In the first article in our past life regression series, we discussed the question of whether a past life memory was "real", that is could it be a historically valid recollection. We also addressed the question of the validity of past life regression (henceforth referred to as PLR) therapy as an appropriate therapeutic intervention for client's problems. I pointed out that PLR has become popularized by a number of recent books. These books have proven the value of PLR as a subject of historical research and as a sub-specialty of Hypnotherapy. As PLR is still in its infancy, therapists have only begun to explore its potential as a technology for helping people with their problems.

In order to develop a more systematic and scientific approach to PLR as a valid form of therapy, I have developed five new procedures for PLR therapy for different types of interventions. These include: healing past life trauma, discovering creative abilities from past lives, healing our karmic transgression from past lives, altering contracts with significant others from past lives, and changing the preconception contract that we made with our higher self just prior to entering this life. In the next several articles, I will address each of these procedures in detail, along with examples of their effectiveness in real client situations.

One of the best known forms of PLR is working with traumatic memories from past lives. We use this method for discovering the source in the subconscious mind of an emotional or physical problem. Or we can look at the source of a core belief in the client's subconscious mind which is limiting their success in life. Some examples could include a phobic reaction such as a fear of entering the water, not explained by any present life experience, or a pain or disease which a client was born with, or a limiting core belief that "anyone I love will always abandon me." The procedure for accessing these memories is simple, and is often quite effective whether the client believes in past lives or not. We simply use a standard induction technique combined with instructions that the subconscious mind will now take us to the source of the client's presenting problem. The hard part, which requires substantial training, is knowing what to do when the memories emerge.

An example is a client whose life-long fear of water has kept her from swimming. The instructions were simple: "Let's go into hypnosis now ... back to the time when you first became afraid of the water". While many clients will return to terrifying experiences from their current childhood, many others will, without any previous discussion of "past lives", go back to a past life memory. Frequently, the incident ended in death. If so, we simply review the circumstances of that death, the meaning that death had for the client, and what decision was made by the client after death and carried from then on. To continue my water phobia example:

the client goes back to a recent past life where she drowned in a fast-flowing river and lost her 2 young children when her boat capsized. After feeling the terrible pain of this loss (not only of her own life, but her children's!) we move forward to her death, and the decision she made at the time: "I'll never go in the water again!" We then have the opportunity to "solve" the situation using one or more of the following techniques.

With the therapists help, she can convince her past life personality (PLP) that this decision is no longer necessary, and help her PLP to change it. (She may simply vow never to travel on big, dangerous rivers again in a small boat?)

We need in some cases to allow the client to express their grief, anger, and or remorse to significant others and allow the others to respond. ("I'm sorry I took this boat and drowned you my darling children! Sob. Can you forgive me? - Pause - Yes, they forgive me. I feel such a burden lifted!")

In some cases, we can even rescue the PLP, and allow that person to live out the remainder of their lives in safety and harmony. This allows them to complete and resolve the feelings of incompleteness that often result from a sudden death. ("Now I'm seeing myself swimming to shore with my children. Now I'm seeing how happy we are in our new home on the western frontier. What a happy life...now the children are leaving home...I'm dying of old age...how complete this feels!") This client chose all of these 3 methods, and was able to swim in deep water and without fear within a few hours of her session.

In some cases, we can rescue the past life personality and bring this person forward to the present life. My favorite example is a client who was blocked by a deep but persistent fear of building a practice as a hypnotherapist. In going back to where she discovered that it was dangerous to be a healer, she returned to an extremely painful experience of being burned as a witch. First, we examined her post-death decision - "I'll never heal anyone again!" Her past life self was at first unwilling to change the decision. After all, she had once been a beloved healer in her community, before it turned against her under the influence of the Inquisition. Only when we told her about California's totally accepting culture and invited her former self to join my client in a safe new life as a hypnotherapist in California, did she brighten up, and step up to the 20th century bringing with her those healing abilities from her past. Within 3 months, she had set up a highly successful hypnosis clinic.

Within these deceptively simple procedures lie a nearly endless collection of possibilities. The easiest way for the PLR therapist to sort through these choices is simply to ask the client, "What would you like to do with this memory? How can we change this decision, or this experience that will feel right to you?"

Until recently, most PLR therapists had no training in altering either the core decisions the client made in a past life or in changing the memories from past lives. This is why many of my clients have said to me that they've seen a particular memory in a previous PLR session, but it didn't solve their problem. Now, after experiencing these methods applied to their memory, everything is different.

Copyright 2005 By David Quigley