| To understand Past Life Therapy we must first examine what we refer to as reincarnation. Reincarnation is the belief that the purpose for our existence in the physical is to spiritually evolve so that we may eventually be re-united with the source. This source takes on many identities, depending on one’s religious or spiritual beliefs. The source represents the creator in all religions regardless of name or gender. The belief is that we spiritually evolve by living many lives and experiencing life from every aspect and perspective. The belief in Karma, the law of moral causation, of cause and effect underpins the whole concept of reincarnation. Every action we take has a consequence not just for us but for the whole world at large and for every creature that exists within the world. What these consequences are depends on whether the action taken was positive or negative. The soul strives for positive consequences based on positive actions. It is its host body that often lets the soul down and so receives negative consequences as a result of negative actions taken. The soul must work to overcome these tendencies by working with, and integrating with, each of its host bodies over many lifetimes, assisting them so that the desired outcome is eventually arrived at. |
| For a soul to eventually reach self-realisation and cease the constant rounds of life, death and rebirth into the physical, the scales of Karma must be fully balanced. This for some souls may take hundreds of lifetimes, and for others, thousands. It is down to the individual to make the most and best of each lifetime, to identify and overcome the spiritual challenges offered, whilst minimising any harmful impact to those around them and indeed the rest of humanity and all creation. This may seem like a colossal task and the constant worry for the individual as to whether he or she is doing the right thing or not appears overwhelming indeed. However, what the laws of Karma address, is not so much our acts but our intentions whilst carrying out such acts. Was our intention at the time of the act to heal or to harm? We are all architects of our own fate. We have the power within us to create our own personal heaven or hell while on earth. |
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| When we die, it is only the physical part of us, the host body, that actually dies. The soul and mind live on, returning to the spirit world for some time before deciding to return to the physical to be born again. To the soul the world is a wonderful and colourful learning ground, a school or college that it must eventually graduate from. The soul is not interested in mediocre results for when it does graduate; it will be with first class honours and nothing less. The soul brings to the new host body, the memories of all its previous incarnations. These memories remain buried deep within the subconscious but continue to have subtle and sometimes strong effects as they filter information into the conscious of our everyday world. |
| We may feel drawn to a certain location, a sudden feeling of familiarity with a certain stranger, a sense of déjà vu, a flair for a certain talent or skill, closer to some family and friends rather than others, a natural affinity with animals or children etc. However we may also have unexplained fears or phobias, chronic health conditions that defy all forms of treatment or diagnosis and even repetitive relationship issues. We generally take for granted that this is just who we are and must learn to live with it. But what if the causes of these either apparent positive or negative issues had nothing to do with who we physically are now, but have their root or origin in one of our soul’s previous incarnations or past lives? It appears that it is those events, traits, conditions, people, issues and traumas in previous lives that leave the strongest imprint on the soul and mind, and so, can either help or hinder future incarnations. |
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| Before we are born or incarnate, we, in our spirit form with the help of our guides, decide which body type, which environment, which challenges etc. will best serve us in our quest for spiritual evolution or self-realisation. We do not arrive at random into our particular family with its particular history, social class, relatives, neighbours or friends. On the contrary our individual arrival has been perfectly orchestrated and like a well cast movie or play, every person has a role to play in our story line, and likewise, we too will have a role to play in theirs. These roles and interactions can have both positive and negative impacts on our journey. It may appear to us at times that we have been either blessed or blighted by our circumstances or by the effects of the people around us. We may find ourselves in constant conflict with some (thorns in our side) or inspired and supported by the friendship and love of others. Both these positive and negative aspects are equally important in our journey to self-realisation or spiritual evolution. The pivotal issue here is how we deal with each situation. Special attention needs to be given to those conditions and people in our life that we find most challenging and difficult, for it is in these the key to our spiritual quest is most likely to be found. It is in these that we may be able to trace karmic debts that need to be paid or addressed before we can move forward on our spiritual journey. |
