The best exercises for training personal growth. Personal growth and leadership courses: for those who seek self-development Self-development courses and trainings

Exercise for training personal growth"I'm in the future"

Each participant draws himself in the future. There is a protection by the participants of their drawing.

Exercise for personal growth training "Syringe"

The purpose of the exercise: to help participants feel and experience the situation of persuasion more deeply, to develop "immunity" to psychological influence.

Every teenager has a natural psychological barrier in relation to drugs, especially intravenous drugs. It is not so easy for the first time to decide to pierce a vein or introduce a substance into the body, the effect of which is unpredictable. It is at this stage, before the teenager has passed the "initiation": he made the first injection or smoked the first cigarette, it is necessary to develop self-defense skills in him.

The exercise is done in a circle. Instruction: the one who has a syringe in his hands should offer the neighbor on the right to inject himself with the drug allegedly in the syringe; the task of the second is to refuse; 3 attempts are made, after which the syringe is transferred to the one who refuses, and so on in a circle. At the end, a short discussion is held, those options for refusal are noted that were the most convincing, and those cases when the "tempter" retained a persistent desire to continue persuasion.

Exercise for personal growth training "Suitcase on the road"

The group sits in a circle.

We are finishing our work. Now each of you will take turns placing this chair in front of you (the leader puts the chair in the center of the circle). All members of the group, in the order that is convenient for you, will come up to you, sit on a chair and name one quality that, in their opinion, helps you, and one that hinders you. At the same time, one must remember that one should name those qualities that have manifested themselves in the course of the work of the group and are amenable to correction. After everyone has expressed their opinion, the next participant takes a chair and places it in front of him. The exercise is repeated, etc.

Exercise for personal growth training "Color of emotions"

Choose a driver. The leader of the gong closes his eyes, and the rest of the participants quietly think of some color among themselves, for starters, one of the main ones is better: red, green, blue, yellow. When the driver opens his eyes, all participants, by their behavior, first of all, by their emotional state, try to depict this color without naming it, and the driver must guess what color it is. If he guessed correctly, then another driver is selected, if not, then the same one remains. So, on command, one player closes his eyes, and everyone else silently thinks of a color. Then the player opens their eyes, and everyone else depicts the intended color with their behavior. The driver must guess it. All clear? Attention! Thanks, game over.

Exercise for personal growth training "Taboo"

Purpose of the exercise: to help participants understand how they feel about various prohibitions and restrictions. Often, curiosity or a desire to taste the forbidden fruit, or the desire to demonstrate one's courage, guides a teenager in his actions. Well, when he knows what feelings control him, this allows him to make an informed choice.

The facilitator puts in the center of the circle a small box or box containing an unknown object. “There lies something that is impossible,” says the presenter. Then he invites everyone to somehow express themselves in relation to this subject. Participants can stand up or remain in place, expressing the attitude with facial expressions or gestures; they can approach the box, take it in their hands, look inside - everyone does as he sees fit. Even if someone stays in place, doing nothing, this will also be a way to respond to the situation. When doing the exercise, it is important to remember that this is an exercise of action, not explanation, so if someone tries to simply verbalize their position, the facilitator's task is to encourage him to "show" his attitude.

Exercise for personal growth training "Self-presentation"

Purpose: inclusion of adaptive mechanisms, development of skills for displaying emotions that contribute to the process of professional adaptation.

1) The trainer invites each of the participants to tell about themselves and about the events that are significant for him from the position of what caused:

Astonishment,

Interest,

Joy.

2) The procedure goes in a circle and may include an assessment of the self-presentation of the previous participant according to the same “surprise-interest-joy” scheme.

3) At the end of the procedure, you can discuss the results of self-presentation in the group (if necessary).

Exercise for personal growth training "Pessimist, Optimist, Jester"

Purpose: creating a holistic attitude of a person to a problem situation, gaining experience in considering a problem from different points of view.

1) The trainer invites each participant to describe on separate sheets in several sentences a situation that causes him a stressful state or strong negative emotions, or a situation that the participant finds it difficult to accept. The written story should not contain any emotional descriptions, only facts and actions.

3. The trainer reads out to the group all the options for stressful situations, and the group chooses the 2-3 most typical ones that are significant for everyone.

4. The trainer invites the group to divide into three subgroups and distributes one story to each subgroup. The task for the subgroups is as follows: fill each story with emotional content - pessimistic (for the 1st subgroup), optimistic (for the 2nd subgroup) and clownish (for the 3rd subgroup). That is, to complete the proposed story and supplement it with details characteristic of a Pessimist or an Optimist or a Jester.

6. After all the situations are read out and all possible attitudes towards them are expressed, the coach proposes to discuss the results of the game and the real help that each participant received for himself.

Exercise for personal growth training "Where am I on?"

Purpose of the exercise: to help participants build adequate self-esteem

The participants are given a form with a ladder of 10 steps drawn on it. Instructions are given: "Draw yourself on the step on which you think you are now."

After everyone has drawn, the facilitator gives the key to this technique:

Step 1-4 - low self-esteem

5-7 step - self-esteem is adequate

8-10 step - self-esteem is too high

Exercise for personal growth training "Consignment shop"

Purpose of the exercise: - formation of skills of introspection, self-understanding and self-criticism; - identification of significant personal qualities for joint training work; - deepening knowledge about each other through the disclosure of the qualities of each participant.

