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Have you ever heard someone say something along the lines of “in my next life, I want to come back as a cat (or a sloth, or insert another animal here)”?
The notion of reincarnation and past lives gets thrown around a lot, particularly in the spiritual social media sphere, but do you really know what any of it means?
Are you curious about your past lives, who or what you might have been, or how it might even have some bearing on your current life?
In this article, we are going to explore all things Past Life Regression, where the concept came from, what the evidence says, and some of the benefits to discovering your past lives in this way.
Before we dive in, here is my little disclaimer. I would never claim to be an expert on the scientific research that has been done. Yet, as a hypnotherapist who has carried out many Past Life Regression sessions, I am here to share my own personal perspective, alongside the evidence I’ve found, to help you make your own opinions too.
What is Past Life Regression (and Why Does it Matter)?
Past Life Regression (PLR for short) is a method of hypnotherapy which takes you on an inner healing journey, into a story through time. Your subconscious mind reveals the story (or multiple stories) of another life – one of which may have been a past life that your soul has experienced before. When in this deeply relaxed state, your mind can easily access these internal stories and create a parable from it.
I use the term ‘parable’ because it’s Google definition most accurately describes a Past Life experience; “a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson”. Often, we are taken to an experience in our mind because it is something that our subconscious wants to draw our attention to. It wants us to be aware of this story so that we can extract meaning and learn from it.
Many stories that are experienced during a Past Life Regression arise because they are a significant event, one which may still have relevance in our current life. Often, we may be taken to a particular event or ‘memory’ where there are unresolved emotions, that have yet to be healed. This can include feelings of hurt, sadness, loss, guilt, fear and so on. However, it is also possible that you may uncover memories of a neutral or even more positive nature, like a client of mine has written in his review here. You can uncover so many aspects from a past life, such as who you were, what time period it was, important places and people too.
The possibilities really are endless, and unique to your own experience.
Naturally, these emotions and scenes of a previous life may be challenging to witness, however it is important to note that you are safe at all times. Your PLR hypnotherapist will be guiding you every step of the way, and you are free to remove yourself and return to your safe place at any moment. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable enough to openly explore this new dimension.
Although each client will have their own intentions for wanting to explore their past lives, one of the most common reasons I hear is to look for answers to current life questions. Sometimes there are things that we cannot seem to make sense of, or find a resolve to. Exploring a past life can help to shed light on the finer details of what your soul may have experienced, what connections it may have to your present day troubles, and how you can integrate it altogether going forward.
The History of Past Life Regression
Past Life Regression is heavily rooted in the concept of reincarnation – the principle that we all have a non-physical component, such as a soul, spirit or consciousness, which transcends the death of a physical body, and enters a new life after death.
By virtue of this belief, our non-physical soul therefore lives through many different lives throughout time, learning spiritual lessons that we can use to evolve and grow.
Many different religions, philosophies and cultures believe in some form of reincarnation, including the major religions of Indian origin, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Although this is a common theme in these religions, they all have their own unique spin on it. However, the belief in reincarnation is not limited to only religious beliefs!
There is evidence of discussion around reincarnation that goes even further back to the ancient Greeks – where Plato had recalled accounts of life after death and reincarnation too (what they called metempsychosis).
Nobody is really sure where it came from originally, but it is likely that these ancient Indian and ancient Greek theologies are what started it all off. Since then, it has become more popular amongst the Western world too, particularly with references in modern culture books, films, music and games.
There are many who believe in the concept of reincarnation, multiple lives or another life after death, without belonging to a particular culture or religion that teaches it. I always reaffirm that you do not have to be religious, in order to be spiritual.
Reincarnation ties in strongly with Past Life Regression – to be taken into a past life, it relies on your own personal belief, that you have actually experienced another life before this one. Again, you may not have specific religious or set beliefs, but are open-minded to the possibility of experiencing another life.
Besides PLR, there are different ways of accessing potential past lives, including through meditation and spiritual readings with a medium.
Past Life Regression as we know it today became famous with the case of Bridey Murphy in 1952. An American woman named Virginia Tighe had undergone a hypnotic regression, in which the hypnotist Morey Bernstein attempted to take her beyond her current life birth. Virginia began speaking in an Irish accent, telling the story of Bridey Murphy, a young woman from Cork, Ireland in the 1800s. She recalled many details, including the place that she lived, her family’s names, the church she attended, and how she died. All of these specific details were verified by records. The story became a book, which was truly sensationalised and referenced many times in songs and films too.
You can read more about the case of Bridey Murphy here: https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/bridey-murphy
This leads us swiftly onto our next section as we discuss the potential evidence and reasons for or against the existence of past lives. And you will also see why “evidence” doesn’t always matter, when it comes to your personal experiences.
What is the evidence?
Naturally, due to the nature of what we are looking at, it is very difficult to put people’s individual experiences into a scientific formula that produces ‘evidence’. Yet despite it being difficult, that doesn’t make it impossible to research.
My aim with this article is to provide you with a balanced overview of what evidence has been published – but I really encourage you to do your own research too, and form your own beliefs about Past Life Regression and reincarnation etc.
