As you know, I've been dabbling with PhotoReading for a while now, and although sometimes I am able to let it work very well for my purposes, I am still "Oscillating," as Paul Scheele calls it in his Natural Brilliance book, between being successful with PhotoReading for my needs (especially in school) and reverting to the old sound-it-out-and-I'll-be-sure-to-have-ok-comprehension method. I am hoping that you may have some insight (intuitive or otherwise) to help me to feel /secure/ with my developing ability with using PhotoReading activation techniques.
I'll do my best to label the main obstacles I'm "Notic[ing]" now:
1. Belief that I'm not going to get the same comprehension from reading quickly as I will from slowing down. This has manifested in my Superreading/dipping being more like superdipreading (it's slower than it should be and I'm only just learning to make dipping a /different/ action than the superreading). This belief also makes me hesitant to "PhotoRead everything" as Paul suggests in the PR book. Unfortunately, my most common results definitely confirm this belief so far. But I know that if I can change it, I can open to allow myself to get the comprehension I desire.
2. Needing more practice. I know the PR method. I have gone through the book (slow-reading) many, many, many times by now. The method's not the issue anymore, though please feel free to correct anything that I may not be doing optimally :-) With more practice I'll also have a better intuitive sense as I superread, and thus, more accurate dipping, and thus, better comprehension. I've been practicing much more lately as I've overcome some fears of PhotoReading, and my dipping already /is/ more accurate -- just not accurate enough for me to have confidence in it. For the Superreading, I'm still afraid to stop paying much attention to the words and to start focusing more on internal sensations because in my experience, that's never produced great results for me.
3. A third major obstacle used to be active reading, but I've become much, much better at that with practice. However, the habit of questioning as I read is still a habit I need to reinforce and improve.
4. I learn and perform very easily through auditory pathways. I've always been good at acting, debating, grammar, and writing. I thought this was the best way for reading for me, too, but clearly that's untrue! My visual pathways for reading are far less developed as far as I can tell, though I am becoming a better visual learner and visualizer every day -- with practice. Often what I dip into I end up subvocalizing (very quickly, and often skipping words) and that slows me down and takes away from the rhythm. In fact, come to think of it, maybe that's why I feel that when I read more quickly, I miss things; I'm still trying to hear what I read even though I think I'm trying to see the meaning, and when my subvocalization can't keep up, it skips words...
4.5 [added] The old method of reading and hearing the words just plain seems more enjoyable to me for most types of reading still, even when I know PhotoReading activation would be far more efficient. Yet I know that activation can invoke more of my mind, so I would have expected to find activation more pleasurable than subvocalized reading.
5. The last obstacle I'd say is that most of my reading necessities are school-related. I am not so emotional about school as I used to be, but the fear of not doing well in school that's buried right under the surface may be hindering me as I seek to integrate into my habits and have success with a different reading technique.
For the sake of thoroughness, I'll tell you exactly how I PhotoRead now.
1. Preview if I feel it'll be helpful for probably 1-2 minutes. I'm noticing, not writing down trigger words at this stage. I ask ask questions mentally to arouse my curiosity.
2. 3-2-1 one breath in if I feel that I don't need to or have the time to take longer to relax, or about 1:30 at more leisurely times.
3. Seeing and feeling myself in my nice, relaxing, passive scene, either with my eyes open or closed, I say to myself or outloud, "As I PhotoRead, my concentration is absolute. All that I PhotoRead leaves a lasting impression on my inner mind and is available to me. I desire this information from (for example): These two chapters of my economics textbook in order to know these economic facts and theories to prepare for class and so that I can apply them and get my highest possible passing grade on upcoming tests on this information.
4. Notice the white of the pages, PhotoFocus, "Relax, *turn* relax, 43 *turn* 21 *turn* relax *turn* relax *turn* keep the state *turn* see the page *turn*
5. "I acknowledge all feelings evoked by this experience and release this information to my mind, body, and the universe for processing/to be processed. I'm curious as to the different ways in which I'll notice that this information is available to me (and supports my goals and purposes).
Activation
1. Place tangerine back and above head.
2. State purpose for activating this (e.g.): "I desire this information from this chapter (21) of my economics textbook in order to prepare for class today (and so that I can get my highest possible passing grade on upcoming tests on this information)."
