annoyed with the pace of the program. She is a quick learner and was aggravated by the repetition of many of the points and the pace of Paul's delivery. I could agree with her a bit there as well - I had already read the book before I received the audio program, and I found that I felt a bit antsy when going through the program - wanting Paul to get on with it, because I was ready for the next step, but I didn't want to miss any extra tid-bit. There may have been a few tidbits, but I think that my own agitation with the pace of the program also helped me to move onto other projects. There was quite a bit of good information on the final CD/tape of the program, however and I really appreciated this one because it was giving me many new ideas about working with PhotoReading.

Currently I have a stack of Chess books that I have been meaning to PR. I have found a good friend with whom I can play online, who is quite skilled and he is helping me to learn. At least I want to try this stack as a direct learning experiment, but I think I will also manually activate one or two of them as well.

The hardest part of the whole process is learning to superread and dip without dipping too deeply, but I have been noticing that I will get into the flow of it from time to time and I really feel myself absorbing and activating large amounts of information in a very short time. It is still hard for me not to want to rapid read everything, though.

The next phase of the process that I haven't really made a part of my routine is that of mind mapping. I don't like the books or papers that I have available for this and I just now realized I should go get a large spiral-boung sketch pad for this where I can keep all of my mind-maps in one place.

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited January 01, 2004).]

I have recently had some interesting things develop with a game that I play with the dictionary that might or might not be related to my PhotoReading efforts.

I call this game "the dictionary game", but it isn't the same as the one that Paul mentions in the program. This game is something that I have always done with the dictionary whenever I wanted an idea about something or to get some insight into a question that I was pondering. I take the dictionary and hold it quietly for a moment as I focus on my question then I open it to whatever pages seems "right" and focus on the first word that catches my eye. It always works for me - sometimes the answers are so direct it is very uncanny.

Lately, though I have been playing the "game" more often. I photoread the my webster's dictionary after starting the course. Now I am feeling more inspired to tap into my intuitions through the dictionary on a more regular basis. For instance, I was wondering if attending a certain program would be useful to me in achieving my longer term goals. So, using the relaxation visualization that Paul describes in the program, I put myself into a deep focused state. Then I asked myself, "Is taking this program along the path of achieving my long-term goals?" I intuitively opened the dictionary to a certain page and with my eyes closed, visualized the position of the answer word on the page. Opening my eyes I see the word "input" there - something that you put in order to get something more out. That seemed pretty obviously an affirmation to me, but as I sat there thinking I had my answer, I decided to check if there was anything more to get regarding this question. I visualized where on the page the "answer" word would be and turned the pages to the "right" spot. Opening my eyes, I chuckled. The word was "period"!

You might like to try playing with this variation on the dictionary game yourselves.

In a book I've looked at recently by Bill Hewitt, a psychic, he mentions just such a game. I actually have not tried it yet, but it does sound like a fun trick to add to the old 'intuitive guidance repertoire!' It sounds like you've had fun successes with it. I hope your PhotoReading proves to be a valuable asset for you as you have more time to devote to mastering it. I've actually been beginning to get comfortable with manual activation :-) It just took a little practice!

Yes, you are right about manual activation taking a bit to get used to it. It is like learning a certain way to balance your mental focus and your eyes at the same time. Every now and then I will get the hang of it and I find myself scanning nearly at superreading speeds and find that I am consciously taking it all in - reading a paragraph at a time. Then I get so excited that I lose my focus and I look right at some specific words and mentally verbalize. But, then I just try to get back into it and keep on going.

I know that if I keep this up I will master it. In the end the photoreading system is beginning to feel like a sneaky way of teaching speedreading with added benefits as well. But maybe, that is just the spontaneous activation of a stack of speedreading books that I photoread as a syntopical / direct learning experiment.

Your post have been exciting to read. I am hoping to get my tapes this Monday. I can't wait to start. I am in medical school and have alot of medical terms and proceses to learn. How would you go about this?

Also what would say, given your experience, is the best way to make the activation process happen with in a short span of time, say two weeks after finishing the course?

Thanks again for the journal experience and sharing it with us.

Lora

I think this is the most in depth topic we've seen for a single member and their journey with striving to master PhotoReading.

Living Success - would you mind if I linked this PR journal thread on my site?

