Hi Cosmophilosopher,

Quote
Cosmophilospher
Hi Steve, thanks for the posts.
Please post whatever you want here.
If some important info of yours has been deleted, or will be, then feel free to post that info here.

Also, please feel free to list some of the homophobic comments you have heard Robbins make. I would be interested in hearing them.

This is from my Colorado friends who went to several large Robbins group events, back in the late 1990's.

I distinctly remember reading about this, several years ago.

Robbbins may have cleaned-up his act, since then. One can only hope so, with the anti-gay atmosphere today.

Quote

As far as "Black Belt" and those other guys, long ago i exposed these guys as flat out liars.
There were many people posting specific techniques of how Robbins "Must Team" does a HARD CLOSE to get people to sign tricky contracts for over 10 grand or more, and guys like BlackBelt completely and self-consciously were lying about that.
BlackBelt and some of those other guys, are probably somehow involved as SALESPEOPLE for Robbins. Maybe whoever runs the website gets some commissions or something. I don't know the details.
But i do know its about money.
Follow the money.

When you get TOO CLOSE to the truth that might HURT SALES, then they will kick you out of that web community.
It comes down to money.
Read this thread for a "coaching" fiasco's one fellow went through.

You are correct that the real danger in Robbins is that SOME of the ideas he has outright stolen from others are valuable.
I have said Robbins is so dangerous as he is so talented.
He is a very skilled and talented person.
He is a Master Eriksonian Hypnotist.

For suggestible "soccer moms" he can take their brain and turn it inside out in a weekend. He can "change her life" in a weekend allright.

What also makes Robbins dangerous is that he appears to be "legit".
Most people do not have the acuity to be able to see what he is doing.
I was lucky that i have watched him from near the beginning, and when he started, the NLP type super-manipulation was more explicit. Now it is totally hidden.

Power corrupts, that is a fact, and Robbins has a lot of power over people.
I do think him using "volunteers" is just a big joke to him.
He could get together with Richard Bandler and have a laugh as they discuss how specifically to get hords of people to work for free AND LOVE IT.
Its a big mind experiment to those guys.
Its a big "in-joke" to the unethical NLPers and those who have abused Milton Erickson's work.
Maybe someday an ethical Eriksonian Hypnotist will expose Robbins. But Robbins would SUE him beyond bankruptcy.
There is a lot of lawsuit fear of Robbins out there for those people who know what Robbins is doing to people.

10-4 to that.

Conspicuious consumption of money.

Steve

Bingo - found it.

Quote

Nudge-nudge homophobia and the

tiresome strain of innocuous,

Jack Tripper-style lechery -

"Oh, I didn't mean that kind of

passionate - or did I?!" - were

additional low points, as were

the superficial asides regarding

spiritual fulfillment.

from
[66.102.7.104]

The above is just one recount of this kind of "cute" homophobia pushed by Robbins in typical socially-disconnected yuppie boy style.

A very well researched and highly detailed review of Tony Robbins:

[www.advweb.com]

Steve

Below is an excerpt of a funny, and yet fairly accurate portrayal of a Robbins seminar. (this was linked to above).
He touches on many key points...

12 hr days, Love Bombing, Music Blasting, Shouting "Yes!", etc.

He also mentions the fact that much of Robbins act is DATED. But that is intentional. Those are all repetitive hypnotic cues for his followers. They "stack" on top of eachother. Nothing in a Robbins seminar happens by chance. Even when he is LATE, and there are big line-ups getting in, that is all part of the PLAN to disrupt you and create CONTRAST. Its part of the Hypnotic Induction.

His description of the Tony Acolytes is very accurate. They look up to him like he is some sort of Super-Daddy. Its really disturbing.
But here he makes an error. He thinks that what Robbins does with the audience is sincere and shows he is insecure. Robbins is definitely a Love Slob and NEEDS to be WORSHIPPED. And i do agree that Robbins NEEDS these followers to make himself feel ok about himself, most likely due to his low-self worth, and having "4 fathers" and all the rest of his dysfunctional childhood, in which he NEVERS mentions any type of father.

