When it comes to
modalities (Visual, Audio, Kinesthetic, etc), I never considered myself to be
much of an audible person. However, I know (intellectually) that I use all my senses
to gather information, including my ears. Hearing may not be my strongest
modality, but I still depend on it regularly throughout each day. It’s my
guess, this situation is not limited to just me. This article was written as a
result of a brief conversation with Andrea Sumers.
~ What is Super-Learning?
~
Super-Learning is a
method that accelerates the learning process using the audible modality. In the
field of hypnosis, there are a series of steps for any session.
1> Focus the
attention of the client (also known as “induction”).
2> Distract the
conscious mind (also known as “by-passing the critical factor”).
3> Use a "deepener"
strategy to “lock” the conscious mind out of the way.
4> Input
suggestions for change (this is where the learning program or lecture fits in).
5> Re-orient the
client, allowing the conscious mind to return to normal awareness.
[Note: I use the term “client”
to mean “the person being hypnotized”, even for self-hypnosis.]
There are many ways to
accomplish all of these steps, and many programs to teach them. When using
light hypnosis as a tool for accelerated learning, that is Super-Learning.
~ The Learning Problem
~
When I apply
Super-Learning to study courses, the information is allowed directly into my
subconscious mind without the hassle of my conscious mind getting in the way.
In fact, the conscious mind can only handle 7 bits of information (+/- about 2
bits) at any one point in time. This is one reason we feel overwhelmed or get
confused if we have many different facts tossed at us at one time, and we’re
expected to remember them all.
Brute force memorization
is probably the worst form of learning there is. There is certainly a time and
place for it (as there is for everything), but it falls short as the “go to” default
since it involves more work than is needed for most learning. This is where
repetition comes in.
Repetition is well
documented and accepted as the power behind really learning something. While
this is true to a certain degree, it is most often misapplied as the reason for
brute force memorization thru repetition. This method of learning (more often
than not) results in frustration, and general feelings if inadequacy. So why
are we all taught this is the way to learn?
~ Getting Out of Your
Own Way ~
If you need to take
something away from a toddler there are some things you can expect. If you just
take it away, you can expect anything from fussy disappointment to full blown tantrum.
Mothers learn quickly there is a power in distraction and substitution. If you
need to take something away from a toddler without the fuss, you better be in
the process of handing that toddler something else to be interested in.
This same concept is
what happens with our conscious. Our conscious mind wants to be in the middle
of everything we do; even if it slows everything to a crawl. When our conscious
mind wants to be in control, it tries to handle everything that comes in and
analyze it all. We are taught to memorize stuff, and so we try to do so. This
is especially true of things we feel is important to learn.
When you want to learn
something, it is easiest to do when your conscious mind is not getting in the
way. The goal then is to find a means to busy your conscious mind and get it
out of your way. There are many ways to do this, but they all involve some form
of Super-Learning as described above. I’ll give a few examples of these
methods.
~ Doodling, Jogging, &
Soundscape Mapping ~
Doodling has been
around for a very long time, and most of us have doodled something at some
point in time. Most of the time, doodling is done while listening to a lecture,
such as in a classroom or during a board meeting. Why? Because when we doodle,
we are distracting the conscious mind from what is going on, and allowing the
subconscious to absorb the information audibly.
The same thing happens
when you play a game like solitaire or perform a repetitive activity such as jogging.
Jogging tends to work better for people who are more kinesthetic, whereas
doodling seems easiest for more visual people. For those who are already
audible, Soundscape mapping seems to work well.
Soundscape mapping is a
method of closing the eyes and focusing on subtle sounds in the area, focusing
awareness beyond the sound of the lecture. The point is to divert the
analytical conscious mind to something else, and therefore allow the
subconscious to have full access to the lecture.
~ Finding Balance ~
There is a catch to
using these types of distraction methods though. If the distraction uses too
much of your cognitive skills, then your subconscious mind becomes focused on
the distraction and away from the lecture. If the distraction uses too little
of your cognitive skills, then your conscious mind becomes bored, and can
actually hinder your learning efforts as it begins to mentally fidget.
Finding your personal
balance is an essential and very deliberate thing to do. The better you get at
finding and then maintaining your personal balance, the more supercharged your
learning becomes.
~ Intention Directs the
Capacity of Super-Learning ~
The best way to find
your personal balance and maintain it is to direct your intention. This is the
underlying psychology behind why methods of intentional doodling (like
Zendoodling) work as well as they do.
Intentionally doodling
with the purpose to distract the conscious mind and allow yourself to slip into
a light hypnotic trance performs the task of distracting your conscious mind,
while naturally being flexible enough to easily find and maintain an optimum
balance for Super-Learning.
~ In Practice ~
In the late 1970’s, an
experiment was done at a private K-12 school in California (which will remain unnamed
for now as I do not have their permission to mention them). As a child, I was
attending that school during the time when this experiment of intentional
doodling was being taught as a learning tool. As the instructor would lecture
on a topic, the students were to doodle while listening.
The students had to be
able to answer questions if asked, and were to ask questions if they had them
(which they did). This requirement seemed to turn random doodling into
intentional doodling. The result of the experiment was an amazing increase of
retention, ease of learning, and higher testing scores across the board.
I have heard of many
other experiments done along these same lines. In fact, during the tutor
training course I took, the other students and I (all adults) were told to play
with wooden blocks while listening to the lectures to increase our learning;
this is another example of the same Super-Learning principle.
Unfortunately, this
research doesn’t seem to have reached public schools yet. I personally know it’s
been around for decades as an amazing, proven, time-tested learning tool. So
why isn’t it more widely taught, and used? Why torture students with the old brute-force memorization method of learning for everything?
~ In Closing ~
The easy way to do
this yourself is to get some paper (or use the borders of your note-taking
paper), and a pen or pencil (I prefer pencil since shading becomes part of my
intentional doodling fun), and doodle with simple shapes; lines, squiggles,
circles, curves, and angles. These are the basic palette to use.
The object is not to draw
something specific. The object is to doodle something abstract and detailed. A
few small circles bunched together, connecting to a squiggly line that is then
traced in parallel a few times, and so on. The intentional doodle should focus
more on small details than on any big picture.
Here is the important part
for true Super-Learning: While creating your super-detailed doodling, have your lecture
or audio training program (which is what I prefer) playing and pay just enough attention to make sure you
can answer questions about what is going on if someone were to ask you.
I said I prefer audio
training programs. The reason is because I can listen to the same one multiple
times. Using the Super-Learning method of intentional doodling while listening
to an audio program I have listened to before increases the power of learning
by adding repetition. Generally, I give myself some time between repeats for
my subconscious to digest what it has learned (which is much less time than
trying memorize by brute-force).
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