-----

As for your experiences of taking in whole paragraphs at a time - I certainly know what you mean, but I wouldn't say "scanning" is the correct term, because scanning is like going out for individual little bits and pieces, which, when you're taking in whole paragraphs, doesn't seem to be what's happening.

I've been amazed at what a single word can do to my methodologies. Even when I don't realize it, linking up definitions of tiny little words that can lead me off path can eventually put me into a void I had no idea how I got in. Never did I realize that being as precise as possible was the best way to go. This is something that I've learned from AlexK, and partially Paul, too.

-youngprer
youngprer.com

LoraFlinn - Best wishes to you in your medical studies. In the case of medical studies, where you are learning lots of technical new things and new vocabulary associated to those processes and ideas, you will most likely want to work with a memory system of some sort in addition to the photoreading techniques. You will have to have faith in the system and work much harder in the beginning to build your foundation of this new vocabulary into your brain memory. This will necessarily be much slower work at first, but once you have built this foundation you will be able to take more advantage of the photoreading system in your studies.

I have recently been reading (using the photoreading system) some books by Harry Fontayne that I have already taught me a lot about using my memory in ways I had never considered. These systems were developed - all the way back into the ancient world - for people just like you studying the medical systems of their day. Becoming proficient with a memory system will enable you to superread over your texts easily moving through any basic material and zeroing right in on any new words or processes - then you slow down and do a memory association technique - anchoring forever in your mind - the word or process and it's meaning. Then you will be able to speed up to the next place you need to do a memory association.

The books I am studying are The Memory Book, by Harry Fontayne and Jerry Lucas, and Memory Makes Money, by Harry Fontayne. You should be able to find these at a local library.

The key to learning this system is to keep at it even if it seems like you aren't making progress. You and your brain will need to make some adjustments to this new way of processing information.

youngprer - Thanks for the praise. If you like the thread I think that would be great if you wanted to link to it from your site. It is nice to think that I am being helpful in some way to others who are seeking to learn this exciting and powerful system.

You said:

"...I wouldn't say "scanning" is the correct term, because scanning is like going out for individual little bits and pieces, which, when you're taking in whole paragraphs, doesn't seem to be what's happening."

I agree that the words we use are very powerful and important, and you are right we should be as concise as possible with our words. I agree that "scanning" was not the right word for "taking in a whole paragraph in one gulp", but it is a new experience for me, and a very exciting one, and I really don't have the right vocabulary to express these new abilities. It is not so much like scanning as it is that you are seeing the entire thought that the paragraph represents. So maybe we need to create some new words or phrases like "thought imaging" to describe these new processes. Maybe that is exactly what Paul is referring to as superreading?

Let's have some fun with this incredible system and create whole new ways to perceive and interact with the world.

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited January 12, 2004).]

When I do my photoreading sessions, I do the relaxation technique as Paul suggests in the program and I get into a really relaxed very quickly and see myself in my special mental relaxation place. It is a special garden area near an ocean with some groovy lounge chairs in a flowing organically designed concrete nook. I can hear the ocean nearby and there are these beautiful white roses around the nook, which I smell each time I mentally enter this place. I can feel the softness of the petals on my face as I do this.

As I relax in this place I focus on my purpose for wanting to read the book I am about to work with. One thing I have been doing in addition to this process lately, which I think is a very helpful visualization for me, is that I see myself sitting with the author of the book - if I can form a visual image through a picture in the book or another source. I can ask him about what I am hoping to get from the book. He sits with me and I imagine us creating a mental rapport between us - connecting with the thought stream of the author - so that I know I am absorbing the thoughts from them that went into the creation of the book. When I move to the Photoreading phase and I have opened my eyes to photofocus on the books - I imagine that I am still in that space, mentally, and that the author is standing behind me with their hands on my shoulders or head, further strengthening the mental rapport with them as I photoread the book.

I just had an interesting idea while I was writing this. In my next session I will begin imagining that they have one hand on my shoulder and the other touching the spot at the top back of my head where the visualized tangerine goes (from the tangerine technique) to help focus! I think that will be very powerful.

When I go in to the relax state, it helps a lot if I was listening to the PR Home Learning Course Relax part where Paul 'talked' me into relaxation. Either that or having Mozart helping me.

