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Past life regression

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Past life regression is a technique used by some hypnotherapists to try to get clients to remember their past lives. Implicit in this procedure is the spiritual belief that souls exist and come back many times, living in different times and places, experiencing different genders, races, social classes and so forth in an attempt to learn. Although consistent with the Hindu belief in reincarnation, the idea of past life regression is fairly new in the West. it was popularized by the thousands of "readings" done in a trance state by Edgar Cayce, the "sleeping prophet." He claimed to be able, while in trance and unconscious, to diagnose the ailments of his clients in a way consistent with doctor's evaluations, although he had no medical training. When his readings started to mention subject's previous lives, Cayce was very upset as it was inconsistent with his Christian upbringing. The Edgar Cayce Society of Canada is one of the organizations which seeks to study this phenomenon. Another person who popularized this idea in the west was Brian Weiss, a doctor who while hypnotizing a female patient for unrelated reasons, found she was spontaneously describing past lives to him. He wrote up the records of these sessions in the book Many Lives, Many Masters. Very recently a three-part TV series featured Toronto hypnotherapist Georgina Cannon, who worked with several hundred volunteers with no previous experience of hypnosis. Of the taped stories, she chose the three which had the most verifiable data(dates, place names etc.) and took camera crews to the locations mentioned. Their stories appeared to be verified. For the most part, the thousands of people who have been through the hypnotic regression experience mention very ordinary lives as peasants, farmers, soldiers etc. Very few mention being historical personages.

Past life therapy

Past Life Therapy (PLT) utilizing clinical hypnotherapy/ de-hypnosis claims to allow unconscious experiences from past life traumas or emotionally charged events to become fully conscious. Past Life Therapy aims to resolve any unconscious, survival-based scripts that could be negatively affecting one’s present health, behaviors, or quality of life. Supporters of PLT claim that it can allow for a more thorough resolution since it gives the mind permission to locate past life sources affecting present day challenges or obstacles. Further claims are that PLT can uncover patterns and unconscious dialogue from many lifetimes of trauma or confusion associated with an event and that individuals often re-create similar experiences unconsciously as an attempt to complete or heal an unresolved past life experience.

New Age

It is suggested by New Age therapists for personal growth and healing of people with psychological or physical problems. Among the popular new age figures who teach and use past life regression techniques are Barbara Brennan and Ken Page from the United States, and Dr. John Plowman from the United Kingdom.

Criticism

Skeptics point out that memories of past lives can easily be explained as the result of imagination, confabulations or induced false memories. [1]

Professor Ian Stevenson, the famous past life researcher, has concerns about hypnotic regression to previous lives. [1]

Dr. Jim Tucker, child psychologist, also has reservations, and says:

" Even if people could gain from exploring "past lives", little evidence exists to support using hypnotic regression to do so. Many hypnotists can place subjects under hypnosis and get them to recall apparent memories from the past, often with great detail and emotion. The hard part comes in trying to verify that these 'memories' are events that actually happened. In many cases the subject has appeared to remember a life from ancient times, so determining whether it actually occurred is impossible." (Tucker, 2005, p.225)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Past life regression - Skeptic's Dictionary

Bibliography

  • Tucker, Jim B., (2005). Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives, ISBN 0-312-32137-6
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