Alexander Neveev - lifespring. How personal growth ends with “Lifespring”
Conveyor of illusions
Over twenty years, all kinds of trainings, seminars and master classes have become our daily reality. In these group classes, we undertake to teach both very practical life skills (eat right, increase the sensitivity of the vagina and effectively use Facebook for business and self-PR), and solve global life issues, sometimes beyond reality (become healthy, happy and rich; fill up with energy for the next ten years of life; materialize desires, make astral travel and open the “third eye”). Examples - quotes from the proposals of Kyiv training centers.
Statistics on the demand for thematic trainings can be seen on the largest Ukrainian portal TRN.ua, where about 3,000 programs are presented in 25 categories. Leading categories: “Management, company management” (424 trainings), “Personal development, time management” (288), “Sales, working with clients” (232). Over the seventy years of the existence of group trainings, their thematic top list has not changed. And, as before, methods of personal growth raise the most questions, complaints and disagreements.
With good intentions
“It is easier to change individuals in a group than to change each of them individually.” “A person remembers unfinished situations well and easily forgets completed ones, therefore, in order to change a person, he must be freed from the inertia of negative unfinished situations.”
These statements by the American psychologist Kurt Lewin formed the basis of the theory of training. In 1944, Lewin founded the Center for the Study of Group Dynamics at the University of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with whose research the history of modern psychotraining began. According to Kurt Lewin's theory, any group of people, from an ethnic community to a board of directors, can be changed through three stages: "unfreezing", "transformation" and "new freezing". Where “unfreezing” is destruction existing system values and life guidelines of group members, “transformation” - new motivation and “freezing” - consolidation of “instilled” priorities. At the first group trainings, the psychologist’s friendly and respectful interaction with the group was reminiscent of the interaction between a university professor and students. Kurt Zadek Lewin was a 100% idealistic democrat. Having experienced “anti-Semitism of the worst kind” as a child, and in his youth the hardships of the First World War, he devoted his life exclusively to altruistic goals and was sincerely confident that group training would help make society more humane.
Twenty years later, as hippie America yearned for "enlightenment," Alexander Everett, teacher junior classes from the UK, launched a four-day Mind Dynamics seminar in Texas in 1968. During the period of general fascination with Eastern cults, Everett declared his training as a symbiosis of the theosophy of Helena Blavatsky, Zen Buddhism, Kabbalah and Rosicrucian symbolic philosophy. Although, in fact, he used the methods of Kurt Lewin, generously seasoning them with esotericism that was fashionable at that time. Alexander Everett's know-how was the idea: a person is what he thinks about himself. Like Kurt Lewin's trainings, the Mind Dynamics seminar was aimed at getting rid of negative unfinished experiences and at the same time demonstrating the influence of the mind on emotions. Everett's training has become a real source of talent in his field. Listeners and then instructors of Mind Dynamics turned into the most famous, successful and wealthy coaches in America.
In 1970, Alexander Everett sold his popular training to Penn Patrick, owner of Holiday Magic, a network marketing cosmetics company and creator of the first psychotraining for managers. Patrick intended to use Everett's training as an additional tool for his distributors. Penn Patrick's harsh methods would later be used in Lifespring personal growth trainings, namely a confrontational system of interaction with the training group, psychological bullying and humiliation, regulated trips to the toilet and even beatings. Soon Holiday Magic was hit with lawsuits from ex-employees, its activities were declared illegal and the company was closed.
The first to turn Kurt Lewin's technique into profitable business and it was one of Alexander Everett’s instructors, Werner Erhard, who finally buried his humanistic ideals. More precisely, John Rosenberg, who comes from a Philadelphia Jewish family, and until the age of 25 is an average citizen and family man, the father of four children. In 1960, disillusioned with life, Rosenberg left his family and moved to St. Louis, where he sold used cars, bibles and encyclopedias. He creates his new name after reading articles in Esquire magazine about the West German Minister of Economics Ludwig Erhard and the philosopher and physicist Werner Heisenberg. The business with encyclopedias went smoothly; from a simple distributor, the newly minted Werner Erhard becomes a personnel manager, and on duty travels all over America. At the same time, he educates himself by reading everything. Werner Erhard's psychological background includes Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich, the ideas of psychologist Abraham Maslow, seminars on Zen Buddhism, books by Scientology founder Ron Hubbard and a course by Dale Carnegie. In 1970, Erhard was trained by Alexander Everett and became one of his instructors. And then “IT” happened. According to Erhard's carefully crafted legend, while driving down an empty Californian highway, he had an epiphany and would gain knowledge about "IT." In 1971, Erhard launched his own group training EST in San Francisco, which stands for “Erhard training seminars” and at the same time Latin word"There is". Erhard promises to get rid of the negativity of the past, achieve maximum efficiency, expand consciousness, recognition own strength and responsibility for one's destiny. The first seminar was attended by almost a thousand people - the maximum number of participants in the entire history of group trainings. The cost of the four-day course was $250 with minimal organizational costs - renting a hotel conference room and paying instructors (small). The training assistants were not paid, nor were the advertising agents who recruited new students - these were all volunteers from among EST graduates. The seminar was based on the same principles of Kurt Lewin: “unfreezing”, “transformation”, “new freezing”. But if the certified psychologist Levin led his listeners through these stages carefully and correctly, remembering the commandment “do no harm,” then the ambitious self-taught Erhard used brutal tools. It didn’t go as far as beatings, but insults, humiliation and regulated trips to the toilet are EST’s signature features, which will be adopted by the new generation of “psycho-training leaders.” According to the recollections of seminar graduates, over time they began to feel that the entire training was a complete deception. And at the same time enlightenment occurred. People really “got IT”, feeling the absurdity of what was happening, and at the same time the absurdity of their small problems in the face of a huge world full of possibilities. Over ten years, about 700,000 people received ECT training. Erhard's annual income was about $30 million.
In the 80s, hippies who longed for enlightenment were replaced by yuppies who were hungry for money and career advancement. Sensing social changes, in 1985 Erhard closed EST and created a new training - Forum - for successful, accomplished people who want to become even more successful. It is curious that in 1986, Werner Erhard personally held a Forum in Moscow for 60 representatives of Soviet ministries and departments. All modern training companies have grown out of Forum, providing services to develop management skills among managers and corporate spirit among employees. In 1991, Erhard sold Forum to his top managers and retired. Today, his brainchild, under the name Landmark Forum, has 42 branches in 11 countries and earns about $50 million a year.