Probably, my most successful reading using PR is during my last semester where all of us are struggling through 2 very tough subjects. Although I have learnt how to PR before that but I didn't really harness the true power of it (old habits die hard). I reverted back to normal reading habits and barely passed my midterm paper.

Imagine a student with a CGPA of 3.88 getting a grade like that! I told myself I had enough of this nonsense I digged out my Home Learning Course and 're-learned' PR.

For the finals I PhotoRead and activate (skittering and rapidread) it next day. Total time spend per subject 1 day plus while it take most a week! It ****es all my classmates when I told them that!!! What ****es them even more is that I got an A- on both subjects (could have gotten an A if I spend a couple more hours on mind maps but I was too lazy anyway ).

Since that day I never looked back. I just PR and PR and more PR.

I don't see myself as an expert or master in PR, probably never will. But I hope to improve everyday, even if it is just a small bit.

Thanks for sharing your experience YeeSeang. I am glad to hear that you have reactivated the PhotoReading process into your life.

I do intend to master PhotoReading. I know that if I keep working with it everyday - I will succeed in full mastery of the system. Anything we do everyday with a strong intention towards constant improvement - we will master. That is what mastery is all about - regular daily efforts and constant and never ending improvement.

As amazing as the idea of mastery of photoreading might seem, it is nothing compared to the potential that lies within each of us. The human potential is for all practical purposes - INFINITE! Don't be afraid to dream big and to go for it! You can do absolutely anything that you set your mind to with full commitment.

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited January 13, 2004).]

Once you consider yourself the master/expert there is nothing after that you stop developing.

I've chosen not to be a master, to see how far I can go with this. That's why I prefer the term proficient.

Keep applying it, you keep deveveloping it and you keep learning and have fun with it.

Alex

AlexK - Thanks for pointing out that "once you consider yourself the master/expert - there is nothing after that - you stop developing". This is very true, and this pitfall should be avoided at all costs if one is to attain true "Mastery" in the sense which I meant it, but which didn't explain properly, though I did hint in my words at a larger meaning.

When I said, "That is what mastery is all about - regular daily efforts and constant and never ending improvement," and "human potential is for all practical purposes - INFINITE," you might see that my idea of mastery isn't actually a set destination. It is a constant and never ending journey. For me mastery is about regular, disciplined efforts towards expressing our infinite potential.

I realize now, especially because of your comment, that my personal definition and understanding of mastery needed to be explained in greater detail - thanks for the nudge. My personal philosophy centers around this idea of mastery in the larger sense that I have outlined - it's a daily process for joyfully grappling with the Infinite.

quote:

---

Originally posted by AlexK:
Once you consider yourself the master/expert there is nothing after that you stop developing.

I've chosen not to be a master, to see how far I can go with this. That's why I prefer the term proficient.

Keep applying it, you keep deveveloping it and you keep learning and have fun with it.

Alex

---

I would say that is true to a degree, but not always, not necessarily. I think that 'proficient' is sort of the same thing as containing expertise. In my view of an expert, or even a master - they're always learning more and more, and often times it's a vision of them learning and doing more with whatever it may be even more actively than another.

For example, I'd say I'm an expert on using the PhotoReading system, but that doesn't mean that I'm the MASTER of the system, or am an expert in the knowledge within and behind the system itself. It simply means that I can apply it well in my daily life, and with expertise based off of what I've developed thus far, but there is still more to go, and always more to go.

Just a thought.

-youngprer

Just a quick note regarding a reading session that I had last night.

I have been reading Harry Fontayne and Jerry Lucas's "The Memory Book", which teaches a number of memory systems. Even though I photoread the book before working with it - this kind of material, where you are having to do one or two experiments and exercises every couple of pages and then you also have to memorize some basic memory system tools here and there, doesn't lend itself to a quick read if you want to get the most out of it. So I wouldn't call the pace that I have been going through the book even a rapid read - at least not in the areas where I have to stop and do exercises - which has been very often.

As I came across one specific chart I was struck by a strong sense of familiarity with this "new" information that could only be attributed to photoreading. Most of the material in the book is completely new to me. As I felt that sense of knowing the material flow over me I could feel it spreading out in each direction through the book - as if I had just surfaced from being under a dark ocean and could now breath and look around. What I was seeing was the consciously surfacing photoreading memory of the book.

