I did the Landmark Forum, one of the programs offered by Landmark education, mainly out of curiosity. I wanted to know how it really works to thousands of people world wide and also wanted a miracle to happen. But that's what they teach, miracles dont happen. One has to create his own possiblity and then a miracle happens. Sorry! now I'm talking like them! For three full days and an evening session I got 14 hours of brain drain. They drill to maximum and you'll hate them. Not only do you reach home after midnight, you get assignments, like call people and make them think you've turned lunatic for waking them up from their sweet slumber, just to "complete" something with them and ask sorry for something they have no clue about! If you haven't experienced enough frustation and anger (and boredom), thats the place you ought to be. And whats more annoying is that they cant stop extolling about Landmark, and force you to take up the next level course. The breaks are after two and a half or three hours, so not advisable for people who cant control 'you know what I mean' for long. The breaks are just half hour long and they expect you to finish your visit to loo, the next door Chai shop and complete your assignments by calling people. If you are an irascible person like me, you will feel extremes of emotions.
Having said all that, let me get to its good part. They make you see how silly and stupid you've been coz you are making up stories in your head about your problems that are so minute and worthless to spend your time cribbing about. Also you get to complete a chapter of your life that was in the past but you keep living it everyday! At the end of it all, I was weary, irritated, emotionally vulnerable. The illusion in which I was living in, that nothing can go wrong in my life and everything I do is right, vanished. They dont change you. They wont even take away your problems and they dont make you Mahatma Gandhi. All they do is give you a new perspective towards life. They burst your bubble and slap you, make you stand up and take a look at your life.
I enjoyed watching people argue with the leader, just how people argue to prove that they are right. You get to see how unique is each one's problem. People walk up to the stage and put up a show. There was even a junior Meena Kumari (a Bollywood actress who cried buckets of tears). Some even claimed that they were transformed and felt ecstasy, some saw miracles happen and some were left dejected and disapointed. And they was one category in which I fall into, uncertain what happened, but left a little sattisfied. They tried their best to put all of us in advance course, but man! the course fee is too high and I wriggled my way out of it! There are still 10 seminars to attend, but I'm done with this. I did some research today (unfortunately?) on how the Landmark works and came across some shocking personal stories! check them out too.
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8 comments:
Deepthi,
IMO none of these courses/self development books can do miracles for everyone. They open up new ways of thinking. It's only upto us to carry those into our lives.
I don't like thsese trainings, bcos' I hate acting :)
Our emotional intelligence automatically improve when we have a trusting friends and loving family.
Anyway, sometimes it's helpful to attend these courses to mould our thinking patterns.
Have fun.
Have a nice weekend!
The "effect" of landmark stays for like two to three months max.. where u feel like u've found something "meaningfull"(u know what i mean)... i even did the forum in action seminar series... cant believe i got suked into all that.. To me, it was like
they knew that i as wearing a sweater, so they make me remove it and feel the cold and then give it bak to me to make me feel how comfortable it is with the sweater on!!!
jus a waste of time if u are capable of noticing that what u have and wat u are, is precious enough...
"Transformation"..... Phew! i wont get into that..
@Girish, I somehow escaped the first seminar in action series, well actually had work, now I don't want to attend it. They will call me each time and I dont know how to avoid them!
Did they actually ask you to remove your warm clothing?!
avoiding them is simple...
jus let them know, u know wat to do, and that is not to attend those seminars!! :D
i think u have one today...every tuesday right?
its of no use...
to me the seminars were a way to remind myself how i wasted money!!
but,when i used to attend, t seemed good. am i confused or vat?
kewl...my hubby did landmark..as well...i wonder how long the 'good' phase will last...do tell me ok?
Hi Deepti. Rachana here. This is what I wrote in my blog after doing the landmark forum early this year.
Entry for April 24, 2005 - Landmark Education
Over the weekend, I attended this forum that lasted 3 full days.
It all started one year ago, my best buddy nikhil spoke to me about some course called Landmark that he attended and how enlightening it was. He said it transformed his life , and he said it would transform my life too... I was like "thanks , but no thanks... i dont need no personality course".
Then dee, another dear friend also did Landmark, and she too claimed it helped her complete with her past and view a new future etc etc...
One year later I gave in. After attending 3 introductions to the Landmark Forum, I signed up for it.
DAY 1 :
I sat there , cursing. All they did was talk about Landmark and talk about Landmark and talk about Landmark. It was pissing off... They had huge boards with crazy stuff written on them. Stuff that you can get out of Landmark and all that blah... Ex : You can achieve anything you want out of this ! You will be free of your past ! You will be transformed... Blah Blah.
But, at the end of DAY 1, I saw that I could afford to have new possibilities in life.
Here are some of the possibilities I created for myself - The possibility of being forgiving, loving, calm and secure.
DAY 2:
I sat there,wondering. People were coming up on stage and sharing horrifying stories about their life. Sodhi (my course leader ) was working on them. He dug into their lives to figure out what went wrong. Then Sodhi pointed out to them that what happened is what happened. What you did , was INTERPRET what happened... and he said "Its your Interpretation that kills you, and not what happened". For example : When I was a kid, my parents left me at home with my little brother, alone , for about 15 mins (like, when they went to the store or something). This happened over many years, and the young girl rach made up her mind that people did not really like being with her. Now this is not exactly so explicit as it seems. I did not know that I had interpreted it that way, but what I know, is that, I refuse to believe that someone might actually love being with me !
So, here is the distinction I got : What happened is very separate from what YOU interpreted. We generally weave the two and get miserable, and that truth is pretty enlightening !
DAY 3:
They went on and on about the Advanced Course and its layout. Almost as if they were turning your life upside down for you, so that you sort it out in the advanced course that lasts for 4 days and costs 10k.
Distinction I got -
Strong suits : What you build for yourself in order to compensate for what you dont have.
Ex: I was a timid kid, and I knew it , cos everyone told me so... everyone. Now my strong suit is being "tough".
Rackets : A fixed way of being and a persistant complaint.
So I found some strong suits, and rackets. I dont know what I m gonna do with what I found. !
Realized that life is super flexible. Its what you want it to be.
Realized there is no reason to look good. Everyone s running around looking good for you !!
CONCLUSION :
All of the above things, I knew already. They just got reinforced... And maybe made me more present to my life. I mean, I know whats happening , and I know why its happening.
I guess that was worth my 5k. Was it ?
by the way, i did not attend a single seminar series. was sick and tired of landmark by then. they bombarded me with phonecalls, but thank god, those have miraculously ended. !
Hi Rachana, Bala told me that you both have had great discussions abt the forum ;) It was the same thing for me. I just realised what kind of a person I am being.. but what to do with that? Landmark says, attend the seminar!! man! I totally don't want to do that. Avoided all the seminar series reminders, (they even sent messages from their messenger!!) but now Dee is asking me to do it. I know she's just trying to help me with "making a difference", but its really hard for me to explain to her why I don't want to. I just can't sit thru' them!!
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