But those "private tender moments" he spends with his followers are all part of the sales process.
Its a DEEPER Induction, very emotional. Its moving into INTIMACY with his select acolytes.
Some of those very people will go on to take ALL of his courses, several times, and sign up for more stuff. Each one of those persons could be worth $100,000 grand to Tony, or even much more, if they HAVE it.
He wants to LURE them into his Platinum Partnership, which is about $65 grand a YEAR to "hang out" with Tony a few times.

I knew people who fell into that crowd.
Tony starts off SEEMING all wonderful, and caring, and touchy-feely.
But after the certified cheques clear, its a different story.

Below is a link about some folks who were Franchisees of Robbins. Its started out all touchy-feely, but then AFTER hundreds of thousands of dollars went to Tony from each person, he CUT THEM LOOSE. Robbins would literally not return anyone's calls, and HIS OWN PEOPLE had to take him to the FTC, and FORCE him to come to the table.
[www.ftc.gov]

There are many lawsuits and other activites of this nature.
That is the REAL Tony Robbins.
Completely ruthless Businessman, looking out for #1.
Its the classic Wolf in Sheep's clothing.
When i see those folks hugging him, and staring in his eyes, and crying, it saddens me. They have no idea how they have been played by a sociopathic Master Hypnotist.
Hopefully they won't mortgage their homes and empty their life savings so they can blow $100 grand on his "advanced courses", and then end up with a big NOTHING. A big con-job.

The link below is correct in the end. Its all about...GREED.

Coz

[www.suck.com]

Awaken the Pliant Within

For 11 hours and 15 minutes, I

hugged perfume-saturated

realtors. For 11 hours and 15

minutes, I gave back rubs to car

salesmen. I pretended to be the

World's Most Outrageous Aerobics

Instructor. I recited truisms in

a Mickey Mouse voice. I

mimicked epileptic-surfer moves

as speakers blasted '80s

frat-party songs. I boosted the

"energy up to Level 40!" I

shouted "Yes!" over and over,

along with the 3,000

other "playfully outrageous"

attendees of the Anthony

Robbins Competitive Edge(TM)

seminar in a slightly rundown

auditorium in downtown San Jose.

And when Robbins asked us if we

were "juiced," I raised my fist

to the ceiling and arm-pumped

like a drunken Young Republican

at his first National

Convention.



When 8:00 p.m. came at last, as

the neo-Wagnerian chords of

"Start Me Up" crunched toward

their well-merchandised

crescendo, 3,000 sweaty

overachievers celebrated their

completion of the 12-hour

Anthony Robbins Competitive

Edge(TM) seminar in the

requisite manner of the day:

with rampant arm-pumping,

communal moaning, spontaneous

stranger-grappling, and loud,

liberating exclamations of

freeform transcendence.



At least I think that's how it

happened.



I had fled the scene about 45

minutes earlier. I had meant to

stay to the end, I swear.

Several times throughout the

day, Robbins had stressed the

importance of the final hour:

"It's like the last rep when

you're lifting weights - that's

when the real growth happens!"

He punctuated each repetition of

the sentiment with his signature

move, an expressionistic karate

chop to his own chest, and with

each crisp, swashbuckling

thwack, I promised myself that I

would indeed stick around for

the last group cheer. Because I

wanted to learn how to become a

"state inducer." Because I

wanted to learn how to "gain the

competitive edge through

strategic influence," so that I

too might sell millions of

overpriced book and videotape

collections to underperforming

salespeople, and land lucrative

consulting gigs with timid

tennis stars and equivocal

presidents.



But how much can a person take?



I mean, even a little Tony

Robbins goes a long, long way.

And Robbins, an exclamation

point made flesh, is more than

just larger than life; he's

larger even than the TV persona

he's created for himself. On the

stage behind him, two big-screen

monitors projected his every

movement and expression in

exaggerated detail. They seemed

superfluous.

The real Robbins, center-stage, 6

foot 7 inches, was simply more

compelling. Up close, of course,

he's freakish. His body, not

fat, but not quite fit-looking

either, gives the impression

that perhaps he has no body at

all, and to cover that absence,

he's simply stuffed a suit with

pillows. His oversized,

Osmondoid countenance had a

similarly synthetic quality;

Tony Robbins masks would be more

convincing. Most alarming was

the lower half of his face;

exhibiting such exoskeletal

grandeur, in such constant,

insect-like motion, it exceeded

mere "jawness" and became

"mandible." All this might make

him a somewhat disconcerting

dinner companion, but it does

make Robbins a pretty good live

performer. Those exaggerated

features register across an

entire auditorium; his

matadorean flouncing recalls the

bombastic flourish of Elvis in

his Vegas years.