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited January 15, 2004).]

Are you sure you don't mean this book...

The Memory Book : The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play
by Harry Lorayne (Author), Jerry Lucas (Author) ?

Harry Lorayne has written quite a few good memory books

Alex

AlexK - Thanks for pointing that out. The book that I have I got from the library. It is the original 1974 version of the book, titled simply - The Memory Book, but this is the only book that Harry Lorayne co-authored with Jerry Lucas, and so the one that you mention is most likely the current revised edition of this book. If I am going to refer people to the book I should probably refer them to the one that you mention. I will have to go back and edit some of my posts to avert any confusion for people looking deeper into this. Thanks.

Today I activated the book, "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt. This is a very good book for people who want to take control of their lives and to really become effective.

In activating this book I did my first real mind map. It is really a great process. Everything of value is right there on the one page of my special sketch book that I purchased specifically to hold mind maps of the books I am activating.

One interesting thing about PhotoReading is that when you are activating - you are really not seeking to activate every word of the book. With the focusing techniques that Paul teaches in the program, you enable yourself to draw out of the book all of the specific information that is of use and interest to you. You can superread over large portions of the book at astonishing speeds - no longer wasting your time on the tiresome convincing process that is the hallmark of the most of the first half of books of this type. I have found that if you are very interested in the topic, there is usually very little to gain from the first few chapters, which are usually trying desperately to convince the skeptics of the value of the process outlined in the book. With photoreading you can superread very fast over these sections of the book - and they will occur throughout the book. This greatly shortens the time needed to gather the "meat" out of a book.

Using the photoreading process and activation - I was able to draw all of the meat out of this book of 300 pages in just 1 hour; photoreading, activation and mind mapping.

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited January 16, 2004).]

livingsuccess
Did you already finish the course? There have been no new post since January 16.

I have finished going over the tapes/CD in the program a few times, but I don't think that is all there is to learning photoreading. I will continue to work at it, and I have wanted to makes some post recently, but I have set some pretty large goals for myself for this year and I have let my photoreading fall behind.

I am getting ready to attend the big PhotoReading Retreat coming up in the middle of the month with Paul and the crew in St. Paul. So, I have some homework to do for that.

I just went to the library yesterday and I found a stack of books on ecommerce, internet marketing and related topics which I am going to PhotoRead this weekend. I also found two books by Paulo Coelho, author of "The Alchemist". I was looking for "The Alchemist", but they didn't have it. I am trying to read different types of books using my newly learned techniques.

I have been going over Mark Twain's Autobiography - a great read, btw, and also a handful of other biographies and autobiographies - Edison, Franklin, Teddy Roosevelt. I have had some resistance to reading them too fast, because I want "to enjoy" them, but I have been noticing that I quite a bit of information comes through at high reading rates. So I am just going to have to continue the process and grow my skills.

So much has happened since my last entry here - it's hard to know where to start.

For one thing I attended the Photoreading Retreat that was held mid last month and it was AWESOME!!! If anyone can find a way to attend one of these special events that Learning Strategies holds from time to time I feel that I can completely endorse this company without a shred of reservation. This is such a special company and they have such an amazing staff.

There were well over 120 participants at this 5 day retreat, with attendees coming from all over the globe. It was a wonderful group of people and I made fome great new friends there. Really, that is putting it mildly. Honestly, I felt like I fell in love with just about everyone there - attendees, Learning Strategies staff and any extra family members of those who happened to drop in.

For me - it was a peak life experience connecting with all of these wonderful people, not to mention that I photoread 40 books in one day. I know that sounds like a lot, but I only activated about 4 or 5 of those that day!

By the end of the retreat I had developed my photoreading technique so that it only takes me about one to two minutes to photoread most books, from the point of closing my eyes to being done with that part of the procedure. We were doing activating sessions of 30 minutes at the end, but it was starting to feel like a long time to spend with a book. I found I was done in 20 minutes with many books.

There was a good period of resting after the seminar. I suppose my brain was fairly smoking from all of the data that I had consciously and other than consciously downloaded into it. I felt like I needed to sleep a bit more for the week following the seminar. I have been much more aware of my dreams and therefore I have remembered them and they have been more vivid and meaningful.

