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The Running Program

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
I asked Mark Fisher, who I knew in the SO, if I could post this on ESMB. (He posted it on Facebook.) He said yes.


The Running Program


I have been meaning to write up my story regarding the Running Program which will be known to the public in the future apparently as the “Cause Resurgence Rundown” and be part of the huge white elephant building in Clearwater, known as the “Super Power Building”.



I was there when L. Ron Hubbard (LRH) was first researching the program and was one of the many people at the time that actually did the Running Program to successful completion and while it may sound crazy in retrospect, I did in fact have some of my biggest wins in Scientology while running around the pole!

Here is my story.





How it all began


In mid 1982, I was transferred to the International Base otherwise known as Golden Era Productions in Gilman Hot Springs, California. The location of this base was completely confidential at the time to everyone. No one in my family or friends in Clearwater, Florida where I had been working knew of the location unless they had been there themselves.

LRH was not there at the time and was in hiding at a secure location due to various legal situations that were going on. He had been out of communication for some time with everyone except the few people who were with him. During that time period,the management of Scientology was left to the Senior Executives of the Church. At some point during that year, LRH came back on the line and started communicating again through dispatches asking for reports about what had been going on while he was away.


One of the things he began writing to David Mayo about, who was the Senior Case Supervisor International, was what LRH was calling the Running Program.

A senior Messenger at the time had gotten into some trouble and the instructions from LRH was to have this person go out and run every day. There wasn’t a pole at the time. They were to just go out and run around the desert property and write up what occurred.

Eventually, LRH decided that it was better to have the person run in a circle around a large tree or pole stuck in the ground a certain distance away. The person was to run to exhaustion while keeping their attention on the tree or pole through their peripheral vision.

The concept as I recall, was that the tree and the person represented two poles and by running around the tree,mental energy was created just like an electrical generator, which resulted in pictures and incidents on the person’s whole track (history) blowing off and the mental charge disappearing resulting in a resurgence of the cause level of the person.

Here is an aerial photograph of the Running Program track at the Int Base taken a few years ago so you get an idea of how the track was supposed to be set up.






Later in 1982, David Mayo along with many other Senior Executives were removed from their positions including the existing Executive Director International and many others for perceived crimes against Scientology. The details of which are another story altogether. What happened however was that David Mayo and his closest staff were all removed from their positions and ordered onto the Running Program full time – 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

David Miscavige, who orchestrated the removals at the time, got tremendous pleasure knowing that Mayo and the others were out there in the desert heat (over 110 degrees) running all day around a tree! He made it seem like a punishment, not an actual research rundown that LRH was working on and the Running Program got the stigma of being punishment, not help.

There was a huge purge of senior level management people at the time who were deemed to be “plants” and “traitors” to Scientology both in Clearwater and at the International Base. There was also a wholesale clean out of the Golden Era Productions staff in the Movie and Audio areas. Some of the most experienced people in Scientology Management were offloaded and declared Suppressive People. Others were sent tot he Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) – the Scientology prison camp – for correction and retraining. The RPF was located at the time in the Los Angeles area at the Cedars Hospital Complex on Fountain Avenue. So anyone assigned to the RPF, was shipped out to LA.






I was in disagreement with the wholesale removal and declaring of many of these Senior Management people and felt that LRH was given incorrect information. This too is a story for another time, but I was considered “disaffected”and subsequently removed from my post at the International base and assigned to the RPF as well in LA in November 1982.

One of LRH’s orders at the time, was that anyone from the International Base or Golden Era Productions who went to the RPF would have to complete the Running Program before they could graduate the RPF program and come back to work in good standing. Since so many people had been assigned to the RPF, this gave a huge number of people that the Running Program could be “piloted” on.


The Running Program in Hollywood

The Running Program pilot was set up originally at a park on Los Feliz Blvd near Griffith Park where there was a huge water fountain. This didn’t last very long as a location for various reasons and instead the Running Program was moved to Griffith Park across the street from the Roosevelt Golf Course in one of the vacant parking lots for the Greek Theater.





There was a semi-level piece of dirt ground there where a pole could be put up each day and then taken down and stored. The pole was made of several empty metal oil drums that were welded together to the proper height. The pole would be pushed up each day and taken down each night.

Since the program was 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, rain or shine, there were some hours of the day, where the pole had to be lighted so that you could see it and do the program correctly. No problem. A portable generator and a flood light system was put together for that purpose.

There were picnic tables in a shaded area under the trees for the short breaks you could take when you got exhausted and needed to drink water and take your vitamins and mineral tablets. These tables were also used or Lunch and Dinner each day.

There was a lady who was trained on the LRH dispatches for the program who was the Supervisor. Her job was to sit by the running track and remain silent. If she felt you were taking too much time on a break or were not actively doing the running, she would quietly say to you “Keep Running” or “Continue Running”. There was no talking aloud on the running track. Only quiet talking in the break area.

The schedule was 12 hours a day from 9 AM until 9 PM, 7 days a week – rain or shine. You were on the Running Program for as many days as it takes until you had the proper “cognition” or “end phenomenon” that LRH had assigned to the program. It could last for weeks and weeks.

At the end of each day, you wrote up a report to the Case Supervisor of what occurred during the day while you were running and any “wins” or “cognitions” you may have had. These were then sent to the Case Supervisor who would acknowledge your wins in writing and tell you to “Keep Running”. This went on until you achieved the desired end phenomenon.
The pole would be put up and the runners would run around the pole as fast as they could and for as long as they could to “exhaustion”. You could then walk around the pole until you were recovered enough to start running again. The runners went in one direction around the pole one day and then in the opposite direction the next day to “balance the flows”.

