Hope this is ok to ask here, its the only place I know that has a diverse range of people who are supportive with their responses.
My Sister has a friend who is a huge Advocate of the Landmark Forum. This friend invited my sister to an Introduction afternoon last month, and when she came home explaining it all to me I was a little sceptical.
She said she went to someone's house, where 6 other people (I think she called them professionals or similar as they had previously completed the weekend) had invited friends/family along (There were apparently only 3 invitees) to see what it was all about, and a 'leader' ran the introduction giving them an 'insight' into what a whole weekend would be about.
They were all given a booklet, and worked through the barriers of a particular area in their life that were having trouble with, she said she was a little reserved about sharing 'everything' so stuck with a small area of her life and didn't find they gave her any magical lessons that she couldn't have gotten from reading a book etc.
However she did say 1 of the invitees was 'worked' on for quite some time in front of the whole room as they wouldn't give them the answer they were expecting (or knew he 'needed' to give) so they were ushered outside with a 'professional' so they could 'help' them breakthrough their barriers.
At the end of the afternoon my Sister then was handed a form and encouraged to sign up by her friend, so she did, and now she is trying to convince me to do the same.
I am super sceptical of it all, when I read their website it's all a little cryptic and I haven't read many good reviews on the program (Admittedly a lot are not Australian), and the only 'first' hand information I have is from my Sisters Friend who has done the weekend twice in the last 20yrs (as well as different branches of it).
I was hoping to maybe get some other first hand reviews on the weekend. What is really involved (in laymans terms)? Have you done it personally? What are your thoughts? Do you know someone personally who has?
I hope to hear from those with first hand experiences, not those that have read the same million websites on google as I have over the last couple of weeks
5 Replies
I went to an information session and that was enough for me! My flat mate at the time asked a few of us along and the organisers were very pushy wanting us to sign up but I was skeptical and not interested in buying what they were selling! While my flat mate was attending the course she called me at 6:30 on a Sunday morning telling me that I wasn’t meeting her expectations as a friend and that I was letting her down but she didn’t want to discuss it any further and hung up. I got the impression it encourages people to let loved ones know what they’re thinking which is fine but not to give right of reply I felt was odd?! She was behaving strangely at the time too which was another reason I didn’t want to sign up.
Scary shit! I would not go. It’s basically a cult operating using a pyramid scheme. Participants are pressured in to signing other people up.
The trainers have no actual professional training.
Would you go to a psychologist, GP or psychiatrist who bullied there patients in to signing up new patients??? HELL NO
Anyone who promises quick fixes is extremely dangerous.
I would follow your gut on this one!
I have absolutely no idea what this is but I think it's a good rule to never involve yourself in something where the information pertaining to it isn't easily available.
Sounds like you have good reason to be sceptical, trust that feeling - we have it for good reason!
I did if years ago - about 15 years ago I think. It was good, for a while. The first few courses you do are actually very helpful but then it got really pushy to do more. I stopped after about 6 months and they didn’t really ask why or anything, just accepted that I was done. My husband did a bit more than me but he too stopped after about 8 or 9 months. I did have those reservations that you have at the start but all in all I am glad I did it. The length of time that has passed, I don’t even really remember a lot of what they tell you but I do know it helped me with confidence and wasn’t all bad.