Currently I am reading books by the cartload and I am excited to see the effect of all of this new information upon my writing. I am working on a book with a partner and I am also putting together a number of ebooks at this time.

I know that my confidence is definitely effected by the photoreading experience. I know that I have covered my topic. I know that I have what I need to do the writing and that there is a wealth of information available to me in my memory.

Right now I am really enjoying a stack of books by Wayne Dyer. Some interesting stuff there. Also, Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now, and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

What type of book are you writing, LivingSuccess? Toby

Toby - All of my writings are more or less focused on self-development, whether that is the development of one's consciousness for increased peace or prosperity or learning how to break habits, lose weight, quit smoking, etc. Most of these are topics for ebooks that I am developing. I actually have about thirty strong concepts lined up to knock out as ebooks.

The topic of my book is related to creating your ideal future. That is about all I can say about it at this time. My partner and I are both very excited about this project and don't want to let anything out of the bag too soon on that one.

I just realized that I haven't shared some of my recent personalizations of the photoreading process.

I did mention that I like to imagine a connection to the author of the book before I photoread a book. This has continued to develop so that my current understanding is that I am forming a mental connection, an actual rapport, with the author of the book through a point behind the top back of my head. This is the same area referred to by the tangerine technique. My understanding of the chakra system of energy centers within the etheric body, leads me to understand this point as referring to a transpersonal chakra. This is a chakra that connects us to everyone else. That is why it makes perfects sense to see this as my point of mental rapport with the author of the book that I am about to photoread.

Related to this, I was told a story at the recent PhotoReading retreat of a clairvoyant who was asked to meet with someone at a PhotoReading workshop. The clairvoyant didn't know anything about photoreading and wasn't aware of that there was going to be anything special going on there. When they showed up they were startled by what they were seeing. In terms of energetic movement within the energy fields of the participants in the workshop, who were in the act of photoreading at that time, the clairvoyant said that they had never seen energy moving in that fashion before. What they saw were two areas of energy focus within the photoreaders, and surprisingly, the eyes, from the perspective of the clairvoyant, didn't have anything to do with the process that was happening. The two areas that were active were the solar plexus and the transpersonal chakra - the center outside and behind the top back of the head. They saw a blue energy around the book being drawn in at the solar plexus of the photoreader, and there was a violet / magenta colored energy wrapping around the head of the photoreader connecting to the point behind the head like a cone-shaped hat.

I was very excited to hear this because it totally fit with my experience of the photoreading process and the way it was developing for me. I am feeling more and more connected with the authors of the books when I photoread. The mental space of this rapport is being more real everyday. I am now understanding that photoreading is about connecting to the thoughtform from which the book was precipitated. Photoreading takes place in a mental plane that is above language; the abstract mental plane. Most of the levels above the lowest concrete level, where you can basically hear yourself thinking out sentences in a specific language, are above language. They are symbolic abstract fields. This occurred to me when I came across some foreign books at the photoreading retreat.

Further, once you are able to connect with the author through this mental rapport, you can connect to more than just the mental framework of the book that you are photoreading. You can connect to the authors thoughts related to the book that aren't in the book. You can connect to the thoughts of all of the other people who have read the book and contributed to this thoughtform that surrounds the book. You can connect to tangential streams of thought related to these areas... Basically, this opens up a really big can of wonderful awe and appreciation for the vastness of consciousness.

Related to the photoreading technique, I now use the process, before I flip any pages, while I am sitting relaxed getting into rapport with the author and my purpose, to hold the book in my hands and when I am ready, keeping my eyes closed, I flip the pages of the book from back to front with my left hand while holding my right hand over the side of the book. I feel the pages flick over the center of the palm of my right hand as I inhale - drawing the energy of the book into my center - root chakra. I do this all on one inhale. Then I exhale and feel the energy of the book radiate out from that point at the root chakra throughout my energy field into the universe - anchoring it in me and connecting it to everything else.

Since I started using that technique - I now flip through the books - pretty much using a photoflip technique. I do the book upside down, backwards, frontwards and forwards, taking about one minute to do this. I know that I have the energy, the thoughts of the book in me, without any doubt or reservation.

