Lifespring
Encyclopedia
Lifespring was a for-profit private company, founded in 1974. The company promoted itself through books and word of mouth
advertising. By 1989, officials stated that over 300,000 people had enrolled in the company's seminars. Lifespring has been classified as a New Age
/human potential training
company.
The company was the subject of investigative reports
by the media, and was criticized by former staff and participants. After a series of lawsuits in the 1980s which alleged that Lifespring was responsible for mental damages to the plaintiffs
, the company paid out damages as a result of settlements and one lost jury decision
.
with Werner Erhard
, the founder of est
, which became the basis for Landmark Education
. Lifespring concentrated on how people experience each other, whereas est dealt with changing the way people experience themselves. However, there were many similarities between the two.
The former Director for Corporate Affairs of Lifespring, Charles "Raz" Ingrasci, also worked with Werner Erhard
, promoting an est
mission to the USSR and the Hunger Project. Ingrasci is now President of the Hoffman Institute
which offers programs such as the Hoffman Quadrinity Process which some regard as similar to Lifespring.
Though John Hanley denied that Lifespring was a duplicate of Erhard Seminars Training
, Melton
and Lewis described the similarities between the two as "striking", in their 1992 work, Perspectives on the New Age. Melton and Lewis point out that both Werner Erhard
and John Hanley had previously worked at Mind Dynamics
. They then went on to cite specific examples of techniques utilized by both Lifespring and EST, stating that both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules", both groups require applause after a member's "share" in front of the group, both deemphasized reason
, in favor of "feeling and action". The authors also pointed out that graduates of both Lifespring and EST were "fiercely loyal", and recruited heavily for their respective groups, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero.
Studies commissioned by Lifespring in the 1980s by researchers at Berkeley, Stanford, and UCSF, including Lee Ross
, Morton Lieberman, and Irvin Yalom, found that an overwhelming majority of participants in these trainings called them either "extremely valuable" or "valuable" (around 90%). Many participants of these trainings found them to be among the most profound experiences of their lives and claimed they were able to produce substantial results in their lives as a result of their participation.
Less than 2% found them to be "of no value". Training graduates were often eager to share their own experiences in the Lifespring trainings with family, friends, and co-workers, although they were precluded from sharing fellow trainees experiences. There was never any any compensation for assisting in enrolling others into the workshops. However, another, independent study found that, "The merging, grandiosity, and identity confusion that has been encouraged and then exploited in the training in order to control participants is now used to tie them to Vitality (Lifespring) in the future by enrolling them in new trainings and enlisting them as recruiters". More than 400,000 people worldwide participated in the Lifespring workshops.
The Lifespring training was composed of successive sessions on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday day and night, Sunday day and night, a Tuesday night post-training session ten days after graduation, and a post-training interview. Evening sessions began at 6:30 pm and lasted until 11:30 or 12 or later. Saturday sessions started at 10 am and lasted until approximately midnight. Sunday sessions started at 9 am and lasted until approximately midnight. Initial Trainings were usually held in the convention facilities of large, expensive hotels. A training was usually composed of 250–300 participants, many volunteers, several official staff, an assistant trainer, and a head trainer.
The training itself consisted of a series of lectures and experiencial processes designed to show the participants a new manner of contending with life situations and concerns and how other possible explanations and interpretations may lead to different results. Some individuals complained that they felt harangued, embarrassed, or humiliated by the trainer during the trainings. Some few individuals choose not to complete the trainings. A preponderance of those that began the trainings found them life altering. Additionally, the trainer used many English words in a manner that was different than their usual meaning. "Commitment", for instance, was defined as "the willingness to do whatever it takes". "Conclusion" was defined as a belief. Also, words such as "responsibility", "space", "surrender", "experience", "trust", "consideration", "unreasonable", "righteous", "totally participate", "from your head", "openness", "letting go" were redefined or used so as to assign them a more specific meaning.
