Past Life Regression
Curious about a Past life?
Want to travel through time?
Want to experience being someone else?
Feel something in your past life is blocking you today?
Don't know what to think about the past life theory?
Past Life Regression Hypnotherapy is a very
mysterious Hypnotherapy Technique as it will bring with it all sorts
of answers a man could be a woman in a past life or a woman could be a
man, they could go back hundreds of years, they could be somebody famous, or
from a different country, the possibilities are endless
Past life
regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners
believe are memories of past lives or incarnations, though others regard them as
fantasies or delusions. Past life regression is typically undertaken either in
pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most
advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation, though religious
traditions that incorporate reincarnation generally do not include the idea of
repressed memories of past lives.
The
technique used during past life regression involves the subject answering a
series of questions while hypnotized to reveal identity and events of alleged
past lives, a method similar to that used in recovered memory therapy and one
that similarly misrepresents memory as a faithful recording of previous events
rather than a constructed set of recollections. The use of hypnosis and
suggestive questions makes the subject particularly likely to hold distorted or
false memories. The source of the memories is more likely cryptomnesia and
confabulations that combine experiences, knowledge, imagination and suggestion
or guidance from the hypnotist than recall of a previous existence. Once
created, the memories are indistinguishable from memories based on events that
occurred during the subject's life. Memories reported during past life
regression have been investigated, and revealed historical inaccuracies that are
easily explained through a basic knowledge of history, elements of popular
culture or books that discuss historical events. Experiments with subjects
undergoing past life regression indicate that a belief in reincarnation and
suggestions by the hypnotist are the two most important factors regarding the
contents of memories reported.
History
Mythology
In ancient
Indian literature,
the Upanishads
mention past-life regression,
but the Yoga Sutras of Pat Anjali discuss the concept in greater detail. Writing during the 2nd
century BC, the Hindu
scholar Pat Anjali discussed
the idea of the soul
becoming burdened with an accumulation of impressions as part of the
karma from previous
lives. Pat Anjali
called the process of past-life regression prati-prasav (literally "reverse birthing"), and saw
it as addressing current problems through memories of past lives. Some types of
yoga continue to
use prati-prasav as a
practice.
In the
religious mythology of
China the deity
Meng Po, also known as
the "Lady of Forgetfullness", prevents souls from remembering their past lives:
she gives them a bittersweet drink that erases all memories before they climb
the wheel of reincarnation.
In the
modern era, it was the works of Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, which brought it a new found popularity,
especially in the West. French educator Allan Kardec also researched into past life regression
in The Spirits Book and
Heaven and Hell. Past
life regression therapy has been developed since the 1950s by psychologists,
psychiatrists and mediums.
The belief gained credibility because some of the advocates possess legitimate
credentials, though these credentials were in areas unrelated to religion,
psychotherapy or other domains dealing with past lives and mental health.
Interest in the phenomenon started due to American housewife Virginia Tighe
reporting and recounting the alleged memories of a 19th-century Irish woman
named Bridey Murphy
later investigation failed to support the existence of such a woman and the
memories were attributed to Tighe's childhood during which she spent time living
next to an Irish immigrant.
Technique.
In the
West, past-life
regression practitioners use Hypnosis and suggestion
to promote recall in their patients, using a series of questions designed to
elicit statements and memories about the past life's history and identity.
Some practitioners
also use bridging techniques from a client’s current-life problem to bring
"past-life stories" to conscious awareness. Practitioners believe that unresolved
issues from alleged past lives may be the cause of their patients'
problems. The
technique is not taught as part of any medical internships. Luis Cordón states that this can be
problematic as it creates delusions under the guise of therapy. Memories can vary from harmless to
actually increasing suffering in the patient or their families. The memories are
experienced as vivid as those based on events experienced in one's life,
impossible to
differentiate from true memories of actual events, and accordingly any damage
can be difficult to undo.
Chinese numerologists use the
Buddhist/Taoist text
the Three Lives Book to describe details of past lives.
Teachers of Eastern religion claim to be able to
use siddhi or abhijna abilities to regress other's lives.
Sources
of memories
Scientific consensus is that the
memories are the result of cryptomnesia,
narratives created by the subconscious mind using imagination, forgotten
information and suggestions from the therapist.
