Psychotherapeutic basis of Past life Regression

All psycho-therapeutic problems present as symptoms of core issues. Many consciously held symptoms by the patient are often related to deeper primary issues in metaphorical ways. Each core issue has its own basic belief structure and pattern. The pattern of symptoms often found to have their origin in a series of past-life traumas and are a manifestation of the individual's unconscious attempt to resolve the underlying issues. If the patient experiences suffering it is because it has come from the friction that arises because of the discrepancy between the individual's true, prescribed path and the direction that he happens to be following at the time.

The great majority of symptoms have their origins in earlier life. The goal of past-life therapy is to bring traumatic recollections of previous experiences into conscious knowledge. Remembering anger and other emotions and releasing them has a therapeutic effect but the more important release is at the level of understanding the symbolic nature of the complex. The past life is used to guide the patient into its opposite pole, the present. As long as the past is suppressed and continues to work on an unconscious level, the patient will not succeed in living consciously in the here and now. He will continually be re-stimulated and re-tortured by past events because he has confused past with present.

In working with past-lives, the patient re-lives them as if they were real. At this level there is real pain and catharsis may ensue. For example a real execution or beheading in a past life is experienced as pain in the neck. At a second level, the symbolic or metaphorical content is explored. The pains in the neck experienced as beheading at the first level may indicate a feeling of being cut off from life. Feeling crippled and being starved for love may now be seen to be metaphors for one's current life problems.

The alleviation of symptoms is not the final goal. True healing depends on confronting the polarity behind the symptoms. By exploring the chain of symptoms the patient is continually confronted with similar situations in different lives until finally he discovers teh originating source of guilt. When the patient has identified with the opposite personalities in past lives, much is achieved therapeutically. A shadow figure becomes integrated, a split is healed and a lost part of the soul is redeemed through love and acceptance.

(Source: Winafred Blake Lucas, "Regression Therapy - a handbook for professionals).

Conditions treatable with Past-Life Regression Therapy

Woolger gave a list of conditions which responded to past life therapy in his practice. It is to be noted that one individual may have several themes and related past-life stories that will need to be worked through in a regression process.

(1) Insecurity and fear of abandonment - this is often related to past life abandoment as a child, separation during a war, being orphaned, sold to slavery, left to die in a famine, etc.
(2) Depression - Past life memories of loss of a loved, unfinished grieving, suicide, despair, massacre, etc.
(3) Phobias - Traumas in past life: death by fire, drowning, suffocation, animals, insects, natural disasters, etc.
(4) Sadomasochistic behaviour - Past life memory of torture, often with loss of consciousness, usually with sexual overtones; associated with pain, rage, hatred and a desire to revenge oneself in some way.
(5) Guilt and martyr complexes - Past life memory of having killed loved ones or directly responsible for the death of others.
(6) Material insecurity and eating disorders - Past life memory of starvation, poverty
(7) Accidents, violence, physical brutality - Repetition of old battlefield memories; unfulfilled quests for power
(8) Family struggles - Past life scores to settle with parents, children, siblings: e.g. betrayal, abuse of power
(9) Sexual difficulties - Past life memories of rape, abuse, torture.
(10) Marital difficulties - Past life experience with the same mate in a different power, class or sexual constellation, e.g. mistress, slave, prostitute, where sex roles were reversed.
(11) Chronic physical ailments - Headaches may be related to past life intolerable mental choices, ulcers to memories of terror, neckaches to hanging or strangling.

Of course, this list is far from being exhaustive.

(Source: Roger Wolger: "Other Lives, Other Selves." 1988.)

Benefits and Indications for Past Life Therapy

Regression therapy is known to be effective in putting the individual in touch with his unique self and unravelling the tangled threads of his past. It seems to be particularly useful for promoting insight, changing attitudes, removing guilt, building self-esteem and freeing the patient from stress, fear and irrational behaviour. It also helps the patient to get rid of rage that is the result of past injustices. It is of particular value in the patient who has lost his sense of self-worth or who has strong personality clashes in his relationships. It can at times alleviate symptoms such as migraine headaches, allergies, arthritis, and in fact, many stress symptoms.

It must be understood that the primary goal of regression therapy is to help the individual live more fully and realize increasingly his connection to the universe. Hence it is particularly beneficial primarily to patients who understand this goal and wish to deepen his understanding of basic life patterns so that e may participate more fully in the creative process of living.

There are however, contraindications for use. If the individual is unwilling to be honest or tends to block attempts at self-revelation, the result of the therapy will be poor. Also, if there is fear of exposure, religious conflicts, lack of readiness to assume responsibility for oneself and his actions and feelings, then past-life therapy is unlikely t work. In general past-life therapy is contraindicated for individuals who exhibit poor ego structure, unable to integrate symbolic material and create change in their lives.

How Regression Therapy differs from Psychotherapy

Past lives were originally recovered out of curiosity and interest, but accidentally it was discovered that it has therapeutic value. In the early development of the past-life regression technique therapists have found it difficult to explain how the intervention brought about changes in the patient's life. Today, our understanding of the process has progressed.

