If you haven’t read part I of this 3 part series, here it is.
HOW PAST LIFE THERAPY WORKS
Most of us have had the experience of meeting someone for the first time, and immediately feeling “as if we’d known each other forever.” Others of us have, upon visiting a new place, immediately felt certain that we had been there before. Instances like these may be examples of re-encounters with people and places from prior lifetimes. In this construct, we carry forward experiences, attitudes, and relationship dynamics from prior lives into our current lifetimes without knowing it. Often this is helpful, when we easily can master numbers, or a new skill, as if we already knew it. Other times, it is believed that traumatic experiences, such as violent death; relationships left unhealed or negative attitudes may be carried forward from a past lifetime, and can negatively impact our current life. Regression therapy has traditionally been used to resolve experiences from the past that are blocking our progress and happiness now. (Today we apply this therapeutic tool to carry forward strengths and positive experiences.)
These past traumas can impact our current lifetime without our being aware of it. When we react to people, situations or repetitive problems in ways that seem counter-productive, PLR theory holds that this problem may be rooted in dynamics set up in prior personalities/lifetimes. We regress clients (meaning we go or move backward) to the time and place where the original activating event occurred. This can be achieved through hypnosis, guided imagery, or other states of deep relaxation where memories that are normally unconscious can be accessed. Similar techniques can be used to access early childhood memories from the current lifetime that may be underlying present-day problems and issues. By bringing these memories into conscious awareness, we can release or diffuse the emotional blockages that keep us stuck. Typically, the hypnotist guides the client through the significant events of the lifetime, through the death experience, and then a “life review.” This is where the purpose of that lifetime, the lessons learned, and decisions made are examined from a higher, spiritual perspective. We may look at what is most important about that prior life in terms of the client’s current personality and situation. Re-experiencing the key events of a past life and reprocessing the impact helps to bring closure to the events of that lifetime. This enables us to move forward more freely in the present.
In this context, the process is similar to conventional therapy: we trace issues to their origin, reprocess the experience, emotions, and decisions made, and find completion. Past life regression work merely extends the time frame further into the past for the deeper origins of issues. Even if one believes these “memories” are not true past life experiences, they function as symbolic stories and are equally as effective in resolving current issues. Once considered a gimmick, regression work is now gaining acceptance as a useful therapeutic tool. It can bring up information in just one or perhaps several sessions that might otherwise take months of counseling to address. It also can be useful for those who would not otherwise use therapy, but who wish to expand their current experience, and perhaps draw upon inner wisdom, in order to re-evaluate how to move forward in their life in a way that embodies both meaning and joy.
The third part of this series we explore where these memories may come from, among other relevant issues. Stay tuned!
Dan at Blue Phoenix Wellness