The commercial success of EST did not leave John Henley, Werner Erhard's former Mind Dynamics training colleague, indifferent. In 1974, Henley and four partners launched the Lifespring Seminar. Since John Henley's share of the project was 92.7%, Lifespring is associated with his name. Henley's seminar is strikingly reminiscent of EST, from the use of the same techniques, the authoritarian nature of the trainers, the receipt that participants will not have claims in case of health complications, to the absolute loyalty of the graduates, who were free recruiters of new students, essentially saving the company from marketing and advertising costs.
If Erhard's training was criticized in the media and scientific communities, then in the history of Lifespring from 1974 to 1990 there were more than 30 lawsuits involving claims for damage to health and death, in which it was proven that at least six people died during the training process. Lifespring was forced to pay compensation to the relatives of the victims and formally cease to exist. Moreover, today in the United States alone, 75 independent companies use training using Lifespring methods. And in the post-Soviet territory, these technologies turned out to be the most popular in the personal growth training industry.
"Spring of Life" - know ours
In the late 80s, at the height of perestroika and the fashion for everything Soviet, Candice Henley, the wife of the founding father of Lifespring, was part of a group of American tourists rafting along the Ural rivers. Mrs. Henley saw potential business partners in her Russian travel companions, and in 1989, the Lifespring Foundation, which she founded, conducted the first transformational training in Moscow, which began the triumphant march of Lifespring in Russia, and then throughout the post-Soviet space.
The confused consciousness of the citizens of the collapsing USSR, like a sponge, absorbed an avalanche of pseudo-teachings, “secret” knowledge, treatment on TV and a stream of various trainings. In those literally golden times for enterprising gurus, almost any psychological seminar was sold only because of its overseas name or origin. The first foreign troops to overcome the Soviet “Iron Curtain” were American preachers and trainers who promised lightning-fast radical relief from painful problems and painful symptoms. Personal growth trainings enjoyed mass popularity not only among the nouveau riche, but also among the enlightened intelligentsia interested in the “new psychology” and among professional psychologists who sought to adopt “ foreign experience" Despite the ban on making any notes during the seminars, psychologists compiled a complete summary of the “secret materials” of the training, which later became a professional bestseller in the 90s. In 2008, the abstracts of this typewritten document were published in the Journal practical psychologist» specialist in the field of totalitarian sects, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Elena Ipatova. The Lifespring program appears in this description as a thoughtful, intensive and consistent program of impact on the psyche of participants. Its main tool is provocation aimed at removing psychological defenses. IN professional terms this is “conscious frustration of significant needs” (modeling of an anxious psychological state in which satisfaction of desires seems impossible), “powerful individual and group pressure”, “variability and unpredictability of instructions and conditions”, “physical and emotional stress”, “hyperstimulation” , “general overload of sensory systems.” The logical result of these influences was “initial cognitive confusion”, and then, the inevitable “switching off of the cortex” and violent emotional reactions of the participants, acquiring a mass character, the “necessity” and “usefulness” of which was repeatedly emphasized by the trainers. The ultimate goal of almost all exercises is a declarative demonstration of hard-won “true desires.” Noisy and tiresome series of mass psychosis and emotional striptease were alternated with relaxation sessions using appropriate music and trance visualization techniques.
What Kurt Lewin called “unfreezing” is the destruction of the existing value system and life guidelines members of the group - occurs in Lifespring through “guided fantasies” that appeal to very deep and emotionally charged problems of early childhood. After a detailed immersion in children's grievances, a generalized instruction for further actions could sound like “look carefully, cry and quickly leave.” The tendency to destroy and mourn one’s own past ends in the final meditation: participants were shown fragments of film, in the flashing frames of which everyone “recognized” their past life, and then the film flared up and burned, no longer needed. Elena Ipatova comments on the first Lifespring trainings as follows: “The mass nature of this event, the obvious formulaic nature of the action and clear direction in the rough and straightforward style of “working with the audience” are characteristic of primitive speeches by American preachers. The training completely lacked a real psychological, real psychotherapeutic, and simply, humanly, a really interested individual approach to the participants. The hysterical “cliquish” emotionality is alarming, as a condition for the “only correct” behavior in training, complete absence true dialogue, unification of exercises and dangerous depth of topics covered in the process of work.”
In the mid-90s, personal growth trainings were held to full houses and reached the peak of popularity. Along with the income of the American-Russian enterprise Lifespring, the appetites and ambitions of its leaders are growing. In 1995, the conflict over issues of management and financial policy reaches a crisis and ends with a breakdown in relations between the parties, aggravated by the refusal of the Russian partners to fulfill previous obligations. The company experienced several splits and by the end of 1997 was divided into five independent centers with branches in Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic countries, where Lifespring trainings are conducted in free interpretations.
Over the twenty-odd years of Lifespring’s existence in the post-Soviet space, its structure, modeled after the American template, has remained virtually unchanged. The same exercises, meditations, mass repentance of participants and rhetorical questions from trainers. The external form of the seminars has been transformed, becoming more rude and cynical, and therefore, by definition, less professional, which is fraught with unpredictable consequences for the psyche of the participants. Characteristic features of Lifespring in the 2000s were everyday rudeness and rudeness, unacceptable for a professional psychologist, the use of profanity and primitive anal and genital associations. Not to mention the obvious coercion to participate in the training and cases of assault, which are criminal offenses. The reasons for all this are the mass cloning of newly minted trainers, only a few of whom have higher medical or psychological education. The rest received a coaching certificate after completing a short paid training course. As a result of widespread gross violations of ethical standards and professional principles of work over the past decade, personal growth trainings have become increasingly unsafe for participants. This is confirmed by numerous online forums of ex-lifespringists and communities of assistance to injured training participants. The most famous of them is the information project “Open Consciousness” on the website www.sektam.net. Among the psychological consequences of personal growth training described there are “symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder,” “persistent memory impairment,” “decreased intelligence,” “emotional infantility,” and “prolonged depression.” All this concerns people who are aware of the harm caused. With those who “remained in the training,” the situation is more categorical: there is formalism and stereotypical judgments, a constant feeling of euphoria, an obsession with group ideas and social projects from “fundraising” to “changing life on the planet.” Among the delayed results of long-term immersion in training are sleep disturbances, complete physical exhaustion, job loss, complete or partial loss of previous social status and environment, partnership conflicts and the breakdown of established family relationships with the rapid formation of a couple with one of the group members, obsessed with the same “ the general idea of reorganizing the world."
