Paraliminal tapes are a variation of Subliminal Tapes published by Learning Strategies Corporation. The term Paraliminal was developed in part to distinguish them from Subliminal Tapes. "Para" means "beyond" and "liminal" means the threshold of conscious awareness. Paraliminal literally means "beyond the threshold of conscious awareness."
It is claimed that Paraliminals are significantly more effective than subliminal tapes, which can even be detrimental to a goal. Subliminal tapes hide subliminal messages amidst quiet background noise - waves crashing and such. The premise is, if you listen to these tapes every day for 30-60 days, you will do whatever the tape says.
There are some problems with this approach; most people cannot listen as often as directed, and the National Research Council says that there is no proof the brain can act on or even detect such messages. Some messages can even be harmful if they get into the brain.
For example, one publisher has the message, "If you don't quit smoking, you will get cancer." This is a bad idea because it can actually act as a command to get cancer. Another tape has a message for a child's self-esteem - "I do things to please others." This can easily lead to harmful social dysfunctions.
Paraliminals contain no subliminal messages. A paraliminal learning session starts with Paul Scheele - who is, in addition, the founder of Learning Strategies Corporation, or LSC - setting up the purpose and programming parameters of the session. Therein lies the majority of the conscious work.
Music fades in, and Paul guides the listener to a state of deep relaxation, suitable for work with the unconscious/subconscious/inner mind. During the core "changework" segment, the listener hears two voices - one in each ear. These voices are independent and speak to the opposite hemispheres of the brain. The left voice weaves metaphores and creative fantasy to be heard by the creative right hemisphere, while the right voice leads you through logical processes and Neuro-Lingusitic Programming for the analytical left hemisphere.
When this is finished, music fades back in and Paul guides the listener back to a state of relaxed alertness, and brings the session to a close.
The point of the tape is not to attempt to listen to and comprehend both voices - that is impossible, and intentionally so. The point is to just go with the flow and rhythm of the voices and sounds, and to let your subconscious do the work.
Paraliminals were originally developed in response to high demand from LSC's customers - Paul would hold private hypnosis sessions, and customers wanted him to convert them to cassette. The Paraliminals were born, the first of which being New Behavior Generator.
To give a few examples of what the tapes can do, here are a few of the 22 paraliminal tapes sold:
- Anxiety Free
- Gain freedom from fear and needless worry.
- Deep Relaxation
- Enter the deepest levels of relaxation - a 30-minute vacation in a bottle.
- Dream Play
- Enhance dream recall, program your dreams, and attain lucidity.
- Get Around to It
- Reduce procrastination and get things done.
- Memory Supercharger
- Immediately improve your memory.
- New Behavior Generator
- Adjust and acquire new behaviors to reach goals.
- New Option Generator
- Identify new solutions and to problems that hadn't occured to you before.
- Personal Genius
- Use your natural genius and the "flow state" to optimize learning.
- Self-Esteem Supercharger
- Build confidence.
Check out the LSC Discussion Forum, where you can read about the experiences of others - good or bad - and decide for yourself. I'd rather not make any claims either way - I just work here.