Has anyone heard of the Hoffman Institute?

I just found out that a famous activist in a social justice movement I am in, who recently died by suicide, completed the Hoffman Institute trainings in November.

I am so scared and freaked out by this information. I want to learn more.

An earlier discussion thread began in 2006. It runs to seven pages.

One participant mentioned Lifespring.

What was also remarkable was the number of HP apologists who
appeared - all highly articulate with well written rationales.

[forum.culteducation.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2017 09:24AM by corboy.

If you want to bypass the many Hoffman apologists who arrived on the earlier thread and read something from people who did express concern, here's where to go:

DarrenR:

[forum.culteducation.com]

More information on this page.

The blog the material was copied from no longer exists.

[forum.culteducation.com]

That is why CEI is so valuable; so we can preserve information that would otherwise vanish in the Silicon Jungle.

One person who considered Hoffman in 2000 said it was difficult to find information and chose not to attend
when he or she learned more after registering. That person is at pains to state
that possibly things have changed since then.

His or her main grievance was that it was so difficult to find information needed
to make an informed decision BEFORE paying to register.

[forum.culteducation.com]

Quote

Re: Hoffman Institute
Posted by: ChrisM (c-98-192-101-221.hsd1.ga.comcast.net)
Date: November 17, 2010 06:29PM

I first heard about the Hoffman Institute about ten years ago through Sonia Choquette. Now, I have to say that I read her first book, "The Psychic Pathway," and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed a few of her workshops. However, after a while they felt a bit repetetive and when she joined the Hay House group I felt that the quality of her work suffered. Oh well.

Back to Hoffman. Sonia had a few brochures and I took one. I didn't like some aspects of the intensive program because I'm not a believer that you must be reduced to screaming hysterics in order to heal old emotional wounds, but thought I'd check it out anyway, just to see.

It was hard to find a lot of information about the program.

I ended up sending in a deposit to the place in Virginia. That's when I got a more complete kit with lots of information not included in the brochure. What bothered me the most was that on top of the intensive program, they also control your diet. It is supposedly "health food" but I've always been taught that when you're changing one part of your life, you don't mess with everything at once or it's a shock to your system and nothing takes hold for the long term. (example: Don't start a new, rigorous exercise program AND start a vegetarian diet at the same time) I was very wary that this place would take you to deep emotional issues while controlling your food. Isn't that something cults do? It worried me.

Another piece of information in the larger kit, which was not in the brochure, was a statement that if you were in therapy, you needed to get your psychiatrist's permission to do the course. This annoyed me only because it's not in the initial brochure (or wasn't at that time, they may have changed it later). I was angry I had to send in money in order to get more information. To their credit, when I called and said my therapist would not give me permission to go, the girl refunded my money quickly without argument. Nevertheless, I've since wondered if I did avoid a cultish weekend. The whole tofu/"health" diet they force on you for that whole time is very disturbing to me. How does one know if the emotional reactions are real or just reactions to the new diet? I was also afraid the new food would weaken my resistance to anything they might suggest.

Reportedly there is a lot of journaling as part of the Hoffman Process.

Is confidentiality protected?

An Australian discussion forum. Someone asked about Hoffman Process.

According to the discussants it cost 5000 dollars. Even if these are Australian dollars, that is still a whopping amount of money.

From the descriptions here, it sounds as though some Australian Hoffman Process retreats have more breaks than described by the Guardian journalist who did her HP in the United Kingdom.

Perhaps Australians refuse to tolerate too much dictatorial behavior?

Quote

Quote

kissthisfrog! wrote:

'The Hoffman Process' is an expensive week long 'healing' workshop.
Posted: 8/15/2008 6:08:05 PM
I had very similar experience...., same Byron hinterland...., HUGE amounts of 'journal writing'....., but we had not that much sleep or food depravation....., in fact they provided us lot's of really good meals. We were up early 7:30, breaks every 2 hours, meals and 'knocked off' at about 9:30 in the evening.

Extremely confrontational...., I walked out of one particularly cathartic 'exercise'...., and came very close to 'blows' with the head facilitator. I had decided he was an arrogant provocative b#stard...., and so when I bumped into him at Sydney airport directly after 'graduation'...., I walked up behind him and said "you can run..., but you cant hide"..., with a crazy look in my eye.