“The real goal of the influence is not the initially declared “personal growth” of the individual, but the methodical and consistent erasure of his bright individuality through the obligatory and unified participation of everyone in an extremely charged and dramatically escalated “mass psychosis” (Ispolatova E.N. Psychiatric aspect of “Lifespring”, or recipes as old as time for “new life”)
One of the most authoritative experts in criminal cases related to psychological violence in the post-Soviet space, Evgeniy Volkov, explains the scheme of psychotraining “for dummies” - people who have little knowledge of sociology and psychology, who constitute the main risk group of becoming a victim of deception and manipulation.
Why do people completely different in character and level of development commit obviously inappropriate, humiliating, and sometimes dangerous actions during group trainings? More than a hundred years ago, Sigmund Freud answered this question in his work “Mass Psychology and Analysis of the Human Self,” in which he outlined the characteristics of an individual found in a mass. “In the general mass, the individual is no longer himself, he has become a weak-willed automaton, has lost his conscious personality and obeys all the suggestions of the person who has deprived him of the consciousness of his own personality.” According to Freud, “the enchanted, suggestible, impulsive mass, devoid of a sense of personal responsibility, possessed by a primitive sense of its own power and prone to all extremes, is aroused by excessive irritations, and the one who wants to influence it does not need a logical verification of his argumentation; it is appropriate for him to paint with the brightest colors, exaggerate and always repeat the same thing.” It is impossible to give a more accurate description of the essence of the influence techniques used in the Lifespring training.
In terms of form, trainings conducted using Lifespring technology are recognizable by their step-by-step courses. The first stage, costing from 120 to 250 dollars - “Basic course” (other names “Basic”, “Introductory”, “Initial” or “First stage”) - takes two to three days. The “Advanced Course” (aka “Leadership” or “Breakthrough”) lasts five to six days. Price $250–700. The leadership program (up to $1,000) consists of permanent meetings, usually on weekends, for three months. The method of attracting new participants is carried out according to the principle of network marketing, when “trainees” voluntarily recruit new students.
Lifespring summarized the ideological features in the article “Psychic Programming as a Method social management» Professor of Philosophy, Head of the Department of the Faculty of Personnel Management of Moscow State University, Vasily Pugachev. Here are some of these signs:
Stealth. The process of psychoprogramming occurs only when the test subject does not know how exactly he is being manipulated. Therefore, he is told that the effectiveness of the training is ensured only with complete trust in the trainer.
Intimate confessions and self-flagellation. A negative retrospective view of your life -- effective remedy to destroy the existing value system and free up space in the psyche for “new records.”
Assistant coaches posing as regular participants. This ancient technique is used, for example, in the game of thimbles. “Helpers” applaud and shush in the right places, share emotional life conflicts, and do everything that increases the effectiveness of suggestion.
The illusion of omnipotence as the core of a new worldview. The main idea of the training: a person is to blame for his own fate, including accidents and illnesses. Such suggestion creates confusion, confusion and guilt. Previous values are being questioned. And it is immediately offered (and in reality imperceptibly imposed) new way thinking based on the belief in the ability to realize any personal goal. The idea that a person often has more freedom than he thinks is correct, in general, is exaggerated and driven to extremes, giving rise to self-deception of omnipotence.
Strict rules of conduct. Establishing mandatory rules is a means of manipulation that keeps participants under complete control.
An unexpected interpretation of the exercises done. Participants are not explained the meaning and purpose of the exercise. For example, they demand to run a certain distance, and after the run they report an unexpected interpretation of this event: “the slower you ran, the greater your resistance to change.” The stunning effect serves to form blind, thoughtless obedience.
Promises of confidentiality and waiver of claims against trainers. The behavior of participants bound by promises is easy to predict and easy to manage.
Physical and (or) psychological exhaustion. This favorite method of totalitarian sects is used to put a person into a light trance and increase his suggestibility.
Blocking communications, social isolation prevents the opportunity to express doubt, disagreement or criticism.
Using special breathing techniques, such as interactive breathing without pauses between breaths, slows down blood circulation in the brain. As a result, dizziness appears, thinking is weakened, and feelings are heightened, which increases the trainer’s impact on the subconscious.
A ban on making notes so that a person cannot record and then analyze what is happening. Rational thinking hinders the effectiveness of training that relies on emotions.
Group pressure. Another technique from the collection of totalitarian sects, where the group is the main programming tool. Participants develop a strong sense of group cohesion, exclusivity, and then chosenness.
New group language. A technique of psychocults that create a special language for initiates, such as the complex terminology of Scientologists. A specific language creates a feeling of being chosen and camouflages the true meaning of words and expressions for non-adherents.
Relaxation, induction of dreams, fantasies, memories. This technique is often used by professional hypnotists. Participants are asked to relax, to be transported with the help of their imagination to some state, while telling them stories and parabolas containing certain commands.
Introduction to trance through paradoxes and contradictions. Psychotherapists use this technique to quietly put a person into a state of hypnosis and prevent his resistance. A popular Lifespring construction is this: “The more you try to avoid the process, the more you get drawn into it.”
Repetitive movements or music. Sound-rhythmic influence underlies any religious-magical system. In addition to music, the training uses repeated group chants, applause, standing up, and turning around one’s own axis.
Understanding the mechanisms of influence of psychotraining will help you decide whether you need such an expensive and often unsafe test. Quoting an Internet blogger under the nickname Gremlin, who went through Lifespring and described his experience in a livejournal: “Life is like hormonal treatment. There is a result, but there are a lot of side effects. You should go in the following cases. 1. You have two choices: either hang yourself or go to life. 2. You understand very clearly why you are going there. You are ready to spend 90% of your energy on control in order to absorb what you need. 3. You understand “where” you need to go, but you cannot “break through” and are ready to throw everything at the “altar of victory.” In all other cases there is no need to go.”
Attractive product name. Its miraculousness (often imaginary). Aggressive marketing strategy. Focus on mass demand. What else do you need to become successful and rich in the USA?
Essentially, this is the American dream - figure out what to sell in order to become a millionaire.
