Past Life Therapy: The only introduction you’ll ever need

INTRODUCTION INTO THE PAST

Do you believe you have lived before? Many people do.

Do you wonder if you might have? You are not alone.

More and more people are opening up to the intriguing prospect of having previously lived, and died. An increasing number seek aid in ‘going back to other lives’. They may simply want to explore the possibility that they have lived before, they may be looking for evidence of past lives, or they may have a more pressing reason for wanting to know what happened to them. In a recent poll, a surprising 49 per cent of people in southern Britain said they believed they might have lived before. In parts of the USA the figure is no doubt higher. In the East, almost everyone believes in reincarnation.

Reincarnation is the belief that, having inhabited a different body, in another time and possibly another place, and having then died, someone returns again to earth in a new body, in other words reincarnates. Knowledge of past lives may be accessed through spontaneous visions, flashbacks, dreams, or déjà vu; or it can be induced through hypnosis and other techniques.

A flashback is a spontaneous vision of, or a remembering of, a past-life experience. It may come out of the blue or be triggered by a place or a person, or by touching the part of the body where the memory is stored, or it may surface during meditation. Flashbacks may be experienced by more than one person, either at the same time or on different occasions. Such spontaneous memories may have started in childhood and carried through to adult life, as in the case of Jenny Cockell.

Yesterday’s children: Jenny Cockell

Throughout her childhood, Jenny Cockell had dreams and flashbacks of living in another place. She drew sketch maps of her ‘other home’. Over the years she gathered an enormous amount of material. She was convinced that she had been a mother tragically separated from her children by an early death with terrible consequences for those children. She was determined to find them again.

Though she is English in her present life, Jenny Cockell’s search led her to Ireland and to a moving reunion with ‘her children’, who by now are much older than her. Her ‘son’ said that, whilst not totally convinced about reincarnation (he had been a Catholic all his life), Jenny Cockell had knowledge about his family that only his mother could have. Events had taken place exactly as she recalled them. The house was as she had drawn it all those years ago. The family had been split up following her death, which had been traumatic.

Many celebrities believe in reincarnation. Richard Gere, Tina Turner, Shirley MacLaine and a former Chief Constable of Manchester are just a few of those who have spoken publicly about their belief. General Patton, a Second World War hero, believed he had been both Hannibal and Alexander the Great in addition to several other lesser figures on the war stage of history. Interestingly enough, Alexander himself was a great believer in reincarnation, as was Plato. The Spanish painter Salvador Dali remembered life as Saint John of the Cross. Napoleon Bonaparte was convinced that he was the reincarnation of Charlemagne, head of the Holy Roman Empire. Henry Ford and Benjamin Franklin were both firm believers.

Having lived before implies a continuity of consciousness: the continuous existence of the human soul. After all, if you have lived and died before, the implication is that you will do so again … and again. This may well explain the imperative urge to ‘prove it’ that many people have. An urge that is now being catered for by television and magazines.

Actress Paula Hamilton was hypnotically regressed to a former life as a man, Ashley Brown, for a British TV programme. When questioned, Ashley gave his name and details of his family, including an address in London. He said he had sailed to Ireland from Parkgate, a little known, long disused port near Liverpool that once handled the bulk of Irish sailings. Paula Hamilton had never heard of the place, nor, in her present life, been to Ireland. In her former incarnation, Ashley ended up as a baker in Dublin, giving details such as the name of a (now vanished but verifiable from old maps) alley in which his shop was situated and the Protestant church close by in which he was married. He died of a lung disease due to ingested flour: a common cause of death in bakers of the period.

Hypnotic regression

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness during which previously inaccessible memories are accessed. In hypnotic regression, the subject is taken back, or regressed, to another lifetime. There are other methods of regression.

A researcher employed by the programme was able to verify many of the details in this obscure person’s life, although it was not possible to actually prove Ashley’s existence as many of the relevant Irish records have been destroyed. The researcher did find someone named Brown at the London Kensington address, who could well have been a relative, but of Ashley himself there was, unfortunately, no mention.