He nearly cr@pped himself.

Having said that..., the Hoffman process worked for me..., in spades !

I just have a mildly scewed idea of what is funny....., and dont allow anyone to 'unjustly' stuff me around.

Quote

1gringo1 wrote:

'The Hoffman Process' is an expensive week long 'healing' workshop.

Posted: 8/3/2011 7:14:21 PM

I went to it...there were bits and pieces that I took from it...but there was a lot of things that weren't for me. After two days of pillow beating, I actually left the retreat. My girl friend talked me into going back and finishing. I did finish.

Like i said, I took what worked for me, and suffered through the rest. Haha... Would I do it over again? Not sure... I would very much rather have one on one, with a councilor of my choice, dealing with my specific problems, in ways that work for me.

After leaving the retreat, I felt as if none of my problems were touched on. As the course is directed at a persons childhood, my problems stemmed from early adulthood to current day issues.

Hoffman process is kind of a trendy thing to do, amongst certain folk.

I recommend one on one help...and a 5000$ vacation. Haha

However, on this same Australian discussion venue, "globalnomad2012"
described he called Hoffman but seemed to describe as something run by former followers of Rajneesh. A somewhat dictatorial format. His contribution was written
in all capital letters.

So this may have been an atypical Hoffman Process group,
The regime described by "globalnomad2012 sounds much
more harsh than what the other Australians describe. And, alarmingly, globalnomad
said that about one quarter or the participants seemed to have a hard time.

[forums.plentyoffish.com]

Here are some excerpts converted into normal sized type by Corboy

Quote


"Hoffman had many courses I believe. The psychic osteapath in Perth who did it was a friend and I followed her advice. By then Hoffman had sold the course to a group I was told involved the sanyassins (Osho devotees on the money making side..)

"You had to hand in your keys so U could not leave! No way for this jungle bunny from 3rd World War Zone lands. It set the trend for confrontation thru the week with minders and woman in charge whose 4some I was in >the really badly damaged one I found out later."

2 to a cabin. Lots of no-talking. Sleep deprivation and oh yes, handwriting like you wouldn't believe. Also prior to acceptance on the course you had to write about 2 reams of a4 paper on questions. And this turned out to be very interesting
stuff. It was vetted and I guess they sorted us according to issues and the 'pain damage background we showed.

It is a "no leave" camp situation, strict and yet fascinating. Not for the weak minded. Not for the squeamish. Basically my experience was that it deals with your parents and your various issues within the family. It also deals with your own mortality. Like the various 3-4 day seminars popular in the late 80s and 90s you had to find your inner child and nurture him/her. There were many fine moments in retrospect, not at the time because it is designed to get your mind out of the way so the real yo(sp) can erupt or be seen or surface (whichever applies)

It is expensive. U better be able to handle hidden emotions. U better be able
to handle minders and control and food and sleep deprivation and facing things from deep with your own 'caverna magicka'. It is something U will all do in some way somewhere some-life.

It is intense to the max. From what I know the sanyassians run it mach harder than the Hoffman ownership people. But Osho alllowed many deep issues to surface in
his own magnificent way."

(Corboy: Yeah. Richard Price, a psychologist from Esalen participated in one of Rajneesh's group therapy sessions -- and got his arm broken. Read here on
Google.

[www.google.com] )

"Hoffman is not for everyone. I know it did not work well with a quarter of my group. Yet it bonded some of use(sp) incredibly for a time, long if I had not kept being a global nomade and seeking through 3rd world countries the lost ghost of Che!

One person wrote this in a review on someone's blog.

[byronbodyandsoul.com]

Quote

RC (Name omitted for privacy-Corboy) says:
May 29, 2014 at 2:07 pm

While I haven’t gone to the Hoffman Institute myself, I have a friend who did and I actually recommended it to my husband on the advice of that friend.

If I could turn back time I would.

I can tell you he came back a different person – abnormally hypersensitive to any direction or even suggestion because he connected it to the dictatorship of his father, explosive temper, very self oriented outlook on life, etc.

He went because of a history of lying, and after coming out was not only proud of his newly found arrogant independence but was unable to connect with either me or the kids mentally, and recently I discovered he’s been hiding an affair, which is now leading to a legal separation.