Since we were in a public place at Griffith Park, a “shore story” (PR Story) had to be made up in case we were asked by the general public what we were doing there every day. The story was that it was a “Fitness Program”.

There were public bathrooms nearby at the Golf Course that we were allowed to use and a snack bar where we could buy snacks if needed.

It was at this Golf Course Snack Bar area where we would most often interact with the public. Several famous people played golf there on a routine basis. The highlight for most of us was seeing Alan Ladd Jr almost every day. He had played the “Skipper” on Gilligan’s Island! He was a real nice guy!



My First Day on theProgram

I was not looking forward to the Running Program since it had such a “punishment” perception attached to it. Everyone had to get a Medical check from a Doctor first to make sure you were physically able to do the program.

Once I got my medical clearance, I was driven out to the Running Track in Griffith Park with the rest of the RPFers who were doing the program at the time in the back of a pickup truck and van. We were dropped off, the pole was put up, and the Supervisor showed me where the water, vitamins and minerals were and what the rules for the program were.

I was then given the instruction to “Start Running”.

I was wearing the required RPF dark blue clothing – t shirt and running shorts – and was wearing some old sneakers I had at the time. I did not have proper running shoes.

I started out running like the wind until I was tired and would then walk. I did this for some time. I couldn’t last as long as the people who had been on the program for awhile, but I tried as best I could.

At the end of the day and 12 hours of running, we were driven back to the Cedars Complex to shower and go to bed. The RPF space at the time was on the top floor of the old Hospital Building. Since we were all in the RPF, we were not allowed to use the elevators, so had to climb the 8 floors of stairs each night to get back to our rooms! Not fun after all that running!


The next day, I woke up and went out to the track and could hardly walk, my feet were so swollen from wearing the wrong type of shoes! I hobbled around the track until Lunch Time when someone took me and some others to a Sporting Goods Store where we could buy the proper running shoes. New Balance were the best. Others like Saucony or Puma at the time. It was worth it to invest all your money in the best running shoes you could buy!



The running went on day after day. 7 days, 10 days, 15, days, 20 days. On and on it went. During this time, the runners all became very close to one another. When someone actually completed the program, it was a huge win for everyone. Slowly buy surely, the soreness went away and you start having things happen to you. Mentally you remember things you may have forgotten, or go to places that were stuck in your memory.

One guy on the program was a former Vietnam Vet and he was having full on flashbacks of being in Vietnam and hearing helicopters flying in and shooting going on.

A side benefit, but not the purpose of the program, was the weight loss and getting in top physical condition.

While on the program, a few senior executives who were not assigned to the RPF, were sent to do the program full time with us RPFers as “punishment” by Miscavige. It was on the Running Program where I met Terri Gillham Gamboa, who was one of the original Commodore’s Messengers and had been the Executive Director of Author Services and worked with Miscavige on the legal cases against LRH. She was assigned by Miscavige.

I also met and got to be friends with Suzette Hubbard who was assigned to the program. We even celebrated her birthday out at the running track one evening and everyone got cake and ice cream!

I remember Super Bowl Sunday in 1983, my favorite NFL team, the Washington Redskins, were playing in the big game against the Miami Dolphins and won their first Super Bowl Championship in Pasadena, while I was running around the pole in Griffith Park not 10 miles away. I never got to see the game, but remember hearing it on radios around the park area, where families were having picnics.



When El Nino rains hit Southern California with record rainfall that February,we had to run in the rain. There were no days off. We used plastic trash bags as ponchos with rubber bands around the openings to try and stay dry while we ran. It didn’t work very well! The public people in the park area thought we were crazy. Every night, our running shoes were taken to the huge boiler room at the Cedars Hospital to dry out over night.

On Saturday Mornings, we got a break each week and would have to sit around for a few hours because our parking lot space was reserved by another group of people who had been coming there for years. Who were they? Mexican Bullfighters who would practice on our dirt parking lot! Someone would hold a set of bull horns over their head and act like the bull while everyone else took turns practicing their bull fighter moves! They were hilarious! One of them would always yell out“Zumbalay!” whenever the bull went by him.

Since it was the winter months of January and February when I was on the program, the Greek Theater was closed so didn’t have many events scheduled. But a few times, the place was used and the parking areas around our track would fill up. We also had our share of homeless people who lived in the park who would walk by talking to themselves!


Wins for me on theProgram


Slowly but surely, I personally began having things happen to me. Not only did the running get easier and easier, but I started having things pop into my mind that I would have to look at and think about. Some of them very emotional. I would sometimes experience real feelings of grief, lose and then joy. Physically, I had to run through various aches and pains that were more psychosomatic, than real pains or injuries.

After awhile, I began having experiences of being able to look at people and know what they were thinking and were going to say. I then started having major déjà vu experiences that were completely real to me.

One time, I had a very vivid dream while I was sleeping about something that was going to happen. I could clearly see who the people were that were interacting with me and what they were saying and who would be arriving in the area of the building while this was taking place.

One of the people in my dream was on the Running Program with me, so I decided to test my dream. I told this person about my dream and what was going to happen and who was going to be there and what they were going to say. I didn’t know when it was going to be, but I wanted them to know about it before hand so that they could be a witness to the fact that I told them about it before it actually happened.

Sure enough a few days later, the exact situation and people that were in my dream actually happened. I knew exactly what each person was going to say. The witness I had told the story to before was there to. We both looked at each other and had big smiles on our faces!

