TRANSFORM YOUR INNER MIND THROUGH HYPNOTHERAPY

Past Life Regression

In order to understand hypnotherapy, it is necessary to understand the underlying concepts of hypnosis.

When considering a physical, emotional or spiritual healing modality, it is important to understand its purposes as well the healing effects and limitations in its ability to move you forward in your health goals. This brief article is designed to give the reader an overview of Past Life Therapy’s basic assumptions.

A Past Life Regression is not a parlor trick and has serious implications about how we live our lives. It is deep work on the unconscious template that often dictates our reactions to situations, people we choose to partner with and our physical health and habits. With this in mind, when doing a past life regression, it is important that you work with an experienced professional who can assist you with issues that may arise following your regression.

There are very few healing modalities that can offer the physical and emotional healing and insight that can be had through past life therapy. We are, as individuals, far more than we understand ourselves to be in this present lifetime.

I believe that the numbers of previous life experiences that we have had are countless. Furthermore, my belief follows that we continue in an infinite number of future lives in order to realize who we are. As we experience, we continue to grow, change and become as we evolve into something more wonderful and wise than we can imagine. Past Life Regression is an important tool for us to understand what we (as a soul) have been becoming which assists us in moving forward on our spiritual path.

Therapist’s Point of View

While Past Life Therapists view reincarnation as a spiritual reality, this view is of secondary importance in a Past Life Regression. Primarily, the importance is the material that surfaces from the unconscious mind that is acting on the inner and outer life of the client. If, for instance, a client has discovers that she was a 'somebody' in a past life, the work around that manifestation is on that person and the healing of that aspect of the self. So, if a client has an “unlikely” past life experience, it is necessary to treat that as absolutely real in order to get the full benefits of the regression. The reason for this is simple. Whether you were 'that somebody', or whether you deeply identify with that figure, your unconscious mind has brought this aspect of you to your attention. Perhaps the client who regresses to a certain life needs to bring that energy into her life. It is possible that the client thinks about herself as “too small”, by bringing up the possibility that she may have been 'that somebody' in a past life may be a way to get the client to think about herself in a larger capacity. Finally, it may be possible that this person was 'that somebody'. In getting the most out of the regression, do not judge your experience, just go with it and see what is uncovered about yourself.

Why do a Past Life Regression?

In my practice, I have found that Past Life Regressions are particularly valuable when dealing with issues that have no “rational” cause. Many people find healing with individuals that they are in conflict with at work, in social circles and in their families. These conflicts all have the quality of “unsolvability” meaning that there is no outward cause of the conflict but rather the feeling that “there is just something about that person I don’t understand”.

I find regressions are particularly helpful in solving relationship problems with partners, parents and family members because of the tendency to continue to share life experiences with these primary people. I have also noticed that people with phobias tend to do well with Past Life Regressions. Fear of heights, fear of flying, fear of water, etc. all seem to have roots in Past Life Traumas and I have found that this modality is especially effective in these cases.

There is also remarkable evidence both in my practice and the literature that chronic somatic illnesses and even congenital illnesses and defects can be relieved and often times healed through the use of Past Life Regressions. Our bodies are a reflection of our conscious and unconscious mind. As a result, certain traumas that occur in a previous life can manifest physical symptoms in this life.

While Past Life Regressions can have impressive curative effects on somatic illnesses, it is important for such people to continue their medical care and to realize that it is important to heal the body as well as the mind and spirit.

How to Approach a Past Life Regression?

In approaching any “transpersonal therapy”, it is important to have a specific intention. While many people initially want to “just be open” to whatever they might experience, it has been my experience that we just have so much going on that an intention offers us a context in which we can consciously understand our experience.

In approaching a regression and a new client, I never know what that client is going to see or why spirit has brought them to me in the first place. An intention allows the client a framework in which to draw conclusions and gain insights into themselves. Many people are concerned that they will limit what could be obtained, my experience is that spirit never disappoints or limits us. The intention is for us, not spirit. You will experience what spirit wants you to experience. My advice then is to have an intention, then be open to the possibilities. “This or something better” is a prayer that is often said in the new thought community and a good approach to regression therapy. What kind of intentions work well? Anything that is problematic is really best. Specific questions about life circumstances, relationships, phobias or certain body issues will all bring good results. Make sure that you keep it within the realm of your everyday life and always about you only. This will also help you see how truly spiritual your everyday life is. If you stay with things that you consider problematic, you’ll be able to see how you’ve played out your problems in the past and what you’re trying to accomplish in this lifetime.