This is one of the difficulties. It is not easy to prove beyond doubt that the apparent memories and experiences of past lives mean that reincarnation is true. But this does not stop people trying. It occupies serious researchers, sometimes for years as with Professor Ian Stevenson. There is a popular magazine devoted to past life memories, and many people have a vested interest because they believe they were historical personages. Tina Turner, for instance, believes she was the Egyptian Pharaoh, Queen Hapshepshut. Unfortunately, even if the details gained under hypnosis are confirmed, it is almost impossible to prove that a person now living was that long-dead person. There are other possible explanations, as we shall see. Notwithstanding, experiences like those of Jenny Cockell are compelling reasons to believe. Especially for the recallee. It is usually the experience itself that convinces, not the ‘evidence’. Paula Hamilton commented that what impressed her most was that, during her regression, she felt, and spoke, as a man would.

There is, however, another reason for exploring the past other than simply curiosity or a desire to prove the truth of reincarnation. This is that the key to the present can lie there. This is what past life therapy is all about. The value of past life therapy lies not in what it may prove about your former life, or lives, but in how it can enhance your present one. Past life therapists believe they can heal the past to change the present. Certainly, in my own practice, I have seen some dramatic improvements in health and well-being. Phobias dissolve, chronic diseases disappear, emotional disturbances heal, relationships improve. Nevertheless, it does not have to be dramatic, or traumatic either. Many people simply feel better able to handle their present life.

Past Life Therapy

Being guided to a time before birth in the present life, that is, into another life, to uncover and heal the causes of problems and difficulties that have arisen in the present life.

The sense of something suddenly clicking into place, of understanding the previously inexplicable, can throw light on many of our day-to-day feelings. A woman regressed to being a much loved only child. A real ‘daddy’s girl’. She was given a pony for her birthday and was ecstatically happy. She leapt onto the pony, which bolted. She was thrown and killed. Asked what connection this had with her present life, she replied that whenever she was happy she would start to worry. There was always a vague sense of dread. She associated being happy with fear and loss. Being killed in a moment of supreme happiness in that other life made sense of her fear.

In a similar way, another woman wanted to know why she had always felt so responsible for her sister and had a compulsion to rush to her side whenever she was unwell. As a young child, this had caused her great anguish when she was sent away to school on the other side of the world. As an adult of mature years, it created many inconvenient situations, continually disrupting her life. In the regression, she was a happy healthy child, with an invalid sister. It was her duty to stay with her sister, she was told, whenever she wanted to go out to play. Indeed, her sister would beg: “Don’t leave me, promise me you will always be here.” She was, not just in that life but in the present one too. Recognizing that fact allowed her to detach from the old, no longer applicable, promise.

The result of such an experience may not always be dramatic, but it can be. It may not always have physical repercussions, but it often does. The effect of a past life can be emotionally crippling. It may also explain a great deal about present life relationships.

My first solo regression was instigated by someone saying to a friend of mine: “I see you dressed as a nun.” His method of regressing people was to ‘tune in’ to their past lives himself, and tell them what he saw. The person was then supposed to join in. It triggered a ‘flashback’ in her, but one she strenuously tried to block out. She immediately began to shake her head emphatically and to make a most distressed noise. Tears poured down her cheeks. As the ‘regressor’ was not looking at her, he did not at first notice what was happening. When he did, he simply said: “Oh, don’t want to do it? Ok, I’ll go” and did, leaving me with a woman still deeply distressed and violently shaking her head. The noise had risen to a crescendo and she was wringing her hands. Clearly something had to be done.

I took her through a difficult incarnation as a nun, one with no physical comfort at all and little spiritual sustenance. She had, apparently, been put into the convent to stop her marrying her great love, and she missed him every moment of her life. To her, love was something set aside and sacred. It had nothing to do with physical life. The regression was graphic: she had body lice and scratched at them continuously. Her clothes were heavy and uncomfortable and she pulled fitfully at them. Her hands and knees were raw from kneeling and scrubbing floors. On the rare occasion she took a bath, it was in cold water in her linen shift. She never saw herself naked. The body was anathema. Her hair had been hacked off by the mistress of the novices, and her scalp never healed properly. Interestingly enough, she commented: “And she bloody well did it in this life too.” I had to return to that comment later as I felt it had great bearing on her life now.

The only way out of that life was to take her forward through death, but she was still wearing the robes in the between life state. She took them off and burnt them. She pictured having a bath to clear the lice and fleas. We grew her hair and used lotions on her skin. She dressed herself in silken clothes. Eventually she burnt the convent down, but she kept the chapel as she had found what little sustenance and comfort she had there. All the time her language grew stronger and bluer and she was not a person who ever swore. Indeed, in her present life she prided herself on never having lost control of herself, “in anger or in passion.” Burning down the convent seemed to be a release for great feeling, of deep anger that had lain beneath the surface all through her present life.

