let's keep wi warnings front and center

Quote
itsashame
let's keep wi warnings front and center

Hey, I'm all for that. Ex-WI people, or shills pretending to be concerned parents, where y'all at?

It is a year since I left. My one year "bannishment" from contact with people in my group is over. They will not be "out of integrity" if they contact me. I felt compelled to revisit this forum and continue to remember and warn other people about their exploitive, mind manipulation tactics. I actually got up the courage to post a review on Yelp. I feel shakey inside after revealing my name as I know they monitor it. I said some bold things, all true. I still have some friends there, people I care about, that I assume will be very angry with me if and when word gets out about the post. I have to shake off the feeling that there will be some kind of retaliation. I just want people to know the truth from someone who has been there.

BRAVO, Grateful!! Congratulations on your first year anniversary! I admire your courage and I can appreciate the anxiety you must feel with having your name out there. But, take heart because they can't hurt you! At least not since you now call your life and mind your own. I totally support you and know that all you say about them is true. So attractive on the outside and yet twisted and rotten at the core. The scariest part is that I think that B&J truly believe that they have somehow consecrated their lives to helping others and making a positive difference in the world. If they just happen to be making a ton of money at it while driving their disciples further and further into debt, then so be it. The power that they wield over others' lives just makes me shudder. Good for you for following your own heart and having the guts to get out from under their influence! I totally agree that the greatest growth one experiences is in the process of leaving. I only wish that I had done it sooner than later because it is so true that the longer you stay, the harder it is to leave. Don't hold your breath waiting for your WI "friends" to contact you....you will turn blue.

Pearl, thank you for your support! Yes, I agree the longer you stay the harder it is to leave. I received a phone call from the person I was closest to in my group. She sounded hollow, like the life had been sucked out of her. She said she knew she still needed to stay because she wanted something returned from a friend and couldn't even ask her for it when she saw her last week. I don't see that as a reason for staying. I see it as a reason to wonder "what the h_____ did I spend all that money for the past 4 years?" She has so regressed and does not see it. I can only pray for her and be

Grateful I'm Out.

I know this post is old but does anyone know where I can find some more update infomration, on the Wright Institude?

All this is so scary.... I was at their 3 day weekend this past weekend for MORE Life training. March 19th-21st 2010

One particular person really stood out she did seem like the life was sucked out of her. The others I don't know if they were newbies but they seemed to genuinely want to help. I will give this a lot of more research and and thought as I was considering "joining their cult"

I did feel I took something with me though I have been doing so much research on line about self empowerment maybe I can become my own coach! :)

I am so happy that potential disciples out there are doing research on the WI and asking questions about it. Of COURSE the people at the weekend "seemed to genuinely want to help." That is the expectation of of B&J at these things...they want their people to recruit as much fresh meat as possible. Believe me, those folks are coached well as to how to make others feel "seen" and cared for. They want you to feel like they really "get" you and that they have sooo much to offer!!

I am sure you came away feeling inspired and revved up and ready to "take on" your life as you have never seemed to be able to do before. You may even have felt that if you don't join them then you are somehow selling yourself short or don't feel like you deserve for your life to be better. Do not jump into that snakepit!! They are so full of shit. They are all SALESMEN, pure and simple. They want you feeling broken and vulnerable but oh, so worthy of having a better life. They hold this "vision" for everyone of how much better their life COULD be!! And, wonder of wonders Bob and Judy just happen to have the perfect program you need to join in order to achieve that special "vision" for yourself.

Do not be duped into thinking that they truly give a rat's ass about you as fellow human being. They care about you as long as you are a part of the B&J admiration society. They care about you as long as you are paying them to care. It is so similar to prostitution. There is no "genuineness" about it. Do not get sucked in to the phony display of "sincerity." It is pure business.


There is a passage from a well know psychiatrist named Gerald May that I want to share here. It is from a book he wrote called, "Simply Sane" and it deeply resonates with me. I think that so many of the people that I met there were natural born seekers. They want their life to count, to mean something and they feel like they are missing the mark somehow. These folks are the prime targets of B&J and they are the proverbial "cash cow" that keeps them in business. I hope that others may recognize themselves in the following words. The WI's money making ability is directly dependent on keeping people like this woman in their clutches and making her feel like there is always "more" out there that she is somehow missing.


"The (woman) did join a conciousness-raising group. She went on weekend workshops where she established contact with other people. She learned how to touch them and respond to them and trust them and be trusted by them. She learned how to ask for her needs to be met, how to express her anger. She learned how to communicate 'straight.' And how to take risks. And each time she'd come back all warm and glowing and full of vitality, ready to tackle life with all the gusto of her being. For a while. The energy itself would last a day or two. Then she'd pretend that she still had it for another week or two. And then she'd begin to admit that she was running down a bit and that her existence wasn't quite as meaningful as she'd like it to be So she'd say, "I'm falling back into my old patterns again. I'm still basically inhibited and not spontaneous. I need to do some more work on myself. Grow a little more. Get in touch with more of my feelings. Move along the cutting edge of personal development."
...She'd adopted another set of standards to which she felt she must adhere in order to be all right. And her natural, sensible being was drifting back somewhere far, out of sight. And she was again saying that there was something wrong with her.
...The entire process can be very exciting and entertaining. But the problem is there is no end to it."

