Lifespring - History

History

John Hanley Sr. founded Lifespring in 1974 after working at an organization called Mind Dynamics with Werner Erhard, the founder of est, which became the basis for Landmark Education. Lifespring concentrated on how people experience each other, whereas est dealt with changing the way people experience themselves. However, there were many similarities between the two.

The former Director for Corporate Affairs of Lifespring, Charles "Raz" Ingrasci, also worked with Werner Erhard, promoting an est mission to the USSR and the Hunger Project. Ingrasci is now President of the Hoffman Institute which offers programs such as the Hoffman Quadrinity Process which some regard as similar to Lifespring.

Though Hanley denied that Lifespring was a duplicate of est, Melton and Lewis described the similarities between the two as "striking", in their 1992 work, Perspectives on the New Age. Melton and Lewis point out that both Werner Erhard and John Hanley had previously worked at Mind Dynamics. They then went on to cite specific examples of techniques utilized by both Lifespring and EST, stating that both used "authoritarian trainers who enforce numerous rules", both groups require applause after a member's "share" in front of the group, both deemphasized reason, in favor of "feeling and action". The authors also pointed out that graduates of both Lifespring and EST were "fiercely loyal", and recruited heavily for their respective groups, reducing marketing expenses to virtually zero.