Suggested to play commission shop. The goods that the seller accepts are human qualities, for example: kindness, stupidity, openness. Participants write down their character traits, both positive and negative, on the card. Then it is proposed to make a bargain, in which each of the participants can get rid of some unnecessary quality, or part of it, and acquire something necessary. For example, someone lacks eloquence for an effective life, and he can offer for him some part of his calmness and poise.

At the end of the task, the results are summed up and impressions are discussed.

The exercise takes 20-25 minutes.

Exercise for personal growth training "But ..."

Purpose: to reduce the level of frustration or stress. Search for possible ways to resolve it.

1) The coach offers each participant of the game to briefly describe on a piece of paper any unfulfilled desire, any actual stressful or conflict situation that has not been resolved at the moment or is remembered as intractable (anonymity of authorship is allowed).

2) Then the trainer collects all the sheets, mixes them up and offers the participants the following discussion procedure:

Each written situation is read out to the group and the participants must give as many reasons as possible to the fact that this situation is not at all intractable, but simple, funny or even beneficial with the help of bundles like:

“but...”, “it could have been worse!”, “I didn’t really want to, because ...” or “great, because now ...”;

After all the situations are read out and all possible attitudes towards them are expressed, the coach offers to discuss the results of the game and the real help that each participant received for himself.

Exercise for training personal growth "In what I was lucky in this life"

The purpose of the exercise: increasing the level of optimism in life, creating a good mood for work.

The group members are divided into pairs. The facilitator offers a task: "For three minutes, tell your partner about what you were lucky in this life. After three minutes, switch roles." After the exercise, a short exchange of impressions is held.

Technique "Sunday evening"

This technique will contribute to your personal growth, the crystallization of interests. If you are stressed out by the circumstances, that is, you cannot boast of poise, applying this technique can help you. In addition, technology can help you tune in in the best way for the upcoming work week.

The essence of the technique is extremely simple. All that is required of you is to accustom yourself, your loved ones and friends to the fact that Sunday evening is your personal time. The time you take care of yourself. At this time, you can isolate yourself from people in a separate room. You can go for a walk, go to the park or - say - to the cinema. You can do anything. In fact, there is one limitation here - not to be associated with someone this evening by some kind of obligation. Theoretically, you can devote Sunday evening to communicating with your spouse or child. But one way or another, they will still demand something from you. Therefore, the best thing is just to be alone with yourself, your hobby.

The factor of obligation puts a lot of pressure on an adult person: it is due at work, due in the family, due to friends, due to acquaintances and distant relatives ... And it is likely that under these "slabs" the green sprouts of your interests and hidden abilities are ripening. One has only to occasionally give these sprouts sunlight ... After a month or two, it will be difficult for you to imagine how you used to live without a free Sunday evening.

Role-playing game "Seduction"

The purpose of the exercise: to allow in a playful way to explore the situation of "seduction". Participation in the discussion allows the teenager to develop a reasoned position and refusal skills.

Two volunteers take on the roles of girlfriends who met one evening at the apartment while their parents are not at home. The task of one is to persuade the other to drink alcohol with her, using all sorts of arguments for this. The other must refuse by all means. The duration of this interaction is 15 minutes. At the end, the rest of the participants give "feedback" to the girlfriend who refuses, in order to highlight the moments that were most successful in terms of defending their position, and those that were unconvincing.

In another version of the same exercise, the guy can be the persuading party, and the girl refuses; it is assumed that there is mutual sympathy between them.

During the general discussion, participants are asked to answer two questions:

Which opt-out options were the most convincing for you?

What inside of you helped you to give up?

Reading time: 2 min

Personal growth training is a series of activities aimed at improving individual qualities that contribute to the success of a person. Thanks to exercises focused on personal growth, a person is able to change unwanted character traits for more positive ones, can get rid of a variety of negative thoughts and negative complexes.

Personal growth is a purposeful process of improving a person, the desire to become better. Personal growth is considered to be all situations, factors and opportunities that bring the individual closer to achieving the ideal.

Personal growth involves the formation of a person's potential. Potential - a set of characteristics that express its ability to build on internal stable reference points, to maintain the stability of activity under periodically changing environmental factors. This is a series of characteristic properties that help the individual become able to regulate behavior, make decisions according to personal ideas.

It is important for each potential member of the group to know how dangerous personal growth trainings are, so that instead of being useful, they do not get more damage and maintain mental health.

The basic goal of personal growth training is the internal growth of the individual, self-development and.

Psychological training for personal growth

The goal of personal growth training is to modify the worldview, change the stereotypes of activities that prevent the individual from being successful and happier.

Subject willing to transform individual characteristics into more positive and qualitatively different characteristics, personal growth training should be completed. An individual who has completed these classes will become more calm, confident, happy and spiritually free, regardless of the influence of circumstances and environmental factors. Thanks to special psychological techniques, a person is able to be programmed for success. This happens thanks to classes and special exercises that help a member of the group to comprehend his deep attitudes, which subconsciously most influence existence and provoke certain results of activity.

Purpose of Personal Growth Training- to know and realize the possibilities (potential) inherent in the personality, which involve qualitative changes. The goal can change depending on the characteristics of the group. Often, exercise goals cover some general aspects:

Formation of self-knowledge by reducing psychological barriers and eliminating the feeling of insincerity of the personality itself;

Development of conditions and factors that will make it difficult or easier for the group to function (membership or size of the group);

Studying the relations of group members;

Mastering the skills of diagnosing organizational, group, individual problems, such as solving group conflict situations, strengthening group ties, creating training conditions, achieving individual requests.

