There are some blatently uninformed and simplistic comments on here and on Landmark—hardly “rational” from what I can (briefly) see. Most of these are from people who haven’t attended and many are legacies (eg. “cult” hangover) are from the old Est training, which was run very differently to how it is run now.
For the record, there are no limitations to bathroom breaks. Nor, in reality, the meal breaks—it is an intensive curriculum (for many reasons) and you are encouraged to not miss any of it, but if you want to go home and have a siesta, nothing stops you and no-one will really know or care.
“Independent research” (published on Landmark’s site) shows 80% or so of people attending the Forum (The introductory course) reckon it is life-transforming and the best thing they have done in their lives. I have witnessed this in action and the impact on other people’s lives, as well as my very confused 16yo daughter, so I can vouch for the substance of that statement.
If nothing else, that should make people sit up, take note, have a look if it is for them rather than making uninformed and simplistic comments—it is always easier to be cynical than to be positive. Landmark may just help some of those cynics if they we willing to get off the keyboards and have a genuine look.
What is your relationship, if any, with Landmark? Have they paid you a substantial sum of money (say, $1000 or more in total)? Have you paid them a substantial sum of money (say, $1000 or more in total)?
They may have relaxed the bathroom break rule since 2009 (when the article I linked is from). But if they’re scheduling an all-day event and encouraging people to miss meals, that’s a serious flaw. I, at least, need food to think clearly. And I need the equivalent of three solid meals. I know I’m not the only one in this situation.
If Landmark isn’t accounting for this, then they’re not interested in having participants think clearly about what they’re hearing. That, to me, is enough: when I’m trying to change my life, I want to make a decision with my full brainpower. And that means being well-fed.
Neither the participants nor the experimenters know who received which treatment—so all the participants are told they are attending a Landmark Forum, the experimenters have two addresses to hand out the participants, but they don’t know which is the real Landmark Forum and which is the carefully-crafted applause lights / horoscope-style statements that apply to everyone / empty words / positive-thinking drivel lecture.
Probably one of the experimenters would have to find a third-party motivational speaker of some sort, work out the content-free speech, and then excuse themselves from the rest of the experiment.
There are some blatently uninformed and simplistic comments on here and on Landmark—hardly “rational” from what I can (briefly) see. Most of these are from people who haven’t attended and many are legacies (eg. “cult” hangover) are from the old Est training, which was run very differently to how it is run now. For the record, there are no limitations to bathroom breaks. Nor, in reality, the meal breaks—it is an intensive curriculum (for many reasons) and you are encouraged to not miss any of it, but if you want to go home and have a siesta, nothing stops you and no-one will really know or care.
“Independent research” (published on Landmark’s site) shows 80% or so of people attending the Forum (The introductory course) reckon it is life-transforming and the best thing they have done in their lives. I have witnessed this in action and the impact on other people’s lives, as well as my very confused 16yo daughter, so I can vouch for the substance of that statement.
If nothing else, that should make people sit up, take note, have a look if it is for them rather than making uninformed and simplistic comments—it is always easier to be cynical than to be positive. Landmark may just help some of those cynics if they we willing to get off the keyboards and have a genuine look.
What is your relationship, if any, with Landmark? Have they paid you a substantial sum of money (say, $1000 or more in total)? Have you paid them a substantial sum of money (say, $1000 or more in total)?
They may have relaxed the bathroom break rule since 2009 (when the article I linked is from). But if they’re scheduling an all-day event and encouraging people to miss meals, that’s a serious flaw. I, at least, need food to think clearly. And I need the equivalent of three solid meals. I know I’m not the only one in this situation.
If Landmark isn’t accounting for this, then they’re not interested in having participants think clearly about what they’re hearing. That, to me, is enough: when I’m trying to change my life, I want to make a decision with my full brainpower. And that means being well-fed.
Peer reviewed double-blind placebo-controlled study (minimum 4 years following life of participants) or go home.
How would you do a double-blind with this sort of thing?
Neither the participants nor the experimenters know who received which treatment—so all the participants are told they are attending a Landmark Forum, the experimenters have two addresses to hand out the participants, but they don’t know which is the real Landmark Forum and which is the carefully-crafted applause lights / horoscope-style statements that apply to everyone / empty words / positive-thinking drivel lecture.
Probably one of the experimenters would have to find a third-party motivational speaker of some sort, work out the content-free speech, and then excuse themselves from the rest of the experiment.