I asked her about the ‘she did it in this life too’ comment. She explained that, as a 15 year old, she had gone out with a boy against her mother’s wishes. Her enraged mother hacked off her waist-length blonde hair with shears, cutting into her scalp as she did so. Her mother, whom she hated in her present life, had been the mistress of novices in that past life. Her great love then was her great love now. But she had not married him. Her mother had broken up the relationship. However, they had continued to see each other every week for over forty years as they were “deeply in love”. The dichotomy between ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ love was strong in her. Her distaste for the body and ‘things of the flesh’ all too apparent. She had married someone merely to have children. When she had a child, the sex stopped and eventually the marriage broke down. She had never had sexual intercourse with the man she ‘loved’. She said she did not know what it was to ‘make love’. Her emotional life was frozen back in that previous life. Her difficult relationship with her mother certainly seemed to be a reflection of just how much she had hated that mistress of the novices. These were just some of the many correlations between that life and the present. Much reframing and releasing needed to be done.

The Between Life State

A state of non-physical being to which souls pass after death. It may be a bright light, a place, a colour or energy. Cultural and religious expectations influence the experience. People see what they expect to see: heaven, hell, paradise, Valhalla, or whatever. Conscious awareness and memory is retained and expanded here and an overview of all lives is possible: forwards or backwards. In some levels of the between life state, the soul may appear to be housed within a body, while in others it is non-corporeal. Healing and reframing can easily be carried out here and the effect carried forward into the present life.

Reframing

To reframe a past life experience involves changing the ‘life script’. It may entail a change of scenario, replaying it with a different outcome. It may need to be seen from a different perspective. Changing the past in this way changes the present life experience.

That that ‘regression’ was precipitated by someone else and not carried through illustrates one of the pitfalls. Not everyone is prepared, or able, to deal with something that traumatic. They may activate it but not know how to handle it. I was fortunate in that I, as well as having a natural affinity with the work, had been in training with an expert who had over forty year’s experience, and so I was able to pick up the pieces.

But!! It is difficult to ensure that all past life therapists are knowledgeable, experienced and properly trained. There are some gifted amateurs who simply fell into the work and found it came naturally, as I did. But most of us supplement that natural ability with other training. Many therapists come into past life therapy via other disciplines such as psychotherapy or hypnosis. But even then, extensive experience in the specific work of past life therapy is essential if the therapist is to be able to deal with everything that arises. Some hypnotherapists do not believe in past lives, and if they trigger one, they will not work with it.

There are several approaches. Techniques differ. The number of sessions required will vary. The approach you seek will depend on whether you simply want to explore other lives, or to deal with deep-seated problems. Some therapists merely re-run the past life. Others work at reframing and healing the root cause, utilizing a variety of therapeutic options. Which one will suit you depends on your reasons for seeking therapy in the first place.

Whatever your reason, prospective users of past life therapy should seek knowledgeable guidance and a reputable therapist. Personal recommendation is always a good start, but the right therapist for you is still very much an individual matter. Do not be afraid to ask questions before you book a session, or to go for an exploratory chat before a regression. You need to feel safe and well cared for by an experienced and empathetic professional. Such people do exist. This book will show you what to look out for, and your life may well change for the better as a result of meeting such a person.

1 WHAT IS PAST LIFE THERAPY?

Past life therapy is an holistic therapy, that is to say it works on the body, mind, emotions and spirit. It takes you back to before your birth, regresses you to another lifetime, to sort out difficulties you may be experiencing in the present. The reason for undertaking past life therapy is to improve your life, now. Its object is to make life easier, better and more fulfilling, in this present moment.

Regression

To re-experience or relive a former life as though it were happening now.

Past life therapy is based on the principle of cause and effect (also known as karma). What has been set in motion at some time in the past creates an effect on a person’s physical, emotional, mental or spiritual well-being, now. This cause may be a desire, thought, feeling, emotion, vow, promise, decision, evasion or traumatic experience, amongst others. Very often, at a moment of trauma, a section of our consciousness (part of our overall self) detaches itself and remains ‘stuck’. Past life causes may manifest in the present as a phobia, chronic illness or body state, addiction, mental disorder, inability to make relationships, inexplicable attraction or aversion to someone, recurring nightmares, or a simple sense of unease.