Which is not to say his act

couldn't use some work. Much of

it felt ready for the archives.

Robbins continues to use '80s

effluvia like Donald Trump,

Michael Jackson, and Lee Iacocca

to illustrate his various

points. During a brief product

placement interlude a half-dozen

out-of-work actors dressed in

California Raisins costumes

tossed sackfuls of nature's

candy to the frenzied crowd: For

a moment, I thought I was at

COMDEX '87. Technically more

topical, but feeling just as

dated, were jokes about Saddam

Hussein and Lorena Bobbitt.

Nudge-nudge homophobia and the

tiresome strain of innocuous,

Jack Tripper-style lechery -

"Oh, I didn't mean that kind of

passionate - or did I?!" - were

additional low points, as were

the superficial asides regarding

spiritual fulfillment.



Still, focusing on the specifics

of what Robbins says violates

the spirit of his philosophy of

influence. Indeed, his core

message for the day was the

notion that one's "words"

contribute little to one's

overall "influence." More

important than "words" is one's

"voice." (Robbins himself

generally employs either a

confident Foghorn Leghorn

baritone or a timid milquetoast

stammer.) More important than

one's "voice" is one's

"physiology," the sum total of

one's posture, gestures, and

expression. This "physiology,"

Robbins believes, accounts for

more than half of one's

influence.



He's absolutely right. His career

proves it. In his earliest days

as a "human potential

consultant," the only thing

separating him from all the

other smalltime self-confidence

artists talking the motivational

talk was one particularly

compelling bit of physiology:

the ability to walk the

firewalk. That fortuitous

sideshow trick helped Robbins

forge a highly marketable

identity; thousands of hours of

TV exposure later (according to

Robbins, not one minute has

passed in the last eight years

when his infomercials aren't

airing somewhere), he's the

world's best-known self-help

guru, raking in hundreds of

thousands of dollars for a

single day's work.



It is a long day's work, though,

that's for sure. Even in my

lesser role as a spectator, I

was exhausted at the onset of

the seminar's final hour. My

hands were sore from

indiscriminate clapping, my back

was aching from sitting in the

cheap orange folding chair my

US$300 VIP ticket had gotten me.

Robbins himself showed no signs

of fatigue. He lurched around

the stage like Arnold

Schwarzenegger imitating Jim

Carrey; he grabbed his dick

Michael Jackson-style and

bellowed into the microphone

like a karaoke televangelist.



And while I appreciate this kind

of spectacle as much as anyone,

after 11 hours, well....



Robbins had enlightened me, he'd

entertained me, he'd even

managed to "energize" me on a

few occasions. So couldn't he

just finally call it a day?

Perhaps his extreme reluctance

to do so is the secret to his

phenomenal success: At every

single seminar he gives, the

person who gets the most

significant emotional benefit

from it is always Robbins

himself. During the lunch break,

a couple of dozen acolytes had

congregated at the edge of the

stage, their faces contorted

with sweet, needy anguish as

they waited patiently for a

brief moment of communion. But

the neediest, nakedest, most

anguished expression of all

belonged to Robbins; he sat

poised on the edge of the stage,

his eyes filled with plaintive

puppy-dog yearning, his mouth

twisted in an awkward, grateful

grimace as his fans showered him

with their love and validation.

It was a disappointing moment;

hucksters of world-class stature

should be insincere and resonant

with vain self-loathing.

Robbins, I realized, was merely

insecure.


It's an inevitable irony: The

motivational expert needs the

audience's applause to confirm

his own self-worth. Onstage,

doing his epileptic-surfer

thing, he was the life of the

party. Offstage, one imagines,

he's just a big goof who can't

dance. Throughout the

afternoon's session, I tried to

convince myself that the

anguish, the awful longing for

approval, was just another part

of the act. But the longer he

continued to perform, the more

desperate he appeared. And when

he started launching T-shirts

into the crowd via a giant

slingshot, a sudden fear

overtook me: What would he do

next to win our favor? Start

offering us our money back? That

was when I decided I had to

flee; I simply wasn't able to

confront the specter of Robbins'

neediness a moment longer.


