How far could the mind expand once it started to open up? It seemed just as easy to learn one hundred words as fifty. Classes of volunteers were formed. In a single session they were taught fifteen lessons from a French textbook covering five hundred new words. Immediately afterward, they were given a test, and three days later, another test. Results were excellent extraordinary...

On an average now, people learn eighty to one hundred words a day in accelerated-learning courses. The world's largest language school, Berlitz, says that two hundred words after seceral days (thirty hours) of intensive "immersion" learning is considered successful. Unfortunately, the forgetting rate has been almost as rapid with these high-pressure methods.

With the Bulgarian approach, 500 words a day was just "Mach 1". By 1966, a group learned 1000 words in a day, and by 1974, a rate of 1800 words a day was charted. In 1977, Lozanov reported, some tests showed people capable of absorbing even 3000 words per day.

What are the outer limits, then, of the mind's potential? Once you learn to open your mind, Lozanov finds that the capacity to remember seems almost boundless there is no apparent cut-off point.

Initially, the institute taught languages because progress was easy to measure with word counts. Lozanov, of course, was not trained as an educator. Alexo Novakov, an outstanding teacher, musician, and actor, developed much of the language work. He prepared full-length programs equivalent to two- or three-year language courses (six thousand word vocabulary and complete grammar). Students were gratuated in three months...

The objective of this exercise is to learn to breathe in rythm, and through rhythmic breath control, to slow down body/mind rhythms.

Sit comfortably in a chair or lie down on a couch or bed. Put yourself into a very relaxed state. Make sure all parts of your body are relaxed. Close your eyes and take a very slow, deep breath through your nose. Inhale as much air as you can hold comfortably. Try to take in just a little bit more air. Now exhale slowly. Feel a deep sense of relaxation as you exhale. When you think all the air is out of your lungs, try to force out a little bit more. Practice taking these very deep breaths for a few moments. Inhale as much air as you possibly can. Distend your abdomen. Slowly exhale. Pull your abdomen in. Take another deep breath, as much air as possible. Hold it for a count of 3, and exhale very slowly. Relax. Try to inhale the air in a very even, continuous breath.

Now, try to make your breathing rhythmic. Inhale to a count of 4; hold to a count of 4; exhale to a count of 4; pause to a count of 4.

Inhale-2, 3, 4;

Hold-2, 3, 4;

Exhale-2, 3, 4;

Pause-2, 3, 4.

Repeat four cadences of this rhythmic pattern. Relax.

This time, slow down your cadenced breathing even more, by trying a count of 6.

Inhale-2, 3, 4, 5, 6;

Hold-2, 3, 4, 5, 6;

Exhale-2, 3, 4, 5, 6;

Pause-2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Repeat four cadences.

Now slow down your cadenced breathing even more by using a count of 8.

Inhale-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8;

Hold-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8;

Exhale-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8;

Pause-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Repeat four cadences of this rhythmic breathing pattern.

This breathing-control exercise can be done daily. It is said to help resynchronize out-of-synch body/mind processes and to slow down body/mind rhythms...

Note: Several cadences of this breathing exercise should be done before a superlearning session to help slow down body/mind rhythms to their most efficient levels.

If you have done the preceding exercises, you now know how to bring yourself into the harmonized state of body and mind conducive to learning. There is only one other thing you need to know if you want to do memory expansion. Synchronizing breathing to the material spoken during a session helps develop memory control.

This is very easy to do. During the four seconds when the material is being spoken, hold your breath. During the four-second pause that follows, breathe out and in and be ready to hold your breath again when the next phrase is spoken. You don't have to think about it just remember: always hold your breath when the material is spoken for a count of four.

All the material spoken is precisely timed on an 8-second cycle so your breathing will naturally fall into a rhythmic pattern of: hold 4; out 2; in 2.

Before your first supermemory session, it's helpful to try a few practice run-throughs of this rhythmic breathing pattern.

Before beginning the supermemory session, it is important to go over the material you wish to learn and review it as vividly as possible. You can even try going over it as a game, play, or dialogue. For the session itself, you need only a tape-recorder and/or someone to read your material aloud to you.

Supermemory sessions are in two parts. First you silently read along with the material recited to you. In the second part you close your eyes and listen to the same material recited again, this time with music behind it.

Before beginning part one, do your relaxation exercises. Take five minutes or so. Affirm your power to learn. For a moment see yourself in some favorite outdoor spot, begin to feel welling up in that light, satysfying feeling that comes when you learn something successfully. Take a few deep breaths. Then begin part one. Turn on your supermemory tape or have someone read your material to you.

There are only two things you have to do. Silently read the material as a voice recites it rhythmically. Second, try to breathe in rhythm on the eight-beat cycle. As you'll hear, the teaching voice pauses for four seconds, then recites the information during the next four seconds, then pauses four seconds and so on. Breathe out and in during the silence. Hold your breath for the four seconds when material is being delivered. That's all you have to do.

Let's say it takes fifteen minutes to run through the material once. In fifteen minutes you can imbibe as much as eighty to one hundred new bits of information. Most people begin with forty to fifty new things.

