Timeline
1947 John Yarr born
1974 claim to enlightenment/leaves army/works for Marconi/beginning of Yarr's teaching
1975 Yarr and 4 disciples moved to Portsmouth
1978 new home in Bognor Regis
1980 name change from SOTM to Lifewave
1983 move to Slindon
1985 Tim Booth and Jim Glennie from the band James joined Lifewave with their partners
1986 end of Lifewave, Yarr moved from Slindon to Leeds
1987 meeting at hotel in Northampton where Lifewave formally dissolved
1994 three teachers sacked from Bridgewater School in Salford - followers of Yarr
2000 John Yarr arrested, court case in Chichester
History
Much of what is below here is speculation. I can't be sure of a lot of it. You might be able to help me fill in the blanks. If so then please email me. andrewmclarenlewis@gmail.com
The first disciples were Mari-Ann Barrett, Caroline Roberts, Jan and Liz. Jan was said to have attained enlightenment 6 months after being initiated and it took Liz a year. Caroline left quite soon. She never became enlightened.
The next generation of female Adepts included Carmel and Judy (Judy Lunn?). There was also Mary. And another one known only as Ms X in some documents. Carmel left John Yarr. Judy continued, I think I met her once, possibly in Manchester. Judy had been in the Divine Light Mission a long time and eventually turned against John Yarr.
It is possible that Mary was Mary Taylor Brown who then married Arthur Kelthorpe (AK).
Yarr moved to Portsmouth in 1975. Where from? Maybe Cornwall. That was where they were in the Divine Light Mission together. Mari-Ann and her sister Sally-Ann bought a house for John Yarr in Bognor in 1978. One of the four original disciples had a son called Ryan. He lived with Yarr from 6 to 16 and has rejected him. John Yarr claimed that Ryan was enlightened but Ryan rejects this.
John Yarr moved to the nice village of Slindon in Sussex in 1983. Two Adepts close to him were Simon Bowes and Dennis Simmonds. They helped him escape to Leeds when Lifewave collapsed but it didn't take long for them to abandon him.
Some people I knew decided they wanted to follow John Yarr after Lifewave stopped. Carolyn Elliott (there are various spellings of her name), Paul Taylor, Andy Angel and later Sandra Swift. Something happened to Carolyn. She might have been sectioned or she might have had aneurisms but she is no longer around. Carolyn was a friend of mine. We were at a garden centre one day and she suddenly froze and stared at someone. I think she had seen Judy and recognised her: did Carolyn see Judy as a former version of herself in John Yarr's affections?
Maureen Traynor and Sally Hill are two other names that have come up. There was another Maureen who was active in Newcastle, Leeds and Durham. Kaylene is another one who followed John Yarr in Leeds. I had not heard of her. Teresa Bianca is someone from that area. Nick Kemp, Mark Helston and Dave Hill I haven't mentioned before.
In 1994 three teachers at Bridgewater School in Salford were sacked because they were followers of John Yarr. I have been given the names of two of them. It was in the news because Eric Cantona's son was a pupil at this independent school at the time.
Dr Tim Duerden set up a website (www.meditationunlimited.org) in about 2000 which is now defunct. Then he set up another site (https://spiritualenlightenments.weebly.com/) which is still up and running. He got initiated in 1987 and enlightened in 1995. He spent time with John Yarr when he was in the Greater Manchester area. He learned how to hypnotize people.
Another website started up that was very critical of John Yarr (www.johnyarr-lifewave.co.uk). It was run by a group of people, possibly some former Adepts, who collectively called themselves Peter Allbright. It gave a lot of information about the court case, some of which I have put in this blog. They decided to stop the site but it can still be viewed using a web archive.
There was another site run by Maxine Reynolds which might be even more interesting but I have been unable to view it. If someone still knows its web address it might be found on a web archive such as the Wayback Machine.
Then there were all the offshoots. I have mentioned these on a different page. There are those who didn't abandon John Yarr in 1986 but did in 2000 when he got arrested and charged with paedophile and sadistic acts. Apparently these ones hadn't been told about the paedophile and sadistic acts. I'm not sure that I believe that.
The 2000 Court Case
People want to know my motivation for writing this blog. There are several reasons.
- I had different information and I wanted to put it in one place
- I like to see a bully get his comeuppance: John Yarr was a bully
- I want people to know what I wanted to know in the 1980s
- cults tell you what they want you to know not what you need to know
- find out what is the true nature of enlightenment
- I like to annoy people who tell me they are the only ones who can talk about a subject
Many people want to find out about spirituality. Young people especially. There are young people who go to university in a big city. If invited to a meeting about spirituality they will be interested. If invited to learn how to meditate they may take up the offer.
They will not be told about the history of the organisation. The people who teach meditation don't want them to know. They don't want to scare them off. When the people have developed a loyalty to the group they will be exploited.
In Manchester there was a group called Lightwave. They told everyone that they didn't have a guru, they just wanted people to have their special meditation without the pitfalls of a cult. I know for a fact though that people who learned to meditate with them and showed loyalty got to see John Yarr. They were an offshoot of Lifewave, one of many.
There is a website run by a follower of John Yarr. He doesn't give his name, but I know who he is. Many followers of Yarr have have said on this site how wonderful the meditation is. They talk about 'John' as their 'Master' but don't use his surname. They don't give their names, only initials, but I know who many of them are.
If they had called their master 'John Yarr' or 'Ishvara' then people could have Googled either of these names and found out that he is a dangerous cult leader. That's why they avoid it. That's why I mention John Yarr's new cult, which is called 1meditation. That's why I mention as many of the offshoots as I can by name, and the names of the people who run them.
For example there is another one someone told me about, called Meditation Gold (meditationgold.com). It is run by Francis Taylor, who also calls himself Franny Taylor. I have been finding out about him, putting bits of information together. He is the brother of Paul Taylor, also known as Julian Taylor, who I met many years ago. One of the Taylor brothers was a dedicated follower of John Yarr and assisted him in many things, one of which was to help John Yarr get off his charge of raping a 7 year old girl.
"light and sound meditation" or "inner light and sound meditation" are also searches that can be very revealing. In fact, I've just done it and turned up another one. Jens Upton, a man from Denmark, is another one. Maria and Jens were teaching meditation for the Lightwave group in Manchester in about 2000.
So, what I want is for young people or members of their families to Google what they know (names of organisations, names of people) and come to my site. If that scares them off then I will have achieved something. Hopefully they will tell other members of the group.
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| young people in Leeds with Sandra Swift in the Global Tribe cafe |
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