Last Updated on September 2, 2024
What is Past-Life Regression, and Does it Work?
Past lives, rebirth, and reincarnation all have one thing in common. They embody the principle that who we are now is not who we once were. Be it physical or psychological; these concepts embrace the belief in a second chance.
Famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard gave a unique approach to this subject. He said, “life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As with most concepts, people perceive this in different ways.
Some philosophers claim that Kierkegaard was partly wrong in his analysis. They claim that it’s true that we must live life looking forward, but we must also understand it in a forward and progressive manner. In addition, it is argued that it is impossible to live life forwards while attempting to understand it backward.
As ludicrous as it may sound at first glance, it makes perfect sense to me upon closer review. In my opinion, Kierkegaard was genuinely ahead of his time. Allow me to explain. Often, in this journey called life, we would hit “insurmountable” obstacles or stumbling blocks. These obstacles cannot be tackled by perseverance or stubbornness.
We would often need to take a few steps backward to gain the necessary clarity and momentum to overcome these obstacles. Think of it as a hurdle race. If you do not take a few steps backward, you will not have the necessary momentum required to scale each hurdle.
When we consider the above, we realize that we have had to take these steps backward to scale through various challenges presented at multiple points in our lives. This could be as little as taking a break from writing to overcome writer’s block and trying another approach to a complex math problem to going to past-life regression therapy to overcome an existential crisis. These examples confirm Kierkegaard’s views that enlightenment in life can only occur when you take steps backward and re-strategize.
As much as I’d love to continue to confirm and disprove various philosophies about life, that’s not the matter at hand. Today’s topic is a peculiar form of therapy, the myth, the legend: past-life regression! Without further ado, let’s dive right in!
What is Past Life Regression?
Before we delve into the nuances of past life regression, some conceptual clarification is required. Let us review the concept of past lives. You see, the theory of past lives is hinged on the belief in reincarnation. This theory proposes that the soul or consciousness of an individual doesn’t die with the person’s body. Instead, it lives on through various lifetimes, hence the concept of past lives.
Many philosophers and therapists claim that understanding the balance of energies in your soul, as well as your past lives, will bring you closer to overcoming your fears. Renowned child psychiatrist Jim B. Tucker explains this concept exquisitely. In his words, “past life therapy operates from the idea that there is a carry-over from one life to another, and we all possess some type of consciousness entity (or in religious terms, a soul) that experiences successive lives.”
Now that we have clarified our foundational concepts, we can explore the inner workings of past life regression.
Past life regression is a form of hypnotic therapy. An individual is taken through time (using the medium of their subconscious) to their previous lives by accessing memories hidden in the medium, as mentioned above.
It builds on the premise that our lives today are so busy and noisy that it becomes difficult to take a step back and evaluate the source of our fears and other forms of distress. Past life regression offers answers to these various fears and conditions of distress in our daily lives. By providing a warm and calm environment (the polar opposite of the hustle and bustle of our daily lives), these memories are easier to locate. This, in turn, provides a therapeutic experience and an avenue to overcome your fears.
To sum it up, past life regression offers you the opportunity to:
- Partake in a stress-relieving and therapeutic experience.
- Reunite with your past life experiences.
- Have a deeper understanding of your subconscious mind.
- Recognize the fears and distresses that you have, which may have been caused by a past life.
- Explore and understand any unresolved emotions that your soul has carried across multiple lives.
- Overcome any unresolved fears and traumas by confronting them in your subconscious mind.
Now that you’ve become acclimatized with the inner workings of this unique form of hypnotherapy, we can discuss the process of past life regression therapy. By so doing, we would be able to come to terms with its benefits in overcoming any personal trauma we might possess.
The Process of Past Life Regression Therapy
On the authority of past life regression expert and certified therapist Ann Barham, most of her clients want to discover and understand their past lives to overcome any unresolved issues carried over from previous lifetimes or learn more about themselves by exploring the inner workings of the subconscious mind.
In her words, “Usually, a client comes to me because they have some issue or problem they can’t resolve, whether it’s within a relationship or an internal struggle.”
She says that from her twenty years of experience, exploring past lives helps people to “look at what has been carried forward into this lifetime, so it can be processed and released.” She opines that only through confrontation can these fears be overcome. This form of therapy is similar to exposure therapy, a proven treatment for various phobias.
The process of past life regression therapy starts with the therapist guiding you into a state of calm and relaxation, similar to hypnosis. Your therapist then prompts you to access your subconscious mind to retrieve memories of your previous lives. Barham says that this process of delving into your subconscious allows you to recognize critical details of who you were, as well as the circumstances that led you to who you currently are. By so doing, she states that you will be able to access critical places where energies have been closed off.
Upon confronting these closed paths and addressing what traits you’ve carried into your current life, she says that additional work is done to allow her clients to let go of whatever fears and distresses their subconscious may have been harboring.
The Bottom Line
Like most religious, spiritual, and gnostic disciplines, the concept of past lives, and consequently, past life regression therapy is not backed by modern-day science. Even though there have been various reports of children claiming that they have past lives and even giving information about things from a time they shouldn’t be aware of, most modern scientists opine that there still isn’t conclusive proof of the existence of past lives.
In the words of Tucker, the director of the division of perceptual studies at the University of Virginia, “Although there is evidence that some young children have memories of a life in the past, such as in the cases we’ve documented in our work at the Division of Perceptual Studies, there is very little to suggest that past-life regression typically connects with an actual life from the past.” He credits the experience patients go through in this hypnotherapy session to suggestions by the therapist and daydreams. He does, however, acknowledge that this therapy form has proven physical and psychological benefits even though he still holds his stance that this isn’t proof that a person has remembered a past life.
Even though most scientists do not believe in the existence of past lives, it will be exceedingly challenging to refute the benefits and efficacy of past life regression therapy. In the fulness of time, its merits as a therapeutic and spiritual experience cannot be overstated.
Ultimately, it is proof that we all need to take a couple of steps back before attempting to overcome some challenges in our journey of life. That, in its entirety, is worthy of praise. If you have any further reservations, please visit our FAQ section below.
FAQs
Is past life regression therapy real?
Yes, and No. You see, it is a form of therapy that has yet to be recognized by modern-day scientists. However, it is instrumental in helping people overcome fears and trauma.
Can past life regression help with phobias?
Yes. It has been proven to help people deal with any fears they might be harboring in their subconscious minds. It uses a similar approach to exposure therapy, whereby the individual is guided to confront his fears.
Is past life regression safe?
Absolutely! It is a harmless process where you get to uncover fears that may be affecting your daily life.
