Exotic Goddess (by the way I love that name), I DO agree with you. In my own case, I'd studied music and singing going back to the early '70's so there was alot inside me already. HOWEVER....that said, ANY tool that would help us unlock and access our best that we have is absolutely invaluable. But yes, to your point, we are ALREADY so much more capable than we can ever imagine. The biggest thing we need to do is to allow what's inside us to rise to the surface. Of course, this is what performing is about anyways. There are any number of people who sing quite beautifully in the shower. Put them on stage and their singing becomes anything but relaxed, confident and natural. For a singer, there are any number of uses (and tapes) that can be of help. It's very easy to see where a singer could be benefited but I believe it is equally true that we all perform in different ways whether it be studying, reading, making a sales call, explaining to our children the importance of being honest and truth, etc.. People don't SEE these as performances but they are in that there are skills and abilities that we have that need to be let out in their best forms in order to succeed. For example, take talking to your child. A parent needs to be a good listener. A parent needs to be secure enough within him/herself that he/she can be patient and understanding while at the same time setting the boundaries and limits that the child needs. The parent might also need to be able to be a good story teller whether in helping the child get to sleep at night OR relaying true stories in a way that will help the child understand an important lesson of life the parent wants to instill. So many things that we take for granted really require us to "perform" in one way or another. The salesman has MANY things he has to learn and master in order to do his job successfully as does a teacher, nurse, policeman, etc.. The paraliminals help us access what we ALREADY have within us in the most helpful/useful and valuable ways. I do NOT for one minute think that they're the only tool that does a good job (Peter Bissonnette says that there are many roads that lead to Chicago and I agree!;) but they ARE tools that work. They have many strengths and a few weaknesses to them but all in all, they are good tools for self-improvement in my opinion.
Thanks for the reply Exotic! -- Mike