But do the true properties of the product you are selling matter? And should the seller care about the fate of those who became his clients?..
"Lifespring" (literally - "source of life" or "spring of life") is an American company commercial organization, i.e. an organization created to make a profit.
This company was registered in 1974 by an experienced active salesperson of trainings (“mlmschik”) - John Henley Sr.
Initially, John Henley sold training to a company called Mind Dynamics.
The Mind Dynamics company was closely associated with an MLM (network marketing) company called Holiday Magic, which sold supposedly miraculous and ultra-economical household chemicals, cosmetics, and then supposedly effective medicines. And in fact, the specialists of “Holiday Magic” were engaged in active sales (popularly this method of sales is called “steaming”) of “Mind Dynamics” seminars and trainings.
But in 1973, Mind Dynamics collapsed (due to lawsuits - the company was engaged in medical activities without a license - selling supposedly miraculous drugs, and the death of one of the founders of this company), and then the resourceful young American John, who gained invaluable experience in MLM (network marketing) and active sales, I decided to go on an independent voyage.
It is necessary to say a few words about the creator of “Mind Speaker”.
This man's name was Alexander Everett. In fact, he was a typical representative of the multifaceted New Age movement, a lover of esotericism and a seeker of mysterious means of spiritual growth. (Or maybe a seeker of magical means of enrichment and power over people?)
Alexander Everett was an active member of the Unity Church, a dubious organization dedicated, in particular, to supposedly healing prayers, and practiced the so-called Christian Science, which a number of experts consider a totalitarian sect. Everett was interested in the Rosicrucians and studied such occult teachings as the theosophy of Helena Blavatsky and the anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner. In addition, Everett mastered the pseudoscientific “Silva Method” (meditation) and was fascinated by the ideas of Edgar Cayce (a famous American spiritualist medium).
These are the “Dynamics of the Mind”...
In light of all these occult hobbies, it is not surprising that the Lifespring company, created by a former employee of Alexander Everett, promoted, in fact, esoteric trainings, the recipe of which is, covertly or overtly, occult.
Indeed, what Lifespring clients did during the trainings is akin to all sorts of magical rituals designed to attract success. For example, in the Middle Ages Western Europe There was a witchcraft ritual that supposedly allowed one to become a well-aimed shooter - to hit a crucifix with a bow. And in our country, superstitious people believed: in order to become a successful card player, it is necessary at Bright Matins, when the priest first proclaims “Christ is Risen” from the pulpit, to answer: “There is an ace of wine!”
In fact, the principle “do something forbidden and you will gain strength”- This is a very ancient occult principle. As in general, all these ideas of rebirth, second birth, painful transformation, painful cleansing, on which the Lifespring trainings and a lot of other psychocults and destructive trainings are built.
Cross the threshold! Give up prohibitions! Break the taboo! - this is what the training tasks of Lifespring and other psychocults and destructive trainings boil down to.
We can also recall medieval ideas about witches’ Sabbaths, in which we will find the same principle: forbidden actions give witchcraft power. Indeed, it was precisely the inhuman, immoral actions allegedly committed by witches and representing a mixture of lust and anger, lust and hatred, all these ecstatic dances and demonstrations of obscene poses, kissing the butt and dancing back to back, according to medieval ideas, that endowed witches with magical power and placed them under the protection of the devil himself...
But the Lifespring company and personally John Henley Sr. are known not for their covens, occult activities and shamanic rituals, but for the consequences of all this.
Destroyed careers and families, training participants who went crazy and committed suicide - these are the fruits of the activities of active sellers of harsh occult methods of transformation. The Lifespring company lost more than thirty lawsuits in which it acted as a defendant, and as a result was closed.
But unfortunately, John Henley himself did not go to prison, but continues to practice to this day. He has a website on the Internet where the now aged Henley advertises his new training...
But this is all USA American dreams, American charlatans and lovers of easy money. What do we have in our country?
I think it’s no secret to anyone that Russia is also full of lovers of easy ways to get rich and, accordingly, followers of Everett and Henley. Some of these followers are, in fact, direct receivers - they themselves took Lifespring trainings, others are receivers, so to speak, in spirit, but there is no fundamental difference between these and these “trainers”:
- Both of them process training participants based on the principle “forbidden actions give power”;
- both present scientifically unfounded and potentially dangerous “methods” as effective keys to success and well-being;
- Both of them don’t give a damn about what will happen to the training participant under the influence of all these occult-esoteric sabbaths: “he’ll be left without a job, without a family, he’ll go crazy, he’ll commit suicide - don’t give a damn! If only I would pay money to participate in the training!”
By the way, one can note with bitter irony that in our country the Bolshevik principle has also been mixed with the occult principle “forbidden actions give strength” "to the core, and then..."
It should also be noted that domestic figures of hidden and overt training occultism no longer act under the brand “Mind Dynamics” or “Lifespring”. There is a new brand in use in our country - .
The fundamental difference between Russia and the United States in terms of destructive training is that our judicial system, apparently, cannot do anything against this kind of training.
So, despite the fact that in Russia there have already been cases of insanity and cases of suicide after various personal growth trainings, neither lawsuits, there have been no criminal cases against destructive trainers yet.
The only hope in this situation is that today many people who have suffered from personal growth trainings are uniting to fight this destructive and socially harmful phenomenon, and in the media personal growth trainings are shown very truthfully and clearly.
But is this enough?..
You can
Which provides a brief history of Lifespring, as well as a description of why exactly it has become notorious: several people have died due to the training (this was proven during the trial), and quite a few people have lost their mental health.
Let's clarify the question of whether Lifespring is a cult? Answer: no, it is not. A sect is, according to Ushakov’s dictionary, 1. a religious community consisting of people who broke away from the dominant church and adopted a new creed 2. trans. A group of people who have isolated themselves from communication with others and have withdrawn into themselves. This is precisely the definition that training advocates like to use: we are not a sect, since we have nothing to do with religion.
Lifespring is really not a cult. Such organizations are called psychocults or therapeutic cults. A psychocult is an organization that uses mind control techniques and psychological violence against its members, and whose ideology does not include religious ideas. Psychocults include Scientology, Lifespring, EST training by Werner Erhard and - in the Russian version - Sinton.