The goal of personal growth training is achieved when a member of the group can make an independent decision about how he should live. Participants themselves find how diversely one can perceive all life around, they can make valuable life discoveries regarding their closest people, close friends and themselves.

A person may experience intense emotional upheavals and shake-ups, which often leads to a loss of self-control, since he needs to perform all the exercises or instructions from the coach, which sometimes do not make obvious sense.

Everyone who wants to participate in such classes needs to think whether he is really going to change something or whether the current life suits him just fine. If a person is not ready for changes or they do not need them, then the coach will not allow him to the group.

Future members of the training must have the desire to start a new life, but must also meet certain criteria. Those wishing to become participants in personal growth trainings must be mentally healthy, emotionally balanced, calm and without mental abnormalities.

The coach of the group should stimulate the process of making autonomous decisions by the individual, his ranking and structuring of life values, guidelines and goals. This is done through the application of various techniques, techniques and research approaches, such as gestalt, cognitive psychology, existential approach.

Types of personal growth trainings are psychological and esoteric.

Psychological training is carried out under the guidance of a leader who has a completed psychological education, using psychological categories and definitions. In contrast to the esoteric ones, which are led by a person with knowledge of psychology at the everyday level and owning esoteric and mystical knowledge.

Types of personal growth trainings:

Personal development (used to master the general knowledge necessary for orientation in a wide range of potential situations). For example, a person learns effective interaction, he develops strong and good traits in himself, learns confident behavior, learns self-control;

Psychotherapeutic trainings (carried out with the aim of improving the quality of life, they contain special procedures, techniques, methods and exercises through which the assimilation of ways of behaving in life and personal difficulties is carried out);

Condition training (this is a special type, including methods for overcoming the condition and other internal barriers and various complexes that arise in a person);

Research trainings (help individuals who set goals to understand personal limitations and gain emotional experience, which often helps in understanding something);

Transformational (focused on the basic (deep) beliefs of a person, his values ​​and condition). An individual has very powerful internal spiritual transformations (enlightenment, breakthrough,), thanks to the occurrence of which he will be able to reveal something new in everyday habitual life or realize something differently.

Personal growth training for women involves dividing into groups that differ polarly. The first group consists of women subject to oppression by family members.

The purpose of personal growth training is to gain self-knowledge and develop fortitude, which helps to gain confidence and resist people who want to keep the female will from an independent, happy and self-sufficient life.

Training for women is in group form and in individual form. Participation in group trainings gives a woman a powerful impetus, because being among like-minded people, she feels confident.

The second group of personal growth training are women who work in large organizations and companies in leadership positions.

Not everyone is a natural leader, but many have to work in an organization and hold a leadership position. The charismatic attractiveness of a person helps a person achieve significant results in career advancement. Those who do not have this characteristic need to work hard and cultivate discipline in themselves. However, hard work does not help a woman overcome such a problem as internal timidity in relations with the team she leads. More often, such timidity occurs if the team is made up of men.

Personal growth training for women focuses on development and discovery internal capacity; recognizing fears that prevent you from living a full life; development of positive traits and qualities; search for resources to help development.

Not all classes in a row can be equally useful. Quite often they conclude a veiled threat and can only harm the personality itself. The group member must know the dangers of personal growth training and recognize this danger.

In destructive sessions, participants are encouraged to destroy their personality or part of themselves that they consider unworthy and do it extremely abruptly, as if cutting it off. Such training does not at all lead to the progress of personal growth, on the contrary, it only breaks the human psyche. Advice such as "give up the old self" or "kill your weakness" is very destructive, has nothing to do with professional psychotherapy, and does not promote personal growth.

The danger of these meetings lies in the personality of the leader of the group. After working with a true psychotherapist, a person begins to notice that his emotional state has improved, fundamental changes occur in life, he becomes confident and successful.

As a result of communication with a destructive coach, a group member feels devastated and humiliated. Such a "guru" behaves with the members of the group arrogantly and cruelly. He offends, puts people in an uncomfortable position, reproaches them with weakness and ignorance. Such a leader seems to be deliberately trying to cause emotional suffering, explaining this as motivation and hardening.

Through emotional buildup, the facilitator tries to earn approval, he wants to assert himself, and not teach this to the participants in the personal growth training. He sees the ultimate goal of this training not to help others, but to subjugate their will to himself in order to force them to follow everything that the “trainer” says.

In order to understand the danger of such training in time, you need to listen to your feelings. If there is a feeling of emptiness and humiliation, you need to run away from this coach.

Destructive trainers teach that experiencing negative emotions, aggression, and suffering will only benefit the trainee for personal growth. Therefore, instructors often insult group members and try to provoke them into aggression. A person is forced to perform illogical actions: calling himself names, expressing joy for no reason, kissing or hugging strangers, declaring that this is “for their good.”

A destructive coach teaches participants to be rude and arrogant, since these qualities, in their opinion, characterize a person who is self-confident, which means lucky.

First, pressure, then humiliation, then praise - this is a way of emotional swinging, which leads to the submission of participants to the coach.

A truly experienced, intelligent and conscientious psychotherapist, leading a group or personal counseling, will never humiliate a client in personal practice, will not force him to do what he categorically does not accept.

