Past Life Regression is a popular idea, based upon the concept of reincarnation, which has been around for a long time, through many cultures. Brian Weiss, an American psychiatrist, made the concept very popular in 1988 with his book Many Lives, Many Masters,based upon the psychiatric sessions he held with a client, who kept experiencing past life regression during session. Dr Weiss was able to confirm many of her recollections. On rare occasion when a client comes in for past life regression, they are faced with a blank canvas.
There are two reasons a client will choose a past life regression: to resolve a pattern or problem they experience in their life; or as a ‘reincarnation tourist’, out of curiosity. For the problem solver category of client, the interesting thing about past lives in hypnotherapy is that the accuracy of the information is not important. It is the metaphor of what is brought forward that represents the unconscious mind’s ‘logic’, and which holds valuable insight into what is going on, and how to fix it. For the reincarnation tourist, this mind block purely means that the person needs to exercise their non-thinking or creative side further, before they can gain access to the ‘other side’. As a highly trained, left-brained psychiatrist, it took Dr Weiss three months of practice before he could access his unconscious mind. He began exploring this after his life-changing encounter with Catherine, that patient who set his curiosity on fire.
What if nothing happens?
If you come for past life regression and nothing happens, it can also mean that you are not emotionally ready to explore the cause of the problem. This happened recently with John who came to see me about his depression. I led John into a state where he could access that information if he chose to, with my full support, knowing that whatever he faced as a result of ‘knocking on that door’, that I could help him through it. But he wasn’t ready. And sometimes it’s OK to leave that dark matter hidden. There is no need to uncover details of pain. What;s important is to be able to identify the emotion, rather than the details, and to follow that emotion to its origin where it can be healed. These are techniques that I use in session.
If you do come for past life regression and you are not ready to meet your actual or metaphorical history, I will guide you through a hypnosis session where we can address the issue in a different way. This is what you call Plan B. Past life regression uses the ‘dream state’ muscle, as opposed to the thinking muscle. And like any muscle, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Dr Weiss had never really explored his dream state muscle until Catherine walked into his clinic and prompted change. And like Brian, you can build that muscle.