The Theory of Past Lives states that there is no such thing as a "new soul". When our bodies die, our soul separates from the body and moves on to a new and fresh life. It is said that these memories are stored in a deepest places of our subconscious mind; and, since we only have access to 10% of our brain, those places in our mind are not easily accessible. Through past life regression, a practitioner is able to use hypnosis to guide an individual to the parts of our brain that store our past lives' memories and help bring those memories to the surface.
When asked whether I identify with religion or spirituality, I usually say spirituality. And when asked what I believe in, I always say that I believe anything is possible. There are so many unknown elements in this world, that the possibilities for what happens to us after death are truly endless. I wouldn't say that I'm a skeptic when it comes to the theory of past lives. I've read other people's experiences with past lives and been fascinated by the connections that people are able to make between the past and the present. I do believe it's possible that our souls have lived other lives before this one. I believe that there may be more to our dreams that we could ever understand and that deja vu isn't always coincidental. I also wouldn't say that I'm a true believer in the theories...I enjoy remaining in a safe agnostic territory. A Youtube video by a hynotherapist named Alicia Fairclough (whom is Atheist), actually pushed me to pursue this experience.
Here's the link to her video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_69eToSApkE&t=12s)
Before 2 weeks ago, I had never thought about experiencing a past life regression therapy session. I actually stumbled upon the idea while researching Reiki practitioners in the area. Reiki is a Japanese technique that reduces stress and promotes healing; as well as relaxation. It is based on the theory that "life force energy" flows through us and, when low, can cause us to get sick or feel increased levels of stress. A few years ago, I had a friend that was training in the art of Reiki, so she would practice the techniques on us. It was so relaxing and, since I've been relatively stressed lately, I wanted to have a session. Whilst searching the internet, I came upon Deidre Willan. She is the owner of Welcoming Wellness (www.welcomingwellness.ca), which offers hypnosis, past life regression, reflexology, and reiki. Once I saw "past life regression" on her website, I couldn't get it out of my head. I did research on the practice and decided that I was (for once) going to dive head first into an experience that I wasn't 100% sure about ... and I'm happy I did, but I'll get to that later. It look me less than a week to book the session with Deidre and she was very accommodating with my schedule since I did it last minute to reduce the possibility of me chickening out. When I arrived, Deidre was incredibly welcoming and made me feel very comfortable. She shares the space with other professionals, but stated that they rarely overlapped business hours. I started by filling out a basic information form, while she asked me questions about my spiritual beliefs and answered any questions I had about the session. I went into the session nervous that I would waste my money and not experience anything or that I would and it would be terrifying. She assured me that the whole time I would be aware and that I could move on from the particular life and/or experience if I wanted. She also assured me that she had never had a client not experience a past life, but that it takes some people more time to embrace the hypnosis.
Once we were ready to start, she brought me into a small room that was set up with an anti-gravity chair and a small desk. She laid me back in the chair and wrapped me in a blanket, so that I was comfortable and warm. She said that if I had any questions during the session, that I could feel free to ask at any time. Then she began with the hypnosis. I have seen hypnosis before, but I have never experienced it myself. I wasn't really sure I believed in it until I felt the effects of it. She wasn't able to get me under the light trance of hypnosis usually used for past life regression, so she put me in a deeper trance. It took about 30 minutes to get me fully under hypnosis before we could start walking through my past lives. Some people will be able to physically visualize their past lives as if watching a movie or some people will hear or smell things, but my experiences were fully through overwhelming feelings and emotions. Whenever we would move through my mind to another life, I felt as if my body was floating through space and would fall into each life as my mind came across it. Upon entering the life, my breathing would change and my eyes would begin to flutter uncontrollably ... it was a weird, yet fascinating experience.