All the while, he says Hoffman “healed” him of his insecurities and troubles, and that it was wonderful and I should go. Yet when you mention that the problem he went in for (lying) is also there when he came out, and even worse (lying + cheating), he changes the subject and tells me I don’t understand. He blamed the cheating on my lack of understanding how powerful hoffman is.

The brainwashing that occured there opened up a can of worms and he doesn’t even have any sense of reality anymore. Not very different in essence from Scientology. It pulls in people with a cult like technique. IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY DON’T GO.

2013 a discussion on Reddit.

[www.reddit.com]

Quote

My shrink is suggesting I go on the Hoffman Process.
My problems are to do with repressed anger and generally being a bit disengaged from life: not living it with much passion, and struggling to be motivated to use my potential.
From what I've seen and heard it looks pretty good, but I'm not 100% convinced yet:
Has anyone else tried it? Is it a scam? Is it a cult?

Quote

I have never heard of this before, but I started poking around at academic articles. First thoughts: This place charges over 4 grand for their retreat...it's definitely a business.
2nd thought: How religious are you? The tenants of their program seem to hinge at least in part on promoting a relationship with god/spirituality.

3rd: This group is founded and run by ministers, not trained professional psychologists/mental health care workers. Their methods may be ineffective at best, harmful at worst.
\
4th thought: What little research that exists on the program looks like overall, people feel better after the program ends, but the effects seem to gradually wear off over the course of the next year (common theme seen in retreat-based healing).
5th: There is some concern that this organization engages in some cult-like
tendencies. [en.wikipedia.org]

If you are feeling irritable, disengaged, unmotivated, and not enjoying things as you used to, these are all signs of depression. You should speak to a psychiatrist/psychologist about alternate treatments. I'm a little concerned that your present shrink endorses a place like this.

One person who did Hoffman considers that she benefitted. She compares it to psychoanalysis.

Afterwards, she mentioned how, on returning home she felt incredibly shaky. Luckily she had a friend to go home to.

Note she also lied and chose to hang on to her sleeping tablets and her Blackberry.

What happens if someone lacks aftercare when they return home?

[www.theguardian.com]

Read the entire
article. Nevertheless, this part is worth pondering.

Quote


March 15, 2011

Inside the house where I was to spend the next eight days, I met my 23 "comrades". We sized each other up. There were businessmen and women, poets, playwrights, writers, students, an actress, a mother of five. My roommate was a quiet, northern red-headed businesswoman, who looked as freaked out as I was. There were days when we were meant not to utter a word, but both of us burst out laughing and decided to bin that behind closed doors.

That first day, we sat in a circle where we would spend a lot of time that week. I looked around the room – here was a "buttoned-up public school boy"; there was an "attention-seeker"; and that woman in the corner was "a woman who does not like other women". This is part of the learning curve too: nothing was as it seemed. The readiness to judge is so linked with the negative patterns all of us had come to lose.

The women on either side of me both later admitted they loathed me on sight. One, whom I grew to love dearly, said: "I thought you had no sense of physically boundaries, you kept wiggling in your chair and knocking into me." The other – a fierce-looking poet who scowled but who ended up making me laugh and laugh – thought me aloof. "But I love you now," she said. Three seats down was another woman who, like me, did not utter a word more than she had to for the first 48 hours.

Later, I would realise that everything was intentional – where we sat, who our roommates and teachers were. Our teachers – we were each given one who would guide us through the week ahead – had carefully read our histories. So carefully, that when I was not "getting into it enough" during a Gestalt exercise, my teacher came over and whispered something so painful in my ear that I responded, uncharacteristically, like a maniac. Which is exactly what he wanted: to push my buttons, or to break me down, so to speak, in a controlled environment, and then to rebuild me. I think I actually saw him smile as I went nuclear.

We worked long hours – from 8am until 10pm. There was no time for reading, walking or DVDs. We were meant to hand over computers, magazines, sleeping pills and telephones. I lied and kept my BlackBerry and my sleeping pills. After three days, guilt took over and I went to Matthew, my teacher, and handed them over. And that was the end of my contact with the outside world.

Most of the work is in the form of powerful meditation. Visualisation plays a strong part in it; as does journal-writing and drawing, and, of course, the group sessions, which grew less painful but more challenging: admitting transference, it seems, is important.