Now, after a few days'

reflection, I'm content to let

the question of Robbins'

neediness remain one of life's

many mysteries. The notion that

Robbins might have actually been

willing to trade a portion of

the day's receipts in return for

the chance to remain on stage an

hour longer was pure folly on my

part, induced, no doubt, by all

that disorienting hugging and

clapping. A quick visit to his

Web site, with its endless,

escalating pitches for products and

seminars, reaffirm one's faith

in his steadfast cupidity. In

the end, greed is Robbins' great

redeemer.

I'm a former Tony Robbins "fan" and I have alot of mixed feelings about his products, techniques, methods and seminars. I don't know anymore about this guy!

On the one hand, his products are better that alot of other things we're exposed to as a society (alcohol, smoking, drugs, casual sex, a heavily biased media that creates false fears in people, and an otherwise lazy and cynical society). Like alot of people, I was looking for something else away from all of that, and out comes Tony.....6"7, the world's number one "peak performance consultant"...and the consultant of Princess Diana and Mikael Gorbachev! He must be doing something right.

Most of the people that do his material will end up fine in the long run. I don't think 50 million people (the amount of people he claims has been exposed to his work) will all end up broke, despondent and addicted to the cult of Robbins. It's like any other product. Most are ok. Some develop problems (some get addicted to Star Wars).

I liked his books, I bought PPII and even went to UPW. Naively, I just thought he was another guru/expert. No better or worse than Emeril Lagasse, Jack Welch or a professional sports coach like Phil Jackson.

Some of the information that I got was valuable (controlling your state, some NLP/rapport stuff, and a few other nuggets). Some of it I instantly dismissed as ridiculous (Q Link?, his health claims, his relationship advice).

After stepping back from all the hype (and peak states!), I found that most of his material just doesn't gell with my way of thinking. It's too mania and peak state oriented (that just isn't me). I don't need to go into a "level 10" peak state to get things accomplished. I'm fine at my own state.

Cosmo, I thoroughly enjoyed your "unconscious persuasion" threads on the robbins board; very fascinating.

Is the intent of Robbins any better/worse than other marketers? People use persuasion techniques all the time. There's cults of Star Wars and Harley Davidson and In-N-Out Burger. Some people blow their life savings on Beanie Babys and the latest real estate fad.

On the whole, has Robbins done more good than bad? I don't know.

Some of the stuff smacks of cult (volunteers at his events, slogans- YES! YES! at his seminars, us vs them, mania/hysteria). Some of it is just good old fashioned marketing (the famous testimonials, the repackaging of NLP). And some of it is pretty inspiring. Take what you enjoy and leave the rest.

What's with this "take what you need/enjoy and leave the rest" sales pitch? It seems to be spreading outside Landmark now.

Along with all the usual arguments that marketing/persuasion is all the same, so someone who uses hypnosis and "peak states" to hook people is the same as the people who market something like Beanie Babies. It's always the follower's fault for getting hooked; never the fault of the guy who's using hypnotic techniques to hook them. Yeah, sure.

:roll:

in which many participants report bliss and peak experiences, they are exercising enormous power.

Society has a double standard. If X sells happy powder and enables people to get bliss states or peak experiences without a doctor's prescription, that person risks prosecution for selling illegal drugs. And if anyone suffers bad reactions from ingesting what that person sells, the sufferer is not blamed, accused of having a victim mentality; it is the drug dealer who is held responsible.

But if X is skilled at triggering bliss states through social engineering, and masters American marketing techniques, things are very different.

Unlike the despised drug dealer, if X learns to trigger ecstacy through use of social engineering methods, he or she can she can become a wealthy pillar of society, with little or no accountability for proper use of such talents.

Unlike a physician or pharmacist, entrepreneur X is not obligated to keep records on which participants benefits, or track what proportion of participants respond well, neutrally, or have bad reactions to the experience.

Best of all, if any participant has a bad reaction to X's "product", they can be accused of negative thinking by using New Age shame-tripping, and are assigned all the blame, while the entrepreneur X takes all the credit for benefits reported by the other participants.