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| From the moment we enter this world, our internal movie director calls ‘action’. The drama starts to unfold and in our ‘lead Star’ role, we must remember our lines, our queues and also recognise our fellow actors and understand the roles they play. The difficulty in all that is expected of us is the slight issue of spirit induced amnesia at birth. If we entered this movie set allowed to hold and read from the prepared script, with no effort on our part, there would be no test and challenge in it for us. We would know all the nasty things that were going to befall us and would make every attempt to sidetrack them ducking and diving as we nervously made our way through this movie called ‘Life’. This ‘test’ has been preset by no one other than our self. No matter how hard the test may be, we have no one to blame but our self. We have actively chosen this life with all its ups and downs in order for us to overcome certain issues or very importantly to balance out any shortcomings from a previous life (karma). We have memorised and rehearsed the script several times in the spirit world. The script however, is left behind in the spirit world as we make our outward journey, and so we must struggle to remember our lines, what role we are to play in this life and most importantly why. |
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If we make a success of this movie, remember our lines, the plot - and play our role in truth and conviction, we may be rewarded by starring in an even better movie the next time round. However if we experience stage fright, forget our lines, lose track of the plot becoming wishy-washy in our role, we may need to work on these shortcomings by starting all over again. The movie and script may be different next time round. Indeed the cast of characters may be jumbled up with different roles to play but you can be assured that that challenges to overcome, will feel terribly familiar.
When it comes to reincarnation, there appears to be several boxes that need to be ticked in each lifetime. If we do not succeed in this during a particular incarnation then we will be given the opportunity to tick them again in another life. The belief is that when all these so called boxes are ticked, the master plan is complete and we achieve a state of parinirvana, self-realisation and bliss. We no longer need to incarnate and identify with the physical for we are returned to the source, the fountain of all life, the pinnacle of spiritual evolution. We have learned our lessons, overcome our shortcomings and connected with humanity in joy and love. The Karmic scales are balanced once and for all.
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| Past Life therapy works on the basis and belief that the cause of problems we face in life such as phobias, weight issues, chronic health conditions or relationship issues etc. often cannot be traced back to a event in our current life, but may have their root in a former life. The causing incident in a past life is very often connected with trauma or an unhappy experience. If it has not been resolved in the particular past life it is carried over into the next incarnation where it eventually makes its presence felt. For example, a subject has an unnatural fear of wearing a scarf or tie. They can find no reasonable explanation for this fear and have tried counselling, therapy and quite possibly hypnotherapy where they have undergone regression to childhood. By exploring Past Life Therapy they discover that in a previous life, they died as a result of hanging and so a connection and understanding is arrived at. |
| Past lives are explored in various ways but the most efficient method is by hypnosis. Hypnosis is a dissociated state involving a disconnection between the conscious and unconscious mental processes allowing the unconscious to be more aware yet still communicate with the conscious. Hypnosis works by redirecting the focus of attention away from the conscious (our everyday alert state, rational, analytical, logical, and censoring) and onto the subconscious (centre of intuition, creativity and imagination). The subconscious is home to all our memories, both forgotten and repressed. When the volume is turned down on the conscious and turned up on the subconscious, the subconscious is allowed to move forward and under careful guidance by the therapist is often quite willing to share its wisdom and memories with us. |
| It is the repressed memories, that have been too overwhelming for the conscious to assimilate in both our current and past lives that are generally responsible for any unwelcome neurosis we may experience. The repressed memories remain hidden or locked up in the subconscious and are denied recall of any sort by the conscious. Because the memory of the trauma is repressed, it is forgotten and cannot be recalled in the normal manner by the conscious. However, it is still there under lock and key, and will eventually make its presence felt by manifesting symptoms in the physical. These symptoms may be totally unrelated to the originating incident and so, no link is made. Symptoms can manifest in many ways such as a nervous twitch, sleep problems, phobias, stutters, obsessions, weight issues etc. |
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When Past Life Regression is achieved by use of hypnosis for therapeutic reasons it is referred to as Past Life Hypnotherapy or Transpersonal Hypnotherapy. Whilst in a state of hypnosis, and carefully guided by the hypnotherapist, the subject is regressed back to a former life and is actively encouraged to revisit the originating cause of their current life issues. When this happens the subject re-experiences the event and all its attending emotion, pain and hurt as if it was happening in the present. This release of emotion and energy associated with revisiting such trauma is referred to as abreaction. With abreaction comes liberation from the repressed trauma, and freedom from the neurosis or unwelcome situation in the current life. The past life root incident may be either very traumatic or barely worth noting. However, it depends on how it was perceived at the original time that determines the ripple effect it has on successive lives. What is perceived as trauma by a child may be seen only as a mere upset by an adult. Regardless of the seriousness of the incident, once it has been repressed and forbidden release by the conscious it will inevitably manifest one way or another as undesirable symptoms at some stage.