Memories created under hypnosis are indistinguishable from actual memories and
can be more vivid than factual memories. The
greatest predictor of individuals reporting memories of past lives appears to be
their beliefs about the existence in reincarnation - individuals who believe in
reincarnation are more likely to report such memories, while sceptics or
disbelievers are less so.
Examinations of three cases of
apparent past life regression (Bridey Murphy, Jane Evans and an unnamed English
woman) revealed memories that were superficially
convincing. However, investigation by experts in the languages used and
historical periods described revealed flaws in all three patients' recall. The
evidence included speech patterns that were "...used by movie makers and writers
to convey the flavour of 16th century English speech" rather than actual
Renaissance English, a date that was inaccurate
but was the same as a recognized printing error in historical
pamphlets, and a subject that reported
historically accurate information from the Roman era that was identical to
information found in a 1947 novel set in the same time as the individual's
memories, with the same name reported by the person regressed. Other details
cited are common knowledge and not evidence of the factual nature of the
memories; subjects asked to provide historical information that would allow
checking provided only vague responses that did not allow for verification, and
sometimes were unable to provide critical details that would have been common
knowledge (e.g. a subject who described the life of a Japanese fighter pilot
during World War II but was unable to identify
Hirohito as the Emperor of Japan during the 1940s).
Experimental
studies
A 1976 study found that 40% of
hypnotizable subjects described new identities and
used different names when given a suggestion to regress past their
birth. In the 1990s a series of experiments
undertaken by Nicholas Spanos examined the
nature of past life memories. Descriptions of alleged past lives were found to
be extremely elaborate, with vivid, detailed descriptions. Subjects who reported
memories of past lives exhibited high hypnotizability, and patients demonstrated
that the expectations conveyed by the experimenter were most important in
determining the characteristics of the reported memories. The degree to which
the memories were considered credible by the experimental subjects was
correlated most significantly to the subjects'
beliefs about reincarnation and their expectation to remember a past life rather
than hypnotizability. Spanos' research leads him to the conclusion that past
lives are not memories, but actually social constructions based on patients
acting "as if" they were someone else, but with significant flaws that would not
be expected of actual memories. To create these memories, Spanos' subjects drew
upon the expectations established by authority figures and information outside
of the experiment such as television, novels, life experiences and their own
desires.
Want to travel through time?
Want to experience being someone else?
Feel something in your past life is blocking you today?
Don't know what to think about the past life theory?
Past Life Regression Hypnotherapy is a very
mysterious Hypnotherapy Technique as it will bring with it all sorts
of answers a man could be a woman in a past life or a woman could be a
man, they could go back hundreds of years, they could be somebody famous, or
from a different country, the possibilities are endless
Past life
regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners
believe are memories of past lives or incarnations, though others regard them as
fantasies or delusions. Past life regression is typically undertaken either in
pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most
advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation, though religious
traditions that incorporate reincarnation generally do not include the idea of
repressed memories of past lives.
The
technique used during past life regression involves the subject answering a
series of questions while hypnotized to reveal identity and events of alleged
past lives, a method similar to that used in recovered memory therapy and one
that similarly misrepresents memory as a faithful recording of previous events
rather than a constructed set of recollections. The use of hypnosis and
suggestive questions makes the subject particularly likely to hold distorted or
false memories. The source of the memories is more likely cryptomnesia and
confabulations that combine experiences, knowledge, imagination and suggestion
or guidance from the hypnotist than recall of a previous existence. Once
created, the memories are indistinguishable from memories based on events that
occurred during the subject's life. Memories reported during past life
regression have been investigated, and revealed historical inaccuracies that are
easily explained through a basic knowledge of history, elements of popular
culture or books that discuss historical events. Experiments with subjects
undergoing past life regression indicate that a belief in reincarnation and
suggestions by the hypnotist are the two most important factors regarding the
contents of memories reported.
History
Mythology
In ancient
Indian literature,
the Upanishads
mention past-life regression,
but the Yoga Sutras of Pat Anjali discuss the concept in greater detail. Writing during the 2nd
century BC, the Hindu
scholar Pat Anjali discussed
the idea of the soul
becoming burdened with an accumulation of impressions as part of the
karma from previous
lives. Pat Anjali
called the process of past-life regression prati-prasav (literally "reverse birthing"), and saw
it as addressing current problems through memories of past lives. Some types of
yoga continue to
use prati-prasav as a
practice.
