Lifespring was one of several companies to emerge from the fertile soils of the mid-20th century’s human potential movement that aimed to help individuals experience a “breakthrough”. An underpinning theory, which has not been borne out by science, was that the majority of people use only 10% of their brains. The right training, it was theorized, could unlock stores of talent and alchemize middle-class malaise into greatness.

“Certain aspects of human beings can’t change,” John Hanley, one of the founders of Lifespring wrote in 1989. “Therein lies the power of transformation: the possibility of looking at yourself and the world in a new way can liberate you from a fixed, rigid sense of reality – even the aspects of reality that are, in fact, unchangeable.”

In the early 1970s, Hanley, then a recent college graduate, attended a breakthrough seminar, which offered military-style trainings that relied on a number of abusive practices to effect transformation – including beatings, sexual humiliation, food deprivation and stringing attendees up on crosses. When Hanley, as part of his training, was stuffed inside a coffin for 14 hours, he responded by falling asleep. His trainers were so impressed that they invited him to join their staff. (Source)