Compulsion to Repeat

The compulsion to repeat offers a clinical explanation of why we live out the unfinished business of a past life. Jung wrote, “a complex arises where we have experienced failure in life.” Roger Woolger Ph.D. expands that phrase to “in any life”. This compulsion to repeat is the method by which we finish our unfinished business for when we repeat the behavior, we have the opportunity to change the outcome, thus finishing the business.

Past life therapy offers another way in which to finish business while learning the lessons. The client, after experiencing the failure of that particular life, is able to release the repressed emotions and see the situation from the paradigm of his current life. This view allows resolution with his past situation as well as assist him in finding other solutions, alleviating or dissipating the existential problem.

Often times, clients who have anorexia or bulimia find past lives of starvation. Also, the compulsion to repeat is often expressed by the opposite behavior. I have found that many of my interests and talents come from past life experiences. My intuition in healing seem to come from some past lives as medicine women in the tribe of American Indians. Several of these lives were violent and ended in predictable and deserved death in the former and tragic, Shakespearean death in the later. Many of the drives of service began with “setting right” the past. Understanding the meaning of the lives and letting go of the repressed material has cleared the picture of the direction that I am going in this lifetime.

What if I Get in Over My Head?

This is one of the two most commonly asked questions that I hear from clients that begin working with Past Life Regression. The unconscious mind’s “prime directive” is to protect the body and the psyche from harm, so you can rest assured that you will not experience anything that you cannot handle. This is one of the “fail safe” mechanisms built into human beings. Even when it feels difficult, know that you are ready for this experience. You are much wiser than you are consciously aware of.

We see this psychic prime directive working when discussing abuse. Often times, people do not remember their abuse as a defense mechanism allowing them to cope and survive in society. When one begins to remember abusive situations, they do not “get it all at once” but remember pieces and spend years reconstructing their childhood. To remember it all at once would be devastating to the individual.

The same is true of past life experiences. My experience tells me that people have been through torture, separation, war and abandonment both as the victim and the perpetrator. To remember all of this in present time would be absolutely overwhelming. In regression therapy, the goal is to remember just a little bit at a time, process it, and remember a little bit more and release it.

Will this Work for Me?

There is some debate in the hypnosis community about who is hypnotizable and who is not. My experience is that a person who is willing to suspend what they think they know and are willing to allow themselves to sink into an altered state of consciousness are good candidates. My answer is yes provided that you’re willing to allow yourself to become deeply involved in your experience.

It’s like reading a book. While you are reading, you allow yourself to get into the flow of the action, become deeply involved with the characters in the story and often times draw pictures in your mind about what the characters might look like, their setting, perhaps what they’re feeling, etc. This is a form of hypnosis and if you can look at it that way, you will be very successful. You wouldn’t say, while reading this book, that this isn’t really happening, its just words on a page and my imagination is making it up. You become involved in the action and often get your other senses involved. This is what I find is most helpful for people doing regression work.

What Results Can I Expect?

Past Life Regression is one of the most effective psychological and transpersonal tools available and often saves many years of psychotherapy, however, nothing is a panacea and rarely does just one or two sessions solve a lifetime of problems and habits. People often notice profound changes after one or two regressions, but without continued work and follow-up, these changes tend to be short lived. Rarely does one past life hold the answer to all of our problems, nor does one regression cover all the subtleties and insights of a given life. Our past lives were lived in the same way that your present life is, with growth spurts, times of stagnation, moments of sorrow as well as joy. Dedicated and consistent effort in your healing process provides the best results. In the case of regression therapy, you will find that a series of lives around this issue. Successful lives around particular problems can be accessed to give you more resources and energy to move forward, difficult and painful lives can be brought to closure and redirected, again to give you more energy and resources to your own personal becoming.

Some latest resources:
Past Life with Dr. Brian Weiss on Oprah & Dr. Oz (May 13, 2008 & July shows)