Has anyone done the Landmark Education Forum course in Toronto and if so can you please give me some insight?

Answer 1

Yes, I have tried the landmark forum in Toronto. I probably have too much to say about it but let me try to state my experience as objectively as possible. Before I took the course, I also tried to search online for some feedback/opinions from those who took the course. I found the info online very limited - limited from an objective, more impartial view as there are always pros and cons to everything (which is strange since over 1.25 Million people have taken the forum supposedly).

So a friend whose relative had taken the forum introduced me to Landmark and suggested we take the course together. Of course my first question was what was the course about? He said it's a self development course. I questioned a bit further, but he couldn't really explain to me any details about the course (this is not his fault - it's a point I will explain further on). Anyway, I am keen on self development and haven't taken a self developed course in a couple of years so I was ready to go.

The course took place Toronto from Friday to Sunday with an evening session on Tuesday. The Tuesday session is a 3 hour forum where you bring guests/people close to you that were involved in your "transformation" over the weekend - don't worry it'll get clearer . . .

So we arrived 8:30am on Friday. The first item on the agenda was to open the floor up to any questions the group had about the Landmark Forum. This ended up taking 2.5 hours as there were 150 people in the group. Three people got up to state that they could not understand all the words the instructor was saying and suggested he either slow down his speech or turn up his mic (the instructor had a bit of an accent). The instructor got very offended by this and refused to do anything about it. One eastern European sounding lady got up to the mic to state her point about not being able to fully understand him and she really wanted to since she paid over $600 for the course. The instructor stood there and basically berated her for not understanding him. Finally, as she was trying to explain her point she used the term "brainwashing" and the instructor took great offense to this. She apologized for using the term, but he would not relent. He said to her , either you agree that you are wrong about not being able to understand me or walk to the back of the room and the Landmark people will give you your money back and you can be on your way. So she did. In fact, the instructor was argumentative and berated all of the people that had questions that didn't fit with his point of view. I also heard through my friend that other instructors in other Landmark Forum courses are just as head strong and even curse to get their point across.

It wasn't till the second day that I figured out the impact of this. The 2.5 hours of the first day was intended to establish the instructor's dominance over the group and put him in a position of authority whereby it would be less likely that group members would question him in the days to come - or at least they would think twice. I liken it to stories I have heard of non-criminals who are sent to prison. What is the first thing that a non-criminal or first time offender does when he enters prison? He kicks the daylight out of the weakest person he can find in order to demonstrate to the rest of the prisoners that he is not one to be messed with. I am sure there is a psychological term for this behavior ie. It's a technique that is used in varied group settings (probably even in the corporate world).

For me to be completely objective, because I went in with an open mind, I should say that many concepts presented are well founded and would definitely help for a person's self-development and well-being in life. The main theory I learned from the course was the idea about always being right and people I deal with always being wrong. It is a way of thinking that has really impacted and shaped my life, as it does most people, and I think being self aware of this one thing and making a change in this respect will really improve one's life, both personally and professionally.

Other than this, I think paying $695 is ridiculous for what I got out of the course; the forum is a cash-cow and that is it. It was really 3 days of having the course instructor, or coach, stand over people as arrogantly as possible and tell them what their shortcomings really are as a person. The first day I believed his arrogance was a way to give people in the course a jolt which was ok; however, the second day was a real eye opener. His arrogance and standing over people and in their face was a method to show control and he was the boss. A prime example was on the second day there was an exercise that was supposed to expel you of any fear you had. We were asked to close our eyes and go back to that place of fear and concentrate on it. After the 15 minute exercise your fear was to have dissipated (some people were crying during this exercise). So after the exercise was over we were asked if anyone wanted to share their experience having ridden themselves of the fear. Well, one elderly women got up and said in the mic that she basically didn't have any fears (she just sat in silence during the exercise) and further she has no rackets (which are personal flaws or your devious behaviors that you have) and she said she was happy with her life. So the instructor stood over her and said point blank - stop hiding from your fears, you are a bad person. She insisted, she had no rackets and had a loving relationship with those in her life -. Again the instructor said she was lying and questioned why she was at the Landmark forum in the first place. To that she said she wanted to improve the communication with her kids. So the instructor said (still cowering over her) THAT'S YOUR RACKET. You are dishonest about not having a racket, your racket is being afraid to talk to your kids. At this point I was beside myself. The instructor was just trying to force his point of view on her. Is it so hard to believe that she actually has a good life, loves her kids and is happy with her life? He ended up just asking her to sit down and think about what her problems were.

That evening as I was thinking about the whole episode it struck me that what Landmark is trying to do is make you identify a bad enough "racket" that it makes you pick up the phone and call the person you are being "devious" to. Why this is important for Landmark is because this call to action is then noticed by the recipient of the call which they in turn notice Landmark - a potential customer is created. If no body made any phone calls - they would not have any future customers sign up. Landmark spends no money on marketing - want proof - how did you hear about the forum??

Back to the instructor, I believe his attitude was horrible and the real reason behind the superiority complex he displayed was so that whatever he said would not be questioned and everyone in the course "believed" and "swallowed" whatever was said. If people see weakness from the coach then they may question what he is saying; in this case there was nothing being questioned.

Now people who are accepting of the course would say that my attitude and what I have said is wrong. The thing about Landmark's teachings are that if you resist or disagree you are the person that has an issue or wrong way of thinking or being (your so-called "racket") and it is proof you need help so in fact you cannot argue with them. It is either Landmark or nothing - funny how they preach the right/wrong concept yet they are always right themselves. The kicker about day 2 was the sales pitch. All day the coach and his volunteers (underlings) would continually push the students to call family and friends and whomever people they have wronged in the past and tell them how you have done them wrong and how much you love and care for them. What mother or father or friend doesn't want to here that revelation? Well, then you are basically coerced to tell these loved one's to come to the Tuesday night, guest session and sign up for the course yourself - can anyone say $$$$$$$$$. A mother or father hearing their child tell them that they were in the wrong and not the mother or father and how much they love them would make the mother/father say "Wow, this course made my child say that, amazing. Let me go and sign up as well". This is truly an amazing business model as the students spread the word and talk their loved ones into going. Also, it was literally stated if you do not have your family members take the Landmark Forum they will "live a life where they cannot have complete happiness and they will die miserable". That is a quote. Unbelievable right. One last thing, they are constantly badgering you to sign up for more courses and free seminars and for you to take the entire set of courses (at extraordinary costs of course). If you do not sign up they call out your name and tell you to go see a "volunteer". They hound you like nothing I have ever experienced.

I have to hand it to the person or group of people that started this is that it is a brilliant money-making business. They charge ridiculous fees for the courses, their teachings are impossible for anyone to explain to an outsider (they will tell you that you have to come to the course to understand) and to argue with, they do not want you to take notes, they have a group of volunteers that work for them without pay and act like a bunch of robots, they continually push you to sign up for and take classes and more classes, they PUSH you to get others to take classes as their business is all word-of-mouth (no advertising which is a brilliant business move).

Finally, some would call this a cult, but I would not. It is completely an amazingly orchestrated business model that makes money hand downs and has almost every "i" dotted and "t" crossed whereby you really cannot find too much to argue about or issues to raise, unless you really see it from their angle which is $$$$$. I think there was some value to some of the concepts, but all-in-all this thing itself is a racket and waste of time and money. If you want to save $600+ live by the Golden Rule model and you will not be doing anything less than what you get from Landmark.