By the conclusion of the training, the Lifespring trainer and volunteers attempted to recruit participants for subsequent, advanced trainings, as well as encouraging them to invite guests to their post training. Participants have quoted the trainers as saying, "Share what you have found with your friends. I want each person here to bring friends to a guest event and to the post-training. Don't keep this to yourselves. Allow them to do the training by sharing with them." Some individuals felt uncomfortable and pressured, by what they considered this unreasonable request. Most, however, invited friends and family to the event.
At the post training, several days later, invited guests of the participants were brought to an adjacent room, and encouraged to commit financially to partake in a future training session. The participants that had just completed the training were also encouraged to enroll in future advanced trainings.
The book Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
made comparisons between Lifespring and Werner Erhard
's Est training
.
Lifespring has been characterized as a form of "Large Group Awareness Training
" in several sources.
to wrongful death. The suits often claimed that the trainings place participants under extreme psychological stress
in order to elicit change. Lifespring was ordered to pay money to participants who required psychiatric hospitalization and to relatives of members who committed suicide.
's 20/20 aired an investigative report
about Lifespring. They interviewed cult expert Dr John Gordon Clark
of Harvard Medical School
, who said the group practiced mind control
and brainwashing. In 1990 KARE-TV (Channel 11) ran a segment called "Mind Games?" that Lifespring claimed was deceptive and sensationalized.
The Skeptic a newsletter of The North Texas Skeptics, reported in 1989 on criticism from a participant that was a staff volunteer until becoming disgruntled with the organization. This former staff volunteer said that workshops were too stressful and disruptive, and that the program was "an urban cult"
.
One prominent critic of Lifespring is Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
. Mrs. Thomas asserted in an interview with The Washington Post
that she chose to seek counseling after her decision to stop participating in Lifespring. In order to avoid phone calls from fellow Lifespring members, urging her to remain in the course, she chose to hide in another part of the United States. One explanation for the criticisms and actions taken by roughly 8% of all Lifespring graduates comes from clinical psychologist and Lifespring graduate Bronson Levin. Levin said, "people who are not prepared for the intense emotional experience of Lifespring or who have hidden traumas tend to become overwhelmed as childhood memories come thundering back to them during training." Virginia Thomas went on to speak on panels and organized anti-cult workshops
for congressional staffers in 1986 and 1988.
Lifespring awareness groups claim that participants are asked to enroll family, friends, etc., in the workshops and to enroll in additional courses.
In 1993, Lutheran Reverend Dr Richard L. Dowhower
, conducted a survey of clergy attitudes toward other groups that they have labeled as cults. The 53 respondents were from the Washington, DC area and included 43 Lutheran clergy and seminarians, one Roman Catholic and one Jewish clergyman, and an Evangelical minister. The response chart indicates twenty eight (28) responses to "The cults I am most concerned about are:", with the answer "Scientology, est/Forum, and Lifespring".
. Dr Dowhower was an advisor of the American Family Foundation, which published the Cult Observer
.
British TV producer and filmmaker Peter Pomerantsev has theorised that model Ruslana Korshunova
's suicide was related to her involvement with Rose of the World, a controversial Moscow-based organisation which describes itself as "training for personality development". While researching for a documentary into Korshunova's death, Pomerantsev learned that the model spent three months attending training session at Rose of the World. These sessions—which encourage participants to share their worst experiences and recall repressed memories—are modelled after Lifespring
, whose controversial methods were the subject of multiple lawsuits for mental damages in the US during the 1980s. Korshunova attended training sessions with a friend, Ukrainian model Anastasia Drozdova, who committed suicide under similar circumstances in 2009. Friends of the two women reported changes in behaviour after several months at the Rose. Korshunova became aggressive, while Drozdova experienced violent mood swings and grew reclusive. Both lost weight. After three months of training, Korshunova returned to New York to look for work, where she wrote of feeling lost and doubting she would ever find herself. Rick Ross, head of the Cult Education Forum, argues that organisations such as Rose of the World "work like drugs: giving you peak experiences, their adherents always coming back for more. The serious problems start when people leave. The trainings have become their lives—they come back to emptiness. The sensitive ones break." Only months after leaving the Rose, Korshunova was found dead.