In psychotherapy, the process assists the patient in bringing his energy field into a state of harmony and balance. Past life regression differs from psychotherapy in that the former is conducted in an altered state of consciousness, or in other words, a trance state. In this altered state, the patient retrieves the experience of another personality in a different life time. It is an autonomous personality that has its own history and makes its own decisions. All the patient needs to do to watch the drama of this personality unfold, but he cannot determine what the script will be. However, since he himself is in someways part of this autonomous personality, he is often drawn into its strivings and sufferings. Simply living out a regression with its physical and emotional aspects has been noted to lead to remission of the presenting symptom or problem. Examples of problems being treated include phobias, compulsions, allergies, headaches, fears, and emotional and mental problems of all kinds, just to name a few.

The principle of past life regression therapy by which patient changes are implemented is the same as that of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. It is to make the unconscious conscious. The idea is to restore choice to the patient. However the technique does it with the patient in a trance state and involves viewing a sequence of lifetimes to bring about an understanding of problems. The process of viewing and participating in the past life story augments self-acceptance and facilitates the alleviation of the symptom.

The object of past life therapy is to unravel distortions and guide the patientto a clear perception and experiential understanding of the truth of what actually happened in a past life trauma. This brings about healing because knowing the truth leads to freedom.

Clarifying Life Purpose with Past Life Regression.

Existence and consciousness are the two basic ingredients in our life and these two basic qualities are interdependent. Our existence provides us with a location in time and space whereas our consciousness makes us aware of our existence. It is the continuation of existence and consciousness that constitutes the fundamental purpose of our life. Everything that we do as an individual is based on our ability to survive, both as a physical human during a lifetime and a spirit throughout etermity. The consciousness of our spirit, at its origin, determines and shape a personal purpose.

However, our misconceptions about our personal purpose and the reality within our personal philosophy can produce self-sabotaging behaviours. Such behaviours can perpetuate one's lifetime or many life times, and by investigating our past lives, we can gain greater clarity about our life purpose. This process can be greatly assisted through hypnotherapy techniques through a past life regression process.

Past life regression is the deliberate use of a variety of methods to retrieve memories of experiences that occurred in other life times. Memories of past lives may reveal why we have a natural talent for certain skills, such as art, music, poetry, sports, etc. Past lives can also explain relationships, hobbies, phobias, habits, etc. When we reconnect with the talents and skills we accrued in former lifetimes, we can bring the same ability, focus and knowledge into our present lives. By doing so, we can generate ideas about new directions in our lives and acquire greater confidence in using our talents. After we experience a number of past lives we often fee more connected to our greater life plan and a stronger connection to our personal values. When we look at our lives from the perspective of the evolution of our human society and history rather than in the context of our personal issues, our individual hardships appear less overwhelming and our struggles acquire greater meaning.

In essence, the pursuit of past life memories comes from the desire to put our character, personality and present-life experiences into context within the full progression of our soul. What is remarkable is the fact that during the process of re-experiencing past life events we often also experience healing and change.

History of Past Life Regression Therapy

The innovative idea of making the unconscious mind conscious about restoring choices and healing was the conceptual foundation for regression therapy. The idea came from Freud and his theory was that early childhood experience determined later behaviour. He believed that memories of early childhood could be recovered hypnotically and used for therapy. However this concept did not gain acceptance until the late 60's and early 70's.

A process of moving backwards chronologically to tap early childhood memories was developed by hypnotherapists. Soon it was realised by the therapists themselves that they could regress patients not only back to early childhood but also to uncover memories of birth and pre-natal experience. Hence it was concluded that an element capable of functioning and recording events existed in human beings, even in the absence of a physical body. Denys Kelsey, a British psychiatrist worked with Joan Grant and published their exploratory work on past lives in a book, Many Lifetimes, in 1967.

In 1978, four further books on past life regression were published: Reliving Past Lives by Helen Wambach; You have been Here Before by Edith Fiore, Past Lives Therapy by Morris Netherton, and Voices from Other Lives by Thorwald Dethlefsen. These four books had one thing in common in that they concerned themselves with symptoms and do not stress spiritual implications.

Over the next decade, a paradigm shift occurred among past-life therapists and caused a growing impulse to explore the nature of existence and the meaning of life. With this paradigm shift, the Association for Past-Life Research was born. This association gradually developed training workshops and established criteria of who should practice regression therapy. With the development of research, Woolger contributed far-reaching theoretical concepts that helped us to understand past lives and provided a structure for effective therapeutic techniques. The Journal of Regression Therapy was developed in 1986. The Psychology Dept of Colorado State University proposed a research project in 1987 on the association of post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans with past-life therapy.

In the meanwhile the focus of regression therapy was shifting. Through the 70's the objective was the remission of symptoms. This focus shifted towards the concept of the soul's journey through the 80's. It is becoming clear that where regression therapy supersedes other therapies in terms of effectiveness, it is in the more profound perspective on the meaning of life. The intense concern about whether or not past lives exist is finally winding down. Today, it is widely held that "Reincarnation is not a belief; it is a philosophy of life." (Dethlefsen).