Have you ever had the feeling you may have lived prior to this lifetime. Perhaps a recurring dream of another time and place has urged you to explore the idea of past existence. Or maybe you have visited a place for the first time and the unmistakable feeling of familiarity could not be ignored. And then there are the undeniable times you have met someone and instantly adore (or dislike) them, as if you've known them for ages. Have you ever wondered what you might experience if you were able to tap into pre-birth memories and experiences? How many mysteries may be solved for you? Have you ever wanted to explore the possibility?
There are a myriad of reasons people seek past-life regression work. Some are merely curious; others seek specific answers to personal dilemmas. John, a tall and robust guy, needed to understand why he secretly wished to be a woman; Helen needed to know why she felt like she doesn't quite fit in anywhere; all her life Ramona could never quite figure out the source of feeling abandoned; Jason sought to eliminate the fear of being more organized and successful in his endeavors. Each found the origins and solutions while exploring past-life and/or prenatal memories.
It is fascinating that the reactions of the general public range from hogwash to hallelujah when it comes to considering the possibility of having lived prior to this lifetime. Yet books abound which document past-life memories by authors such as Brian Weiss, M.D.; Bruce Goldberg, DDS; Ian Stevenson; Gina Cerminara; Jess Stern; Raymond Moody, M.D.; Carl Schlotterbeck; Morris Netherton, Ph.D., DCH; and the list goes on.
In Many Lives, Many Masters, Brian Weiss documents his own journey from a contemporary (and non-reincarnational) psychiatrist to a firm believer in past lives. His book recounts that journey through the story of one patient who had been undergoing traditional psychotherapy for about two years. She then suddenly began recounting past-life episodes and started to dramatically improve in many areas of her life (physically and emotionally). If you are interested in this subject and haven't yet read this book, by all means, do so. You may never look at the world (and the people in your world) in the same way again.
When John came to me for past-life regression work, he was seeking to make many decisions about his life. It was very important to understand the why of his desire to live as a woman, as he was considering the possibility of going through with the entire reassignment surgery.
Going under the knife was, for him, the most fearful aspect of all the decisions involved and it was important for him to get to the source of his fear, if possible. What he discovered in regression surprised and moved him deeply. His first glimpse was of being a young girl named Sally in a frontier prairie lifetime watching Mommy prepare food and clean their tiny home. As Sally, he experienced the feelings of being there, the familiarity of the clothing, the smell of food cooking.
A great amount of detail was described as we moved forward in time to the significant event which would provide answers to the important questions. Getting ready for her wedding, Sally re-experienced all the details of the small gathering of friends and family waiting for the groom to arrive, but he never did. Word came that there had been a fight in town and her love was killed. Sally felt that her life no longer had meaning.
Trying to cope with the sorrow and depression for weeks, she stayed home alone from church one Sunday, and ended her life using a small knife to open the arteries in her wrists. Bleeding to death slowly, she repeatedly thought what an incomplete life it had been, and finally, how it might have been different. Sad to have disappointed her family, feeling that it all ended too soon, it was now too late to save herself as she was simply too weak and she left her body at the moment of death.
In the next step of exploring the prebirth experience, John recognized that he had no choice but to come in as a male child. Yet the yearnings to complete the woman's life were still there. And how ironic that, technologically speaking, he does have a choice now and can become a woman, should he so choose. The result of these sessions was that John gained a new perspective on decisions about his life, feeling much more focused on living this life fully. His decisions have created more peace and fulfillment in his life.
Skeptics often view (and discount) past-life regression therapy as simply fantasy or forgotten memory fragments from books and movies. The concept of reincarnation is definitely a big stretch of the belief system for many people and downright heresy to others. Yet, even among past-life therapists, there is an acknowledgment that it is not necessary to absolutely believe that one has lived before in order to experience the healing effects of past-life therapy.
Whether the experience is an absolutely true and verifiable memory, or a metaphor produced by the unconscious mind in order to clear up a problem, the fact remains that results are often quite dramatic and amazing. Physical symptoms which have eluded medical treatment have been healed, fears have been released and resolved, and relationships have been enhanced. Through just a visit to the past, it is possible to explore, release and heal lifetimes of stored-away memories.
Raymond Moody, M.D., had always presumed that these voyages back through time were products of a client's fantasy imagination and nothing more; it was his guess that people daydreamed them or that they represented some bizarre kind of wish fulfillment. He decided to look into the matter further; and in his own past-life regressions, Dr. Moody thought he would find himself in a previous life as the outlaw Jesse James or Julius Caesar because of books or movies in his memory.
He recounts in his book, Coming Back, "But the nine lives that I experienced under hypnosis were very much a surprise. Most of them appeared to be during times I had never even read about, let alone seen in movies. And I was essentially an average person in each of them, which for me shot down the theory that everyone who goes into a past life sees himself as Cleopatra or a similarly glamorous historical figure."
So spend a few moments really considering the true nature of your-Self - the you of you. You are neither your body nor your thoughts and feelings - you are far more. As the thinker of your thoughts, the feeler of your feelings, and the knower of your knowledge, you are not a body with a soul - you are a soul with a body. It is a certainty that we have each been born into this lifetime - is it really such a stretch of the imagination to consider being born before this life and possibly again? Just allow yourSelf to consider the possibilities and, just perhaps, remember.
Susan Stevenson, DCH(c) is a Doctor of Clinical Hypnotherapy, NLP Master Practitioner and Certified Spiritual Counselor. Currently residing in Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Susan offers uplifting programs for individuals, groups and businesses, as well as workshops and audio tapes on a variety of life enhancing topics. For information on any programs, you may contact Dr. Susan by e-mail at: SusanDCH@aol.com.au
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