Karma

Karma means action. It is the principle of cause and effect. Taken simply it means that for every action there is a consequence. What has been put into motion in the past has effects in the present. Karma is, however, both subtle and complex. Thoughts and attitudes can create karma just as strongly as can tangible deeds and events. What we set in motion now, and our motivation, will influence our future. Karma is also the conditions our soul needs in order to grow spiritually, it is what we create for ourselves. Karma operates at different levels: personal, group/family/racial, collective and cosmic.

The other side of the coin is that particular skills, interests, likings, or for that matter passions in this life may well also be the result of past life experiences. Knowledge of these may help someone to handle their present life better, or point the way to an appropriate career choice, hobbies, etc.

So, as well as clearing blockages and old dis-ease, past life therapy can be used to trace relationship patterns and old connections, to reconnect to the purpose of incarnating, and to previous knowledge and skills. It can also look forward to ‘future lives’: what is still to come.

WHAT CAN IT DO?

Past life therapy can be helpful in many different areas: phobias, irrational fears, health problems; removing fear of death; understanding eating disorders, family dysfunction, addictions, sexual difficulties, marital and relationship problems. It defuses negative patterns, finding the reasons for present life difficulties, and setting positive change in motion.

It can change your life dramatically, eliminating guilt and anxiety. It will help you to develop your potential, unlock latent talents, create better understanding of others, reveal your life purpose and reason for incarnating, and initiate new patterns of response, not reaction. By rewriting your life script, you can remove outworn emotional and doctrinal conditioning, and attune to an inner source of knowledge. Past life therapy creates a sense of knowing and accepting your whole self as an immortal spiritual being on a human journey.

Lifescript

A lifescript is made up of all the ‘oughts and shoulds’, the ‘I musts’ and the conditioned responses and expectations arising from the past – whenever that past was. It is the sum total of all our karmic experience and it includes our lessons and intentions for the present life. If we follow a lifescript unconsciously, we rerun all the old patterns. Changing our lifescript can bring about profound healing at all levels of our life.

Past life therapy teaches us that the conditions we encounter in our present life are not simply a punishment for ‘bad karma’ – our misdeeds in a former life. Nevertheless, it may well pinpoint where we are inflicting misery on ourselves as a way of ‘shriving our guilt’ from the past. It shows us that, as spiritual beings, we are part of a lives-long learning process. We may need to experience what we construe, from the limited perspective of our present earthly life, as an ‘awful life’ in order to balance out other experiences, or to round out our compassion and empathy for other people. It shows us the long, intricate strands of our relationships weaving their way through many roles and interactions over dozens of lifetimes. It can also teach us that the people we think hate us most, in fact love us enough to put us through hell. Not because we deserve it, or as a punishment, but because we have chosen to learn that particular lesson, to have that necessary experience.

The regression techniques used to reach the past life cause can include hypnosis, deep meditation, guided imagery, shamanic journeys, massage and bodywork. All entail a change of consciousness, a moving out of ordinary, everyday awareness. This enables ‘time travel’ to take place, a moving back in time to re-experience the incident. By reframing this incident, if necessary, healing takes place. For convenience, in order to make sense of our experiences, these other lives are called past lives, although time is by no means linear nor chronological. However, by ‘going back into the past’, we can change our present life.

Blockages

A point where we are stuck in the past. Blockages may be physical and bodily-based, emotional, mental or spiritual. An ingrained attitude such as ‘poor me’ (victim mentality) is a blockage as it impedes well-being. An old scar or wound, invisible though it may be in the present life, may block the free flow of energy through the body creating a state of disease or illness.

LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Our ‘personal consciousness’, or self awareness has several levels, or sub-strata, some of which incorporate ‘universal consciousness’ and connect us with everything around us – and all that has gone before.

Besides our everyday, ordinary awareness, we have a hidden consciousness of which we are only dimly aware. This is the subconscious, the repository of all our experiences, memories, dreams, hopes and expectations. The subconscious mind motivates much of our experience in life, without us being aware of it. We repeat patterns, live out ingrained expectations, follow its dictates. Much of the contents of our subconscious mind are the direct opposite of what we consciously think. By accessing the subconscious we can change our behaviour and heal our dis-ease.