A smart and benevolent psychotherapist will teach individuals how to stand up for themselves without the use of rudeness and rudeness.

The danger of these activities may lie in the fact that members of the group are taught to actively and aggressively attack, and not defend themselves, thus, a substitution of concepts comes out when they are taught that an attack is the best defense, or impudence is a second happiness.

If a person is taught to be aggressive and rude, then he ended up in a destructive training. After visiting such a training, a person feels guilty. Even when he is absolutely unwilling to step over himself in order to show aggression, he is forced to do so.

If a person nevertheless manages to “squeeze out” an impudent trick unusual for himself, then the leader and the group approve with admiration, although the person himself does not like it. Upon returning home, a person feels a sense of shame and feels guilty for what he did at the training. The condition is aggravated by the fact that an internal one is formed between what is imposed on him in training sessions and what he considers the norm for himself. It is these sensations that are considered signs of the danger of personal growth training. If, at the end of the training, a person feels guilt that was not there before, then there is no need to attend this training anymore.

Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"

Hello, dear readers of the portal "". Wishes come to my mail about topics that people are most interested in, and recently I have been asked questions about why personal growth trainings are needed. Today I want to present to your court an article called " Personal Growth Training". Now these trainings and coaches have simply flooded the Internet; hundreds and thousands of "professional trainers" offer their services, and I want to offer you my vision and attitude to these courses.

So, pour tea into a large mug and make yourself comfortable, now there will be the whole truth about personal growth trainings... It is known that personal growth trainings appeared in the middle of the last century in the USA. Gradually, all activities spread throughout the world, and reached Russia in the early 90s. At the beginning of its existence (and in most cases even today), the effect on a person’s consciousness occurs according to a certain, sometimes with variations, pattern:

1. To humiliate a person, showing the insignificance of his existence before training
2. Give a gracious chance to show that a person is still good for something

The whole concept of personal growth training lies in the fact that the so-called “emotional swing” effect arises - at first a person is convinced of his failure, the fallacy of his worldview - he lived all his life differently (how is he still alive?). Against the background of this pseudo-aggression, against the background of public humiliation - any insignificant compliment causes greatness and boundless trust in the coach. The next stage is praise and as a gift - a chance to "become a man." Often a person will be politely explained that the environment needs to be changed, that those close people who are with him are dragging him into the swamp. So there are two ways - either to part with this environment, or to bring them into training, for enlightenment and payment for services (in fact, this is the goal of personal growth training). Reception is called - involvement.

You can't refuse. What can you achieve if you can't complete a simple task. You're a loser. There are "profitable" offers - you bring 10 friends, and your training is free and forever. Or pay for the course, and you can take a friend (girlfriend, dog) with you to the training. As a result, everything closes on multi-level marketing, the financial pyramid of happiness. Full of happiness from enlightenment, with an unnatural gleam in his eyes, a person runs to invite his friends and relatives to the training. Everything, the circle is closed.

The training program is usually divided into courses - basic, advanced, VIP. Amazing understanding financial opportunities client. For better assimilation of the material, the mandatory offer of additional courses. Continuous brainwashing plus group work. In a team, it is much easier to complete the task of hugging 30 passers-by, begging or selling a vacuum cleaner to the first person you meet for a million rubles. There are many fantasies - you can change into a prostitute (homeless person) and drive to public transport at rush hour.

And here you will find the most interesting. With constant mental stress nervous system gives crashes. Depression, neurosis - a logical continuation of "personal growth". Well, a significant, sometimes up to several thousand dollars, “weight loss” of the wallet.

Special signs

An acquaintance, a friend, or maybe a close relative comes running to you. He reports that he went through an amazing training, that this training is simply necessary for everyone who wants to become a successful and financially free person. And you need to go right now, not later.

At the training, you will certainly meet several dozen "lucky ones" who will share with you what successes they have achieved after the training and show you the way to the cashier. At this moment (if this has not happened before), you just need to run, since the words “I will think about it” or “another time” will cause at least indignation. There has long been research that personal growth training leads to zombies.

coaching

From English. coaching- training, training. Coaching is an enhanced form of training, as it is aimed at one person. There is no critical attitude to what is happening due to the high workload of the coach. The result is an unsupported increase in self-esteem, neglect and superiority over others. In contact with reality, it can cause a nervous breakdown, which will force you to turn to a coach (trainer, teacher) again.

Typical statements of personal growth trainings.

• Become successful with us!
• It's your choice!
• Career growth cannot be achieved without training!
• Do you want to participate in the training? Do you want to become successful and rich?
• We ourselves spend many dollars a year on our education, and we will give it to you almost for free!
• I don't know how it works, but it works!
• The world is kind and bright!
• Life without personal growth trainings is simply UNTHINKABLE!!!
• Your fate is in your hands!
• join a sect

What is not hidden in most trainings is that nothing new is told on them. Almost any normal person already knows all this. But, supposedly such a powerful motivating push is only here.

back side

Trainings are different. There are trainings without the context “100% success, 200% guarantee”. Have you ever wondered who conducts the training? Psychotherapeutic trainings aimed at developing personal qualities are carried out by specialists - psychotherapists or psychologists, often in a specialized institution and often absolutely free of charge. Coaching is not streamlined, and no one asks to bring friends to save them.

Life after training

Having clearly understood that now he is a leader, a person begins to change his life and environment.