As a rule, the name “Lifespring” itself is rarely used in domestic training companies. These trainings are simply called “personal growth training” or by the name of the company (For example, “Open World”). The training has a unique structure, consisting of basic, advanced and leadership courses. Advertising for courses contains vague promises of new achievements in business, improvements in personal life and all sorts of dreams come true. For example, like this:
- Filled with admiration, the description of the storm of emotions and the mess in the participants’ heads, the abuse of metaphors and training newspeak - that’s what I see here.
Today almost the whole world is training. Presidents of countries have teams of trainers; when applying for a job, you are asked to indicate in your resume what trainings you have completed; large companies have their own full-time trainers. And if they cannot afford this, then at least once a year they invite the “Varangians” to their place. Parents are racking their brains about where they can send their offspring to train.
- Does everyone understand that without training you won’t be hired for a decent job? Everyone understands that this is very, very popular, but whoever doesn’t need this is retarded? By the way, I also have an employer’s review of those who completed the training, and it is not at all what you would expect based on the advertising.
And here are examples of reviews, some of which are not published on the official websites of training companies:
This is written by a person who has gone through all three stages and has been stewing in the “training movement” for a long time. Further, he also talks about the colossal achievements that the participants allegedly achieve:
When I went to such a training, they had a joke about the fact that the graduate of the training “found a wife and quit his job” or “left his wife and found a job.” In fact, all these events and achievements are perfectly accomplished by people without additional brainwashing for 300-500-1000 dollars.
By the way, my husband, who was not yet my husband at that time, was kicked out of Lifespring. They called him a dude and a trash talker. He wanted to find out what he would pay money for, and even negotiated for himself the first two hours for free.
- Guess who earns the most out of all my friends who have dealt with this training?
And here is an example of a response to criticism of the training:
All these people have achieved amazing success both in the spiritual, intellectual, and material aspects of life. Have you achieved anything in your life? There is a wise saying: “If you are so smart, then why aren’t you rich?” This is a death sentence for smart losers. That is, never listen to unsuccessful people - they can only teach you how to become like them: cynics, losers. This is all from spiritual dissatisfaction. (...) People do not have their own individuality, propaganda controls them like a herd of sheep and rams, brainwashes them. This only causes contempt.
This is typical rhetoric from training advocates, who immediately label those who criticize their system as “losers”, and for some reason love to talk about herds of sheep and rams, which are not individuals and are not strong personalities. I have heard such reasoning dozens of times, in the same expressions. Perhaps they are training for this. However, I also heard these arguments from the so-called. “non-trivial personalities”, all sorts of tall tales and scotonicists. I laughed a lot - when the tenth absolutely non-trivial person tells you the same bullshit, it’s already funny. However, I digress.
- In general, there is some cruel irony in the fact that people who are absolutely shamelessly exploited by trainers are talking about sheep and brainwashing.
For a very long time I ran after people related to trainings and asked them to provide me with the results of some independent studies of the effects of TRL, in particular, I asked Natalya Markovich aka Marcovich , but in response they sent me to an article in the magazine "Egoist". The only thing I found was mentions on Wikipedia:
Where do these results come from? I'll tell you. If the survey was carried out through short time after the training, this is just a short-term effect of “pumping emotions”, which I experienced myself and which quickly passes. However, it was unpleasant for me to see Yalom’s name among others. Further:
But this is more similar to what we are dealing with now in Russia.
The “taboo” for training participants speaks for itself. Since I took the training, they have not changed:
Forbidden:
Attend classes with acquaintances, friends and family. (two people acting in concert can organize effective resistance. Again, divide and conquer)
Discuss the training, the behavior of its participants, and so on outside the training group among themselves. (prevention of return of criticality)
During the training, participants and the trainer criticize, humiliate each other or remove each other from the lesson. (not followed by trainers)
Establish any relationship with the coach other than business. (not observed)
Intervene in the therapeutic process and take the initiative, no matter what happens in the group. (why do we need hotbeds of rebellion?)
Refuse to take part in games and discussions, that is, “hide” without objective reasons. (Gross violation of ethics)
Next. How to recognize destructive training:
1. The very name “personal growth training” is practically discredited. Respectable organizations, like the Institute of Group and Family Psychotherapy, simply do not use such names.
2. If you are invited to a “guest evening” where strangely cheerful people describe their colossal successes that occurred after the training.
3. If your friend praises the training very much, but persistently does not talk about what happens there, getting off with general phrases like “this will change your whole life” or “this is a very useful experience” or “this is only suitable for strong personalities”
4. If you hear the words “basic course”, “Advanced course”, “leadership program”, “ropes courses”, etc.
5. If you hear the words “newspeak” - breakthrough, leadership, responsibility (in place and out of place), trust, etc., the name of the exercises “red and black”, “surprise movie”, “what do you want” and etc.
Anticipating questions. Personally, I took two stages (basic and advanced courses), unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the company. This happened 7 years ago. For a long time I considered this experience rather positive, since I used the training to learn how to withstand pressure. However, now I understand that this training caused me harm, expressed, in particular, in attacks reminiscent of depressive episodes, lasting for several days and accompanied by an acute feeling of guilt, self-hatred and a feeling of terrible, lingering blackness. Before the training, I had never experienced anything like this, I’m sure that it was all caused by the training, but I won’t reveal the mechanism - it’s too personal. I left because I didn’t like involving strangers in the training - I wasn’t sure of its general usefulness even then.
Actually, here it is. Distribution is welcome. From my point of view, Lifespring is more dangerous than Kozlov, since he has taken root in corporate culture and many people become involved in it involuntarily. Well, in general, according to the description, it is more traumatic. I want people to know that forewarned is forearmed, and I’ve seen a lot of ingratiating reviews on LiveJournal, including from otherwise fairly decent people.
All we will destroy the world of consciousness
To the ground, and then -
We are ours, we are new world let's build
And we will be completely happy!
In just a few days
These are words from the book “The True Truth, or a Textbook for a Psychologist on Life” by psychologist Nikolai Kozlov, the founder of another no less dangerous psycho-cult, “Sinton.”
Let's think about these lines.
The first thing that catches your eye is that it talks about the destruction of consciousness. This is immediately alarming (it’s not for nothing that lifespring is spoken of as destructive psychocult - destruction is an important part here). Why on earth would a person who came to a business training undertake to “destroy consciousness”? And what does such destruction entail? When defining lifespring trainings, it is explicitly stated that these are transformational trainings. What kind of “transformation” is this? Obviously, we're talking about about the transformation of consciousness.
