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The Institute for Self-Actualization

The Institute for Self-Actualization (isa) was founded by Ole P. Larsen in 1977 with the creation of the isa Experience. Ole developed the isa Experience as a way of sharing information he had learned while seeking a higher level of awareness and a greater sense of balance and wholeness in his life. The isa Experience is an intensive weekend workshop that explores how perceptions and experiences shape a person's world and the way that their life unfolds.

Early on, Ole observed both in himself and in others, that even successful people were missing a sense of satisfaction and contentment in their lives. Searching for answers, Ole studied philosophy and literature at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California. Continuing his quest for knowledge, he found a teacher in W. A. Nyland, a man who had studied with Gurdjieff, an Armenian philosopher. Ole studied with Mr. Nyland for five years, and discovered he could shift the way he looked at his life and his experiences. When Mr. Nyland died in 1975, Ole continued practicing the methods himself.

Ole facilitated the first isa Experience with a small group of people, consisting of people who knew him or had heard about him. These attendees shared the value they had received from the Experience with their friends and family, and soon there became a steady demand for the seminar. Graduates of the isa Experience grew and formed a community of like-minded people who were actively working on themselves to shift their life perspectives and experiences in valuable and healthy ways. isa has continued to grow over the years through word of mouth and people sharing the value of the Experience and the isa community with others.

The first isa Experience took place in Florida in 1976, written and delivered by its founder, Ole Larsen. He didn't want it to become a large organisation with all the trappings of big business like marketing executives, advertising and offices in the city. His philosophy was quite simple: if graduates of the Experience wanted it to continue, then it was their responsibility to create the next one. The isa Experience now takes place in the USA, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Australia and conservative estimates put the number of graduates at around 30-35,000 worldwide.

The content of the isa Experience is drawn from a wide range of sources; from Lao Tzu to Einstein. It is substantiated and actualized through a variety of discussions, exercises and processes; it combines 30 hours of dialogue with self-examination. This exploration occurs through three channels of interaction and communication:

The first is the participant's interaction with the material presented by the facilitator. Each segment of information is offered for participants to examine and apply to the context of their personal experience.

The second channel is the participant's interaction with the other participants. As participants share and ask questions of the facilitator, they serve each other as reminders and mirrors; stimulating emotions, memories, and insights, leading to a powerful, internal recognition of self.

The third and most important channel is the participant's relationship with themself. Special processes, or exercises, help participants to recall specific events in their lives and examine them with a new clarity. The Experience broadens the context in which participants view their actions and experiences. They see themselves with a greater sense of wholeness and balance, and can begin to act in harmony with who they really are.

Luis Cordoba, Ole Larsen's apprentice of twenty years, is the President of isa.

After studying with Ole for many years and putting the information into practice in his life, he led his first isa Experience in 1989. Born and raised in Colombia, Luis moved to the United States when he was 18. He served in the Army and then enrolled in the University of South Alabama, studying Dentistry. While an undergraduate, he met a professor who was strikingly different and, through him, he learned about the isa Experience.

Ole has written a number of other seminars, which either lead on from the Experience or develop some of the themes introduced there. He believes that in order to facilitate change, learning must be experiential and has deliberately not published books or articles on his theories, although in c.1982 he released an audio tape entitled "Dare to be Different".

His work has been referenced by authors such as Annmarie Kelly (Victorious Women! Shaping Life's Challenges Into Personal Victories), and Paul Heelaslished (The New Age Movement: Religion, Culture and Society in the Age of Post Modernity.