In the
religious mythology of
China the deity
Meng Po, also known as
the "Lady of Forgetfullness", prevents souls from remembering their past lives:
she gives them a bittersweet drink that erases all memories before they climb
the wheel of reincarnation.
In the
modern era, it was the works of Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, which brought it a new found popularity,
especially in the West. French educator Allan Kardec also researched into past life regression
in The Spirits Book and
Heaven and Hell. Past
life regression therapy has been developed since the 1950s by psychologists,
psychiatrists and mediums.
The belief gained credibility because some of the advocates possess legitimate
credentials, though these credentials were in areas unrelated to religion,
psychotherapy or other domains dealing with past lives and mental health.
Interest in the phenomenon started due to American housewife Virginia Tighe
reporting and recounting the alleged memories of a 19th-century Irish woman
named Bridey Murphy
later investigation failed to support the existence of such a woman and the
memories were attributed to Tighe's childhood during which she spent time living
next to an Irish immigrant.
Technique.
In the
West, past-life
regression practitioners use Hypnosis and suggestion
to promote recall in their patients, using a series of questions designed to
elicit statements and memories about the past life's history and identity.
Some practitioners
also use bridging techniques from a client’s current-life problem to bring
"past-life stories" to conscious awareness. Practitioners believe that unresolved
issues from alleged past lives may be the cause of their patients'
problems. The
technique is not taught as part of any medical internships. Luis Cordón states that this can be
problematic as it creates delusions under the guise of therapy. Memories can vary from harmless to
actually increasing suffering in the patient or their families. The memories are
experienced as vivid as those based on events experienced in one's life,
impossible to
differentiate from true memories of actual events, and accordingly any damage
can be difficult to undo.
Chinese numerologists use the
Buddhist/Taoist text
the Three Lives Book to describe details of past lives.
Teachers of Eastern religion claim to be able to
use siddhi or abhijna abilities to regress other's lives.
Sources
of memories
Scientific consensus is that the
memories are the result of cryptomnesia,
narratives created by the subconscious mind using imagination, forgotten
information and suggestions from the therapist.
Memories created under hypnosis are indistinguishable from actual memories and
can be more vivid than factual memories. The
greatest predictor of individuals reporting memories of past lives appears to be
their beliefs about the existence in reincarnation - individuals who believe in
reincarnation are more likely to report such memories, while sceptics or
disbelievers are less so.
Examinations of three cases of
apparent past life regression (Bridey Murphy, Jane Evans and an unnamed English
woman) revealed memories that were superficially
convincing. However, investigation by experts in the languages used and
historical periods described revealed flaws in all three patients' recall. The
evidence included speech patterns that were "...used by movie makers and writers
to convey the flavour of 16th century English speech" rather than actual
Renaissance English, a date that was inaccurate
but was the same as a recognized printing error in historical
pamphlets, and a subject that reported
historically accurate information from the Roman era that was identical to
information found in a 1947 novel set in the same time as the individual's
memories, with the same name reported by the person regressed. Other details
cited are common knowledge and not evidence of the factual nature of the
memories; subjects asked to provide historical information that would allow
checking provided only vague responses that did not allow for verification, and
sometimes were unable to provide critical details that would have been common
knowledge (e.g. a subject who described the life of a Japanese fighter pilot
during World War II but was unable to identify
Hirohito as the Emperor of Japan during the 1940s).
Experimental
studies
A 1976 study found that 40% of
hypnotizable subjects described new identities and
used different names when given a suggestion to regress past their
birth. In the 1990s a series of experiments
undertaken by Nicholas Spanos examined the
nature of past life memories. Descriptions of alleged past lives were found to
be extremely elaborate, with vivid, detailed descriptions. Subjects who reported
memories of past lives exhibited high hypnotizability, and patients demonstrated
that the expectations conveyed by the experimenter were most important in
determining the characteristics of the reported memories. The degree to which
the memories were considered credible by the experimental subjects was
correlated most significantly to the subjects'
beliefs about reincarnation and their expectation to remember a past life rather
than hypnotizability. Spanos' research leads him to the conclusion that past
lives are not memories, but actually social constructions based on patients
acting "as if" they were someone else, but with significant flaws that would not
be expected of actual memories. To create these memories, Spanos' subjects drew
upon the expectations established by authority figures and information outside
of the experiment such as television, novels, life experiences and their own
desires.