The second noteworthy thing in the poem is the words that those who attended the training will become “completely happy.” Firstly, the promise of universal happiness in itself is strange and smacks of dubious propaganda that sects like to carry out. Secondly, isn’t it strange that they come to the training very different people with very different goals - and they are all offered some kind of universal recipe, and the recipe is not for solving their specific problems, but a recipe for “happiness”?
Well, okay, let’s leave the epigraph and move on to specifics.
Quite strange is the fact that not a single training company will answer your question - what exactly will you do during the training? Under various pretexts, they will deny you this information, although if you take a medical institution, for example, they are required to tell you the course of treatment; if you get a job, they will tell you your future job responsibilities. Here there is complete secrecy. Moreover, during the training, any audio and video recording, as well as the use of mobile phone- the phone is turned off for the entire duration of the training.
Before completing the training, participants are interviewed. A participant may be refused training without explanation. Also, a participant can be removed during the training process. The point here is that during group training, it is imperative that all group participants follow the instructions of the trainer - there must be one hundred percent controllability. If one of the participants poses a threat to such controllability, he is removed or not allowed.
Now about the main thing - the content of the training. Lifespring technology breaks the training into several stages - Basic course, Advanced course, Leadership program. The basic course does not use strict methods - the main goal is to attract you to the advanced course and mentally prepare you for it. The advanced course is directly working with consciousness - its transformation.
Someone will say - well, just think, let them “transform my consciousness”, if I am not susceptible to this, if I have other goals, I will not succumb. However, such self-confidence is clearly excessive. Even experienced psychiatrists who attended the course under the guise of ordinary untrained people to find out the methods used, and even they, knowing and being able to use protection from influences on the psyche, experienced great difficulties. According to psychiatrists, ordinary person in almost one hundred percent of cases it “breaks” within three days.
Here we come to the most interesting part - how is this transformation done? One of the components is that a strong external effect on the senses is created. The training usually takes place over three days from 9 am to 11 pm; in fact, classes often end at 3 am. Late arrivals are strictly prohibited. Thus, the first is lack of sleep and rest. A person who is without rest for several days in a row cannot react to influences in the same way as a normally resting person. The psyche turns on defense mechanisms from overload of consciousness, consciousness becomes dull - in this state it is easier to influence the subconscious. There is only one meal per day - lunch. Again, the situation is not very comfortable for the body, it is stressful. You can try to sleep for 5 hours for three days, eat once a day, and the rest of the time, for example, just actively do things (without leaving them for more late date, trying to do as much as possible these days) - you will see how psychologically difficult it will be.
Exercises take place indoors, under artificial lighting with windows closed from outside light. A similar technique is used in casinos to make people lose track of time. Some training exercises take place in the dark or in very dim light. The effect is also on the ear - part of the exercises take place under deafeningly loud music. The room may be quite hot and there is no ventilation. Some of the exercises involve physical contact between participants - hugs, kisses, pushes, maybe even hits. As is known from psychology, people are divided into those who perceive information more through vision (visual), through hearing (auditory) or through touch (kinesthetic). As you can see, the trainings impact all senses, no one will be left unreached.
The methodology is structured in such a way that the exercises occur in a special sequence, when one prepares a person for the next. Example: first, a person needs to go into a circle and openly talk about his weaknesses and shortcomings. The coach emphasizes these shortcomings in front of the group in every possible way. The maximum task is for a person to cry, realizing his “imperfection”. Then there is a 180-degree turn - under the control of the coach, the group supports the person, explains to him how good he is and that he will succeed.
The goal of many exercises and training in general is to cause strong emotional arousal, suppressing the rational principle. The more emotions, the better, and emotions during the training process are contradictory. It is through this “charge” that a person is hooked on training and he wants to come back for these emotions again and again. The danger is that sooner or later the pendulum of the human psyche will swing back - and all the positive charge may be replaced by severe depression. As a result, in the same USA, there are several cases of suicides after Lifespring trainings and subsequent trials.
The second danger is the loss of objective perception of the world. One of the cornerstones of the training is responsibility - “a person is to blame for his own failures and he builds his future himself and it depends only on him.” The purpose of the training is to make a person believe this half-truth (more precisely, a lie). Firstly, communication with such a “charged person with a burning gaze” subsequently looks very strange and others will take it as inadequacy. Secondly, since there are many determining factors in life, sooner or later failure will still befall a person, and the more difficult it will be, the stronger he believes in success.
The third danger, which in my opinion is the main one, is the destruction of old attitudes of consciousness. A person may lose his tribal and national attitudes, the unique identity of his personality, moral and ethical principles. In place of this, some kind of “new consciousness” will be built. This is very dangerous, since it destroys the very personality of a person, replaces his attitudes and beliefs with others - a person ceases to be himself with all the advantages and disadvantages and becomes a kind of zombie.
Finally, fourth - as mentioned above, the trainings actively express the idea that a person creates his own destiny. However, in reality the opposite is true - he is under the constant control of the coach - directly and indirectly through the group. That is, in fact, a person does not control - he is controlled.
More about this. Lifespring uses several ways to control a person. The first is “taking on the weak”. If a person tries to leave the training, they actively and even aggressively explain to him that he is a “weakling” and could not stand the test. The second is group control. Each training participant is given a buddy - a partner, with whom he completes tasks together, and the participant himself is responsible for the partner’s results and vice versa. Leaving the training means not only leaving yourself, but also “setting up”, “letting down” your partner. Moreover, the “success” of the entire group also depends on each of its members, and if a person tries to leave, the coach puts pressure on him that he will let the group down - the most enthusiastic members of the group immediately take the side of the coach and, without knowing it, help him by putting pressure per person collective. This collective unconscious is much stronger and more destructive than the individual.
The bottom line is dependence on training, controllability, increased emotional background (including sleep disorders), inadequate self-esteem, memory and attention disorders.
Rehabilitation after Lifespring training can last from a month to six months to a year; in certain cases, a return to the original state of consciousness is either impossible or possible only after a psychiatric hospital. It all depends on the mental stability of the person.
So, I wrote about the external environment of the training, its dangers, and control methods. Didn't describe interesting and important point- what exercises are done at lifespring? Despite the secrecy, there is information about this. This will be the subject of the next article.