I can’t explain why it happened, but it did. It was the closest I had ever gotten to an “OT ability” in all my years of Scientology processing and moving up the Bridge at that time.


The End of the Program

Towards the end of the Running Program, I began to exteriorize from my body and was floating above it while I was running. Nothing affected me. I was running at a swift pace, but not physically getting tired. My feet felt like they were not touching the ground. I could have run like that forever it felt like!

During these experiences, we would be sent off by the Supervisor to “enjoy your win!” For me, this meant hiking up from our parking lot to the famous Griffith Park Observatory that overlooked Los Angeles and was featured in that famous movie “Rebel without a Cause” starring James Dean.





I felt that I had reached the End Phenomenon of the program at that point and sure enough my Case Supervisor the next day told me my folder had been sent to the Senior C/S International’s Office at the Int Base for review. Any completions on the program had to be verified by their office. The folder was sent on day 32. Until I heard back, I had to continue running every day, 12 hours a day, until the review was done.

This went on and on and on and I literally “overran” the process! It wasn’t until day 51 that we heard back that I had completed the Running Program officially and was allowed to attest to completion and write a success story.


After the Program

I weighed myself and I had lost 28 pounds and was the lightest I had been since early High School. I was in great shape and wanted to continue running daily, if only for a short period each day. Life and work interceded and this lasted for about a week before I had stopped running altogether.

I completed the program in March 1983 – just over 30 years ago as I write this!

It was difficult and uncomfortable, but it wasn’t punishment at all I realized. I had some of my biggest wins and gains when I was on the Running Program. 30 years later, I can’t explain it but something in that program worked for me.

A couple of years ago, while in Los Angeles, I decided to drive by the location where we had done the Running Program in Griffith Park. It was still there, but had changed in many ways. A public bathroom was built on one portion of the lot and a concrete drainage canal was built across the lot. No way the program could be run on that lot now.



Some of the trees were still there and others were gone. Then I recognized a familiar site through the trees to an adjacent lot 50 yards away! There were the Bullfighters again practicing their bull fighting moves some 28 years later! Some things never change I guess!!



It turns out that LRH believed in the Running Program too. When someone who was a long time Sea Org member was nearing death, LRH ordered that the C/S at the time have the person given the direction that after body death, to go find a star out in the universe and run around it for awhile before coming back.

Then just recently reading Lawrence Wright’s book about LRH and Scientology, I learned that Steve (Sarge) Pfauth told him a story about LRH shortly before he died said to Steve that LRH had already picked out a star for himself to circle after death.

Was LRH right about the Running Program? Did he go off to run around a star somewhere? We will never know for sure. But what I know and remember was the tremendous feeling of exhilaration I felt towards the end of the Running Program.




Was it what some have told me was a “Runner’s High” from the endorphines generated by running? I don’t know for sure. But I sure believed what was happening to me at the time and haven’t been able to duplicate that tremendous feeling since in the 30 years that have now passed.
 

Veda

Sponsor
According to David Mayo, Hubbard had him kidnapped and taken to the desert.

I have it from a very high up and reliable source that Hubbard remotely C/Sed Mayo's running around the pole. Per Hubbard's instructions, Mayo's pole (a large power pole) was to be painted fire engine red, and this was supposed to "key in" Mayo to whole track implants, and induce a state of total cave-in. The orders from Hubbard were witnessed by Vicki and Rick Aznaran, Ray Mithoff, and Jesse Prince.

Karen#1 confirmed that Hubbard C/Sed Mayo on this action, although she believed his instructions to be beneficent. When I asked Karen#1 what the EP of having a Class XII auditor, and OT VII, running around a pole might be, I received no answer.

Vinaire was an early completion of the running program - with a regular pole/or tree. He wrote that it helped to "align his flows."
 
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HelluvaHoax!

Platinum Meritorious Sponsor with bells on


The Running Program --snipped--

It turns out that LRH believed in the Running Program too. When someone who was a long time Sea Org member was nearing death,
LRH ordered that the C/S at the time have the person given the direction that after body death, to go find a star out in the universe and run around it for awhile before coming back.

Then just recently reading Lawrence Wright’s book about LRH and Scientology, I learned that Steve (Sarge) Pfauth told him a story about LRH shortly before he died said to Steve that LRH had already picked out a star for himself to circle after death.

There is a scientific term that aptly describes the above. ("Totally crazy shit")
 

Xenu's Boyfriend

Silver Meritorious Patron
I find this post absolutely fascinating and completely horrifying. Part of me thinks you should write more because I was interesting the protocol you describe, and that history needs to be told, but I also find myself wondering how much of the positive things you say are true - about being able to take proper breaks, all the "fun" of seeing the bullfighters and celebrities, stopping for snacks, etc.

You do speak honestly about being exhausted and not having the right shoes, etc, but having to jog for 12 hours a day, even in the pouring rain and during a major storm feels cruel and insane to me, and your tone suggests that it was a frustrating, but ultimately rewarding experience. This reads like an athletic/military spiritual uplift story, like "Rocky" or "Officer And A Gentleman" -rough at first, sometimes brutal, but with a huge payoff.

One of the books, I think it must have Blown For Good, talks about this program, but I remember people having to run in their regular clothes, without running shoes, and in one case, a person was in a wheelchair and she/he still had to go around the pole even though they couldn't walk. The story as I remembered it didn't have the sun-shiny optimism that yours has - it was grotesque and painful and was an act of brutality.