• Throws a girl (guy) - (I'll find myself better!)
• Without fear, he takes on work that he simply cannot do. Later it turns out that a task that was difficult to carry out under the supervision of a coach cannot be done on your own.
• Attempts to pull over the role of leader in the team. Such behavior usually causes nothing but surprise, irritation or a smile.
• The consequences of long-term stress affect: hysteria, depression, problems in communicating with the environment. The traumatized psyche is filled with false attitudes.
• Lies about their achievements, fear of revealing the "terrible truth."
• Inventing your own methods of liberation from the "shackles of civilization."

conclusions

1. The human psyche is a very subtle substance.
2. It is not possible to make a leader out of any person.
3. Tasks and methods, often from a textbook on "shock therapy", there are no halftones here - either a person will forever get rid of his complexes and phobias, or after the stress he has experienced, he will drive the problem far inside. Consequences are possible in the distant future.
4. The creators of Nazism also wanted to "improve" humanity.
5. Work to improve your personal qualities is not limited to three days of the main course and not even a week of VIPa.
6. It will take more than one year to develop social skills in natural situations. Without regular practice in natural settings, short-term results and theory are useless and dangerous.
7. Most of the effects of personal growth can be obtained without paying a penny.
8. Self respect. How can a person who is ready to throw his “I” into the trash can treat himself in three days?

It seems to me that the harm of personal growth training is very obvious. Again, this is my opinion based on personal experience and the experience of my friends, therefore I do not pretend to be the truth in the first person. If you have been touched by this topic, please leave your opinion in the comments!

Knowledge is a contribution to human capital, another successfully overcome step in self-development, enrichment of the inner world and expansion of the range of competencies. But in addition to purely professional education, which is necessary for work, a modern, promising person seeks to obtain resource information that will allow him to stand out favorably among others. Time management, oratory, emotion management, interpersonal relationships, effective communications - these and many other knowledge are extremely important for the development of the individual and her full existence in society. The most useful practical courses of this kind are collected on the educational portal SmotriUchis.ru. Online lectures from the section "Personal Development Distance Learning" will tell you how to get rid of the fear of public speaking, develop speech technique, master the art of self-presentation and telephone conversations, explain how to get along with others. You can master all this on your own - at a convenient time for yourself and with the necessary intensity, but under the supervision of an experienced teacher. Many video courses in the section can be taken for free, the price of others is more than affordable. Lessons from the best teachers of SmotriUchis.ru will be useful both for those who are studying the issue from scratch, and for those who are planning retraining or retraining. If you are a professional in these matters, we will be glad to see you among our teachers. Choose a topic from the "Personal Development Online Courses" section, record your own training cycle and get a steady income from its sales.

“We were allowed to do everything”

“You didn’t earn a dime? All in your hands! Take our training and tomorrow you will be a millionaire.”

“Discord in the family? After our course, you will find love and peace again.”

"You can't find friends? Not confident? We will solve these problems! In a week you will believe that miracles happen because your life will change, you will become a leader.”

It is human nature to believe in something. If not in God, then in a miracle.

How personal growth trainings lead a person to a dead end, how breakdown occurs, why graduates of such courses end up in psychiatric clinics, what is the ultimate goal of the leaders of such events - in a frank interview with a woman who spent about five years at trainings.

“In the classroom, we put on diapers and sang the national anthem together.”

Personal growth trainings. Advertising of such services looks tempting - for a minimal fee, people are guaranteed to gain self-confidence, freedom, learn how to earn money, establish own business, to be a desirable partner in love and a lot of other delights of life.

38-year-old Ksenia Epikhina from Volgograd naively bought into the tempting promises. And hung on training for 4.5 years.

During this time, she lost all her friends, almost destroyed her own family, and forgot about her son.

The tale of lost time ended for her with a protracted depression, from which she got out for a year.

Today, a woman, together with her husband, is trying to pull out of the maelstrom of delusions those who have been sucked into the training swamp.

One of the exercises in the training of personal growth - people tried on the image of a prostitute, a homeless person, an alcoholic.

"We were inspired - we are gods"

I started training in 2010. It was a difficult period of my life - I got divorced, left with two children, besides, my teenage son got into a bad company, - Ksenia Epikhina began the story. - I was in confusion, did not understand where to look for help. And at that time, a friend with “practical” advice turned out to be next to me: “I go through trainings where chic psychologists work who will help you - and relations with your son will even out, and you will find peace of mind.” Well, I bought it.

The training in question is divided into three main courses. Each is paid separately.

The first course - designing - lasted for 4 days. The cost of the event was 6 thousand rubles, now the leaders have raised the price to 8 thousand. I confess that after completing this course, I had no doubts that they would help me here. Psychologists during the lecture explained some correct positions in life, gave certain knowledge, classes were held on one solid positive. It was later that I realized that in this way people were simply lured into the network.

The woman continued her studies. For the second course - modeling - she paid 9 thousand (today the cost has risen to 11 thousand rubles). The duration of the course was 5 days.

And here programming began, breaking a person into certain things, not always positive. We were given strange priorities. For example, they were convinced that living “at the family level” is bad. This is the lowest level of existence.