Now I am able to activate most books using a very brief superread and dip on the fastest end of the scale, to a very fast rapid read / speedread of nearly 2000 wpm on the low end of the scale. I feel that I have read the book with a very high comprehension at these levels - probably at a higher comprehension rate than what used to be my normal reading rate around 500 wpm.

Wow. Glad to hear your recent posts. Thanks for sharing them with us :-)

I am especially interested by how the clairvoyant perceived the process of PhotoReading activation. Very interesting.

I had a particularly vivid dream in which I was planning to go to the February PhotoReading retreat, but I never actually did. I'm sure that some day I will, but until then I only hope that I am figuring out the best ways for me to accelerate my PhotoReading technique on my own.

Livingsuccess,
if you as you are now could talk to yourself as you were before the seminar, how would you go about teaching yourself how to PhotoRead on this faster, deeper level of comprehension that you have now achieved?

Do you have any additional insights to share that may help someone in my situation -- a high school student who has been looking for the most efficient ways to read and retain with speed and clarity?

If you had ten minutes to devote every night for reading each of the following a) 10-30 assigned pages for a book for English class b) 5-15 assigned pages for an AP American text book c) Reading either fiction or nonfiction for relaxation/pleasure d) a short (1-10 page) story or poem for Spanish class

(40 minutes total)

How might you go about this? [Just an off the wall question. I was just wondering -- no need to answer unless you think you may have some interesting insights which may help me and others with similar goals.]

It's late, and my brain doesen't function as well tired as I sometimes wish :-) But I'm inspired by your success and by my own feats. But I know that I'm only a few steps of the way to my goals, and maybe you've learned some things that may help me along faster? ;-)

-Cameron

If I had to teach myself - that would really be an unfair advantage - because the greatest barrier to learning is doubt. If I was teaching me - then I would be able to completely let go of any doubt. I didn't have any doubt about the process going into the retreat and so I was in the perfect state of mind to get the most from the experience. All I would have to do is tell myself the techniques that I learned and I would be able to start right into it - I have told you what I learned and the techniques, but there is a high chance that you haven't tried out those techniques for yourself yet, right? The biggest thing I could tell anyone regarding learning anything would be to "try it out for yourself", "don't take my word for it", "test it out and experiment with it".

For you as a high school student, and BTW, we had some high school students in the retreat - 3 that I can remember, and they seemed to do just as well as everyone else at it, I would suggest the following:

1. Take all of your text books and any other books used in your classes and photoread them all from cover to cover. You can do this over a weekend. After the retreat, I know that I could do it all in an hour or two. The hard part about effective photoreading is having a good purpose. Yours will be the same for all of your school books. Your purpose will be to master the materials in the books so that you will be able to easily and effortlessly achieve top grades in all of your classes. I know some of those books can be thick, but turn those pages fast or learn how to photoflip like I describe in my other posts. This will completely format your brain with all of the data that you need for ultimate academic success.

2. Then I would continue to photoread the materials as needed for each class - for instance when they give you a smaller reading assignment. I would photoread a much larger section of the book than the suggested reading. This will give you lots more insights into the topic and a larger frame of reference. Then superread and dip your section or just rapid read it straight through in five minutes or so. If you don't feel you have great comprehension - don't worry - relax, stretch, have some water. You only spent 5 minutes, right? After your break go back and rapid read through the material again - if it is a large section - take about 10 minutes this time - you will be getting the material. Don't slow down for comprehension's sake, just keep moving steadily, and don't back track or start reading every word in your head. You will be getting the material. Just know that it is so. You will be able to work up to reading that novel in one sitting - 45 minutes - just keep working at it.

3. Make sure you are using good opening and closing affirmations in your PR work.

I feel a little envious of you CameronJ - you are going to be the top student in your school!

[This message has been edited by livingsuccess (edited March 19, 2004).]

Very wise advice, indeed, Livingsuccess. I completely agree with you -- if I were to talk to myself a few months ago, I would try to get myself to let go of that pesky force of doubt too!

I love your encouragement and positive attitude, and the purpose for PhotoReading my school books is one that resonates with me.

I have continued this post into a new subject Perfecting PhotoReading and School Performance because it started getting long and not directly relevant to Livingsuccess's thread here. I appreciate any suggestions regarding that new post!