Lifespring was an American for-profit human potential organization founded in 1974 by John Hanley Sr., Robert White, Randy Revell, and Charlene Afremow.
These allegations were highlighted in a 1987 article in The Washington Post as well as local television reporting in communities where Lifespring had a significant presence.
Lifespring was founded by John Hanley Sr. along with Robert White, Randy Revell, and Charlene Afremow.
[5] Holiday Magic was founded by William Penn Patrick, co-owner and board member for Mind Dynamics.
[7][8] The Director for Corporate Affairs of Lifespring, Charles "Raz" Ingrasci,[9] had also worked at est to promote a mission to the USSR and the Hunger Project.
Ingrasci is now President of the Hoffman Institute, an organization founded in 1967 and also part of the human potential movement which offers programs which are similar to Lifespring's.
The trainings were usually held in the convention facilities of large, easily accessible, moderate priced hotels (i.e., mid-town New York).
[13] The training consisted of a series of lectures and experiential processes designed to show the participants a new manner of contending with life situations and concerns and how other possible explanations and interpretations may lead to different results.
Also, words such as "responsibility", "space", "surrender", "experience", "trust", "consideration", "unreasonable", "righteous", "totally participate", "from your head", "openness", "letting go" were redefined or used so as to assign them a more specific meaning.
The Post also reported in the same article that Hanley had been convicted of six counts of felony mail fraud in 1969, and was given a five-year suspended sentence.
A congressional aide when she took the course, Mrs. Thomas said in an interview with the Post that she was troubled by exercises that involved stripping, sexual questions, and body shaming.
After talking with a cult deprogrammer, she decided she needed to stop participating, but it took several months of work to overcome the "high-pressure tactics" to fully break with Lifespring.