Even the part where you talk about your wins, feels to me like you were pushed to an altered state of consciousness caused by physical exhaustion that resulted in a process of extreme dissociation. In your case, it may have lead to fantastical experiences like the one you described, but in others it might have caused psychosis and or even death. I feel it is this same half-baked, psuedo medicinal thinking that has lead to the deaths at Narconon and the death of Lisa McPherson.

I'm not sure if this is what you intended by telling your story, but in the end, the way you make it seems like a tough few weeks at summer camp where you learned how to be a man or woman, while losing weight, getting in shape, and all as a part of a punishment that actually turned out to be rewarding feels makes me serious uncomfortable. I'd love to here from the 50 or 60-year-old woman who was running out in the desert heat, unable to stop and near physical exhaustion, because she probably has a different story to tell.

Just because something has a "side benefit" or a "win" doesn't mean it isn't destructive or evil. One of the "wins" of being Hitler Youth, which, according to scholars, was much like a scouting program, was the fact that kids went hiking, camping, boating, did fundraising, had musical training, paramilitary training and engaged in pagentry. If a boy who went through this looked back, he might have fond memories of the friends he made and how much he enjoyed learning the things that he did. And there is no reason he should be ashamed of that. However, to put Hitler on a pedestal and commending him for creating the program is something else, and I feel that is what you are doing with LRH.

You may not have intended to, Lulu Belle, but this is actually an amazing insight and narrative into the mind of someone who has been brainwashed into thinking that something that harms them is actually being done for their own good. You've given me a great window into the mind that capitulates under a fascist regime.

P.S. What the hell is this doing on Facebook?
 
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Xenu's Boyfriend

Silver Meritorious Patron
Was LRH right about the Running Program? Did he go off to run around a star somewhere? We will never know for sure.



Oh yes we will. LRH could barely "run" a bathtub, much less take his big ass around any pole. You've seen the pictures. If anything he is somewhere smoking Marlboros in a nasty bathrobe and looking for messengers to run around for him.
 

Gib

Crusader
I asked Mark Fisher, who I knew in the SO, if I could post this on ESMB. (He posted it on Facebook.) He said yes.




Was it what some have told me was a “Runner’s High” from the endorphines generated by running? I don’t know for sure. But I sure believed what was happening to me at the time and haven’t been able to duplicate that tremendous feeling since in the 30 years that have now passed.

Ah yes, the Runner's High.

I experienced it before scientology in High School. I could run forever.

I experienced it riding my motorcycle from the mid west to the west coast to join the winning team known as scientology. I rode my two wheel horse thru rain, wind strong enough to cause me to drive in third gear at 70 MPH ( I had 5th gear overdrive on the bike) to watch the gas gauge go down rather rapidly leaving me wondering if I would run out gas in the middle of nowhere, to stopping to take a piss and lie down for a rest to awakening 6 hours later on the sidewalk next to my bike, awakening going "oh shit".

When I reached my destination in 3 days of hard driving, and hardly any sleep, no motels, just the sidewalk sleep,
why I felt I could take my two legged horse anywhere forever.

Endorphines, the runners high, what I did on me motorbike, drive long and hard in the open air, maybe it was:

"Stress and pain are the two most common factors leading to the release of endorphins. Endorphins interact with the opiate receptors in the brain to reduce our perception of pain and act similarly to drugs such as morphineand codeine. In contrast to the opiate drugs, however, activation of the opiate receptors by the body's endorphins does not lead to addiction or dependence."

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=55001

And so maybe the Runners Program releases endorphines and creates euphoria

"In addition to decreased feelings of pain, secretion of endorphins leads to feelings of euphoria, modulation of appetite, release of sex hormones, and enhancement of the immune response. With high endorphin levels, we feel less pain and fewer negative effects of stress. Endorphins have been suggested as modulators of the so-called "runner's high" that athletes achieve with prolonged exercise. While the role of endorphins and other compounds as potential triggers of this euphoric response has been debated extensively by doctors and scientists, it is at least known that the body does produce endorphins in response to prolonged, continuous exercise."

Maybe so, maybe not.

But I do know Hubbard would take the above and turn it into some scientology fantastic EP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:
 

Knows

Gold Meritorious Patron
[h=1]Scientology inflicts pain, shock and trauma and that triggers Psychic Powers. That is how Scientology works. You can find a lot of information on this subject in Libraries, Book Stores and the internet. Here is one article I quickly found on the internet. It makes sense...and if you pay huge sums of money (shocking), are away from safety of loving friends and family and experience enough pain - YOU TOO CAN HAVE AMAZING WINS...:whistling:
Psychic Power and Trauma[/h]Traumatic events like child abuse and near death experiences can trigger psychic powers.


Mary Desaulniers


Most people who wish to develop their psychic abilities choose nurturing and centering practices like meditation, prayer and dreamwork. However, there have been many recorded instances of trauma opening people up to psychic experiences.