Immediately after running through the material once, put down your paper, dim the lights, lean back, and close your eyes. Listen to the same material recited again, but this time with music. Pay attention to what is being said. Breathe along with the recitationbreathing out and in during the silences, easily holding your breath as the information is delivered. As you begin to feel comfortable with the technique, visualize the material to further hook your memory. Just listen to the words and breathe, and review images of the material.

Most people give themselves a short quiz after the session. Think of this as a feedback device, helping you keep on course. Any items missed can be added to your next program. It's important to use the new material you've learned within the next few days, to really make it yours. Remember superlearning has a snowballing effect. The process of learning to learn, like any skill, tends to improve and become easier and faster. You should be able to learn more in the seventh session, for instance, than you did in the first. And too, as people from Sofia to San Francisco found out, you often don't realize you are learning.

Once you've learned to learn, you will probably find that you don't need to listen to a lesson for more than a few repetitions.

Unlike other forms of learning, the superlearning process is beneficial all by itself. You get health benefits and tension relief just by relaxing and listening to the music program.

Some people who have done these supermomery sessions over a period of months or a year or so have found themselves developing semi-photographic-memory ability, so that they only have to glance at a page of a book in order to learn it.

Bach, J. S.

- Largo from Concerto in G Minor for Flute and Strings BWV 1056.

- Aria or Sarabande to The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988.

- Largo from Solo Harpsichord Concerto in G Minor, BWV 975.

- Largo from Solo Harpsichord Concerto in C Major, BWV 976.

- Largo from Solo Harpsichord Concerto in F Major, BWV 978.

Corelli, A.

- Sarabanda (largo) from Concerto no. 7 in D Minor.

- Preludio (largo) and Sarabanda (largo) from Concerto no. 8 in E Minor.

- Preludio (largo) from Concerto no. 9 in A Major.

- Sarabanda (largo) from Concerto no. 10 in F Major.

Handel, G. F.

- Largo from Concerto no. 1 in F (brass)

- Largo from Concerto no. 3 in D (brass)

- Largo from Concerto no. 1 in B-flat Major op. 3 (woodwinds and strings).

Telemann, G.

- Largo from Double Fantasia in G Major for Harpsichord.

- Largo from Concerto in G Major for Viola and String Orchestra.

Vivaldi, A.

- Largo from "Winter".

- Largo from Concerto in D Major for Guitar and Strings.

- Largo from Concerto in C Major for Mandolin, Strings and Harpsichord, P. 134.

- Largo from Concerto in D Minor for Viola D'Amore, Two Oboes, Bassoon, Two Horns and Figured Bass, P. 286.

- Largo from Flute Concerto No. 4 in G Major.

Concertos by various Baroque composers can be used.

In choosing a recording of a slow movement, simply check that the tempo is about 60 beats a minute.

Don't substitute the type of music. The choice of the music has nothing to do with personal tastes in music. It is not background music like muzak. This particular Baroque music is like a mantra and is used to evoke a specific psycho-physical state of relaxed concentration.

East-German researchers of suggestopedia at Karl Marx University in Leipzig (who have reported extroardinary success with the method) observed that slow movements from Baroque instrumental music featuring string instruments gave the very best results. Vocal music or chants were ruled out because the lyrics compete with the text to be learned. Music with a slow, constant, monotonous rhythm, a non-distracting melodic structure (not the hum-along kind), and harmonic patterns based on specific ratios, has so far given the best results.

You can tackle the factual body of any subject. Superlearning is particularly helpful with the basics. Furthermore, it will help you learn such studies as anatomy, geography, history, or biology, in which you need to remember unfamiliar words and names. Of course, it is ready-made for languages.

For example, to make it easy, let's say you are going to do the multiplication tables. Use a clock or preferably a metronome or other sort of time clicker. The beats are one per second. During the first four beats of the cycle you remain silent. During the next four beats you say the data.

Example:

silence                                  rabbit, le lapin

silence                                  bed, le lit

silence                                  book, le livre

The Bulgarians found that to keep the mind interested it helps to vary the tone of your voice as you go through cycle after cycle of information. They use three tones of voice: normal, speaking voice, soft whispering voice, loud commanding voice. These three repeat over and over. The more components you use, the greater the learning.

In Bulgaria, when longer material is being learned, they often use the last two beats of the first frame. The key material to be learned is kept in the second frame. You might want to use this for learning foreign phrases. The english would be said fairly quickly during the third and fourth beat of the first frame.

Bulgarian researchers found that, in studying languages, vocabulary material presented in short sentences was learned much easier than in long chunks. But, for learning rules, principles in math, long definitions, or propositions, it is better not to cut the thought or concept into short fragments. People memorized long definitions more easily when the complete thought was put into a very long sentence and simply read over the music taking as many beats as needed.

In America a twelve-beat cycle has also been used with success. This is simply three frames of four seconds each. Eventually, you might want to experiment with it.

Iowa researchers Schuster and Benitez-gordon have tried to examine the different components separately to see what they do for immediate and long-term memory. They found that affirmations for better learning gave a sixty percent boost to performance. Synchronizing breathing to slow-paced data read over the music gave a seventy-eight percent immediate improvement. Groups given all the elements in one smoothly orchestrated whole got a 141 percent improvement. The elements all interact cumulatively, they report.