Past Life Regression

In a past life regression, clients experience scenes from previous lifetimes. (The term is sometimes also used to designate recollection during hypnosis of episodes in a current lifetime, for example scenes from childhood. On this page I will be discussing previous lifetimes.)

Because there has been a lot of discussion in the media about this form of therapy, with critics suggesting that these experiences are hallucinations implanted by irresponsible hypnotherapists, I'd like to offer my own thoughts about this work and why I do it.

The starting point of any past life regression is some issue in the present that needs to be resolved. Using the emotional and physical feelings around that issue as a portal, the client moves under my hypnotic guidance back to a previous lifetime that is relevant. For instance, the memory of a traumatic loss experienced in a different lifetime may be at the source of a phobia or sadness in this one. There follows an exploration of the lessons drawn from that experience and a journey to heal it. Sometimes this may include a visit to an "in between" lives state, where a life review is done to make sense of what happened.

But, you may ask, is it real? Is it accurate? My answer is: past life memories may be real--or they may be simply psychologically symbolic. Some brave psychologists have done research in this field and come up with convincing arguments to support reincarnation. In a therapeutic context, it doesn't really matter. What I have seen is that such hypnotic experiences can yield huge results in clearing trauma, making peace with loss or incapacity, and furthering self-understanding. Each person must decide for her or himself whether the experience was "real."

Having had my own vivid and convincing past life experiences, I enjoy believing they are real. However, I think it's also possible that sometimes we may be recalling episodes from the past lives of other people, or that there may be some distortion or creative manipulation in the recollection of our own. For example, the memory of having been suffocated with a pillow by an older brother in another life might be a metaphor for emotional suffocation by a sibling in a current life.

In short, mystery surrounds these experiences. We need to be careful about taking them too literally. However, I fully embrace this work because it yields results and gives a sense of purpose to the soul's journey.