Alpha comes best when you don't worry about whether or not you're in it. A lot of children have access to this state when they're in play, do they care about their accelerative learning state? It's merely an adult term for a wordless phenomenon to the ones who truly experience it on a consistent bases.
I wouldnn't wait for myself to go into alpha and then make sure I am before photoreading or learning something. By all means, initiliaze a process of relaxed alertness, but go on from there, the rest will follow well.