The first life we explored, I was in an old wild west sort of town. I looked down and I was wearing cowboy boots. I was in a social atmosphere, whether it was a bar or a restaurant, I wasn't sure. I knew that there was a crowd of people behind me, but I wasn't focused on them. All I could focus on was the window and the open shutters. The desert view was barren except for a single cactus that my mind focused on. Deidre asked me if I was a man or a woman. At first, I had thought I was a man, but as I looked down for the first time, I felt that I was wearing an ankle length pink dress. Suddenly, my mind shifted and I was suddenly at home standing next to the coal burning oven. My husband was standing in front of the door as he was about to leave for work. I could picture his face clearly. Deidre asked me what my husband did for work and, as if a blinking light turned on in my mind, the word "banker" repeated over and over in my head. "I guess he was a banker", I told her. When she asked what I did for a living, I said that I was a stay-at-home wife and that I spent my days cleaning, cooking, and getting groceries. I realized that I didn't have any family in the area or many friends; I was an introvert. Suddenly, I was hit by a wave of overwhelming sadness. While holding back tears, I whispered "We didn't have any children ... it was a lonely life". I was shocked by how powerful this emotion was. It seemed that, in this life, I had been unable to bear children and that fact created sadness in my otherwise happy life. It was hard to hold back the tears, but I knew that if I allowed myself feel the full emotion, that I would begin sobbing in that small room. Deidre asked me to move past this moment and move forward to a later date in this lifetime. I had visions of a happy marriage where my husband and I would laugh and dance around our small home. I saw us aging and sitting on our porch until the essence of my husband slowly disappeared. I felt that he had passed away before I had and that I died alone, at home, in our bed.
While writing this, it doesn't seem like a lot of information, but this walk-through took about 20 minutes. Deidre said that, under hypnosis, I would experience time differently than she would. The whole time I felt like I was talking really fast and telling her the first things that popped into my head, but I know now (after listening to parts of the recording of the session) that wasn't the case. After each life, Deidre asked me to forgive others, as well as myself, for choices that I made in that life. Afterwards, she asked if there were any lessons from that life that I felt could be brought to my current life. At the time I said no, but looking back I think that the lesson was that I have to put myself out there and be more social. It seems simple, but it is something that I have always struggled with and know that I need to improve on.
The next life, I lived in Europe. It seemed I was, most likely, in Ireland or Scotland area. It was always cloudy and wet. Deidre asked me to tell her what was on my feet ... I was barefoot in my backyard. There was a woman hanging wet clothes on the line. As my mind started to settle into and process what I was seeing, I kept changing perspective from seeing through the woman's eyes while hanging laundry to watching her hang the laundry. Deidre asked if I was a man or a woman in this life. I eventually settle on male as my anchor to this life latched. The woman was my wife and I can still picture her. She had long hair and a beautiful face. Her skirt was dragging in the mud, but she was breathtaking to me. I saw our two children, a boy (older) and a little girl. They were both less than 6 years old. They were running around my wife, chasing each other. I gazed lovingly at them from afar. I think Deidre had asked me a question, but I didn't hear her. A grin slowly formed on my face as I said, "I have so much love for my family". I could had sat there watching them all day. As I look down, I see my little girl running over to me, armed spread wide. I pick her up and walk over to kiss my wife. I could have lived in this moment forever. Oh! And we also had sheep. I practically yelled that at Deidre, not that she had asked, but it seemed like an important fact that my mind urged me to tell her. As we moved forward in this life, I was suddenly standing outside as our home was engulfed in flames. My little family was safely outside, but we were devastated as we watched our entire life/farm burn to the ground. I'm not sure what started the fire, but all I cared about was that my family was safe. In the distance, I could see the main town/village as we started walking towards it. I knew it would be a long journey, but we had family that lived there. Once we got there, we stayed with an older couple that I assumed were either mine or my wife's parents. I was surprised when I realized how happy we were while living in that village, close to family and friends. We didn't have a lot of money, so we stayed with our parents for the remainder of their's and our lives. Although we no longer had a farm of our own, I still worked as an extra hand for other farmers. I saw myself aging and it seemed I eventually had a minor heart attack on the job. Skipping forward, as I lay in bed, my wife and son were standing around the bed. My son now has a wife and baby of his own. My daughter wasn't there. I know she's alive, but isn't able to get to me before my death. I eventually just fade away surrounded by my family. The lesson I got from this life is that sometimes starting fresh isn't a bad thing and you may even be happier in this new life.
I'm going to stop this blog post here. I know you don't have all day to read these, so I thank you for sticking with me this far. I still have 2 (shorter) lives left to discuss and, afterwards, I want to share with you all my reflections on this experience. So, I hope you enjoyed reading Part 1 and come back for Part 2!