Scientists suggest that it is not the shock itself that creates the psychic; it is the altered state of consciousness created by a distressing event that heightens perception and ESP.
[h=2]Trauma Triggers Altered States[/h]What happens to the body when it is consumed by terror and shock? First, adrenalin rushes into the bloodstream to create a form of hyper-alertness. One enters an altered state of consciousness; events become heightened in the mind and one gets a slow-motion recording of the experience in the brain.
Simultaneously, the mind registers a form of detachment allowing it to watch without emotion as though the event were happening to someone else. The altered state is the body’s way of coping with the trauma; it provides one with a kind of alertness, edge, hypersensitivity that enables him to survive the danger.
Soldiers in action or victims who miraculously survive accidents often report such a sense of heightened awareness. Head trauma often causes psychic power as well; in this case, the structure and functions of the brain are shifted ; these changes is responsible for PSI functioning.
[h=2]Child Abuse and Psychic Ability[/h]Trauma experienced during child abuse often is a catalyst for psychic abilities. An estimated 30-50 percent of psychics have reported incidents of childhood abuse and 75 percent have experienced a form of trauma in their lives. However, childhood experiences of severe stress and violence are not a necessary condition for PSI abilities.
Children experiencing violence and abuse often protect themselves by dissociating their bodies from their consciousness of pain; they do this by entering a “trauma trance,” an altered state of awareness. Adrenalin pushes them into an “out of body” survival mode that often opens the third eye.
[h=2]Near Death Experiences Trigger Psychic Powers[/h]Near Death Experiences (NDEs) often increase psychic power. Studies suggest that NDEs stimulate the temporal lobes, the part of the brain responsible for PSI effects. Studies also show that the stimulation of the hippocampus and amygdala in the limbic system produces intense hallucinations such as apparitions, inner voices or the sense of a presence nearby. Writer John Geiger calls this phenomenon the “ Third Man Factor.”
Scientists also suggest that near death experiences alter the electromagnetic field in and around the brain; this alteration produces a type of “micro-seizure” that makes people sensitive to the perception of alternate realities. Dannion Brinkley is an example of someone whose psychic abilities were developed by a near death experience.
The fact the psychic powers can be triggered by trauma suggests that man’s spiritual apparatus is deeply embedded within his physical nature, waiting to be ignited by events that challenge his body and mind. The suggestion is also strong that negative events in life carry a boon – they can trigger latent powers not otherwise known.
Sources:

  • Belleruth Naparstek. Your Sixth Sense: Activating Your Psychic Potential. HarperSanFrancisco, 1997.
  • Diane Hennacy Powell. The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena. New York: Walker and Company, 2008.
 

AngeloV

Gold Meritorious Patron
Oh yes we will. LRH could barely "run" a bathtub, much less take his big ass around any pole. You've seen the pictures. If anything he is somewhere smoking Marlboros in a nasty bathrobe and looking for messengers to run around for him.

Exactly!! Everyone who thinks LRH did the 'running program' say "I do!". [cue sound of crickets].

Sadistic bastard.

sa·dis·tic
səˈdistik/
adjective
adjective: sadistic

deriving pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others.
 

8-8008

Patron with Honors
I asked Mark Fisher, who I knew in the SO, if I could post this on ESMB. (He posted it on Facebook.) He said yes.


The Running Program


I have been meaning to write up my story regarding the Running Program which will be known to the public in the future apparently as the “Cause Resurgence Rundown” and be part of the huge white elephant building in Clearwater, known as the “Super Power Building”.



I was there when L. Ron Hubbard (LRH) was first researching the program and was one of the many people at the time that actually did the Running Program to successful completion and while it may sound crazy in retrospect, I did in fact have some of my biggest wins in Scientology while running around the pole!

Here is my story.





How it all began


In mid 1982, I was transferred to the International Base otherwise known as Golden Era Productions in Gilman Hot Springs, California. The location of this base was completely confidential at the time to everyone. No one in my family or friends in Clearwater, Florida where I had been working knew of the location unless they had been there themselves.

LRH was not there at the time and was in hiding at a secure location due to various legal situations that were going on. He had been out of communication for some time with everyone except the few people who were with him. During that time period,the management of Scientology was left to the Senior Executives of the Church. At some point during that year, LRH came back on the line and started communicating again through dispatches asking for reports about what had been going on while he was away.


One of the things he began writing to David Mayo about, who was the Senior Case Supervisor International, was what LRH was calling the Running Program.

A senior Messenger at the time had gotten into some trouble and the instructions from LRH was to have this person go out and run every day. There wasn’t a pole at the time. They were to just go out and run around the desert property and write up what occurred.

Eventually, LRH decided that it was better to have the person run in a circle around a large tree or pole stuck in the ground a certain distance away. The person was to run to exhaustion while keeping their attention on the tree or pole through their peripheral vision.

The concept as I recall, was that the tree and the person represented two poles and by running around the tree,mental energy was created just like an electrical generator, which resulted in pictures and incidents on the person’s whole track (history) blowing off and the mental charge disappearing resulting in a resurgence of the cause level of the person.

Here is an aerial photograph of the Running Program track at the Int Base taken a few years ago so you get an idea of how the track was supposed to be set up.






Later in 1982, David Mayo along with many other Senior Executives were removed from their positions including the existing Executive Director International and many others for perceived crimes against Scientology. The details of which are another story altogether. What happened however was that David Mayo and his closest staff were all removed from their positions and ordered onto the Running Program full time – 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

David Miscavige, who orchestrated the removals at the time, got tremendous pleasure knowing that Mayo and the others were out there in the desert heat (over 110 degrees) running all day around a tree! He made it seem like a punishment, not an actual research rundown that LRH was working on and the Running Program got the stigma of being punishment, not help.

There was a huge purge of senior level management people at the time who were deemed to be “plants” and “traitors” to Scientology both in Clearwater and at the International Base. There was also a wholesale clean out of the Golden Era Productions staff in the Movie and Audio areas. Some of the most experienced people in Scientology Management were offloaded and declared Suppressive People. Others were sent tot he Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) – the Scientology prison camp – for correction and retraining. The RPF was located at the time in the Los Angeles area at the Cedars Hospital Complex on Fountain Avenue. So anyone assigned to the RPF, was shipped out to LA.






