What
does Suggestopedia /Desuggestive
Learning/
R e s e r v o p e d i a Look Like at Present?
Dr
G. Lozanov
The
best results of suggestopedia are not due to any technique (guided relaxation,
guided fantasies, breathing exercises, etc.) as a number of authors fabricated
but to a holistic knowledge of the psychophysiological mechanisms of personal
reserves. On the basis of extremely productive research studies, we arrived till
present to the following conclusions for the absolutely required knowledge that
should be assimilated by the teachers in the course of their methodological
training:
(Excerpts
from the forthcoming book
Suggestopedia-Reservopedia
Theory
and Practice of the Liberating-Stimulating Communicative Pedagogy on the Level
of the Reserves of the Human Mind)
In
every communication, in every thought, in every feeling, in every perception and
in every mental activity, there exists one central, clear complex of experiences
and many peripheral, background experiences. In the perception of speech, for
example, the content or the basic thought bearing the specificity of the message
falls in the centre of attention and consciousness where it is subjected to
critical analysis and logical processing. But we react not only to the specific
meaning of speech, but to a whole complex of accompanying and, in some cases,
preceding or succeeding stimuli non specific to this speech. The number of these
non-specific stimuli (and most often they are peripheral perceptions) is
inconceivably large - gestures, gait, facial expressions, expressions of the
eyes, diction, intonation, and a number of ideomotor movements unnoticeable to
consciousness. The
peripheral perceptions are fluctuating - when they pass into consciousness they
are no longer peripheral but ordinary, conscious perceptions.
We
also include in the field of non-specific stimuli the environmental components,
the level of prestige of the speaker, the physiological and psychological state
of expectation of the recipient as well as his/her biological needs; in general,
everything which at that moment is linked with the words that are spoken and is
emitted unconsciously, volitionally uncontrollable. These non- specific stimuli,
if synchronized, can play some suggestive role by changing the power of the
words and by serving as the control for their authenticity. The conclusion can
be drawn that the suggestive is a constant and indivisible part of every
communicative process. In some cases, it may increase the power of the words; in
others, it may decrease it; but it always participates in man's mental and
emotional life when communicating.
The
Suggestology, which we have been developing, is the science of that type of
suggestion which in fact liberates us from the previous negative conditioning.
With this type of suggestion the information is wanted and absorbed with
expectancy, without coercion and controlled by the harmoniously organised
peripheral perceptions.
Peripheral
perceptions (i.e. so called weak signals) of any type are of particular
importance to this kind of communication. Subliminal
peripheral perceptions are uncontrollable by volition. These
weak signals are emitted by the trained prestigious teacher and the general
organization of the teaching process, and they are absorbed subconsciously by
the students (or the patients if those refer to psychotherapy). These
peripheral perceptions absolutely guarantee the authenticity of the link or
access to the aimed-at hidden reserves to enable exceptionally fast learning (or
healing, in the case of psychotherapy).
It would be impossible for a teacher to reveal reserves throughout the
teaching process, i.e. learning as a minimum 2 to 3 times faster and better, and
up to 5 to 10 times faster and better, without substantial homework, without
fatigue and, besides, with a favourable effect on the students’ health and
social climate in the group unless he/she knew for sure that such student
reserves do in fact exist. That is
an axiom because the peripheral
perceptions reveal the truth. It thus becomes obvious that suggestology, and
suggestopedia respectively, constitute a genuine science that opposes any
coercion, any hypnosis or manipulative commanding suggestion.
In our long-term
research for a way to organize in a harmonious and synchronized way the
reception of non-specific stimuli while respecting the student’s (or the
patient’s) freedom of choice, we have come to the development of a new type of
communication without commands and non-critical automatic obedience. We
gradually developed a communication where the patient’s problems could be
discussed in a friendly way, without resorting to commands. Relying mainly on
the high prestige of the teacher (or the physician) without a commanding tone,
or obedient and passive behaviour on the part of the recipient, we demonstrated
in our first big experiment that it was possible to memorize 1000 French words
and phrases in one day. When a highly
prestigious teacher has an overall behaviour which manifests clearly his deep
conviction that high results will be obtained, the effect of his/her teaching is
really on the level of the reserves of the mind. Due to a lack of
alternative terminology, we have called this variant means of reaching the
reserves of mind 'spontaneously absorbed,
non-manipulative suggestion'. This ‘non-manipulative suggestion’ with
its particular characteristics bringing about a relationship of enthusiasm and
harmony between the teacher and the student (or the physician) cannot possibly
be considered as suggestion in its clinical meaning.
With hypnosis and
ordinary clinical suggestion, we cannot even talk about creative thinking. Even
independent thinking is not evident with the former two. While with Reservopedia
and the spontaneously absorbed, non-manipulative suggestion we use, creative
thinking is omnipresent and at the core of the process. This is the learning
and teaching type of communication of the future which we have to acquire.
In the pedagogy of the hidden reserves of mind, this spontaneously absorbed, non-manipulative type of suggestion has been insured through the first law of Reservopedia – Love.