Robert Steven Mandel

Dear Bob
All births are important and valuable, and yours, for sure was important!
May you celebrate with your mother and your father today in the hands of God.
My prayers are with you on this day.
Love, Caty

TRIBUTE TO BOB MANDEL, the "Soul Retriever"
BOB'S COSMIC EMBRACE
About 25 years ago I started doing some Rebirthing sessions in Portugal which proved to be very healing for me after the 4th session because in one of these sessions I healed my asthma which I had had since I was 3 years old. I had such a need to breathe that when I got home, I would do alone the Breathing I learned in my Rebirthing sessions, in addition to the weekly sessions with my breathing facilitator. In these sessions I started asking some questions about this breathing technique, and I heard several names like Leonard Orr, Sondra Ray and Bob Mandel. This last one, Bob Mandel, has never left my mind. I researched who the person was, read his website and was curious to meet him. I ended up writing an email to Bob and asked to sign up for his next seminar when he was next coming to Europe since Bob was American and lived in the United States of America. Bob Mandel answered to my message very kindly and mentioned that he was going to Italy to give a seminar entitled "Take Your Power" in a short time and that I could come. I was very excited. And I went! I arrived in Rome on a Thursday at the end of the day and on Friday I took the opportunity to go for a walk and get to know the city a little as it was close to the Vatican and the Colosseum. The seminar started on Friday late afternoon and would end on Sunday after lunch. Around 6pm on Friday I arrived at the room where everything was going to happen. In the distance, there was Bob, talking to people and getting ready to start. It was the first time I was participating in such an event like this, and it promised a lot of personal work that I was ready and willing to do. Bob spoke for about 2 hours, and it seemed like everything he said resonated within me. It was like being in the presence of someone who spoke everything I had ever felt and thought about life! My heart was filled with love and gratitude for being there! At the end of Friday's work, Bob walked around the room and talked to people again. I was still sitting in my chair when I had an overwhelming urge to go to him and thank him for his words that made so much sense and echoed in my heart so profoundly. So, I did. I got up and walked over to him. I waited for the conversation he was having with another person to end, and took my turn thanking him for those 2 hours of seminar. But I couldn't help myself! I wanted to give him a hug. I asked if I could hug him, to which he replied affirmatively. I hugged him. I wanted to hug him even more, but I didn't know him and the body-to-body contact with a stranger was causing me some resistance. Bob, who sensed my desire, said to me, "You can hug me." All my opposing ideas dissipated and I hugged him. I closed my eyes, felt myself being lifted off the ground, my heart warmed tremendously and I was suspended in a space I didn't know. It was a space of infinitely warm love and at the same time empty as if it was like a black hole. I don't remember exactly how long that moment lasted, but it was certainly some time because I still remember and feel it very clearly today. I opened my eyes, said goodbye to Bob and went to my room to sleep and continue the seminar the next day. I was still in that loving space even after I got to my room. During the night while I slept, I felt warmth throughout my body especially in my heart, which seemed to embrace the entire planet and the entire cosmos. I felt God very close to me. I dared to open my eyes at one point, and around my body, I saw many little lights coming in and out, and my heart continued to warm and grow. I cried with happiness and gratitude to God for that moment that my understanding could not grasp, but my heart did! The next day I met Bob for breakfast. I only saw and felt love around me. There were several people having breakfast with him besides me, but I ended up sitting next to him. I remember we talked a little, and other conversations took place. Hearing him talk to those people and to me, being there in that space, made my heart grow even bigger. At a certain point I had a huge desire to hold his hand, but of course I didn't say anything, because I had just met him... I held back my desire somehow, even though I wanted it so badly. Bob turned his head to me and said, "You can give me your hand." I didn't even hesitate and put my hand on his. In my body there was only room for love and more love. My heart couldn't fit inside me, I felt so big! This state of love and deep union with everything and everyone remained in me for about 1 year. At the end of the seminar, as I was saying goodbye to people, I thanked him and told him that he was a "Soul Retriever" to which he nodded his head. We laughed and said goodbye.
I began my Rebirthing training with Bob that same year and became a Rebirther facilitator and assistant at his seminars in the United States, Portugal, and Spain. About 10 years later after the first seminar in Rome, I wrote to him about the experience I had with him the first time I met him in Italy. He replied saying that he had gone through the same experience and that it had been his Cosmic Embrace. Until this day I don't really know what it was, but it's something I don't want to keep from telling, because his presence in my life was very valuable. I leave here a little of my testimony, in addition to many other incredible journeys that I had with him and all his teachings, so simple and yet so profound at the same time, that he passed on to me.
Dear Bob, I know you are still somewhere with us and that you are doing well. You made a difference in the world! I thank God for allowing us to meet for so many years. I will try to be and do what you were and did. You left a great work behind, and many people love you. You were the wisest man I have ever met. Rest in peace, my friend!

condolences from philip tarlow. i studied with bob & mallie in their islp training, became a rebirther and went on to lead lrt seminars. bob had a great spirit and a big heart. i learned a lot about myself, shed a lot of the past and, in short, my life would not be as rich today without him. have a great journey!