I was in disagreement with the wholesale removal and declaring of many of these Senior Management people and felt that LRH was given incorrect information. This too is a story for another time, but I was considered “disaffected”and subsequently removed from my post at the International base and assigned to the RPF as well in LA in November 1982.

One of LRH’s orders at the time, was that anyone from the International Base or Golden Era Productions who went to the RPF would have to complete the Running Program before they could graduate the RPF program and come back to work in good standing. Since so many people had been assigned to the RPF, this gave a huge number of people that the Running Program could be “piloted” on.


The Running Program in Hollywood

The Running Program pilot was set up originally at a park on Los Feliz Blvd near Griffith Park where there was a huge water fountain. This didn’t last very long as a location for various reasons and instead the Running Program was moved to Griffith Park across the street from the Roosevelt Golf Course in one of the vacant parking lots for the Greek Theater.





There was a semi-level piece of dirt ground there where a pole could be put up each day and then taken down and stored. The pole was made of several empty metal oil drums that were welded together to the proper height. The pole would be pushed up each day and taken down each night.

Since the program was 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, rain or shine, there were some hours of the day, where the pole had to be lighted so that you could see it and do the program correctly. No problem. A portable generator and a flood light system was put together for that purpose.

There were picnic tables in a shaded area under the trees for the short breaks you could take when you got exhausted and needed to drink water and take your vitamins and mineral tablets. These tables were also used or Lunch and Dinner each day.

There was a lady who was trained on the LRH dispatches for the program who was the Supervisor. Her job was to sit by the running track and remain silent. If she felt you were taking too much time on a break or were not actively doing the running, she would quietly say to you “Keep Running” or “Continue Running”. There was no talking aloud on the running track. Only quiet talking in the break area.

The schedule was 12 hours a day from 9 AM until 9 PM, 7 days a week – rain or shine. You were on the Running Program for as many days as it takes until you had the proper “cognition” or “end phenomenon” that LRH had assigned to the program. It could last for weeks and weeks.

At the end of each day, you wrote up a report to the Case Supervisor of what occurred during the day while you were running and any “wins” or “cognitions” you may have had. These were then sent to the Case Supervisor who would acknowledge your wins in writing and tell you to “Keep Running”. This went on until you achieved the desired end phenomenon.
The pole would be put up and the runners would run around the pole as fast as they could and for as long as they could to “exhaustion”. You could then walk around the pole until you were recovered enough to start running again. The runners went in one direction around the pole one day and then in the opposite direction the next day to “balance the flows”.

Since we were in a public place at Griffith Park, a “shore story” (PR Story) had to be made up in case we were asked by the general public what we were doing there every day. The story was that it was a “Fitness Program”.

There were public bathrooms nearby at the Golf Course that we were allowed to use and a snack bar where we could buy snacks if needed.

It was at this Golf Course Snack Bar area where we would most often interact with the public. Several famous people played golf there on a routine basis. The highlight for most of us was seeing Alan Ladd Jr almost every day. He had played the “Skipper” on Gilligan’s Island! He was a real nice guy!



My First Day on theProgram

I was not looking forward to the Running Program since it had such a “punishment” perception attached to it. Everyone had to get a Medical check from a Doctor first to make sure you were physically able to do the program.

Once I got my medical clearance, I was driven out to the Running Track in Griffith Park with the rest of the RPFers who were doing the program at the time in the back of a pickup truck and van. We were dropped off, the pole was put up, and the Supervisor showed me where the water, vitamins and minerals were and what the rules for the program were.

I was then given the instruction to “Start Running”.

I was wearing the required RPF dark blue clothing – t shirt and running shorts – and was wearing some old sneakers I had at the time. I did not have proper running shoes.

I started out running like the wind until I was tired and would then walk. I did this for some time. I couldn’t last as long as the people who had been on the program for awhile, but I tried as best I could.

At the end of the day and 12 hours of running, we were driven back to the Cedars Complex to shower and go to bed. The RPF space at the time was on the top floor of the old Hospital Building. Since we were all in the RPF, we were not allowed to use the elevators, so had to climb the 8 floors of stairs each night to get back to our rooms! Not fun after all that running!


The next day, I woke up and went out to the track and could hardly walk, my feet were so swollen from wearing the wrong type of shoes! I hobbled around the track until Lunch Time when someone took me and some others to a Sporting Goods Store where we could buy the proper running shoes. New Balance were the best. Others like Saucony or Puma at the time. It was worth it to invest all your money in the best running shoes you could buy!



The running went on day after day. 7 days, 10 days, 15, days, 20 days. On and on it went. During this time, the runners all became very close to one another. When someone actually completed the program, it was a huge win for everyone. Slowly buy surely, the soreness went away and you start having things happen to you. Mentally you remember things you may have forgotten, or go to places that were stuck in your memory.

One guy on the program was a former Vietnam Vet and he was having full on flashbacks of being in Vietnam and hearing helicopters flying in and shooting going on.

A side benefit, but not the purpose of the program, was the weight loss and getting in top physical condition.

While on the program, a few senior executives who were not assigned to the RPF, were sent to do the program full time with us RPFers as “punishment” by Miscavige. It was on the Running Program where I met Terri Gillham Gamboa, who was one of the original Commodore’s Messengers and had been the Executive Director of Author Services and worked with Miscavige on the legal cases against LRH. She was assigned by Miscavige.

I also met and got to be friends with Suzette Hubbard who was assigned to the program. We even celebrated her birthday out at the running track one evening and everyone got cake and ice cream!