What was considered the highest level?

mission level. Each person must come into the world with a certain lofty mission. If one of those present dropped a phrase like “my husband didn’t allow me” or “I’ll ask my mother” - such people became the subject of ridicule. They immediately flew to their address: “Do you live at the family level? Ha ha ha! You are nothing." The teachers literally deleted the family from our lives. Naturally, numerous divorces followed from here. Although, advertising the trainings, the leaders assured: "Among our clients there are a lot of people who are getting married." Do you know how it happened? First, they broke up existing couples, and then brought the students together. As a rule, if one of the family members got into the courses, and the second did not want to go, then he automatically became an enemy. But among themselves, the participants in the psychological process spoke about each other like this: “He (she) supports me, he (she) grows with me.”

- Is it really possible to completely reprogram a person in a week?

The second course lasted five days. During this time, our teachers managed to turn our minds upside down. Imagine we were indoors from 10 am to 10 pm. The organizers of the training made several short coffee breaks. The rest of the time we were forced to do exercises, constantly think. There was no time to stop and even think: “Am I doing the right thing? Why do I need it?". We did our daily homework at night.

- What exercises did you do?

Here is an example of one of the tasks. The whole group sat in a circle around one person, and each said what he thought about the center. For example, such characteristics were poured: "modest, shy, quiet." After that, the trainers told us to choose the opposite meanings of the definitions that we made earlier. It turned out - not modest, but liberated, not kind, but evil. The next question was: “Who has a set of such qualities?” And the answer is: "Prostitute, gay, gopnik, bum, drunk." The next day, the subject had to get used to the role of the character assigned to him for three hours.

- Did you also have your own role?

I got the role of a sadist. I had to change into an appropriate outfit, take a whip and express aggression towards people for three hours. We have all become members of the lower strata of society for a while. Now I understand what these games were for. Thus, we erased the line between good and bad, what is impossible - what is possible. We were allowed to do everything. We were told that we are almost gods and everything is allowed to us. It became very easy to manipulate such people who had no brakes. This is what our teachers strive for.

Ksenia's wife, Dmitry Epikhin, was expelled from the training for disobeying the leaders.

- Is it possible that after three hours of "acting" a person erased all the facets of reason?

It seemed to us that our consciousness was expanding - and we are capable of any action. I note that in the new image we did not go out into the street, passers-by were not shocked. All actions were carried out within the team. Actually, we were limited as much as we could in communicating with people from outside. We cooked exclusively in our own juice.

- And a lot of people gathered at one training?

A whole commune - about sixty people.

We count other people's money with the interlocutor - the proceeds of the training leaders.

Now the second stage of the training costs 11 thousand rubles for 5 days. Pupils less than 60 were not recruited. It turns out that our teachers received more than half a million rubles a week.

- Well, you were fed and watered there. Did you provide any brochures or books? Another item of expenditure.

Of the five days of the training, we were fed only three times, and even then very modestly. Managers spent only on pens and notebooks. If someone was indignant: “What did we give money for?” - the critic was immediately attacked with accusations: “Don't you support other people? You count money, you are so self-serving! After all, we are engaged in charity, making the world, the Universe cleaner.”

Ksenia Epikhina: "They made me a zombie."

- It seems to me that 60 people in a group is too much for psychological training?

60 people is the minimum number of people in a group. Sometimes up to a hundred people gathered in the hall. Of course, with such a crowd of people, the trainer-psychologist could not trace the dynamics of each person present. But some exercises caused ambiguous reactions and emotions in different people. Some laughed, others sobbed, fought in hysterics, the third became ill.

- If a person became ill during the training, how did the leaders of the training act in this case?

They didn’t particularly react, they always had one excuse: “He’s a fool himself, he didn’t do what he was told.” As a rule, after suffering stress, people then turned to normal psychologists who pulled them out of this state.

- Did those who worked with you have a psychological education?

At the time when I was studying, not all of our teachers had a special education. Now, when we raised a wave of indignation, everyone quickly got the necessary crusts.

“We put on diapers, flippers, went out into the street and sang the anthem of the Russian Federation”

According to the interlocutor, the first two courses of the training are flowers compared to how the training program developed in the future.

The third course is implementation. Leaders were trained here. The term of study is three months.

The program of the third training included three-day trips for the weekend. On these trips, the coaches built the program on blaming their students. For example, if a plane crashed somewhere, we were told: “It is you who are to blame for the tragedy. Planes crash because of your thoughts.” If a person drowned, again we were guilty: “You drowned a person with your thoughts.” If there was a terrorist attack - again because of our thoughts. For three days, a feeling of guilt was aroused in us, which weighed terribly on us. One girl had a nervous breakdown on this basis. She took full responsibility for the major plane crash.

- Did everyone who was at the training really believe that this or that tragedy happened through their fault?

I don't know how it happened, but we all became very suggestible at some point. And still very for a long time we were haunted by guilt for every tragedy that happened in the world. True, according to statistics, out of 100 percent of people, only 70 percent are amenable to such processing. So it was in our case. There were people who tried to argue with the teachers, for which they were expelled from the lessons, and the rest were forbidden to communicate with them under the pretext: "They prevent you from developing."

- What other features were in this leadership program?

We were divided into groups of 5-6 people. Each group had its own captain - a man who went through all the trainings, but did not have a psychological education, taught us about life. Every day at exactly 6 in the morning we had to call the captain and report on how our past day went.

- Did you have any responsibilities, for which you reported?

