Photoreading Is It Better Than Speedreading?

I stumbled upon an article by Karen Lavelle on her hubpage about Photoreading and got interested on how to do it.

Here’s wiki’s summary on the subject:
***The PhotoReading method consists of several steps. First, the reader puts himself or herself into an accelerated learning state through hypnosis.

The reader then reads a book’s table of contents, index, and similar non-essential matter, as well as glancing at various parts of the book; this is to gain an idea of the book’s structure.

After this, the reader stares at the pages of the book, changing page every second or so. Then, some time later (up to a day afterward), the reader begins to peruse the book to fill in the details and concepts missed by the preview and photoread steps.

The reader “fills in” details by asking questions of what the book could teach, creating mind maps, scanning (glancing) down pages and dipping (reading normally) paragraphs that stand out or skittering (reading at angles instead of horizontally) each paragraph.***

After doing the last step, you now have all the information you need to know about the book. Can this be done or is it just science fiction?

Here are some of the “how-to” steps I gathered on photoreading:
step 1. – You must have a ‘purpose’ when photoreading a book. This will help you focus on whatever it is you want to benefit from the book.

step 2. – Go to a relaxed state of consciousness. Start by closing your eyes, taking a deep breath, count from 10 to 1 relaxing each part of your body from foot to head as you count down until you reach 1. After reaching 1, your mind is now in the alpha stage – a relaxed state of alertness where you are alert but in a sort of trans-like meditative state. It’s a bit something like the feeling you have before getting up in the morning.

step 3. Open your eyes and start previewing the book. This is similar to doing a reconnaissance mission. When you preview, be aware of ‘trigger words’. Write them in colored pens to help you distinguish keywords that would catch your attention. This process allows your mind to switch from the left and right side of the brain, making it function as one whole system. Allow 3 minutes to preview the book.

step 4. Before proceeding, count from 5 to 1 to further relax your mind. At this stage you now give yourself affirmations to help your subconscious retain most information when you start photoreading the book. This is like programming your subconscious to do exactly what it is you want your mind to do.

Start photoreading by flipping through the book focusing on the center and four corners of the book. In just 5-7 min of doing this, your subconscious will have absorbed everything on the book while your conscious mind would look at it as just a blur.

At the end of doing this, your conscious mind would be sort of lost between pages. But subconsciously, you have absorbed everything written on the book.

If you have time, let it marinate in your subconscious overnight.

The final trick in photoreading is how to get all the information stored in your subconscious mind out to the conscious mind. The photoreading course has several activation techniques to do this. I sort of only have gotten hold of one technique.

step 5. To ‘activate’ what is stored in your subconscious, again go to a relaxed state by counting from 10 to 1 as you did in step 2. When you reach the alpha stage, open your eyes and move them rapidly at the center of each page and let your subconscious mind guide you. Let it be your filter to choose which information you will use or discard.

This is where you “fill in” details by asking questions what the book could teach, creating mind maps, ‘scanning’ (glancing) down pages and ‘dipping’ (reading normally) paragraphs that stand out or ‘skittering’ (reading at angles instead of horizontally) each paragraph.

While doing this, let your conscious mind literally grab the information. Then move on to the next information. Do this for about 6 minutes per info. Repeat until you reach the end of the book.

After doing all of the above, you’ve already gained enough information to know what it is you need to know about a book. That’s all there is to it.

If you’re doing this for the first time, just go with the flow and not ask yourself if you’re doing it the right or wrong way. Eventually you’ll get the hang of it just like riding a bike. Somewhere along the way you’ll reach your “aha” moment and it will become a mind imprint that will help you progress further as you practice photoreading.

I haven’t really tried it to know if it works or not. But as in any kind of endeavor, practice makes perfect. You’ll need to have patience, practice and determination to finally nail it.

The author, Karen LaVelle, however, says she has harnessed the power of photoreading and was able to teach herself how to expertly garden by reading 12 books on the subject in about 2 hours. Her verdict is that photoreading wins over speedreading hands down.

Well, if Karen can do it, don’t you think you can too?

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Photoreading Is it Better Than Speedreading?