Before UrHeart or anyone else decides to plunk their money down , I hope that they think long and hard about what they are getting themselves into. Take care with yourself and really trust your gut. YOU have the answers, not them.

Pearl,

Thank you for your research and clarity. You hit the nail on the head with everything you said about the people attracted to the institute. I was one of those seekers eager to grow and make my my life matter. G. May's description of the woman sounds like me, except I did finally leave. I am still a seeker but looking on the inside now and to my experience for my own, natural sensible wisdom. Now I know I do not have to make my life matter. It just does. Period. I am still paying off my debt and will be for awhile. That's another issue they do not talk about. So many people there are so in debt and struggling financially but keep it to themselves. I often wonder if that was one of the reasons that the long term member committed suicide a couple of years ago.

Yes, we were trained to attract people and give a show of caring. "Love training" they call it. When I helped on the weekends, I felt like I cared about the people in my groups. But it was caring with an agenda. If they did not sign up for something, I did not have the time or motivation to continue caring. I felt special and that people at the Institute cared about me. When I announced I was leaving, the love and caring stopped and the hostility began. It was like leaving a controlling, abusive relationship. People did not want to accept that I was leaving. I had to walk away, turn off my phone, and block emails.

B and J are charismatic speakers and teachers. I got a lot of good information and learned some things that are helpful in living my life. But I believe that there are other ways to get this kind of self-help information and inspiration without giving up authority over my life and allowing myself to be exploited.

Grateful

I’m really happy to see a surge of people starting to speak out against the Wright Institute. The presence on Yelp is wonderful to see as well, and it’d be great if we could somehow get links to this website up to the top of Google searches for “Wright Institute”. People have allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the Wrights, and the authorities can’t help, because people have the right to make their own decisions – that’s why the only way we can combat them is with a flood of information.

So here’s my story. I’ll be scant on specific details, so as not to out myself. It’s funny to admit, but even after years of not working there, I still have a slight fear of interacting with anyone associated with the institute. I’m sure Bob gets off on that.

The Wright Institute was my first “real” job out of college. The job market was rough, and I was near the end of my savings. Getting a job at the Wright Institute seemed like a dream come true – a place focused on personal growth that organized retreats seemed like a comfortable place to find my footing outside of academia. Sadly, I was wrong.

It started innocently enough. The tasks I was handed started out as simple, as I would expect for an entry-level position, but within a couple weeks I was working 16-hour days. I rarely had time to eat, despite their insistence that I take two 15-minute breathing breaks and an hour lunch each day.

I couldn’t find time for a normal life because I’d be betraying the family. The team at the institute sells each other on this idea that they’re a family, with Bob and Judith as their loving mom and dad. I’ve seen wedding pictures on people’s desks with Bob benevolently delivering a speech to the bride and groom, as if his words of wisdom really amount to anything.

See, Bob sees himself as some kind of ubermensch (despite his lisp), and gets off on being the smartest guy in the room, and goddamn if he wouldn’t be a millionaire if he wasn’t more interested in helping all these worthless people. And Judith, the earth mother, is his perfect match – she’s the caring and nurturing one who convinces you that dad is right after he’s torn you to pieces. They’re both complicit, along with the rest of the staff, in tearing down everyone’s sense of self-worth, all in the name of building you up again.

Early on, I realized I would have to work most weekends. One of the first weekends I was there we had to reorganize the file system. I came upon a legal document regarding a man who had tried to sue the Wright’s because of things that had been done to him at the Men’s Basic. According to the Wright’s, this man was welcome to leave the retreat center, but he continued to stay on the property and scream at the retreaters and staff. They settled out of court. At the time, this seemed odd. But this was before I went on the Men’s Basic.

At one point, I was strapped down to the ground while a snake and gerbil were dragged across my naked skin, and I was shamed into swimming naked in a pond in the middle of nowhere. Both of these happened while blindfolded. I was later encouraged to scream at the other retreaters until I was hoarse, and made to hyperventilate until I cried. Bob tore into me and told me I was a f*ckin piece of sh*t who always played the victim. And I believed him. It took a year or so after to realize that I WAS a victim. I was traumatized, as are most men that go through this experience. By the end of the weekend, everyone has a form of Stockholm syndrome wearing the veil of male camaraderie.

I lost 15 lbs in the 3 months I worked there. It felt like a year. I was rewarded with compliments after being made to feel like scum. I was told that my family didn’t really love me, and they wouldn’t really love me until I stood up to them and told them I didn’t need them. They broke my connection to my friends because of the long hours I was expected to work. I was an island, with no one to turn to except the Institute. This is how they get a majority of their students – a gradual breakdown of identity with anything outside of the Wrights.

Oh, and I should say, I witnessed meetings where the entire team proclaimed in ecstasy their number one new project: Project Money! Those of you out there that think they have altruistic intentions – stop fooling yourself. They sell themselves and the staff on this idea of “helping people”. But no one is helped here, maybe not even Bob and Judith. It’s all one sick, delusional mindf*ck that seeks to suck everyone dry of money and line the coffers of the Institute.

If it weren’t for the strength of my family, I wouldn’t have found myself again, and gotten myself out. Keep fighting against these people, everyone. Trust me. It’s for the best.