Blindfold reading....Anyone heard of this?

[Kainraz]

They running around laughing and playing… no one is sleeping…

[baobei]

Maybe they should conduct the session in an enclosed (sound proof) place that parents can see. The whole idea is the music/sound that activate the mid-brain. Why not conduct at a place like "fish tank" where parents can see the process? It would be more convincing.

[bwpj2000]

Personally, I do not think that such a thing as 'ESP' or 'reading with a blindfold' is scientifically possible. There is no scientific proof that such a phenomenon is possible, neither is there any confirmed recording of such an 'event' taking place in the world. Most of these 'events', 'sightings', or 'readings' are cases of exaggerated news, misdirections, or evidence that has turned around in the favour of 'ESP', as a result of gossip among the unaware communities.


Let us take the 'blindfold reading' as an example. It is a very basic scientific concept that a blindfold is opaque, hence no light can pass through it to let us see what is in front of us. There is no evidence that any human living (or has lived) in this world can 'sense' the text with their 'sixth sense'. Some people make it even more far-fetched; they claim that an 'alpha wave' or even a 'beta wave' is letting the children see the text with their mind.

It should now be appropriate to touch on the scientific concepts of an 'alpha' or 'beta wave', and related 'waves'.
Scientists use 4 different 'waves' to describe different levels of consciousness of the mind; (going from the most awake to the least) they are the Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta. Your brain waves operate at the Beta wave when they mainly oscillate between 14 to 30 cycles per second. This is when you are fully awake/alert (like I am, when typing this reply right now).

As your mind relaxes and somehow 'disconnects' from the external material world - like when you're daydreaming, meditating, or watching a calm movie - you enter a more 'focused' or 'expanded' state of awareness where brain wave patterns are mainly composed of Alpha brain waves oscillating at between 8 and 13 cycles per second. When relaxing even more, your mind enters a region that correlates with a large relative quantity of brain wave patterns of 4 to 7 cycles per second. This is the Theta zone of the mind.

The Beta level corresponds to a focus of concentration by the mind upon the outside or perceptually separated world, and the Alpha and Theta levels correspond to a more internally focused, self-reflective state (as mentioned, such as those of meditation).

Each human being experiences the Theta level for a fleeting moment every night before the mind dips down from the Beta level of awareness (awake state), to the Delta state (brain waves of less than 4 cycles per second, or deep sleep), and passes rapidly through the Alpha and Theta states to enter the profound sleep level, where consciousness of ourselves is totally lost, and where even dreams do not occur. This is because when dreaming, a sense of self is necessary and the mind has to go back up to the Theta or Alpha state.

Delta is the level of the mysterious universal mind. It is the level at which the differentiated self (ego) expands to become undifferentiated and operates outside of the confines of linear time/space. This is also the state in which many 'psychics' claim to operate at. However, this is also the state at which the mind goes through a 'deep sleep' state, and therefore (without the presence of REM sleep; which I'll leave you to read about on your own), no recollections/memories happen at that stage, and therefore scientists cannot really get a good 'sample' of this stage in the average human.

To understand more about the sleep cycle, you can go to this link: http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/a/SleepStages.htm (because this post is really getting long). Hopefully, after this post (and that website), you will have a better understanding on this so-called 'blindfold reading' and why it is scientifically not possible (at least in the region of sleep, or even 'hypnotism').

OMG this post is really long, now that I look back at it :oops: :!:

[LGLG]

I am new to this forum but since my son turns 4, I am keen to learn about school and other forms of learning to help my son improves his learning ability and came across this discussion.


My friends send their daughters to a 2-day workshop on right brain training and sounds like what you are discussing. Only 1 child out of those other friends children can read blind-fold. Not sure what happen in the class, but all reports from friends did not see significant improvement on study and results including the child who can read blind-fold. Thus, I have decided not to send my son.

Came across another brain training, but this time not about mid-brain, more so on the whole brain fitness. Have research and data to back-up so send my son for an assessment and was able to understand his strengths and weakness. Have decided to try their program as it sounds more logic, with data to back-up and is customised to individual child needs.

[mariadcruz]

Over, in Indonesia,

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/education/caution-urged-over-blindfold-brain-gym-craze/390311

[fattybombombom]

When I first head of the technique, I was equally as skeptical as everyone else in the forum. Honestly, go for the preview and be educated. see with your own eyes what this technique can do for your children… call or sms me @ 96993941 (Irene) for preview dates.

[zoo]

Hi, how abt we hear some feedback from those parents whose child attended the Genius Mind Academy (GMC) say more than a year ago (this is to see if the effect lasts…)? What are the positive and negatives changes you have seen in your child since? It is supposed to last a lifetime. Are you glad that you have sent your child to attend this midbrain activation workshop?


Also, what happens when your child is not blindfolded, most of the time?

[cimman]

bwpj2000:

Personally, I do not think that such a thing as 'ESP' or 'reading with a blindfold' is scientifically possible. There is no scientific proof that such a phenomenon is possible, neither is there any confirmed recording of such an 'event' taking place in the world. Most of these 'events', 'sightings', or 'readings' are cases of exaggerated news, misdirections, or evidence that has turned around in the favour of 'ESP', as a result of gossip among the unaware communities.

hi bwpj2000
actually the explanation is not so complicated. There is no ESP. It is just a scam, pure and simple. They teach children to peek under the blindfold. Check out this youtube video, the scam was exposed in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKh9Yh-GsU

and the explanation:
http://www.randi.org/jr/022202.html

and this is very relevant to us:
http://simplestupidblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/midbrain-activation-or-mythbrain.html

the person behind the youtube video really wanted to believe in such things, however, he was also a discerning person and did his own investigation. In the end, he found it was just trickery, no ESP, no activiation, just simple peeking under the blindfold. They come up with all sorts of reason why the child has to tilt their head upwards to \"see\", it's about the brain waves emitting downwards from their foreheads. The simple reason is that it facilitates peeking under the eye mask.

for those who die die must try, do go to Indonesia for the class during holidays. They charge a fraction of the price over there.

Please save your money for enrichment classes or cognitive training, they yield results. Anyone selling this program gets a hefty commission, so read testimonials with care.

ps. one more youtube video on the fraud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3SX_1HEGnw&feature=related
read the comments below the youtube video from narenyen. The girl was exposed when they tried to cover up the gap between the blindfold and the nose bridge. For those who still believe in this, go to the demo and put something in a bag and ask the child to identify the item. The wily folks over there will probably say the brain waves can't penetrate the bag.

[newkeynesian]

Very insightful.

[Koolmama]

Hi parents,


I'm glad that so many of you are doing your due diligence and asking the right questions, because I almost signed up for this course once when my child's teacher kept trying to get us to sign up for it (I think she earns commission for every student she refers)... In the end I didn't, and here's why.

\"Mid brain activation\" is just a quasi-scientific-sounding term coined to refer to \"opening of the third eye\". As kids under this program have stated before, the reason why they are able to see is because there is light in their mind and there is a third eye which enables them to \"see\" the words, pictures, etc. In others words, this is also an extended form of ESP, or psychic abilities.

If you belong to a religion that prohibits you from getting involved in ESP or other psychic-related activities, please beware. Also, the reason why the children go to sleep and all is because MEDITATION is the gateway to opening up the third eye. They are undergoing a form of meditation to \"activate\" this third eye.

For those of you who are familiar with religious terms, the third eye is also the same as \"Eye of Horus\" or \"Eye of Lucifer\". :yikes:

Be careful of what you are opening your child's mind and life to, you may be doing something harmful to him unknowingly as a parent...