JoAnne Bangs
www.daveellisleadership.com
I created the life of my dreams. I was lucky to work on staff in the bay area. Before going on staff I assisted at the Wasington street office and Franklin house. I was personally trained by Werner when I was a center manager in the Berkeley center. One of the things I learned was to create the family of my choice, that friends can be as thick as family and to be friends with my ex’s. This past year I celebrated my ex husband’s 63 birthday and he is a man that has not done the Training, and we have been divorced since before I took the training. At Christmas my ex and father of our children stayed at my home with his wife and our son and we had a drama free and blessed time. I live with Joy, Integrity, and Contribution being the air I breathe. What I want to say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
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Eliezer Sobel
www.eliezersobel.com
Twenty years after taking the training in 1975, I ran into Randy McNamara, my first trainer, at Dulles Airport. That brief but powerful encounter triggered an article I then published in Quest Magazine called “This is it: est 20 Years Later.” To my utter surprise and delight, I received a personal letter of acknowledgment for the article from Werner, who had already “disappeared” from the U.S. by that time, as well as a wonderful thank-you card from Randy. I was thrilled, as you can imagine. Werner’s letter made reference to the well-known Zen ox-herding pictures, which summarize the process of awakening and transformation, and implied that “getting it” in the training was perhaps merely the first glimpse of the ox, and clearly mastery required a lot more of us. You can find my article online here: www.eliezersobel.com/est.html After another ten years flew by, I published a sequel, entitled, “This is Still it: est 30 Years Later,” which can be found here: www.theosophical.org/publications/questmagazine/mayjun06/Sobel/index.php Finally, just last year I published my spiritual memoir, The 99th Monkey, which includes an extensive chapter about Werner and est that combines both of the above articles and adds to them. You can read the Prologue to the book here: www.the99thmonkey.com This virtual reunion is great, but when is Werner going to rent out the Astrodome for a Live Event??? Love, Eliezer (then Elliot) Sobel
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Truette Thomas Stubbs
Jan 18, 2009
Before May, 1978 when I did the EST Training, I saw a life as a contest and others as my adversaries, after the EST Training, I became willing to be responsible for all that occurs in my life. I saw that all I used to see as my adversaries were my own creations. And what occurs for me is the result of all my choices and that I am the possibility of whatever I create. Most important, Brenda and I were married in September of 1978. We had been dating for six years without a long term commitment and the experience of the EST Training lead to the commitment of a marriage that is precious and full of love today as it has been for over thirty years now. I carry Werner Erhard in my heart. I am grateful to his work every day. He taught me that love is not hard to find when it is where you come from.
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Billy Weil
Jan 19, 2009
Awesome site! Do you know about the movie, “TRANSFORMATION The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard” ? It’s at www.transformationfilm.com Thanks for this site!
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Claudia Bishop Faubian
Jan 16, 2009
I just realized that what I got out of doing the est training in 1981 - being complete with my parents and able to express my love for them, and to them - has now come full cycle. I took care of both of them in my home until they passed away . . . now I share that experience with families every day in my job as an elder care advisor to empower them as they are faced with the challenges of memory loss, physical disability, loss of independence and all the emotion that comes at you like a freight train when you realize that YOU now are the care giver and decision maker for your parents. Oh, WOW!
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Philip Brotman
I was eight years old when my father did EST TRAINING back in 1976. I feel fortunate to be someone who has been exposed to such a powerful conversation my whole life. It is the water I swim in. Doesn’t mean my life is better than anyone else’s but I live in a totally different relationship to reality than most. WERNER in my opinion Is a thousand years ahead of his time .
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Bill Kilburg
I was one of those people who didn’t know what I got out of my est training. And my experience of my est trainers, Vic Gioscia, and Ron Bynum transformed my life. How they “showed up ” in life was like “nothing” I ever experienced before. Who they were Being on those weekends stay with me to this day. I went on to tackle getting my CDL license and become a successful truck driver, and now enjoy a pension. And the courage it took for me to get in one of those big rigs I attribute to the est training and the courage of what Vic, and Ron were Being and speaking made it all possible. And I want to thank myself for Being persistant and coachable. lol
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Bassia Bar-Chai
August B training ‘76 L.A. I lost most of my histeria, my excuses, turned around my drama into honest enthusiasm. Saw myself as a leader, and became someone to set the example rather than search for the right person to follow! I assisted Werner for about ten years off and on. Led many guest seminars-high stats–as seminar leader trainee reached extraordinary heights in my life.
It was glorious to read responses from 30 years ago, and to see how fresh and how true those responses appear right now. My ex- husband who followed me in Werner’s work just enabled me to return to Israel. We divorced in ‘77. Kept in touch through subsequent marriages; when he honored my request for a one-way ticket, he said you can thank Werner for my decision.
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Don Pallota
Jan 12, 2009
I created the AIDSRides and the Breast Cancer 3-Days. They raised $556 million for the two causes. 182,000 people rode or walked in one of these heroic, grueling, multi-day events. It changed many of their lives. The ideas upon which our event concepts were built continue to raise about $100 million annually for charity.
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Jim Tsutsui Jr.
Jan 12, 2009
One of the things I got out of the est Training was the ability to express my love. I had never really hugged my mother or father since childhood. At 26 years of age, I had totally stopped. Also being Asian-American it wasn’t available. After the training I became a free, loving, hugging, and kissing human being. It transformed my entire family. Nowadays, with all of the political correctness and sexual harassment I have to withhold this aspect from total strangers and co-workers, and acquaintances…but family? No way Jose. We hug, and kiss, and celebrate our relationships like it is 1978!
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