The first four days were excruciating and exhausting. No getting around it. Then it got – while not exactly easier, because every day unearthed some new layer – lighter. The final days were spent on how to deal with the outside world. By that point, I wanted to get out.

It is advised that you spend the weekend after The Hoffman by yourself, listening to tapes and meditating. I knew that was not going to happen. I decided to stay with my best friends. So I got a ride with one of my comrades but when she dropped me off in London, I suddenly felt incredibly shaky. The noise was so much more potent; the people shoving and pushing on the pavements more menacing. I wished I had listened to their advice and stayed holed up in a B&B in Sussex.

Friends, we hare at CEI are not killjoys. We are not loveless cynics.

The thing to keep in mind is that anything that is powerful enough to be of benefit will also be powerful enough to produce unwanted side effects.

Repeat, there is no such thing as something that is 100% beneficial.

Aspirin is cheap. But even aspirin can produce side effects. That is why there
is a warning on the label and on the package insert. There is enough info
that many people can read it and recognize they shouldn't take aspirin.

If you think you're safe to take aspirin and get an allergic reaction, you will not be told to stop wallowing in victim mentality. Your friends who do take aspirin without allergies will not reject you.

But, when it comes to expensive transformational workshops that run on personality, its quite a different matter.

Hoffman Process costs a lot of money. Reportedly, a LOT OF MONEY.

That increases the moral obligation that anyone interested in doing Hoffman
Process be told that there are people who have not benefited, people who have had
side effects.

It is not enough to say "Oh Hoffman Process is not for everyone."

You may not discover that Hoffman Process is "not for you" only after you've been
through the Hoffman Process and are having a disabling panic attack or something even worse.

That is why it is so very important that the few reports of bad experiences from Hoffman be easily accessible for persons who want to educate themselves.

Someone may have a parent or uncle or sibling with bipolar and realize that HP
may be too much of a risk.

Each of us has to decide if we want to face the risk of paying or charging a

serious sum of money and getting no benefit (in which case, we got financial harm) or worse, we incur psychological harm which could actually mess up our relationships, interfere with our ability to work (which we'd better be able to do after having payed all the money needed for that Hoffman workshop!)

People have the right to read about the adverse side effects of Hoffman Process.

Being assigned room-mates who might blame you for their hang ups? Fuck that.

Being kept awake long past your regular bed time, and with no private time?

A recipe for stress, right there.

Wondering "Should I just jump the fence and get outta here? Wait, I paid thousands
of bucks to attend this thing. Maybe I'm a fucking coward for wanting to leave".

After its all over:

" Why, why, why did I let myself pay all that money to be fucked over and abused???!!!"

Corboy can tell you that many people do not want to hear a thing if you
try to tell them you've been harmed during a transformational weekend.

They will say "But why didn't you leave?" Or "Stop wallowing in victim mentality".

* It is hard to leave after you've paid a whopping sum of money. Its called cognitive dissonance.

* The retreats take place away from home. You're away from your usual cues.

* If what the Guardian reporter said is accurate, you've already trusted the Hoffman Process leaders enough to hand over your phone and laptop. Once your trust goes that far, it is horrifying to dare wonder if you made a terrible mistake to
pay all that money and then hand over your electronics. Rather than face that horror, most of us prefer to tell ourselves we are just being silly, and ignore our misgivings.

When things are set up that way, it is hard to leave. That, friends, is why
it is so very important to have open discussions here on CEI and other
websites. That way you can decide not to hand over your money and not to go someplace away from home where you hand over your electronics.

REPEAT -- the only place where they have a right to tell us to hand over our electronics if we are detained by the police. Ever think of it that way?

More potential traumas if you realize you feel harmed by participating in
Hoffman Process.

Worse yet, the ones who recommended that you do Hoffman will not want to hear you
tell them that you felt harmed, abused, and had a horrible time. They'll tell you
that you have the wrong attitude.

Bang, you have a brand new trauma: discovering that these Hoffman friends are not really your friends after all.

I can tell you, that if someone offered to pay **me** $1,000 USD tax free, I would refuse to go through what people describe as the Hoffman Process.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2017 02:51AM by corboy.