The history of the beginning and development of transformational “personal growth training” in the world and in Russia
The history of training begins in the late 60s of the twentieth century.
"Mind Dynamics" The training and subsequently the company of the same name were founded by Alexander Everett in 1968 in Texas, USA. Alexander Everett's training was a harbinger and prototype of trainings for “personal growth, awareness of the truths of existence, leadership practice and team effectiveness” that appeared later in the USA.
Alexander Everett, originally from England, came to America in 1962. Having participated for seven years in the organization and formation secondary school Fort Worth County Day School, A. Everett completed the work in 1968 that formed the basis of sensory training aimed at “unlocking human potential” Mind Dynamics, which later became the prototype for training EST, Lifespring, Actualizations and several other training organizations that flourished in full force from the early seventies and continued their development in the 1980s.
Alexander Everett claims that Mind Dynamics has its roots in the various avenues of spiritual and personal growth that he has been exploring since leaving England. A. Everett gives primary influence on the philosophy of his training to works Edgar Cayce, Rosicrucianism, Egyptology, and Unity. When creating the training, A. Everett intended, first of all, to offer a technology that would prepare a person for the onset of the so-called. .
The result of the work was a four-day training, which largely consisted of practical exercises. The training gained its popularity primarily in California, where Alexander Everett was soon invited to present his work. The result of this trip was that the headquarters of Mind Dynamics moved in 1970 to San Francisco.
Everett trained a galaxy of young trainers who soon became leaders of the movement.
The Mind Dynamics training brought success to its creator and attracted the attention of William Penn Patrick, owner of a pyramidal cosmetics sales network called "Holiday Magic". This person was also the owner of a training company "Leadership Dynamics". He soon purchased Everett's training in 1970, intending to use it as an additional training tool for his distributors.
"Dynamics of the Mind" was a course repeating the Silva Method, the "Dynamics of Leadership" program was a tough confrontational system of interaction with the training group. The influence of both of these trainings subsequently manifested itself in many training programs created later.
William Penn Patrick's training organization, Leadership Dynamics, according to Gene Church, author of Pete, Group Training Failure, was out of control due to the methods it used in its programs. Numerous lawsuits that soon followed contributed to the company's immediate closure. Soon the Mind Dynamics trainings also ceased. Structure Network Marketing"Holiday Magic" was declared illegal and closed. William Penn Patrick died in a plane crash at an air show in Sacramento.
After the closure of “Leadership Dynamics” and “Mind Dynamics”, some of the coaches and instructors decided to continue what they started on their own.
Four of them Bob White, Randy Revell, Charlene Afermow and John Hanley founded in 1974 Lifespring.
Founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 EST, which later developed into a company The Forum. Subsequently, this company developed into the international corporation Landmark Education with centers in the USA, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.
Bob White left Lifespring, went to Japan and founded a training organization called Life Dynamics, which later changed its name to The Arc.
Randy Revell left Lifespring and founded the company Context Trainings.
Charlene Afermow joined the Erhard organization as a coach. She subsequently terminated her cooperation due to disagreements with the company's management and returned to Lifespring.
Howard Nease founded Personal Dynamics.
Jim Quinn founded Lifestream.
Thomas Willhite founded PSI World Seminars.
Stewart Emery worked for est and later founded the company Actualizations.
William Penn Patrick's training organization resumed its activities and is today known as Leadership Dynamics.
Jim Cook, Emilia Davis and a number of other trainers from the Lifespring corporation subsequently created the company Asia Works with headquarters in Hong Kong.
Continuing his search for “new knowledge,” Alexander Everett set off on trips to Russia and India in 1974 for study and research. eastern philosophy and religion. In 1977 he began conducting his seminars Inward Bound ("The Path to Yourself" / another translation - "Internal Limits"), to which he devotes most of his time to this day. Alexander Everett's seminar "The Path to Yourself" takes place over two full days. In addition to this workshop, he also conducts the Life, Love and Light program, which seven day meditation process.
In October 2000, Alexander Everett came to Russia for the first time after a 10-year break and conducted two seminars "Inward Bound".
Trainings in this area were presented for the first time in Russia Lifespring Foundation an organization founded by the wife of one of the founders of Lifespring, John Hanley, Candace Hanley, in 1989.
About a year before the first Lifespring Basic Course training in Moscow, a group of American tourists arrived in Russia intending to go rafting down one of the Ural rivers. This group included the wife of the founder of Lifespring Corp., Candace Henley. During this trip to the Urals, the American and Russian participants came up with the idea of conducting a trial Lifespring training in Russia.
After the successful premiere of the trainings in Moscow, we are creating Charitable Foundation "Spring of Life"(one of the translations from English "Lifespring"). To conduct their training, the Americans bring their trainers and at the same time begin training Russian trainers: Ivan Maurakh and later, Vladimir Shubin.
The beginning of the nineties in Russia was the time of the triumphant procession of Lifespring transformation trainings. Branches of the Moscow Spring of Life Foundation are opening in St. Petersburg, Riga, Kaliningrad, Odessa, Yekaterinburg, Naberezhnye Chelny. Trainings are held to full houses of 200 - 250 people each. The ambitions of the company's leaders are growing and, at the same time, disagreements in matters of management and financial policy are growing. The conflict between the Americans and the Russian side reached its maximum depth by the end of 1995. By this time, two Russian trainers have already been trained. One of the American trainers of the Lifespring corporation, Lisa Kreo, is going over to the side of the Russian fund. 1995 ends with a break in the relationship between Candice Henley and “Spring of Life”, which by this time was headed by Svetlana Chumakova. The disagreements between the parties are aggravated by the refusal of the Russian side to fulfill previous obligations.
The Americans decide to make a second attempt and Candice Henley establishes a second "Spring of Life", Charitable Foundation for the support of humanitarian and educational programs. The company is headed by one of the graduates, Roman Tikhonov. Less than a year later, the former “Spring of Life” is split in two due to ongoing disagreements: "Spring of Life" And "Network of Inspiration". The second company is headed by an American, ex-trainer of the Advanced Course of the Lifespring Corporation, Lisa Creo. A number of graduates leave with her, including Vladimir Gerasichev. In mid-1997, the split “Spring of Life” experienced another crisis and “divided” once again. As a result, “Spring of Life” remains, which now represents only a name and an office (later this company will begin to conduct business trainings with invited trainers, including Denis Percy), and First training company, which will later be renamed to "Step into the future". Less than a year passes before a split occurs in the company "Network Inspiration", Volodya Gerasichev leaves it and organizes his own company "Open Forum". Thus, by the end of 1997, there were five companies in Moscow conducting Lifespring trainings in various interpretations:
- "Spring of Life" Lifespring, founder Candice Henley, director Roman Tikhonov, personal growth trainings. The trainings are conducted by trainers from the American corporation Lifespring and Ivan Maurakh.