I remember Super Bowl Sunday in 1983, my favorite NFL team, the Washington Redskins, were playing in the big game against the Miami Dolphins and won their first Super Bowl Championship in Pasadena, while I was running around the pole in Griffith Park not 10 miles away. I never got to see the game, but remember hearing it on radios around the park area, where families were having picnics.



When El Nino rains hit Southern California with record rainfall that February,we had to run in the rain. There were no days off. We used plastic trash bags as ponchos with rubber bands around the openings to try and stay dry while we ran. It didn’t work very well! The public people in the park area thought we were crazy. Every night, our running shoes were taken to the huge boiler room at the Cedars Hospital to dry out over night.

On Saturday Mornings, we got a break each week and would have to sit around for a few hours because our parking lot space was reserved by another group of people who had been coming there for years. Who were they? Mexican Bullfighters who would practice on our dirt parking lot! Someone would hold a set of bull horns over their head and act like the bull while everyone else took turns practicing their bull fighter moves! They were hilarious! One of them would always yell out“Zumbalay!” whenever the bull went by him.

Since it was the winter months of January and February when I was on the program, the Greek Theater was closed so didn’t have many events scheduled. But a few times, the place was used and the parking areas around our track would fill up. We also had our share of homeless people who lived in the park who would walk by talking to themselves!


Wins for me on theProgram


Slowly but surely, I personally began having things happen to me. Not only did the running get easier and easier, but I started having things pop into my mind that I would have to look at and think about. Some of them very emotional. I would sometimes experience real feelings of grief, lose and then joy. Physically, I had to run through various aches and pains that were more psychosomatic, than real pains or injuries.

After awhile, I began having experiences of being able to look at people and know what they were thinking and were going to say. I then started having major déjà vu experiences that were completely real to me.

One time, I had a very vivid dream while I was sleeping about something that was going to happen. I could clearly see who the people were that were interacting with me and what they were saying and who would be arriving in the area of the building while this was taking place.

One of the people in my dream was on the Running Program with me, so I decided to test my dream. I told this person about my dream and what was going to happen and who was going to be there and what they were going to say. I didn’t know when it was going to be, but I wanted them to know about it before hand so that they could be a witness to the fact that I told them about it before it actually happened.

Sure enough a few days later, the exact situation and people that were in my dream actually happened. I knew exactly what each person was going to say. The witness I had told the story to before was there to. We both looked at each other and had big smiles on our faces!

I can’t explain why it happened, but it did. It was the closest I had ever gotten to an “OT ability” in all my years of Scientology processing and moving up the Bridge at that time.


The End of the Program

Towards the end of the Running Program, I began to exteriorize from my body and was floating above it while I was running. Nothing affected me. I was running at a swift pace, but not physically getting tired. My feet felt like they were not touching the ground. I could have run like that forever it felt like!

During these experiences, we would be sent off by the Supervisor to “enjoy your win!” For me, this meant hiking up from our parking lot to the famous Griffith Park Observatory that overlooked Los Angeles and was featured in that famous movie “Rebel without a Cause” starring James Dean.





I felt that I had reached the End Phenomenon of the program at that point and sure enough my Case Supervisor the next day told me my folder had been sent to the Senior C/S International’s Office at the Int Base for review. Any completions on the program had to be verified by their office. The folder was sent on day 32. Until I heard back, I had to continue running every day, 12 hours a day, until the review was done.

This went on and on and on and I literally “overran” the process! It wasn’t until day 51 that we heard back that I had completed the Running Program officially and was allowed to attest to completion and write a success story.


After the Program

I weighed myself and I had lost 28 pounds and was the lightest I had been since early High School. I was in great shape and wanted to continue running daily, if only for a short period each day. Life and work interceded and this lasted for about a week before I had stopped running altogether.

I completed the program in March 1983 – just over 30 years ago as I write this!

It was difficult and uncomfortable, but it wasn’t punishment at all I realized. I had some of my biggest wins and gains when I was on the Running Program. 30 years later, I can’t explain it but something in that program worked for me.

A couple of years ago, while in Los Angeles, I decided to drive by the location where we had done the Running Program in Griffith Park. It was still there, but had changed in many ways. A public bathroom was built on one portion of the lot and a concrete drainage canal was built across the lot. No way the program could be run on that lot now.



Some of the trees were still there and others were gone. Then I recognized a familiar site through the trees to an adjacent lot 50 yards away! There were the Bullfighters again practicing their bull fighting moves some 28 years later! Some things never change I guess!!



It turns out that LRH believed in the Running Program too. When someone who was a long time Sea Org member was nearing death, LRH ordered that the C/S at the time have the person given the direction that after body death, to go find a star out in the universe and run around it for awhile before coming back.

Then just recently reading Lawrence Wright’s book about LRH and Scientology, I learned that Steve (Sarge) Pfauth told him a story about LRH shortly before he died said to Steve that LRH had already picked out a star for himself to circle after death.

Was LRH right about the Running Program? Did he go off to run around a star somewhere? We will never know for sure. But what I know and remember was the tremendous feeling of exhilaration I felt towards the end of the Running Program.




Was it what some have told me was a “Runner’s High” from the endorphines generated by running? I don’t know for sure. But I sure believed what was happening to me at the time and haven’t been able to duplicate that tremendous feeling since in the 30 years that have now passed.

I must say "thank you sooo much for sharing".

Can you C/S it ? I am ready for it :) I may find a pole somewhere and run around it. One day in a direction and the other day in the other direction. Do I need to get closer to the pole time to time :)

I would not mind doing it without having to pay FSO $35,000 :)
 

WildKat

Gold Meritorious Patron
Was there no mention of blisters?

I would think that horrible bleeding blisters that had no chance to heal would be the result of running 12 hours a day.
 