So let’s start with Ian Stevenson. As one of the biggest names in this scientific field, Stevenson was a psychologist who widely studied and pioneered research into the idea of reincarnation and past lives. He did this by primarily studying cases of young children (approximately aged 2 to 5), who would recall details of other lives and stories that were far from their own current reality. He sought to prove (or disprove) the children’s claims by looking for historical, real-life evidence in relation to it. With Stevenson’s scientific mind, he also explored every possible explanation alongside the potential possibility of past lives, to ensure that his work was authentic and sincere.
In some cases, Stevenson managed to verify the children’s claims through the relatives of deceased that they claimed to be.
The work of Stevenson has since been taken over by Jim B. Tucker, who has continued to study children with past-life memories. One of Tucker’s most famous cases is that of a young boy from Oklahoma named Ryan Hammons – who had made 55 statements about his previous life (as a Hollywood actor, dancer and talent agent named Marty Martyn), that were later verified. This included identifying photos of people and places, as well as actually recognising those places in person too. In addition, Ryan had recalled experiences from being in his mother’s womb, before he entered this life, which she had also confirmed as true.
Although he had also made some claims which were untrue or unverified, those 55 verified claims from a four-year-old boy, about his previous life in the early 1900s, cannot be ignored.
You can read more about Ryan Hammond’s story here:
Jim Tucker has estimated that there are approximately 2200 cases in his database, and more cases arising all the time.
As with everything in life, there are always (at least) two sides to every coin. Naturally, there are critics of such evidence and those who will say that accounts of past lives are hoaxes, false memories (misattribution) or even pure imagination. This is often said for children, who can have very creative minds, or pick up on stories from the people around them. Many sceptics, such as Carl Sagan and Paul Edwards, have stated that the evidence for past lives and reincarnation simply is not strong enough to be taken as true confirmation. Ultimately, for something such as this to be scientifically proven, it would require cold, hard, evidence, and removing any subjectivity (individual feeling/opinion/perspective) from the picture. As I mentioned earlier, this is very difficult (if not impossible) to do.
However, Stevenson made no claim that he had proved the existence of reincarnation or past lives. He simply showed that there are lots of cases that provide evidence, to show that it could be a possibility.
Similarly, Tucker has also said that they are still trying to work out what all of this evidence could mean. Yet it shows that there is indeed evidence worth researching.
In the same vein, I believe that it is all about your own perspective, and being open minded enough to consider that there may be a variety of different possibilities.
We don’t always have to see everything with our own two eyes to be able to believe. That is what faith is all about.
So… Is it real?
The subconscious mind is far more powerful than we can be consciously aware of, and it really does work in mysterious ways… Ways that we cannot always fully understand. It often provides us with stories and metaphors, so that we might get our head around things a little easier. Therefore we cannot be sure whether our own mind is creating these internal stories from other recalled aspects of our lives – possibly books, television, movies etc.
One of Stevenson’s theories is that recalled past lives could be a construction of repressed current life memories, in order to deliver them to the conscious mind, possibly in a more ‘palatable’ way. Perhaps there is a relevant life lesson that we could learn, yet our unconscious mind delivers it as a past life narrative, in order to help us gain a new perspective. Some believe that Past Life Regression is just that – your mind creating a little story for you to engage with.
But I say, so what if it is?
Ultimately, I don’t believe that it matters whether we can prove it or not, or if it is “real”. The beauty of hypnotherapy is that the story is relevant for you, the person who is experiencing it. Nobody else has to understand it.
With every Past Life Regression experience, there is an opportunity for new learning, insight and perspectives to be gained. You don’t have to believe that it really was your soul in a past life, to be able to access that knowledge. You may simply choose to engage with the experience in a way that feels authentic to you, having the curiosity and open-mindedness to explore it.
Alternatively, you may believe that the Past Life Regression really is an experience from another life in your soul’s journey, of which you can further research in this present life. Maybe you could even recall and corroborate the specific details of your past life, just like the case of Ryan Hammonds. You might draw connections from that story to your own life, perhaps explaining the origin of a particular fear or phobia that you suffer with.
Either way, whatever your individual stance may be, we will never know for sure whether the existence of past lives, or our experience of a Past Life Regression, is real or not. All that matters is that you can gain the relevant knowledge and take your own unique meanings from it.
Final thoughts
In summary, Past Life Regression is a form of hypnotherapy where you experience an internal story from another time, which may represent a past life of yours.
Although it relies on the belief in reincarnation (that we have a soul who experiences many different lives over time), you do not need to be religious or a strict believer, to be able to have a past life regression.
There are many different pieces of research into the existence of past lives, yet there is no evidence that can conclusively say whether it is real or not. The most important thing is not whether past lives or reincarnation is ‘real’ – but that the story matters to you, and that you can draw personal meaning from it.
I think that is part of what I love so much about this enormous mystery that we call life. We don’t have to have it all figured out, or know all of the answers. We can concede to the fact that it is just a mystery, and still enjoy exploring with curiosity.
Conclusion
As ever, any topic such as this requires open-mindedness and willing to explore new possibilities. If you have read this far, I hope that this has gently cracked open your understanding of all things past lives and reincarnation. Even if you still aren’t fully convinced, but you are now a just little more intrigued, then I have done my job!
If you are interested in having a Past Life Regression experience of your own, I offer a 2 hour session, where we can really dive deep and explore multiple lives (including the life between lives). You can contact me here to book a free 30 minute consultation call and ask any further questions that you may have!
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