Leonard Orr
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Leonard Orr (born circa 1938) is an American spiritual leader best known for developing Rebirthing-Breathwork, a 'system' or technique of breathing that can help one to overcome the "trauma" of being born. Leonard claims to have met twelve immortal yogis, including Babaji or Herakhan Baba, the Mahavatar of the Kriya Yoga lineage brought to the West by Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. Many people within value the tool of rebirthing, yet his idea of physical immortality has not gained wide spread acceptance. He is also one of the earlier proponents of "prosperity consciousness" the idea that the state of one's mind, and beliefs about oneself are a key factor in "manifesting" more money. He also propounds an idea he calls "emotional energy pollution."
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[edit] Childhood and education
Leonard Orr was born in Walton New York. During his teen years, he became a born again Christian. When he converted to Christianity and started to read the Bible, he took Jesus' words literally "He who believes in me shall never taste death," that anyone who believed in Jesus literally would not die.
He attended seminary with plans of becoming a preacher. However, while in school, Leonard said he felt a calling to be a minister to the unchurched. Pursuing this feeling of a calling and some of his curiosity about life, Leonard soon was reading and practicing New Thought philosophy (such as Science of Mind and Ernest Holmes).
[edit] Teaching
He began teaching others that thoughts affect the outer world, and gathered a following. During this time he noticed that he was spending increasing amounts of time in the bathtub, literally staying in for hours everyday. He was having frequent flashes of memories of being in the womb or being born.
Not quite understanding what was happening, he watched this process for a few years and then offered to help other people remember their birth memories. He did this by having them relax by breathing with a snorkel in a hot-tub while floating face down.(usually supported by 2 or more people) He noticed that a certain breathing rhythm would occur, which led to the start of the Rebirthing-Breathwork technique out of water.
Throughout this time, Leonard was fascinated with the idea of not experiencing physical death- which he termed "physical immortality," and read, studied and searched for all the information that he could on the subject.
Orr held seminars about manifesting money, one of his clients was Werner Erhard.
In 1973 he ran for mayor in Los Angeles.
[edit] Emotional energy pollution
Orr believes other people's "death urge" and "unconsciousnees" can infect someone who is more spiritually pure. He claims that when he spends too much time around less conscious people, that he oftentimes feels drained, depressed and sometimes even suicidal, from having absorbed their negative energy.
[edit] Bibliography
- Breaking the Death Habit : The Science of Everlasting Life (1998) ISBN 1-883319-68-4
- Babaji: The Angel of the Lord (1995) ISBN 0-945793-18-9
- Breath Awareness: Breath Awareness for Public Schools, Medical Profession (1988) ISBN 0-945793-02-2
- Bhartriji : 2000 Year Immortal Yogi (1990) ISBN 0-945793-05-7
- Rebirthing in the New Age (1983) ISBN 0-89087-134-5
- Physical Immortality : The Science of Everlasting Life (1988) ISBN 0-945793-01-4
- Physical Immortality (1988) ISBN 0-89087-325-9
- Physical Immortality for Christians (1989) ISBN 0-620-13199-3
