Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Studies done on Photoreading - Proof that it works?

It wasn't exactly spontaneous activation in the sense that people often expect. I still did not know all the information consciously, I was just able to get the answers for the tests, whether the questions were multiple choice, short answer or essay.

NLP training certainly played a big roll in activating in that it taught me to communicate with my unconscious and in doing so gave me verification that it was not only possible but that it was easy to do. The techniques where this ability came from were the Six Step Reframe, Integration Technique (variation of the Visual Squash,) and arm levitation as used in hypnosis. Though the yes/no signal in the Six Step Reframe can be in any modality I chose kinesthetic and without being taught had ideomotor movements for the signal. From there is was just a simple step from having a finger for "yes" and another for "no" to having one for each answer on a multiple choice test. For the other types of question relaxing and asking my unconscious for the answer worked well. Of course doing a short hypnosis session to get rid of any stress and program my mind to do well on the test also had an effect. For that part entering the Accelerated Learning State or using the Silva Method would also work. Interesting things are possible with the Silva Method and it is too bad I dismissed it back then since it wasn't NLP (yeah, I know that was stupid.) It would have been interesting to use in school. All these techniques will work even if you read and study normally.

If I did not know how to Photoread I would still have been able to use all those skills when taking tests, however, I would have had to read everything normally and it would have taken much longer. Had I actually used every step in the process it would probably have worked better but I wanted to Photoread the book and automatically know everything in it without doing the super reading and rapid reading steps.

In short, I don't think NLP is neccessary to learn Photoreading but if you have skills in NLP, hypnosis, or the Silva Method you will have a big advantage in using your unconscious mind.

Ok Alexk, you pose a question and I spend 30 seconds going through post and no answer ... I'm waiting!

L(:-)ve and Light

Michael

Interesting, Dosetsu. How did you begin studying NLP? How did you hear of it in the first place? How old were you when you did this?

BTW, I am particularly interested in using a kinesthetic response for answering multiple choice questions -- this has nearly unlimited potential benefits for me. If you were in my situation -- a sophomore in high school -- and you wanted to learn this ability by yourself, how would you do so? Could I theoretically figure it out from a certain set of books, or should I really not bother, but rather, wait to take a full-fledged course in NLP later in life?

-CameronJ

I was 19 when I first heard of it. My dad was at the time into self-improvement tapes and gave them to me to listen to when he was done. One tape set was "Unlimited Power" by Tony Robbins. That got me hooked. I've read books, listened to tapes, and occasionally attended trainings off and on over the years. Though I've been certified for years it has pretty much been only a hobby for me but I'm starting to get serious with it.

As to your other question, it depends on the person. For that technique I use catalepsy and ideomotor movements. I'm pretty sure they are taught in the book "Training Trances" by John Overdorf and Julie Silverthorn. Do a search on the Beyond Human forum for my posts on the "Finding Lost Objects" thread. When I posted the original technique on Mindlist someone responded by saying that he tried it as a joke at work but the technique really worked for him. So that guy learned the technique from my post. The technique for finding lost objects using catalepsy is pretty much the same thing as using ideomotor movements for finding answers on tests but just applied differently. I'll try to post some more on catalepsy and NLP on the Beyond Human forum over the weekend.

Michael, A Master just does it everyday, it's part of their lifestyle. A novice wavers back and forth deciding if s/he will or won't apply the skills they've learnt today.

I.e. Masters "just do it."

AlexK

The biggest reason that "you can do it if you believe in yourself" is that if you photoread something and doubt that you're getting any information, telling yourself you learned nothing, then your brain "deletes" the information because you told it that it wasn't needed. It's not just a belief, it's how the brain works. Sometimes I guess the brain is so beyond us, it seems like something magical to be taken on 'faith'. A big basis for NLP is that your brain fulfills your own prophecies.

quote:

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...if you photoread something and doubt that you're getting any information, telling yourself you learned nothing, then your brain "deletes" the information because you told it that it wasn't needed.

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To some extent that may be true, but my experience is that the brain is better than that. Believing that a painful experience never happened doesn't make you forget it. The same goes for all memories, sometimes a simple smell reminds you of a vivid memory you hadn't thought about in years. This is why I find activation so important. Performing the activation steps tells your brain that you do need the information and it will start to come back.

The reason I'm skeptical about the "you need to believe it" argument is that you shouldn't need to believe it. If Photoreading is based on brain research (and I believe that it is) and backed by experimentation (clearly it is) then it should work, even for skeptics. Hasn't experimentation shown that subliminal messages still have an effect on people whether they believe they do or not?

Another reason I don't like the "you need to believe it" argument is that I think it puts too much mysticism into the Photoreading process. If someone isn't getting it, it becomes too easy to write them off and say "it didn't work for you because you didn't believe it." It would be much more productive to help that person analyze what they did and try to figure out where they went wrong so they can correct themselves.

Peace.

Skepticism is good. The point is to get photoreading to work for you, you do need to apply the steps and have an open mind to test it out to see what happens.

The Believing it works... well that's when you start looking for the 'magic' in it.

AlexK

I too am wary of "you need to believe" arguments.

When I was a kid, did I need to believe I could ride a bike in order to learn how? In so far as I believed enough that I could try, yes. There were times when I really believed I couldn't do it. After falling a number of times, I quit. A while later ... maybe a year? ... I tried again and succeeded after some time. Why? Because the laws of physics and the capabilities of my body enabled me to do so. Not belief. Do you need to believe in gravity in order to stay on the planet? No. All you need to believe is the remotest possibility that something will (or might) work for you ... enough to simply try. Someone who asks about photoreading, by the very fact they are curious, has at least a sneaking suspicion.

Now, some people have been crippled mentally from traumatic experiences and need to work through some things before they can learn some material. This is the dreaded mental block, but most people don't learn not because they can't, but because they don't want to ... they associate learning some things with pain and don't bother. But this is by and large not the case, I think. As a tutor I dealt with this, and it wasn't major therapy or brain-surgey to get someone to keep at it even though they might be frustrated.

One of the most attractive things about learning transcendental meditation was that my instructor after making a whole lot of claims said, "It's ok if you don't believe if it'll work or not. It doesn't matter! It works. Go ahead and don't believe it, just do it. You'll see." That made me laugh, and I thought, "Now here is a man who isn't scared of skepticism. This stuff must really work."

Did it work for me? Sorta.

I think photoreading definitely has its benefits. I believe that it could do a whole lot more for me if I attended a training, or maybe went through the self-study again. I bet there are some nuances to it that can be picked up very quickly from in-person training.

The people who say that it isn't working for you because you don't believe are doing both you and it a disservice. While well intentioned, I really wish this would stop, because it sounds a lot lot like bunko (shell game) to me.

I think you can take the whole self-hypnosis/belief argument too far. There are plenty of times where I've thought, "Woah! Don't trip!" and I didn't. I have thought, "Uh oh, feels like I am getting a cold" and I didn't. Why is that? Perhaps, maybe, that every phenomenon in the world and in human consciousness does not work by way of suggestion and belief. Maybe there is more to it than that? No description of the world exhaustively describes it, right? The map isn't the territory. Could this mean that beliefs about beliefs are abstractions about abstractions and, thus, delete and distort information two levels removed from that which they are suppposed to signify? Could it mean that there is more to the story? Do you need to believe it in order for it to be true? To come knocking on your door?

Some people believe if they don't believe in death they won't die. I wouldn't advise they they jump off of a roof in order to test that belief .... because I am pretty confident in the results they'd achieve.

[This message has been edited by babayada (edited April 06, 2004).]

You make some very interesting observations and valid points, babayada. What does anyone else thing?