The leadership program consisted of two aspects. The first included various charitable programs. We worked as volunteers, beautifying parks, planting trees, painting houses. But that was not our main occupation. The second aspect, the most important one, is that we had to involve as many new people as possible in the training. If a person during the trainings did not volunteer, but involved at least one person, he became a leader. And it was the limit of our dreams. Every morning the captains asked us: “What have you done to involve the people? How many people managed to call to us? If on some day it was not possible to bring a newcomer, the pressure began: “You are not a leader! You are a dying bastard, do not allow people to develop. You are a victim. You won’t succeed in life if you don’t involve yourself in training.” And so it was every morning. For most people, this pressure was depressing. For example, I was very worried that I would not become a leader. I sincerely believed that I would only benefit the world when I brought a lot of people to these courses.

- Did you bring it?

Yes. I involved 50 people. Among them are my relatives and friends. Now I repent very much, because I involved the people closest to me there. They stuck there. Now I can't get them out of there. And when I myself finally got out, they stopped communicating with me, I became their enemy.

- Are those who leave the training automatically classified as enemies?

The red line is the idea, as in fascism: the training leaders are the nation of Aryans. Everyone else is an inferior race, nobody. Teachers constantly drew a line, divided people into the strong and the fallen.

Have you reached the rank of captain?

Yes, I was motivated to do this: “Come on, you will become even cooler, even higher. The more people you involve, the faster your son will return to the family.” While I was there, it really seemed to me that this was the salvation of the family. It's like I've been programmed.

- And if it was not possible to involve anyone in the training, what then?

Such a person was declared a loser and was not honored to take on the most important, third weekend. Getting there seemed like the ultimate dream of everyone.

- What did they promise you this weekend?

The fact of the matter is that what is happening at this event was kept in the strictest secrecy. We were told that miracles happen there and only there people get an understanding of why they live, they find out their purpose. Before leaving for the most important event, we were asked to warn relatives that we would not be contacting for three days. Excuses like “if my husband doesn’t let me go” were taken with hostility: “So you live at the family level, since you can’t leave your husband.”

- And what was the mysterious weekend?

We were taken out of town, to a camp site. Phones were taken away. For three days we danced there, sang, listened to lectures, energy was literally pumped out of us. They woke up at dawn, forced to play jumpers, stretch. If someone failed to make the necessary “pas”, he was publicly ridiculed, called a weakling. At night, for some reason, they were raised and forced to stay awake. By the end of the third day we were physically exhausted. In addition to the captains on that weekend, new positions were introduced - angels. It was these angels that brought a person to such a state when he became completely suggestible. A well-known technique, if people do not sleep for a long time and are in an excited state all the time, then they become zombies. In this state, they can inspire anything.

- And what did they suggest to you?

On the third day, hard meditation began. We were told about our destiny, convinced that we came to this earth to captain, to angelize. It was said that our most important mission is to involve all our friends and relatives in the training. Of the 60 people who went that weekend, half went on to captains and angels. Our happiness knew no bounds. We believed that if we deserve the title of captain, then miracles will begin in life, we will be lucky in everything. Now I cannot explain how adults in their 30s, 40s, 50s so blindly believed in our guru. Some things I still feel ashamed of. For example, on the third weekend we put on diapers, flippers, went out into the street in this form and sang the Russian anthem. What for? It felt like everyone was under hypnosis. At that time, I could fulfill any wish of the mentor. Moreover, no one understood what this exercise developed, but everyone obeyed in unison. Also in the morning, each of us received a certain task. For example, organize a playboy party. Moreover, such tasks fell out to very modest, squeezed people who were breaking themselves at that moment.

“Maybe something was mixed into your tea, since you did such strange things?” Did you drink alcohol?

The fact of the matter is that there was nothing of the sort. There was a powerful effect on the subconscious. A strict ban was imposed on alcohol and smoking. If someone admitted that he knocked over a glass of cognac for the holiday, it immediately began: “Because of you, everyone is drinking himself, look how many drunks are because of you.” And again evoked a sense of guilt in a person.

“When I was expelled from the group, I thought about suicide”

- You have passed three main stages of the training, which lasted for 4 months. But what did you do there for almost five years?

People who didn't move much in critical thinking really limited themselves to this time and left. My mind has turned off. I began to travel to different volunteer programs, it was called “serve the people”, where we advertised our training all the time. If our chief said that a branch was opening in another city and the support of those who had completed all the trainings was needed, we all quit our jobs, left our families and went for a couple of days to get our mentor.

- Did you get paid for it? Have you become one team with the coaches?

No, they didn't. Moreover, they could easily be fired. This is what I was terribly afraid of. And everyone was afraid. At that time, I became a captain. And the captains were required to involve twice as many people in the training as the average student. Also, the captain had to put pressure on new participants in the program so that they also involved people. I was specially taught how to put pressure on people, how to correctly persuade a person to come to the training. If I failed to find new victims for a certain period of time, they threatened to expel me from the community, and forbid the rest to communicate with me.

- People in all seriousness were afraid of being expelled?

Many psychologically broke down when they were kicked out. I was also terribly worried that I would not justify the title of leader, that they would think badly of me. Towards the end of my captaining career, I couldn't get enough people to train. I got depressed. Lost interest in life. The head coach constantly rotted me: “You are a bad mother, you are bad, bad ...”. I lived with a deep sense of guilt for six months. As a result, my psyche failed. My leaders by that time realized that I was already used material, they couldn’t get more from me, and they excluded me from their ranks. And then hell came. For two months I plunged into a severe depression, thought about suicide. My husband, two friends and doctors pulled me out of this state.

