Erhard Seminars Training - The est Training

The est Training

The est Standard Training was a seminar that offered a participatory experience that incorporated the Socratic method. It aimed to enable participants to shift their contextual state of mind around which their life was organized from the attempt to get satisfaction or to survive, to an experience of actually being satisfied and experiencing oneself as whole and complete in the present moment. The est training offered people the opportunity to free themselves from the past, rather than living a life enmeshed by their past.

The first est course happened at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, California, in October 1971. Within a year, trainings were being held in New York City, and other major cities in the United States followed soon after.

Beginning in July 1974 the est Training was delivered at the U.S. Penitentiary at Lompoc, with the approval of Federal Bureau of Prisons. Initial est training in Lompoc involved participation of 12-15 federal prisoners and outside community members within the walls of the maximum security prison and was personally conducted by Werner Erhard. Among the participants were the mayor of City of Lompoc and imprisoned political activist Matthew Landy Steen, a Weatherman convicted of multiple bank robberies.

By 1979 est had expanded to Europe and other parts of the world. In 1980 the first est training in Israel was offered in Tel Aviv.

The last est Training was held in December 1984 in San Francisco; in its place came a newly developed course called "The Forum", which began in January 1985. The est Training presented several concepts, most notably the concept of transformation and taking responsibility for one's life. The actual teaching, called "the technology of transformation", emphasizes the value of integrity. "est, Inc." evolved into "est, an Educational Corporation", and eventually into "Werner Erhard & Associates". In 1991 the business was sold to the employees who formed a new company called Landmark Education with Erhard's brother Harry Rosenberg becoming the CEO. Landmark Education was structured as a for-profit, employee-owned company; it operates with a consulting division called Vanto Group.