Has any jelly here gone through est training?

I have an older female relative who was very into this for a while. I was too young to really remember, but this relative took my mom to a retreat and mom said it was very reminiscent of an Amway sales pitch or a fundamentalist tent revival.

The relative moved on from est, got into Eckankar, then Scientology. She managed to alienate everyone in her life with her fanaticism. Finally, she found Wellspring and became tolerable/tolerant again.

Based on that, I would have to say that est was a gateway cult for people desperate for somebody to help control their lives. I do not think, as a whole, it has stood the test of time.

I like that Joe Namath was a notable attendee

@Blueroses Thanks – that was interesting and good to know! Somehow the title I was reading (by Luke Rhinehart) appeared in my Amazon recommendations and I was curious, seeing how many people gave it 5-star reviews. The training sessions (as recounted by Rhinehart) involved a lot of verbal abuse and deliberate stress and that really made me wonder…

Oddly, or through serendipity, my relative found Wellspring by accident when she was intending to go to a Lifespring seminar! Lifespring was a corporate-supported bastard child of est training and it got even more exposure as a harmful cult.
The abuse and stress you mention is a common way of tearing down a person’s individuality and making him conform to group-think. Lifespring emphasize letting go of reason and logic in favor of experience and being. Dangerous stuff in the wrong hands.

est is still around. It is now called the Landmark Forum. I can’t find a home page for it. Someone once took me to a session in Philadelphia.

@LostInParadise What did you think of it? Did it do anything for you or anyone else that you know?

@LostInParadise I didn’t make the association until you mentioned it but I actually worked for a corporation that brought in Landmark to do team-building sessions. It’s very loosely based on est and focused on personality profiling and communicating with others whose profiles didn’t match your own. I guess they have put more emphasis on the business consulting than on seminars for individuals. I found it helpful and interesting. It didn’t have a cult feeling in the workplace setting.

Their website is here

@intrepidium , The session I went to was mostly meet and greet. My memory is a bit hazy. Most of the people seemed to be typical professionals, though the woman who brought me there was a little on the loopy side.

@LostInParadise @Blueroses Many thanks for your input – they’re certainly helpful in terms of providing some perspective.