Past Life Regressions: Fact or Fiction?
Is past life hypnosis real? We all want to believe there’s more to life than just the here and now. But believing in reincarnation doesn’t make it true, just as belief in anything doesn’t mean it will come to pass in reality. So what evidence is there that reincarnation exists, and that you have been here before? Past life regression (PLR) offers insight into experiences shared by a multitude of people over the years. Read this and decide for yourself whether it’s fact or fiction:
Catherine and Her 86 Lifetimes
Dr. Brian Weiss is a psychiatrist and former chair of the psychiatry department at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami and he used to be a complete skeptic about reincarnation. He treated Catherine, a female patient, with regular psychiatric protocols for a year without success. Eventually he tried hypnosis, which he had used successfully on prior occasions.
To Dr. Weiss’ amazement Catherine began talking about previous lives, claiming to have lived 86 times before and giving details of times and places in history that he later researched to verify the facts. He was even more surprised when Catherine revealed information about his own father, and a son who had died many years earlier at birth. As a complete stranger to his family she could not possibly have knowledge of either one.
James the WWII Fighter Pilot
The parents of toddler James Leininger were horrified when at the age of 2 years he began having dreams of being trapped in a fiery cockpit, unable to get out. Equally disturbing were the images he drew over the next few years, depicting airplanes flying in formation and dropping bombs. When they investigated, they discovered a young fighter pilot named James Huston had died in the fiery cockpit when his plane was shelled during WWII.
On meeting with former colleagues of Huston’s they found young James Leininger able to recognize some of the deceased pilot's former colleagues by name without having ever met or heard about them before. He also knew the name of the aircraft carrier on which James Huston was stationed, and exactly where the plane had gone down as well as the fact that it was the work of the Japanese fighters.
The Work of Dr. Ian Stevenson
Dr. Ian Stevenson was a Canadian-born psychiatrist who spent 50 years with the University of Virginia Medical School in various roles. He interviewed people and wrote about cases that were difficult to explain by any theory other than reincarnation, although he conducted rigorous scientific analysis of each case to try and verify the claims. He writes about cases where young children exhibit xenoglossy, which is the ability to fluently speak a language they have never had exposure to. I'll be blogging more about PLR in the future, so follow my posts if you're intrigued by the topic.
My Personal PLR Experience
When I first heard of past lives as a teenager, I was also a skeptic and didn't believe. Then in 2004 I studied and became a certified hypnotist, and when my school was offering the Past Life Regression certificate program there was a part of me that was very curious. I took the program with an open mind, not sure what to believe. In class I experienced four past lives through our training. I couldn't believe how real everything felt, and the experience made me a believer 100%. I knew I couldn't "make up" the feelings, the events and the situations that I was seeing. I was a women burned at stake because the people thought I was a witch for practicing healing arts. I was an indigenous men who died with an arrow to my shoulder blade, where I had chronic pain for years but this session cured it!
How it Works
Everyone experiences PLR differently: some feel it, some see it like watching a movie. Others get impressions, or things just pop in and out while you are being guided by the questions. Whatever way you perceive the information is perfectly ok, just trust the process and go with the flow. I used to be a skeptic until I was able to experience it for myself, I healed many fears, and received more awareness of my lessons in each lifetime. What I discovered made me feel wiser and gave me more awareness of my current life path.
Benefits of PLR
PLR can be very healing, and it's known to help release fears. It can also be very educational to receive your lessons from your past lives. It can be rewarding, letting you know who you were and what you did before, and it can be entertaining - like watching a movie where you are the main character. Whatever the reason for your session, whether to help with letting go of unexplained pain or fears, for your own curiosity, or just for the fun, check it out one day. Hypnosis is a common method of regressing to memories of past lives, and as I explained in a previous post you’re in complete control at all times. Send me a call if you’re interested in trying past life regression through hypnosis.
