Exercises to Cultivate Remote Viewing with Lyn Buchanan

Summary

Lyn Buchanan presents controlled remote viewing (CRV) as a trainable way to bring information attributed to the subconscious into conscious awareness. He emphasizes that the exercises are also intended to improve ordinary attention, sensory discrimination, and communication—not simply to obtain information about distant targets.

The central lesson is deliberate, repeated practice: notice subtle differences, record impressions precisely, and avoid interpreting them too soon.

Main exercises and methods

Notice changes in atmosphere

When entering a room, crossing a doorway, or moving from a sidewalk into a yard, pause and sense what has changed. Focus on the difference between the two settings rather than trying to describe a place’s overall atmosphere.

Buchanan says this exercise builds sensitivity to increasingly subtle changes. He also describes an advanced version in which a student sits with their back to a restaurant entrance and tries to notice and describe people as they enter or leave without turning around.

Practice ideograms

An ideogram is a simple mark or drawing used to capture the general character—or “gestalt”—of an impression. Buchanan stresses that it should be practiced and structured, rather than treated as an arbitrary squiggle. For example, a trained mark might signal that water is important to a target without specifying whether it is an ocean, fog, or a glass of water.

He describes the process as developing through stages: initial marks or lines, words and sensory descriptions, two-dimensional diagrams, and then more complex representations. He compares this repeated practice to martial-arts training, where even experienced practitioners continue to rehearse foundational movements.

Expand vocabulary

Buchanan argues that vocabulary can both enable and limit thought. In this exercise, one person names a category—such as a color—and the other responds with increasingly specific examples. Once common terms are exhausted, the student reaches for less-used words from their passive vocabulary.

The aim is to improve the ability to recognize and express nuanced impressions. Buchanan says the exercise can also help with everyday communication and creative expression.

Compare fine sensory differences

Students handle two similar objects, such as hairbrushes, and compare the feel of their bristles. More broadly, they practice noticing small differences in touch, sound, taste, and other sensory qualities, much as a parent may notice a subtle change in a child’s cry.

Buchanan links this exercise with vocabulary practice: students need both to detect a difference and to find words for it.

Train visual observation and recall

Buchanan recommends Betty Edwards’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which he says was assigned in the military program. He also describes a picture-recall exercise using a computer program: view an image for a set time, describe it after it disappears, and gradually reduce the viewing time—from 30 seconds to 15 seconds and then to a very brief flash.

The goal is to improve observation and recall, not to assume that every detail of an image or remote target can be captured.

Try the “Do You See What I See?” partner exercise

One person views a picture or sketch while a partner cannot see it. The viewer describes the image so precisely that the partner can draw a close representation from the description alone.

The exercise highlights the difference between what someone perceives and what they communicate, and encourages precise reporting.

Separate observation from interpretation

Buchanan distinguishes the remote viewer’s role from that of a project manager. The viewer records impressions without trying to decide what they mean; the project manager combines and evaluates the information.

He warns that premature conclusions can distort otherwise useful observations. In his account, even reports from multiple viewers can be undermined if the person interpreting them jumps to the wrong conclusion.

Evaluation, practice, and claimed benefits

Buchanan says a session should not be judged by whether it describes a target completely; he considers a target to contain too much information for that to be practical. Instead, he recommends comparing recorded impressions with feedback on the target, including whether individual elements were right or wrong and whether the information was useful to the client.

He reports that a military-unit study achieved 82.7% accuracy and reliability, as he defines those measures in the interview. This is Buchanan’s account, not an independently established finding in the video.

He says the exercises can make people more observant in daily life and may prompt reflection about personal habits, motivations, and goals. He also describes a “rookie effect,” in which beginners may initially produce striking results, then become doubtful or resist the implications. He attributes this to the challenge of changing one’s existing view of what is possible.

Buchanan emphasizes that proficiency requires sustained practice and personal instruction. He says CRV involves many nuances that cannot be adequately covered in a compressed weekend course.

Other claims discussed

Buchanan recounts personal stories about remote influence and alleged approaches asking him to harm a foreign leader, which he says he refused. He also describes conducting sessions related to Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of communism. These are presented as Buchanan’s personal recollections, not independently verified conclusions.

The discussion also touches on government psychic programs and claims that voices are government messages. Buchanan and Mishlove treat such explanations cautiously.

Speakers and sources mentioned

Speakers

• Jeffrey Mishlove — host and interviewer
• Lyn Buchanan — guest and remote-viewing instructor

Books, people, and other sources

• The Seventh Sense — Lyn Buchanan’s book
• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain — Betty Edwards’s workbook
• Linda Tellington-Jones — mentioned for work on intuitive communication with animals
• Russell Targ — cited in a discussion of the personal effects of remote-viewing training
• Jean Houston — quoted by Mishlove about the human mind’s underused capacities
• The Stargate military remote-viewing program — discussed by Buchanan as part of his background
• Martial-arts and ninja training — used as comparisons for repetitive practice and heightened awareness