[27] The Lifespring program was adapted for Russia and is known as Leadership Academy or Sinton. The new religious movement called Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness has been referred to as an "offshoot" of Lifespring.[28]
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
advertising. By 1989, officials stated that over 300,000 people had enrolled in the company's seminars. Lifespring has been classified as a New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
/human potential training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
company.
The company was the subject of investigative reports
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
by the media, and was criticized by former staff and participants. After a series of lawsuits in the 1980s which alleged that Lifespring was responsible for mental damages to the plaintiffs
, the company paid out damages as a result of settlements and one lost jury decision
.
History
John Hanley Sr. founded Lifespring in 1974 after working at an organization called Mind DynamicsMind Dynamics
Mind Dynamics was a seminar company, founded by Alexander Everett in Texas in 1968. Mind Dynamics later led to two other companies, est and Lifespring....
with Werner Erhard
Werner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
, the founder of est
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
, which became the basis for Landmark Education
Landmark Education
Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....
. Lifespring concentrated on how people experience each other, whereas est dealt with changing the way people experience themselves. However, there were many similarities between the two.
The former Director for Corporate Affairs of Lifespring, Charles "Raz" Ingrasci, also worked with Werner Erhard
Werner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
, promoting an est
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
mission to the USSR and the Hunger Project. Ingrasci is now President of the Hoffman Institute
Hoffman Institute
The Hoffman Institute Foundation is a non-profit organization headquartered in the United States and is affiliated with Hoffman Institute International. As of 2008, Hoffman Institute International has Centers in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain,...
which offers programs such as the Hoffman Quadrinity Process which some regard as similar to Lifespring.
Though John Hanley denied that Lifespring was a duplicate of Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
, Melton
J. Gordon Melton
John Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion and New Religious Movements with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
and Lewis described the similarities between the two as "striking", in their 1992 work, Perspectives on the New Age. Melton and Lewis point out that both Werner Erhard
Werner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
and John Hanley had previously worked at Mind Dynamics
Mind Dynamics
Mind Dynamics was a seminar company, founded by Alexander Everett in Texas in 1968. Mind Dynamics later led to two other companies, est and Lifespring....
. They then went on to cite specific examples of techniques utilized by both Lifespring and EST, stating that both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules", both groups require applause after a member's "share" in front of the group, both deemphasized reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
, in favor of "feeling and action". The authors also pointed out that graduates of both Lifespring and EST were "fiercely loyal", and recruited heavily for their respective groups, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero.
Course overview
The Lifespring trainings generally involved a three-level program starting with a "Basic" training, an "Advanced" breakthrough course, and a 3-month "Leadership Program" which taught the students how to implement what they learned from the training into their lives.Studies commissioned by Lifespring in the 1980s by researchers at Berkeley, Stanford, and UCSF, including Lee Ross
Lee Ross
Lee D. Ross is the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, and an influential social psychologist who has studied attribution theory, attributional biases, decision making and conflict resolution, often with longtime collaborator Mark Lepper...
, Morton Lieberman, and Irvin Yalom, found that an overwhelming majority of participants in these trainings called them either "extremely valuable" or "valuable" (around 90%). Many participants of these trainings found them to be among the most profound experiences of their lives and claimed they were able to produce substantial results in their lives as a result of their participation.
Less than 2% found them to be "of no value". Training graduates were often eager to share their own experiences in the Lifespring trainings with family, friends, and co-workers, although they were precluded from sharing fellow trainees experiences. There was never any any compensation for assisting in enrolling others into the workshops. However, another, independent study found that, "The merging, grandiosity, and identity confusion that has been encouraged and then exploited in the training in order to control participants is now used to tie them to Vitality (Lifespring) in the future by enrolling them in new trainings and enlisting them as recruiters". More than 400,000 people worldwide participated in the Lifespring workshops.
