The PhotoReading Whole Mind System—developed by internationally acclaimed expert in neuro-linguistic programming and accelerated learning, Paul R. Scheele—has been called the best reading improvement program available. This system will show you how to increase your reading speed, enhance your learning, and tap your mind’s vast resources. That is, you’ll discover how to conquer information overload in the form of memos, reports, newspapers, magazines, books, training manuals, web pages, email, or whatever else you want to read.
Most people are stuck in the elementary school model of reading: start on the first word of the text and slog through to the end; read passively without a clear sense of purpose; and concentrate on seeing every word correctly and make sense of them as you go along. The PhotoReading system uses a whole mind approach—you use the creative, intuitive mind, as well as the logical, critical mind–and requires a paradigm shift in the usual approach to reading.
Perhaps the biggest shift in perspective taught by the PhotoReading system is the following: “humans possess a preconscious processor of the mind that can absorb visual information without involving the conscious mind”. This statement will be clarified as you read the rest of this article.
Here are three examples of the results people have achieved through PhotoReading (these examples were taken from the book “PhotoReading” by Paul R. Scheele):
“An executive said that PhotoReading dozens of books on management principles has improved his job performance.”
“A salesperson from London PhotoRead a selection of books on self-esteem and confidence building, because his sales were low. He noticed an immediate change in his attitude, confidence, and sales.”
“A student improved his high school math grade from a D to a B in one semester by PhotoReading math books.”
The five steps of the PhotoReading system are the following:
- Preparing
- Previewing
- PhotoReading
- Activating
- Rapid Reading
Below you’ll find more detailed information on each of the five PhotoReading steps.
Step One: Prepare
Before you begin to read you should have a clear sense of purpose: know why you’re reading the document in front of you and what you want to have accomplished by the time you’re done. Having a purpose—that is, making reading a goal oriented activity–will guide your mind to actively seek the information you’re looking for. Some of the questions you might want to ask yourself at this point are the following:
- Do I want to emerge from reading this with a big picture idea of what it’s about?
- Do I want to understand only the main points?
- Is there a specific fact or detail I’m looking for?
- Is reading the entire document relevant to my purpose?
- Could I get what I want by reading a specific chapter or section?
- What do I expect to know or be able to do after reading this?
You then enter a state of relaxed alertness—similar to contemplation or meditation–which is the accelerative learning state. Although there are different ways to reach this state of relaxed alertness, the PhotoReading system teaches the tangerine technique. The tangerine technique is basically imagining that there’s a tangerine resting on the top, back part of your head (the place where Jewish men wear a kippah) . Keep one unit of attention fixed on that point as you read. You’ll notice that when you do this your field of vision enlarges and that you feel more relaxed, centered, and attentive.
The Silva Life System teaches other techniques to reach this state of relaxed alertness, such as the three finger trigger method.
Step Two: Preview
The premise here is that you start with the big picture and then you proceed to the smaller, more detailed parts. First, you survey the material to get a broad sense of its underlying structure. Surveying involves looking through the reading material and noticing the following:
- titles and subtitles
- text on the back and front covers
- table of contents
- index
- text that’s printed in bold or italic
- summaries, previews or review questions
Surveying allows you to create a mental structure of the reading material. This is done quickly: 30 seconds for an article; three minutes for a long report; and five to eight minutes for a book.
When you’re done surveying you gather a list of key terms which embody the core concepts in the material. These are highly visible, repeatedly used terms that present central ideas and help you identify the key message of the material. Just flip through every twenty pages or so of a book and notice which words catch your attention.
Previewing will give you a skeleton of the material; it’s important to emphasize that you’re not reading at this point, you’re simply getting the lay of the land. Paul Scheele compares previewing to walking into a supermarket looking for an apple and stopping first to identify where the fruit section is located, instead of simply walking through the whole store until you find the apples.
After previewing you might decide that you just need a general overview of the material; then, if at some future moment you need more specific information you’ll know where to find it. At this point you might even choose not to read the material because it doesn’t meet your needs or interests.
Step Three: PhotoReading
The PhotoReading step begins with placing yourself into an even more relaxed state than that achieved during the Preparation step. Then you adjust your vision for the PhotoFocus state: instead of bringing individual words into sharp focus, soften your eyes so that your peripheral vision expands and the whole printed page comes into view.
In the PhotoFocus state we mentally photograph the entire page, exposing it to the preconscious processor of the mind. At this point you’re not using the logical, critical side of the mind. At the rate of one page per second you can PhotoRead an entire book in three to five minutes.
After the PhotoReading step you probably have very little conscious awareness of what you just read. Conscious awareness comes at the next step.
After PhotoReading you should take some time off away from the material in order to allow what you have just read to incubate. Ideally, the incubation period should last from one day to the next for longer documents, but you can narrow this time down to twenty minutes if you need to get through the material quickly.
Step Four: Activating
At the activation step you explore the parts of the text to which you feel most attracted and you super read those parts by scanning quickly down the center of each page or column. When you feel it’s appropriate, dip into the text for more focused reading to comprehend the details. The activation techniques include the following:
- Rhythmic Perusal
- Skittering
- Mind mapping
These three methods are all ways to familiarize yourself with the text and be actively engaged with what you’re reading, instead of passively assimilating information.
Step Five: Rapid Read
The Rapid Read step is the closest to conventional reading. While rapid reading you move your eyes quickly through the text taking as much time as you need and feeling free to adjust your reading speed depending on the complexity, prior knowledge, and importance of the material. This step involves your conscious mind and will satisfy your need for clear comprehension of the content.
Remember that this step takes place after you’ve already become familiar with the text through the previous four steps. Therefore, you’ll find yourself going through and comprehending the material at a much faster rate than you would through the use of the conventional reading strategy you learned in school.
Conclusion
One of the best time management strategies out there is to improve your reading speed, as well as your level of reading comprehension. PhotoReading is the best way to accomplish both of these goals. If you would like to learn more about PhotoReading you can get the PhotoReading Personal Learning Course
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photo credit: demi-brooke
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