When it comes to Past Life Therapy, the hypnotherapist must keep an open mind, for what the subject is recalling, may not indeed be a past life. Besides reincarnation, there may be other explanations for such phenomena. It may be as a result of cryptomnesia, which is the ability to access information and knowledge that we have gained unconsciously in our current life, e.g. the subject has no idea how he came to know so much detail about the Chinese dynasty. On examination, it is discovered that the subject visited an ancient Chinese exhibition years earlier. Without consciously trying to, his subconscious absorbed detailed information. This information remained in his subconscious all that time without him been aware of it but under hypnosis was readily recalled.
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| Then again it may be the subject tapping into the Collective Unconscious. The Collective Unconscious concept, popularised by Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) is believed to store the memories of the evolution of man since the dawn of time and is inherited by all and can also be accessed by all. Stored here are images and archetypal symbols of our evolution which we all identify with. The past life a subject recalls may not in fact be real, but merely a confabulation of such images, and archetypal symbols. The originating cause may be too traumatic to be revisited and instead hides itself behind a metaphorical mask of symbols and archetypal figures. However, the beneficial therapeutic result is the same as that of a true past life recall. |
| Lastly, we must look at the possibility that the recalled life is been accessed from the subject's genetic memory. This again is another theory or concept on what is actually recalled in a past life regression. The belief behind genetic memory is that we leave a permanent mark of our lives in our genes that are then passed on to our descendents. So, during a regression the subject dips into the genome blueprint and recalls a life that is not their own but one of their ancestors. However, again, issues of that particular ancestor may be impacting the subject’s life, so past life therapy will be therapeutically beneficial. |
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Throughout the regression, the subject must not be given any hints or ideas as to what is happening or about to happen. The subconscious is extremely open to suggestion and can be easily directed, so if the hypnotherapist attempts to lead or second guess what the subject is experiencing, the subconscious will quickly oblige by creating a story to fit the bill and the therapeutic benefits are thus lost. The subject leads and the hypnotherapist follows, not the other way around. The hypnotherapist is there to record what the subject recalls and not to interpret it. The actual interpretation is left up to the subject as it is only he or she who will understand its true meaning. The memories being recalled belong solely to the individual and so do the realisation and insight they contain. The therapist can certainly assist, but they are not there to force their opinion or interpretation upon the subject.
