Insight Seminars was founded in 1978 by John-Roger, an international educator, author and speaker.  He, along with Russell Bishop, a personal growth facilitator and workshop designer, created the first Insight I Seminar.  One hundred and fifty-one people who had been studying spiritually with John-Roger through the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) gathered in Santa Monica, California in January 1978 to pioneer what was then an experiment in personal growth education.

Insight I: The Awakening Heart Seminar, now the first in The Insight Seminar Series, was created out of this community's shared desire to gain practical tools for becoming more effective and successful in their lives.  Since its beginning, over a million people have attended Insight Seminars throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Canada, Russia, Spain, Israel, South America, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean Basin, Puerto Rico, Africa, and Australia.

Insight's spiritual roots come from MSIA - roots based with the core values of loving, integrity, and service - and roots that form the basis of our three ground rules found in all of the work we do.   And while Insight's very first seminar was offered to students who had been studying with John-Roger in MSIA who wanted to learn how to live their lives more effectively in the world, today Insight is an independent educational company, one that welcomes people of all faiths, beliefs, sizes, shapes, races, genders, etc.