Past Lives – Imagination or Real?

Experiencing a past life regression can have a profound impact on one’s life. It can make you aware of inner, deeper truths. It could hint at your life’s purpose. It can reveal the source of issues or patterns that negatively influence you and your decisions. Sometimes the knowledge that is made available can be life changing. No matter how successful a past life experience is, many usually have the same reaction afterwards, “Did I imagine it? Was it real?”

When researchers and medical and health practitioners began studying the therapeutic benefits of past life regression nearly 50 years ago, the majority were unwilling to declare that past lives were proof of reincarnation. The one thing they consistently believed, though, was that the positive and healing effects were undeniable.

Psychiatrist and professor Dr Raymond Moody explained his views on past life regression in his book, Coming Back (1990). Although he was in no doubt as to the health benefits of this technique, he tended toward a psychoanalytic interpretation. His research consisted of conducting more than 200 past life regressions through hypnosis over a two-year period. He remarked that he rarely came across a past life experience that did not relate to the patient’s current life. He explained this by linking the experience to the subconscious’ use of metaphor which he called the “language of the unconscious”. He writes, “Some psychologists and psychiatrists believe that the mind is creating dramas to help cope with different situations….it is a language in which problems are dealt with metaphorically rather than directly.” He also stated, “If I were too much of a scientist to believe in reincarnation, then I would also have to add that regressions are valuable because they can help people understand themselves. They can help us understand our fears, our desires, our hidden needs. They can justify us to ourselves…and certainly a way of examining our psychological roots to explore the type of person we are.”

Whether a past life regression is vivid and detailed or fragmented and vague, there are certain characteristics that would differentiate it from a consciously created scenario. First and foremost, there may be emotions that accompany the review of a past life. Clients might describe loss, loneliness and suffering or more poignantly, the awe and wonder of their past life death. They might experience fear or anger as they explore and view events. Emotion connects the person to the story.

Past life regressions, typically, exhibit as independent of conscious control. Images will pop into the mind from seemingly nowhere. There also seems to be a logical progression of events, like witnessing a movie unfold. Some sceptics say that past lives are wishful thinking and we are likely to see ourselves as Joan of Arc, Christopher Columbus or Henry VIII. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over 90% of past life travellers will see themselves as ordinary people such as farmers or peasants, soldiers or street urchins. If it were the individual’s choice, would the life viewed not be more glamourous or adventurous?

Although historical validation is perhaps difficult to obtain, there are occasions when the information revealed during a regression can be verified by investigation. Dr Ian Stevenson, one of the great researchers in this field, was able to verify and scientifically quantify facts on countless occasions, thus validating presented case studies.

Of course, the most important characteristic of all is that past life regression is often followed by improvement in the experiencer’s mental, physical or emotional state. Real or imagined, this is the one aspect that really matters.

By Elaina Curran, HPD, DSFH, AdvDPLRT, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Past Life Regression Therapist

Published in BS35 Local Magazine, February 2018 issue