What is a reunion of est without sharing?
Welcome to a reunion of ideas, reminisce with others about a unique time in our culture and about the est Training that continues to impact our lives everyday. This is a gathering place for you to share what the est training provided for you, your career, your family, friends, and communities, then and now.
Valerie Harper
At the 1975 Emmy Awards ceremony, Valerie Harper gave a “personal thanks to someone who’s profoundly influenced my life, Werner Erhard.”
In an interview when asked if she still looked back on est as a positive experience, she responded, “Oh, yes. Daily!” and another time, “est has taken the effort, sweat and strain out of what I do. I can handle the daily upsets better. I used to get some ego thing out of saying I wasn’t a star, just an actress. Forget it. I’m a star. I wanted it, I worked for it, I got it. Werner helped me take the lie out of what I was doing.”
She described Werner Erhard as “a class-A human being, a real wonderful person on the planet doing brilliant work. What Werner was really doing, I think, was getting Eastern philosophy to Western minds, and Western minds as a society have shifted.” From Rhoda Online
Harper said, "The two weekends of est training were tough and at times emotionally eviscerating. But I noticed a marked change in myself. I was happier, more alive, and everything seemed lighter. Most of all I stopped feeling desperate and uptight about things in my life that I couldn’t control." From Valerie Harper's biography, I, Rhoda
John Denver
“Before est came into the picture, I was already searching for expressions of myself, beyond music, but it was est that gave me confidence to follow through.” John Denver first became involved with est in 1973 when he was 30 years old. Many of his lyrics are tributes to the ideas and awareness he gained through his experiences of himself through est. He wrote the song Looking for Space to celebrate all est graduates.
Denver, along with Werner Erhard and Buckminster Fuller, was one of the founding members of the Hunger Project, an organization dedicated to eliminating world hunger. John Denver said of Werner Erhard, “Werner Erhard epitomizes for me what it is to be a human being. It is through my experience of him that I have most completely come to know myself.”
Raul Julia
The late Golden Globe Award winning actor Raul Julia first did the Est Training in 1974. He attributed many aspects of his success as an actor to what he got out of the Est Training and other programs created by Werner Erhard.
"This work is an inquiry into where creativity and effectiveness come from and how to bring them in our grasp. When I first took part in the est Training in 1974, I was hoping for some practical answers or tips on how to improve my talent, on how to improve my professionalism, or my family life.
While I didn't get the tips that I wanted, I did get a handle on a whole new way of approaching all those issues, a way that has been enormously useful and powerful. I mean, it's been remarkable really, and it has continued to deepen through the years."
This video excerpt from “Raul Julia: The World’s a Stage,” explores the impact of the est Training on the life and career of Raul Julia.
Early est Trainers
Laurel Sheaf was named as president and CEO of est in 1971.
Randy McNamera was one of the first certified est trainers.
Ted Long left a successful law practice to become one of the first est trainers.