- "Spring of Life" founder Svetlana Chumakova, conducts business trainings.
- The first training company "Step into the future". Coach Vladimir Shubin and Lifespring training graduates trained by him as trainers.
- "Network Inspiration", owner - Lisa Kreo, personal growth trainings.
- "Open Forum", owner Vladimir Gerasichev, personal growth trainings.
Around 1993, psychologist Mikhail Lyakhovitsky began conducting EST trainings by Werner Erhard in Moscow. His training is called "Transformation". By this time, a company was already operating in Moscow "Prologue", led by Mikhail Kosov, the company was created by psychologists - graduates of Lifespring trainings, who remade the training material in their own interpretation.
Along with this, a center has been created headed by psychologist Nikolai Kozlov, a graduate of the Lifespring Basic Course and the author of the popular books “Philosophical Tales”, “The True Truth”, etc., who, by his own admission, conducts trainings and seminars in a “softer version” , compared to Lifespring trainings. Gaining a certain fame (" World Centers Relationships" was founded in 1975 by American psychologist Bill Ridler).
By the end of 1998, the Lifespring corporation was preparing two more trainers, Stephen Caron and Roman Tikhonov. By this time, branches of the fund operate in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhny Novgorod, Izhevsk and Vladikavkaz.
By the end of 1999, some branches of the Lifespring Foundation "Spring of Life" began independent activities (Kazan, Izhevsk, Naberezhnye Chelny), and some ceased their activities (Vladikavkaz, St. Petersburg). Lisa Kreo ceases the activities of her company "Network Inspiration" in Moscow and leaves for her homeland, the USA. The Open Forum company opens centers in Yekaterinburg (1998), Minsk (1999), Vogograd (1999). Since the summer of 2000, coach Ivan Maurakh goes to work for the company "Open Forum". First training company "Step into the future" creates a network of independent centers in Kyiv, Kaliningrad, Riga, St. Petersburg (the center is separated in 2000) and Odessa (the center begins independent activities in 1999). In 1999, one of the graduates of Lifespring trainings, Dmitry Semin, created the company “Training Industry”, in which Mikhail Lyakhovitsky began to conduct his “Transformation” trainings. In the summer of 2000, Roman Tikhonov, together with a group of graduates, created the Avatar company, which aims to “conduct trainings on training personnel of domestic and foreign companies in Russia, team building, conducting personal improvement programs for top and middle management, VIP trainings, seminars and trainings for spiritual growth, educational programs for youth and adaptation programs for military personnel after serving military service in places of military conflicts in Russia and abroad."
Most of the trainings conducted using Lifespring technology, which were mentioned above, are two or three-stage educational process, consisting of Introductory course(Main Course, Basic Course, First Stage, etc.), "Advanced Course"(Leadership Course, Second Stage, Breakthrough), and a three-month program of practice of “an advanced lifestyle and achieving real results and goals determined by the training participants.” As a rule, the Main Course (first stage) lasts from 2.5 to 3 full days. The cost of this training is various companies ranges from $120 to $250. An advanced course lasts from five to six and costs from $250 to $700. A three-month practical course, often called a "Leadership Program" usually lasts 2.5 to 3 months and costs from $200 to $1000 Some companies also offer VIP training. This is individual training for owners or managers of companies. This process lasts depending on the client’s wishes and involves a full range of training services, including inviting American and European specialists in the field of “spiritual growth,” esotericism, etc.
The Lifespring organization is one of the most dangerous totalitarian sects classified as psychocults operating in Russia.
This organization is classified as a destructive cult by the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as well-known experts in the field of religious studies:
professor of theology, a prominent expert in the field of sect studies, vice-president of the international “institute for the study of new religious movements “Dialogue Center”” A.L. Dvorkin (Moscow);
Chairman of the interministerial commission for the fight against sects of the French government, Alain Vivien;
Doctor of Theology, President of the International Dialogue Center Johannes Ogaard (Denmark);
commissioner of the Berlin-Brandenburg Church on sect issues, vice-president of the international "Dialogue Center" Thomas Gandow (Germany);
Honored Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Family and Traditional Values, Professor Claire Champollion (France);
international researcher of destructive cults Rüdiger Hout (Germany);
In addition, (Lifespring) is classified as one of the most well-known destructive cults in a letter to “Heads of healthcare authorities” signed by the Minister of Health and Medical Industry of the Russian Federation A.D. Tsaregorodtsev, No. 2510/3774-96-27 dated 08.21.96.
The dangerous sects (Lifespring) also include psychologist Steven Hassan (USA);
Psychologist and expert on psychological violence, Ph.D. E.N. Volkov (N-Novgorod);
Doctor med. Sciences, Professor of the State scientific center social and forensic psychiatry named after. V. P. Serbsky, F. V. Kondratyev (Moscow).
In particular, as a destructive religious organization, this sect is classified into:
Information material Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of the Russian Federation "To the report on the socio-medical consequences of the influence of some religious organizations on the health of the individual, family, society and measures to provide assistance to victims", 1996;
Analytical Bulletin of the State Duma of the Russian Federation "On the national threat to Russia from destructive religious organizations", 1996;
Rented premises above specified organization used to recruit new members.
When preparing the article, materials on the history of the sect were obtained from the website -
Related articles
The best amulets against the evil eye and damage Amulet against the evil eye with hands for children
How to read the Psalter correctly
Delicious dishes with sausages
A glimpse of Bella. Romantic chronicle. A glimpse of genius. Messerer about Akhmadulina Boris Messerer glimpse of Bella romantic chronicle
I dreamed that I was sailing on a boat on the river
How to cook beef entrecote in a frying pan
About the company Foreign language courses at Moscow State University
Which city and why became the main one in Ancient Mesopotamia?
Why Bukhsoft Online is better than a regular accounting program!
Which year is a leap year and how to calculate it