8-8008

Patron with Honors
I'll start tomorrow running around a tree in my garden. I keep you update on the result... Well I don't think I will be able to do it for 12 hours straight.

I'll start... I may give up tonight.

OR someone can say "Keep running" :)
 

HelluvaHoax!

Platinum Meritorious Sponsor with bells on
why would any OT8 need to do the running program if they are cause over everything?

:confused2:

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:



LOL


ANSWER: An OT VIII is only total cause on the 1st dynamic. When an OT is operating "on this planet" and running in circles around a pole, they are not OT because that is the 6th dynamic (MEST).

The good news is that anyone in the world can do the running program even if they are living in an area so poor that they cannot afford a pole. . .


Originally Posted by Stanislav Brzyninski
Here at the Ideal Org in Poland we could not get FP approval to buy a pole.
But then one of our OTs had a bright idea and now we are running around each other.
 

Mike Laws

Patron Meritorious
According to David Mayo, Hubbard had him kidnapped and taken to the desert.

I have it from a very high up and reliable source that Hubbard remotely C/Sed Mayo's running around the pole. Per Hubbard's instructions, Mayo's pole (a large power pole) was to be painted fire engine red, and this was supposed to "key in" Mayo to whole track implants, and induce a state of total cave-in. The orders from Hubbard were witnessed by Vicki and Rick Aznaran, Ray Mithoff, and Jesse Prince.

Karen#1 confirmed that Hubbard C/Sed Mayo on this action, although she believed his instructions to be beneficent. When I asked Karen#1 what the EP of having a Class XII auditor, and OT VII, running around a pole might be, I received no answer.

Vinaire was an early completion of the running program - with a regular pole/or tree. He wrote that it helped to "align his flows."

I was there around this time and was put on the running program a year or two afterwards for messing something up (still not sure what). I remember advice's from Hubbard that said Mayo was to run around the pole until you couldn't see his head (keep running until he pounded a trench or ditch that encompassed his body. Though I haven't talked to Karen about this, she was always very loyal and supportive of Mayo, and I can see why something like this may have been said. There was a permeating attitude that some very good people went very bad or evil because of something or someone, and this was a chance to salvage. But everyone knew that the old man was incredibly pissed at Mayo. But we probably felt the anger was justified ... crazy mind games.

I too really enjoyed how I felt with the running program, but can't say why ... getting in shape, being outdoors 5 hours a day, runners high, placebo effect, or it did something because of that damn pole and the minerals. Hubbard describes the body as a mineral robot in those advice's, "OT Tech".

Can't really say I got any specific gain that has lasted my life., from memory the EP was something about the ability to do anything or push through anything ... I remember feeling strong and energetic and alive.
 

Xenu's Boyfriend

Silver Meritorious Patron
LOL


ANSWER: An OT VIII is only total cause on the 1st dynamic. When an OT is operating "on this planet" and running in circles around a pole, they are not OT because that is the 6th dynamic (MEST).

The good news is that anyone in the world can do the running program even if they are living in an area so poor that they cannot afford a pole. . .


In an unpublished dispatch LRH wrote that if you can't find a pole, you can do the running program with a well sharpened, #2 pencil. Just be careful not to kick it over when you run around it.

The price, $35,000, is however, still the same.
 

sallydannce

Gold Meritorious Patron
How about an old-fashioned circular clothes line? Can I run around that? :p

The neighbours tolerated Sally running around her clothes line every morning. She was always friendly as she waved over the back fence, with her chirpy "Morning! Just doing my clothes-line spiritual enlightenment."

Good gawd! Anyone that runs every day (around a pole or no friggin' pole) is gonna feel better. "Runners high" is well documented. I know a woman who is into marathons. She's been into them for many years. She's out there every morning of the year, before the sun rises, training. She'll tell ya about this stuff.

Hubbard: the sadistic full-of-himself [STRIKE]founder[/STRIKE] flounder of scientology.
 

TG1

Angelic Poster
Runner's high!

One of the best drugs in the world.

The body can produce some amazing chemicals. Just amazing.

And, yes, you feel like you can run forever. Or you are pretty sure you can transition to flying. One night on a runner's high I ran five miles farther than I'd ever run before. Damn, I hated to quit, but otherwise I'd have hurt myself.

Another story -- once I was awake (no naps) and traveling for 60 hours at one stretch. We started out the first day in a jeep (for twelve hours) and then flew over 11,000 air miles on three continents (five airports -- each with customs) before getting home halfway around the world. At the end of that trip I was certain I would never need to sleep again. Ever.

Again, the body can produce some amazing chemicals.

Fascinating stuff.
 

Jump

Operating teatime


Runner's high!

One of the best drugs in the world.

The body can produce some amazing chemicals. Just amazing.

And, yes, you feel like you can run forever. Or you are pretty sure you can transition to flying. One night on a runner's high I ran five miles farther than I'd ever run before. Damn, I hated to quit, but otherwise I'd have hurt myself.

Another story -- once I was awake (no naps) and traveling for 60 hours at one stretch. We started out the first day in a jeep (for twelve hours) and then flew over 11,000 air miles on three continents (five airports -- each with customs) before getting home halfway around the world. At the end of that trip I was certain I would never need to sleep again. Ever.

Again, the body can produce some amazing chemicals.

Fascinating stuff.


That will be $35,000.

Thank you.

Would you like others to have the gains that you had?

 

Free Being Me

Crusader
goldbase8.png

goldbasefence.png

Cult imprisonment, it looks like so much fun.

:hamster:
 
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