- You lived in the training for 4.5 years. There are those who sit there even longer?

I know a man who has been hanging out there for eight years. Indeed, in addition to personal growth training, there are still a bunch of different courses. For example, after personal growth, everyone is offered: “As a person, you have grown, now attend the “money-money” course, you don’t know how to make money, do you? And then sign up for the “family workshop”, and so on down the list. As a result, people hang out there on long years and leave huge amounts - up to 100 thousand a year comes. Many lost their jobs because of the training, they lost their businesses because they were constantly hanging out at lectures. The teachers didn't let me work, didn't let me go.

- Are the main part of those present at the trainings people with serious problems?

Units come from curiosity, from having nothing to do. Mostly wealthy people go there, not everyone is ready to pay a tidy sum at a time. Most of these people had financial problems, with friendship, love. After all, at these trainings they promise to figure it out on all fronts - to raise a business, to create a family, and to improve their studies. All in one go. Whatever you want, it will be. Magic wand effect.

- Did you communicate with those who ended up in a psychiatric clinic after completing the training?

I know one girl who was taken straight from the lecture to a psychiatric hospital. But what covered her because of the training is unprovable.

- By the way, did you try to involve your husband in this sect?

Of course. But he was quickly kicked out. The thing is, my husband is a believer. When I went to the training, we were not yet scheduled, we just met. At some point, I told him: “I refuse to live without a leader. Therefore, you must develop and go to training. You will be taught to love people, earn money. Otherwise, we will part ways." To save our relationship, he got involved in this adventure. But he does not regret, because he saw the whole process from the inside, and now we are fighting together against former mentors. He didn't last long there. Constantly argued with the coaches. As a result, he was expelled very rudely, they announced to everyone that he was an adversary, carrying heresy, it was impossible to talk with him, he was mentally deranged. And everyone nodded their heads. Even me. After that, I came home and threw from the threshold: “We will not live together.” But I have known this man for 20 years, we have known each other since childhood.

“For a year I moved away from the stereotypes that were imposed on me in the courses”

- When did you leave the training?

At the beginning of 2014. Then in March-April she fell into a protracted depression. Ripe only in May. It felt like I woke up from a bad dream. A bunch of thoughts formed in my head - how did I live, why did I do it, how did I trust strangers? But I moved away for another year from those stereotypes that were imposed on me. For example, we were taught that each person creates in life what surrounds him, he himself is the source of all troubles. I still sit in a minibus, look at men and think: “Oh, I create men around me, I will get married soon.” Or recently I dropped a pot of hot water, immediately flashed through my head: “I deceived someone.” Imagine how much all this nonsense vtemyashilas me in the head.

Has your relationship with your son improved?

While I was in training, I finally lost my son. Relations deteriorated further than ever. I didn't have time for him. While I was “saving the world”, running, involving people in training, I abandoned my son. Since I was always busy looking for new adherents, I had no time to waste time on him. And now he found a job, got married, my grandson was born. Only now my son and I found a common language.

Has anyone else benefited from these trainings?

If you don’t go deep and jump off the program in time, then such courses probably help someone. Notorious people open up there, I heard that someone solved their personal problems, found a common language with loved ones. But this is not my story. I crumbled. Only when she freed herself from the shackles of the training did she find a common language with her parents and son. While I lived in the training, we were constantly convinced: "You are doing well." And if something bad happened, we were told: “Erased, erased, erased, this is not with us.” We were taught not to accept negativity, to renounce troubles. But as soon as a person was left out of the training, problems rolled in like a snowball. The people who left the courses started again with the same problems that they tried to get away from. Yes, while you are there, you are supported by the whole group, they talk about love, constant hugs and kisses, but in real life everything starts anew.

- Do you keep in touch with your training buddies?

No. While I was in training, I cut ties with all my old friends. I considered myself a pure race, and they did not reach me. I told them so: “If you don’t go to the training, you and I are on the wrong path.” And I made new friends on the courses. They seemed wonderful to me, we supported each other, celebrated holidays together. When they declared me persona non grata, they all turned their backs on me. Now they don't even say hello. I became not from their caste.

- Who is the organizer of this project?

These are two siblings. One of them went through a similar training 10 years ago, when it was in its infancy. Then she dragged her second sister there. And they started doing business. At first, they hired psychologists, then they themselves began to conduct courses, having neither education nor a license at that time. These women got rich in a few years. For the year they earned more than 8 million rubles. Their main office is in Volgograd. Branches are scattered throughout the country - Astrakhan, Rostov, Saratov, Krasnodar, Voronezh.

- Are the teachers who work for them also rich people?

Only the leaders of the company earn money. The rest of the workers receive a pittance. As a rule, they do not have a permanent job, some do not even have a family. For example, my husband was "broken" by a 23-year-old guy who did not have the slightest life experience behind him. There, those who have never stood on them are taught to skate.

- According to your information, are there many victims of such events in the country?

Many, some are just afraid to talk about it. I was also silent for six months. It was terrible. I started talking to get my relative out of there. She has been there for 5 and a half years. Now he is a coach. The training took a loved one away from me. It hurts me a lot for this. Her training absorbed completely.

A new section has recently appeared on the training website - trainings for children and teenagers.

The slogan is still the same - "Miracles are where they believe in them."