Meanwhile physicians and pharmacists who dispense potentially bliss inducing drugs or know how to use trance are accountable to a tight network of legal accountability.

A friend who was in pharmacy school had to take courses in pharmacy law and said 'In our state the only profession with more legal regulations than pharmacists is--being a tavern keeper.'

That's what Robbins has always said since the beginning.
He knows how different people are, and he sends out many messages to many different types of people at once.
Its like having a fishing line, with 18 lures on it, for different types of fish.

For instance, the only reason he started adding in New Age Quack alternative health stuff, was to tap into that market.
Now that is a totally different crowd that the Get Rich Business crowd, or the over-weight middle age lady crowd, or the Save The World crowd.
He puts out messages to many different demographic groups, so he is just telling you and giving you a hypnotic command to ignore the salespitches to other groups.

But mainly, its a powerful way of DISABLING your critical thinking processes.
"Just ignore those pesky little doubts in your mind..."

Coz

Quote
glam
What's with this "take what you need/enjoy and leave the rest" sales pitch?

Hi there former Tony fan!
I hope you are having an OUTSTANDING DAY, not just a great day!!!! Great is not good enough, you must push yourself to have an Outstanding day, everyday!
;-)

Well, i am glad you read the Unconscious Influence thread. That is SOME of what good ole Tony is doing to people, without their knowledge.
Tony has said that his goal is to Influence people without their conscious awareness. That is a simple fact.

I have never said that Robbins is going to wreck the lives of ALL the people he gets his fingers into. Not even close.
I have always said very clearly, that he makes huge amounts of money off VULNERABLE people.
Do you think Robbins could fool and trick hardened business people? Not very often.
Its the "regular guys" who have some type of fantasy of becoming a Big Shot, and who have vulnerabilites are the ones who get hurt.
Those are the folks who give Tony 100 Grand of borrowed money against their house and then lose it.

So to simply say, "well, he didn't get me so who cares..." is not an ethical position. Its pretty self-centered, don't you think?
Benny Hinn has never scammed me, but he scams little old ladies, so i find that upsetting.
Consider yourself fortunate that you didn't have the type of vulnerabilites to get TOO caught-up in the Robbins Mania.

As far as Persuasion, Robbins is beyond unethical.
He is using profound psychological persuasion techniques in a very damaging way on people. Most folks have no idea of what he is doing to them. At his "Advanced Seminars" that guy can really do a serious MindF*ck on people that can last for YEARS AND YEARS.
It does not sound to me like you have attended Date With Destiny, Mastery University, or his other more "advanced" seminars. Good for you! Those seminars are a big con-job, in my view.
But realize that you have only seen the surface of what he is doing to people.

Lastly the Peak State stuff is only about ONE thing.
Its about ANCHORING and FUSING Tony Robbins with your most desired and pleasurable emotions. Its also a form of hypnosis, and well as behavioral conditioning.
He even does many unconscious techniques to Anchor feelings to Him that are similar to those feelings people have toward Gandhi, and even Jesus. This is all blatant once you know what to look for.

The reality is that for certain people with specific vulnerabilites, going to a Tony Robbins seminar could be one of the most dangerous things they could do in their life.
Sure, many people go, and Robbins just bounces right off their Bullshit shield. Robbins knows this.
This is why he spends so much INTIMATE TIME with people during breaks, etc. Those are the folks that are going to do ALL of his seminars, OVER AND OVER.
Also, his Must Team looks for people who Tony has put into a profound Trance at seminars, and then signs them up with TRICKY CONTRACTS.

So "take what you want and leave the rest" is not a credible statement for Robbins.
99% of people have NO IDEA of what the guy is doing to them, so how can they "leave it?"
How can you "leave" profound Unconscious Influence?

I have seen what Robbins has done to many people, and these are the people he got rich from. Its not very pleasant.
Is Robbins more good than bad?
In my view, not even close.
The bad FAR outweighs any "good" for those who get deeply involved.
But Tony is so talented, he can make them think that giving Tony all of their inheritence, and working 16 hours a day for him for FREE, and paying Tony 65 Grand a year to join his Platinum Partnership is WONDERFUL.
That is the joke for Robbins. He can make people FEEL that he is their Best Friend, when they don't even know the guy.