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| Whilst undergoing Past Life Regression the subject can often recognise and identify people from the past life been recalled, who are also with them in their current life. Their gender and their relationship to the subject may be different, but there is an immediate realisation and recognition of their connection. This recognition usually occurs through the eyes which are well known as being the windows to the soul. We all belong to certain soul groups and have certain soul mates that we incarnate with over and over again. Like the movie discussed earlier, these roles change from life to life, but generally our soul mate stays our soul mate throughout all. However, just because it is our soul mate it does not necessarily mean that he or she will be our living partner/husband/wife etc. in each life time. Sometimes our soul mate can be our best friend, our sister or brother. There will be a strong spiritual connection and bond that lasts each lifetime. |
| However, and this is a big however, our soul mate does not always incarnate with us each lifetime. Sometimes we must travel alone on our journey. This happens for many reasons but is always deliberate. Soul mates can sometimes stunt their own spiritual growth by being too co-dependent and as a result be oblivious to the world at large around them. For those who are familiar with Life between Life Regression, which is soul recall of the spirit world, these connections continue in spirit form as well. If a soul feels that they need to experience life more independently for their spiritual growth, then they may chose to incarnate alone, leaving their soul mate behind in the spirit world. This is not to say that they will have to spend the rest of their life on their own, it just means that they may have to spend more time working on their individual self, possibly finding it difficult to meet the right person, feeling something is missing in their life yet they can’t quite put their finger on it, having high expectations of relationships and ending up disappointed and disillusioned. Maybe they need to experience loneliness in order to understand it in others, so developing deeper levels of compassion and empathy. They may end up quite happily married but happy in a different way than when matched with their soul mate. For some, they may never be happy with second best and spend their whole life in search of the soul mate they believe must be out there somewhere, cutting them self off from the prospects of happiness and companionship in the process. |
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During a past life regression, the subject is eventually brought to the moment of their death in the past life. Subjects can choose to re-experience the event or to detach them self and view it remotely. Great emotion can be experienced during this stage with feelings of sadness and regret, fear and disbelief. Also the subject may feel joy as they witness their death, realising that they are going home and will soon be reunited with those gone before or those soul friends who did not travel at the same time as them. Subjects usually experience intense peace and calm as they pass over, often glimpsing scenes of the spirit world or their spirit guides. They often describe intense tunnels of light, a strong pulling sensation, feelings of floating and always a sense of overwhelming love and harmony. As soon as the soul has detached from its physical body in the particular lifetime being recalled, the life just lived is seen in a new light as it is viewed more objectively. A greater understanding of the bigger picture is experienced.
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| Once the subject has reached the post-death stage, much progress can be made, the life just lived reviewed and insight gained into their current life situation. Connections and links are identified often with sudden flashes of enlightenment. The subject is now in a better position to objectively view any traumatic incidents, to forgive any perpetrators and to forgive their own part in the situation. Once this occurs, real healing can be achieved as the individual is freed from the repressed baggage they have been carrying around. They can let go of the past which is holding them back and move forward in their life with new understanding. This process is no different than normal psychotherapy or hypnotherapy which attempt to bring to the surface repressed traumas or issues by carefully guiding a subject to regress to childhood or an earlier time in their life in order for abreaction to occur. |
| One important lasting impression of recalling a past life is the sudden realisation of the need to positively and effectively deal with any issues arising from the current incarnation so that the need to re-experience similar challenges in a future life is minimised. There is also the realisation and understanding of being connected to everything and everyone and the need to accept personal responsibility for the life been lived and all actions taken. Subjects often find a new way of dealing with the challenges been flung at them, meeting them head on and fearlessly. A greater understanding of their spiritual self, and a stronger connection to their spirit guide, empowers the subject to no longer feel alone and enhances their awareness of ‘something other’ besides the three dimensional world they live in. |
| Acceptance of their own mortality and that of their loved ones, who may have already passed, be they young or old ensues as the subject has been given a glorious glimpse into the afterlife. They no longer fear their own passing as they now understand the cyclical nature of all things and the belief that they will be reunited with family and friends once again. Those who realise that their soul mate has not travelled with them can feel a bit low at first. However, they soon discover amazing strengths in them self when they let go of the constant external search for happiness and love from another, only to discover that true happiness comes from within. |
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| All in all, Past Life Therapy is a fascinating voyage of self-discovery whether it is sought on a therapeutic basis or from a burning desire and fascinating curiosity. We are all on our own personal journey, travelling the corridors of time and history, crossing continents and cultures, genders and social class, love and loss and of course our regular return visits to our true home, that of the Spirit World our final destination. |
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Past Life Regression 
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