The Lifespring training was composed of successive sessions on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday day and night, Sunday day and night, a Tuesday night post-training session ten days after graduation, and a post-training interview. Evening sessions began at 6:30 pm and lasted until 11:30 or 12 or later. Saturday sessions started at 10 am and lasted until approximately midnight. Sunday sessions started at 9 am and lasted until approximately midnight. Initial Trainings were usually held in the convention facilities of large, expensive hotels. A training was usually composed of 250–300 participants, many volunteers, several official staff, an assistant trainer, and a head trainer.
The training itself consisted of a series of lectures and experiencial processes designed to show the participants a new manner of contending with life situations and concerns and how other possible explanations and interpretations may lead to different results. Some individuals complained that they felt harangued, embarrassed, or humiliated by the trainer during the trainings. Some few individuals choose not to complete the trainings. A preponderance of those that began the trainings found them life altering. Additionally, the trainer used many English words in a manner that was different than their usual meaning. "Commitment", for instance, was defined as "the willingness to do whatever it takes". "Conclusion" was defined as a belief. Also, words such as "responsibility", "space", "surrender", "experience", "trust", "consideration", "unreasonable", "righteous", "totally participate", "from your head", "openness", "letting go" were redefined or used so as to assign them a more specific meaning.
By the conclusion of the training, the Lifespring trainer and volunteers attempted to recruit participants for subsequent, advanced trainings, as well as encouraging them to invite guests to their post training. Participants have quoted the trainers as saying, "Share what you have found with your friends. I want each person here to bring friends to a guest event and to the post-training. Don't keep this to yourselves. Allow them to do the training by sharing with them." Some individuals felt uncomfortable and pressured, by what they considered this unreasonable request. Most, however, invited friends and family to the event.
At the post training, several days later, invited guests of the participants were brought to an adjacent room, and encouraged to commit financially to partake in a future training session. The participants that had just completed the training were also encouraged to enroll in future advanced trainings.
The book Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training
Evaluating a Large Group Awareness Training: A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Effects is a non-fiction psychology book on Large Group Awareness Training, published in 1990 by Springer-Verlag. The book was co-authored by psychologists Jeffrey D. Fisher, Roxane Cohen Silver, Jack M. Chinsky,...
made comparisons between Lifespring and Werner Erhard
Werner Erhard
Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...
's Est training
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
.
Lifespring has been characterized as a form of "Large Group Awareness Training
Large Group Awareness Training
Large-group awareness training refers to activities usually offered by groups linked with the human potential movement which claim to increase self-awareness and bring about desirable transformations in individuals' personal lives...
" in several sources.
Lawsuits
Lawsuits) were filed against Lifespring for charges ranging from involuntary servitudeInvoluntary servitude
Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs...
to wrongful death. The suits often claimed that the trainings place participants under extreme psychological stress
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
in order to elicit change. Lifespring was ordered to pay money to participants who required psychiatric hospitalization and to relatives of members who committed suicide.
Critical viewpoints
In 1980, ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's 20/20 aired an investigative report
Investigative report
An investigative report is a document that is meant to provide information on a certain topic that is not easily obtained. It is meant to present the reader with a wealth of easily understood information and usually contains an interview or two on the subject...
about Lifespring. They interviewed cult expert Dr John Gordon Clark
John Gordon Clark
John 'Jack' Gordon Clark was a Harvard psychiatrist and authority in research on the alleged damaging effects of cults.He was the target of harassment from Scientologists after he testified against them to the Vermont congress in 1976....
of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
, who said the group practiced mind control
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
and brainwashing. In 1990 KARE-TV (Channel 11) ran a segment called "Mind Games?" that Lifespring claimed was deceptive and sensationalized.
The Skeptic a newsletter of The North Texas Skeptics, reported in 1989 on criticism from a participant that was a staff volunteer until becoming disgruntled with the organization. This former staff volunteer said that workshops were too stressful and disruptive, and that the program was "an urban cult"
.
One prominent critic of Lifespring is Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....
