"Wayne has left his body, passing away through the night. He always said he couldn't wait for this next adventure to begin and had no fear of dying," his family said in a post on the author’s Facebook page. "Our hearts are broken."

According to NBC News, “Dyer was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2009 but claimed to have treated it with positive thinking, daily exercise and ‘psychic surgery’ performed remotely by the Brazilian medium João Teixeira de Faria, better known as 'John of God.' "

Dyer’s career took off in 1976 with the publication of Your Erroneous Zones, which was based on the philosophies of Krishna Rau, the Siddha Yoga founder who was known as Swami Muktananda.

\His focus later shifted from self-help and became more spiritual. As he once quoted on his website: "My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits."

As NBC reports, “Dyer's philosophy mixed New Thought self-actualization theory and nondenominational spirituality — which held up Jesus as an icon of self-reliance but stood away from religious institutions themselves as stifling bureaucracies.”

He was listed as one of the 10 most spiritually influential people in the world by Mind Body Spirit magazine.

Dyer was the father of eight children and was separated from his third wife at the time of his death.