So yes, for many people, Robbins is a very dangerous person to their well-being.
His one "teaching" about MUSTS is enough to wreck your emotional happiness right there.
Robbins teaches the EXACT OPPOSITE of what proper therapies like CBT teach. He teaches to make MORE MUSTS in your life.
CBT has shown scientifically that MUSTS create emotional disturbance in people. So we need less Musts in our life, to be happy, and ironically to be more effective.

But Tony knows this.
He WANTS to make you disturbed, so you will lay down that 20 Grand, 50 Grand, 150 Grand.
I am not talking about people who buy a $200 tape set, then put it in their closet.
I am talking about the people who get put into a Deep Trance, and then wake up 5 years later, and have given Tony 10-20-50-100 grand, or even much more. He will clean them out if he can.
That is just a fact.

By the way, a Trance is not what most people think it is.
When people are screaming at his seminars, and focussing on their "energy", that is a profound Trance state, which makes them very suggestible. This is outright abuse.

Coz

Quote
M12002
I'm a former Tony Robbins "fan" and I have alot of mixed feelings about his products, techniques, methods and seminars. I don't know anymore about this guy!

On the one hand, his products are better that alot of other things we're exposed to as a society (alcohol, smoking, drugs, casual sex, a heavily biased media that creates false fears in people, and an otherwise lazy and cynical society). Like alot of people, I was looking for something else away from all of that, and out comes Tony.....6"7, the world's number one "peak performance consultant"...and the consultant of Princess Diana and Mikael Gorbachev! He must be doing something right.

Most of the people that do his material will end up fine in the long run. I don't think 50 million people (the amount of people he claims has been exposed to his work) will all end up broke, despondent and addicted to the cult of Robbins. It's like any other product. Most are ok. Some develop problems (some get addicted to Star Wars).

I liked his books, I bought PPII and even went to UPW. Naively, I just thought he was another guru/expert. No better or worse than Emeril Lagasse, Jack Welch or a professional sports coach like Phil Jackson.

Some of the information that I got was valuable (controlling your state, some NLP/rapport stuff, and a few other nuggets). Some of it I instantly dismissed as ridiculous (Q Link?, his health claims, his relationship advice).

After stepping back from all the hype (and peak states!), I found that most of his material just doesn't gell with my way of thinking. It's too mania and peak state oriented (that just isn't me). I don't need to go into a "level 10" peak state to get things accomplished. I'm fine at my own state.

Cosmo, I thoroughly enjoyed your "unconscious persuasion" threads on the robbins board; very fascinating.

Is the intent of Robbins any better/worse than other marketers? People use persuasion techniques all the time. There's cults of Star Wars and Harley Davidson and In-N-Out Burger. Some people blow their life savings on Beanie Babys and the latest real estate fad.

On the whole, has Robbins done more good than bad? I don't know.

Some of the stuff smacks of cult (volunteers at his events, slogans- YES! YES! at his seminars, us vs them, mania/hysteria). Some of it is just good old fashioned marketing (the famous testimonials, the repackaging of NLP). And some of it is pretty inspiring. Take what you enjoy and leave the rest.

(Below are some telling excerpts from a webpage...those of us who know what's going on will recognize what is being done here...)

[www.accountingweb.co.uk]

Anthony Robbins helped celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone and Nelson Mandela to realise their potential. So I wondered if he could do the same for me.

After I told people I had enrolled on the course I was asked all sorts of questions. Is he a charlatan or a cult figure? Does he really have the tools to unlock the secrets of success?

I went along to the seminar as a sceptic. Having experienced the four-day event, I still wonder if his methods are entirely justified. He displayed an air of Jesus-like self importance that reminded me of Michael Jackson's notorious Brits performance.

Was it necessary for Robbins to ridicule individuals who volunteered to speak about their innermost personal feelings to a crowd of 12,500 people? For example, Robbins told a clinically depressed woman named Nula that mental illness did not exist and urged her to stop taking her medication because her ailment was "selfish". Robbins also shocked a terminally ill woman with his reaction to her heart-felt story: "You're f*cked." He reinforced this statement with "she may as well give up now! Right?"

