continuations of Lifewave

There have been several continuations of the Lifewave cult after it broke up in 1986. I will try to outline them below, not because I want people to contact them. They are better avoided in my opinion.

1. John Yarr moved from Slindon in the south of England to Leeds in around 1986. It seems he has a new movement, 1Meditation or The Path. This movement has started teaching meditation including what they call their 'Advanced (light & sound) Course' for £250. They have meetings at Global Tribe (a shop run by Bev and Mario), Hyde Park Book Club and the Friends Meeting House in Roundhay.
2. I don't know why Yarr moved to Leeds, it seems his most loyal followers were Nick and Mary Howell in Manchester. They kept up contact with Yarr, at least until his court case. Then they moved to Sidmouth in Devon. They have their own movement called Lightwave. They liked to give mass initiations in Britain and abroad.
3. Paul Bennet set up The Wirral Meditation Centre in 1986. He had been quite high up in Liverpool Lifewave. He has been initiating people. He called himself Yogi Paulo and sometimes Paul Stellini. He spent a lot of time in Malta and taught there too. Not just meditation but also Qigong. He died in Malta in 2022. Bennett was independent but before his death he seems to have joined up with Lightwave. He had several Facebook pages and in one of them he is clearly fully signed up.
4. New Lightwave was founded by Kees Hoogervorst and Esther Hoogervorst (Esther Henkel/Esther Hoogervorst-Henkel). They are clearly influenced by the Lifewave of the 1980s. They have Aspirant, Initiate, 2nd Initiate and Enlightenment status available in their organisation. They also run House of Empathy. They could be a branch of Nick and Mary Howell's group.
5. Mark Zaretti had contact with Nick and Mary Howell and also John Yarr. He wasn't happy with what they were doing so struck out on his own. He is based in Leeds. His organization is called The Way Back Group. Mark's mother Paula Zaretti was a co-founder of The Way Back.
6. Francis Taylor has started his own group. He also uses the name Franny Taylor.
7. Jens Upton, a Danish man, is teaching meditation.
8. The Path Society seems to be active in Africa.

John Yarr's cult was originally called SOTM (Spiritual Organization for the Teachings of the Master) and changed its name to Lifewave in about 1980. It was also called The Path. John Yarr's new movement, started after he moved to Leeds after the breakup of Lifewave, is called 1meditation. It is also known as The Path. So there is a continuity there. It's not a path that I would want to be on.

There is a website where the teachings of John Yarr are recorded. He wrote a book called The Fullness of the Void.

I haven't given links to these people but if you really want to contact them you can Google them. I wouldn't bother though. You don't need initiation to meditate on the inner light. I don't believe that it is a spiritual energy that you can tap into. Often when people meditate they become aware of a disc of light. Usually white. When they turn their attention towards it, it disappears.

In time you can observe it and it can grow so that you are surrounded by all pervading white light. There can be sound too and even an aroma. The value of it is that it can help you to get into altered states of consciousness and enter into each one more deeply. You don't need any of these people to put you in contact with the inner light or with ascended masters or whatever.

This is the stupid little logo that 1Meditation have got for themselves.

more about Lightwave

Lightwave was started by Nick and Mary Howell in Manchester. This is what someone put on my 'introduction to Lifewave' post in the comments:-

"I do know of The Lightwave Path which was set up by Nick and Mary Howell. They have established it in a way to avoid all or any pitfalls of cult. Which is great news comparing this to 70's and 80's lifewave, they have come a long way. All bullshit and nonsense or ego driven agendas is being avoided at all cost. The meditator and beginner starts and goes right into meditation in Light and Sound, Without any kind of corruption or being abused or being exploited in any way. Looking back I only wished this happened in early lifewave."

That makes it sound as if they had no contact with John Yarr. However, this is what Mark Zaretti said on one of his Youtube videos, about John Yarr:-

"And, you know, they used to say, before you go, make sure you’ve got a good question. Because I think. Because what I learned years later is, if you didn’t have a good spiritual question, he’d just talk about anything. The weather, who’s moved into the house down the road, anything, really. And it’s understandable maybe, because he was meeting lots and lots of people."

I have been reading an old site about Lifewave. This is what someone called Rachael wrote in 2003 about her partner who was in Manchester:-

"To whom it may concern

I am writing to you from the perspective of an ex-partner of somebody who was and still is on "The Path".

During the time I was involved with this person I came to loath and distrust the path, John Yarr and his adepts (mainly N. and M). These people claimed to be "Enlightened" and could bring others to a state of enlightenment. My own definition of enlightenment would be that of a person who could become detached from their ego. However, I never met such a group of people before who's egos are as big. They all have such an inflated sense of their own personalities with John's being the biggest.

I blame this group of people for the destruction of my relationship as my partner became more and more detached from his family rather than his ego. John, N and M became the only real focus of his life. The length of time spent meditating, going to discourse and "doing service" left little or no time for his own family. As the rest of the Manchester house (Jasmin House) came to feel that I was a disrupting influence on my partners meditation, the more and more he became detached from me.

I seriously doubt John's claims at being able to bring people to enlightenment as my ex partner has been a second initiate for some 10 years now!!! We separated some seven years ago now and as I said he has still not achieved "enlightenment" so surely if it was his association with me that sent out the negative energy that disabled his path to "enlightenment" why has he not been able to achieve it in this time? I myself have practised some of the meditation techniques subscribed to by this group through my own volition, and have acheived some of the states of sound and light without ever attending a mantra course or meeting the elusive Mr. Yarr (I was never allowed to meet him as they considered me a bad influence), or hand over sums of my hard earned money. This proves to me that John is offering nothing unique here and being a slave to him and the other adepts brings no advantage or advancement of spiritual awareness. In fact most of John's teachings are nothing new! They are all well worn teachings from a number of other religions or disciplines.

Over the years I have encountered many ex members of this cult ( because that what it is) and have seen and heard the damage John and his adepts have done to people and their families over the past twenty years.

How can this man be let to carry on. Adepts have always covered up for his misdoings and in the cases of child abuse I have heard them blame the children or claim that the mother was "a little bit fragile" if you understand what I mean.

I am horrified to here that Tim D. [Tim Duerden] (did he ever really qualify as a doctor) has set up another group called Meditation Unlimited and uses the testimonies of others to support his claims (especially those made by Damian, who I have always thought of as an unfortunate character).

Please keep up the good work by making people aware of the damage John and his adepts have caused over the years and still do.

Rachael."

What can we learn from the above? Firstly Rachael's ex-partner spent a lot of time with Nick Howell, Mary Howell and John Yarr. So the idea that Lightwave was separate from John Yarr is false. They didn't tell people about him, not to begin with. Secondly, Rachael's ex-partner didn't achieve enlightenment even after being a second initiate for ten years. It can't have been because of lack of devotion!

Nick and Mary Howell set up a number of websites, although it seems to be Dave Hill running them. There is also Damian Healey in America (the same Damian as above?). They do mention John Yarr but only in a historical sense, like they're saying there used to be this Master and we're recording everything he ever said. So I think if you look hard enough you will find John Yarr's book The Fullness of the Void and Arthur Naylor's book The Great Way: The Complete Map to Enlightenment.

They have done mass initiations in different places in the world. They seem to think they can send out their energies at particular times and people can pick up on it. They've got an AI system set up to answer people's questions. So you can find out what they believe or what they want people to believe that they believe.