. Mrs. Thomas asserted in an interview with The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
that she chose to seek counseling after her decision to stop participating in Lifespring. In order to avoid phone calls from fellow Lifespring members, urging her to remain in the course, she chose to hide in another part of the United States. One explanation for the criticisms and actions taken by roughly 8% of all Lifespring graduates comes from clinical psychologist and Lifespring graduate Bronson Levin. Levin said, "people who are not prepared for the intense emotional experience of Lifespring or who have hidden traumas tend to become overwhelmed as childhood memories come thundering back to them during training." Virginia Thomas went on to speak on panels and organized anti-cult workshops
Anti-Cult Movement
The anti-cult movement is a term used by academics and others to refer to groups and individuals who oppose cults and new religious movements. Sociologists David G...
for congressional staffers in 1986 and 1988.
Lifespring awareness groups claim that participants are asked to enroll family, friends, etc., in the workshops and to enroll in additional courses.
In 1993, Lutheran Reverend Dr Richard L. Dowhower
Richard L. Dowhower
Richard L. Dowhower is a Lutheran pastor, as well as an educator and religious scholar. He was actively involved in educating both his parish and the public about what he defined as "cults"...
, conducted a survey of clergy attitudes toward other groups that they have labeled as cults. The 53 respondents were from the Washington, DC area and included 43 Lutheran clergy and seminarians, one Roman Catholic and one Jewish clergyman, and an Evangelical minister. The response chart indicates twenty eight (28) responses to "The cults I am most concerned about are:", with the answer "Scientology, est/Forum, and Lifespring".
. Dr Dowhower was an advisor of the American Family Foundation, which published the Cult Observer
Cultic Studies Review
International Journal of Cultic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the International Cultic Studies Association.- External links :* , Don Lattin, San Francisco Chronicle, Religion Writer, February 13, 2001...
.
British TV producer and filmmaker Peter Pomerantsev has theorised that model Ruslana Korshunova
Ruslana Korshunova
Ruslana Sergeyevna Korshunova was a Kazakh model of Russian descent. After establishing herself as a rising figure in the fashion industry by posing for magazines like Vogue and designers such as Vera Wang and Nina Ricci....
's suicide was related to her involvement with Rose of the World, a controversial Moscow-based organisation which describes itself as "training for personality development". While researching for a documentary into Korshunova's death, Pomerantsev learned that the model spent three months attending training session at Rose of the World. These sessions—which encourage participants to share their worst experiences and recall repressed memories—are modelled after Lifespring
Lifespring
Lifespring was a for-profit private company, founded in 1974. The company promoted itself through books and word of mouth advertising. By 1989, officials stated that over 300,000 people had enrolled in the company's seminars...
, whose controversial methods were the subject of multiple lawsuits for mental damages in the US during the 1980s. Korshunova attended training sessions with a friend, Ukrainian model Anastasia Drozdova, who committed suicide under similar circumstances in 2009. Friends of the two women reported changes in behaviour after several months at the Rose. Korshunova became aggressive, while Drozdova experienced violent mood swings and grew reclusive. Both lost weight. After three months of training, Korshunova returned to New York to look for work, where she wrote of feeling lost and doubting she would ever find herself. Rick Ross, head of the Cult Education Forum, argues that organisations such as Rose of the World "work like drugs: giving you peak experiences, their adherents always coming back for more. The serious problems start when people leave. The trainings have become their lives—they come back to emptiness. The sensitive ones break." Only months after leaving the Rose, Korshunova was found dead.
Spinoffs
While trainings continued until the mid-nineties in certain parts of the country, the lawsuits and the bad press crippled the company. One Lifespring follower, Sue Hawkes, started a similar program, called Vistar, but it was unsuccessful. Lifespring training, once offered under a unified corporate umbrella, now appears in several forms world-wide delivered by differently-named companies.[27] The Lifespring program was adapted for Russia and is known as Leadership Academy or Sinton. The new religious movement called Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness has been referred to as an "offshoot" of Lifespring.[28]
Further reading
- Janice Haaken, Ph.D. and Richard Adams, Ph.D.: "Pathology as 'Personal Growth': A Participant-Observation Study of Lifespring Training" in Psychiatry, Vol 46, August 1983
- John Hanley: Lifespring: Getting Yourself from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be Simon and Schuster 1989 ISBN 0-671-72508-4