-----------------------

Day 1
It was a long very intensive meeting of like minded wealthy (at 700-2k a ticket) individuals doing lots of role plays. A manic depressive was exposed as the selfish individual she really was as her father sat next to her listening to her consider suicide. Robbins did not schedule any breaks in the grueling 8 hours, instead he captured our attentions with periodic physical jumping and chants of our commitment to our intentions and lots of high 5's. I was amazed that I was able to concentrate, only interrupted by extroverted individuals acting in a really exaggerated fashion - my god at these points I felt like I was at a religious sect convention.

He certainly managed to order 12 thousand of us to take off our shoes and socks and walk for 10 minutes in the rain against a background of bongo music shouting yes and punching the air to our destination - the fire walk!!!!

Then we heard other peoples stories - at first I was uncomfortable hearing about child molestation, seeing a women cry and volunteer her story to 12 thousand was not a pretty sight - is this an Oprah Winfrey show?. The women said she had been molested by her grandfather who died when she was 7 - Robbins responded with "thank fxxx- otherwise we would have to kill him".

Then it was our turn - we found a partner and basically became very emotional - were we brain washed - I am not sure - all I know is that 12 thousand people started crying - some were even wailing. It was very emotional - something you will only appreciate if you attend. At times I did feel like I was in a Spielberg movie


--------------------

Day 1
Arrived feeling quite excited, although my feelings changed to cynicism the minute I was surrounded by the hand-clapping and whooping that surrounded me. The morning was spent learning how we let negative experiences in the past affect our futures life in the present. All made perfect sense to me, but I still felt a little uncomfortable with all the hysteria. Plus there seemed to be too many religious undertones to the event. As A Christian, I found it hard to ignore the fact that this guy is 'healing' people who come from miles around to hear him speak...ring any bells?

Day 2/3
More whooping and hand slapping, interspersed with high NRG dancing and what I would call 'regression' therapy. We put ourselves into a situation in the past that had affected us negatively and Robbins encouraged us to multiply the feeling, until it became unbearable, thinking of how that feeling had affected us in our lives so far and how it will affect our future if we don't break the pattern. The idea is then to replace that pattern with a new one. I'm still working on that one. This technique was used by people wanting to excel themselves at work, or be better parents, or react differently in their personal lives.

Both days were exceedingly emotional, and added to the fact that we were 'working' from 8.30 til 11pm, I was totally exhausted by the evenings. It was all I could do to fall into bed!!
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Fire walk was top – really pumped up! brill ‘drumming’ music. Sent 50+ text messages to mates and family extolling the virtues of fire walking - wow – what can I say - Amazing! I want all my mates and colleagues to have the opportunity to do it now!

on stage ‘exorcism’ of the abused woman… (Hmmm, not sure I was entirely comfortable with what I saw!).

The Belief System stuff was great - never really analysed myself like that before. Really emotional. 12,000 people groaning and wailing and blubbing when we were delving into our limiting beliefs was rather surreal, but I just went for it – might as well…and the energy and positivism I felt when we were creating our empowering beliefs was fantastic! I loved the dancing – me and mate were leading 20+ strangers in our own aerobics class. 12,000+ people having a water fight was amazing!

Cosmo,

Yes, I'm having an outstanding day!! It's one of my musts ;)

Actually, I found this board after searching for "tony robbins cult" on the net. I knew what some of the characteristics were (charismatic leader, us vs them, the long list that you mentioned), but I wondered what other stories were out there. You certainly weren't going to read about it on the Robbins board. Any type of critical questioning there falls on deaf ears.

I guess if I had gotten deeper in the "Robbins Universe", I'd have a much stronger opinion on him (never went to Mastery, DWD, never volunteered at UPW thankfully, never did GTE, TOYL).

What he does at UPW is truely extraordinary. Everyone leaves at "level 15", bouncing off the walls and feeling incredible. It lasts for a few days/weeks. Then you go back to normal. And even though you didn't get what you expected (long lasting results), you still have postive associations with the whole experience! How many companies would die for that type of conditioning? You mentioned somewhere on the Robbins board that TR could be doing consulting for other big firms (celebrities) that want this type of hold on their customers. Do you think he is (or perhaps is getting big celebrity testimonials because of it)?

I've been de-Tonyized for while. I had to take a break from it. I know every business wants to hook you for life (Pepsi starts by hooking young kids). Hearing about Tonys grip has made me rethink alot of what he teaches.

-John