3. I look over and flip through the material while thinking of questions to ask. OR I ask them based on something I may have mind mapped or been unclear about during the last activation pass. 4. I then flip back tot he beginning of the chapter if I feel there's some stuff there that I still need to clarify and ask a combination of the questions I just formed mentally and new ones that come up logically as I go. E.g. I see this term and I wonder "What does this have to do with the previous concepts?" or, "How can I best/easily remember this formula?" So, during this, I'm superreading and dipping. But sometimes I regress into old reading habits, especially if something's not clear after the 2nd activation -- then I feel that it's not working and I can't wait any longer to know the information so I use the old reliable method. But then I usually speed up again once I'm done. But I still feel like I can't dip as quickly as I'm supposed to (rhythmic perusal) and still get comprehension as good as when I read slowly. This my be a main problem area.
5. I finish spending no longer than about 28 minutes, usually more like 20-25.
I've tried skittering as well, but it makes me feel very uneasy as the lack of normal reading order of circular motions or zig-zags. I feel this way because I feel that I'm not getting much comprehension -- only a word or two here or there which I hear subvocalized in my head very quickly. And unfortunately, my experience has confirmed this fear. Lately I've often skittered through something (as many as 3 times) and then gone back to read it slowly and found I really understand the article or chapter or e-mail much better, more specifically, and clearly.
So, I'm presently stuck, and I'd really like to get out of this insecure place :-) My old reading habits are reliable (give me consistent, good, satisfying comprehension) only when I read very, very slowly, subvocalizing. I can read more quickly now while aiming to not subvocalize, but rather, to see the meaning, (speed-reading) but I find I'm not able to consistently get the meaning of more than a few words at a time. And miss stuff, some of which ends up being important to my purpose.
I have on final dilhema to share, and that is that I'm still unsure of what to do when reading assignments are given to read only part of a book. Should I still activate the whole thing as normal, or just spend less time and more layers at one sitting activating that small part?
I PhotoRead everything I receive as reading material, but currently, I am using PhotoReading /activation /steps only for the subject of economics in school (my text book and the book, _Fast Food Nation_). In my experience, thus far, it has helped me greatly with history text books, but has been disasterous and confusing when I've tried it on (novels) or more complicated, less repetitive non-fictional reading. For everything except economics, and some periodic low-risk experiments in other classes, I go immediately to either reading or more rapidly reading. I wouldn't necessarily call it RapidReading, for that technique of rhythmic perusal I have not yet mastered.
Over this winter break, I PhotoRead four books on creativity and I activated each of them to my satisfaction. It involved about 2 layers each, and I mind mapped some of the useful gains I'd received from them.
I PhotoRead a Princeton Review for the SAT book and astounded my SAT tutor by immeditately thinking of the exact word that was the correct answer for three consecutive practice questions (she says no one she's had has ever done that before.) I noticed that I really didn't care about whether I came up with the right answers for those or not, and I think that's part of a key to allowing the PhotoRead knowledge to flow. I feel that PhotoReading my math text book several times has helped me to more easily absorb the material and have it come naturally to me (though I tried what in Paul's experience has been a flawless suggestion and PhotoRead my math text one night when I as stuck, and it didn't really unstick me!) Sometimes my dipping makes the answer to what I'm asking immediately simple and clear to me. My ability to read faster without subvocalization and to see meaning instead of hearint it has definitely increased, especially after a time when I've superread and dipped a lot and well.
But I've only gotten fragments of what truly having reliable access to what I've PhotoRead can be like. My obvioius success list is unfortunately, still much shorter than my obvious failures list. So I must be doing /something/ wrong. There's something stuck and I don't want it to be an even longer and painstaiking process to release it.
I see myself being very happy with the learning attitude and abilities that PhotoReading will give me once I am unstuck. I look forward to reading fearlessly, actively, and with all my senses immersed and involved. I am no longer bashing myself for not having caught on earlier :-) I know not only know, but also believe that every person is unique in the amount of time he takes to learn anything. But I still want it to be faster for me, as you can well understand!
Any wonderful spontaneous ImageStreams or intuitive insights are greatly appreciated.
Cameron
P.S. I've recently been learning the (older) Silva Mind Control Method the slow way -- through following the book by Jose Silva. In another week or two I'll have finished training my mind to enter the Level by counting down from 5 to 1. Right now I wake up every morning and count down from 10 to 1, and it's a very noticable state shift -- much more noticable and definite than I've gotten through any other relaxation techniques, including Paul's 3-2-1. I've experimented a bit with using the 10-to-1 countdown during the day for affirmations, and I've had very encouraging and immediate results. So maybe there's a little bit of programming (affirmations or visualizing?) I can do for myself to help this process along?