Past Life Regression

I find the phenomenon of past lives completely intriguing. One generally tends to look at life as proceeding along a linear time scale. But even if one were to take the more contemporary and complex theory of all time existing in a parallel way, it would be fascinating to gain information about one's parallel selves, in which case past life regression might more appropriately be termed as parallel life access!

Personally, I have no quarrels with the theory of birth-death-rebirth-re-death-life cycle continuing ad infinitum until moksha/salvation/nirvana/liberation etc. is achieved. As a theory it makes a lot of sense, given our linear plus cause-and-effect way of looking at the world. The law of karma also fits neatly into the picture. The more good deeds one does, the greater are one's chances of attaining salvation, the more ‘bad' deeds one indulges in, the further one gets enmeshed in the cycle. However, evolution is occurring, even on a cosmic level, so collectively we are all moving towards liberation in any case, just that we can speed up the process for our little individual souls by assisting the others towards the same goal.

We come into the world to learn some lessons and we create situations in our life that enable us to do so. When we remember our goal, we avail of the opportunities that we create for ourselves, at other times we don't. Often, we forget the true purpose of coming here and in the process we create further entanglements. But when we do act in accordance with our highest purpose our lives become simpler and easier. All irrelevancies fall away and the pursuit of truth becomes our path. When difficulties do arise, they are not seen as something caused by external forces/situations, but as reflections of the lessons we need to learn. Hence, they are owned as coming from our own selves and tackled with full responsibility. When we accomplish what we came to achieve, we can leave with a sense of fulfillment and completion. We may come back again, after a while in another body, another form, when there is another lesson to be learned.

We do not always manage to deal with all the issues that we create in a given lifetime. Often we carry excess baggage from previous lives and we need to deal with that in the current life to come clear of it. The manifestation of these issues can occur at any level i.e. psychological, financial, mental, emotional, physical, social etc. Connecting the current life situation with the root cause in some previous life is what past life regression attempts to undertake. After a PRT (past-life regression therapy) session one comes back with insights into the situation, on its probable causes as also on the right course of action to be undertaken to resolve the situation.

The actual session is an exercise in relaxation and allowing the un/sub-conscious mind to surface and offer its knowledge. It may be a session of guided progressive relaxation or of guided imagery. It is not unlike a session of yoga-nidra and works on the same principle of allowing the deeper mind to do its work, whether it be to access repressed memories or to help manifest affirmations and resolutions. The 'recollection' may be vague, dim, hazy or clear, detailed and precise. It may be primarily visual/auditory/kinesthetic i.e. consisting mainly of images/sounds/sensations. One might access entire life stories or just glimpses. The deeper the state of relaxation the more likely one is to gain clearer signals.

It is a common misconception that only the people, who are weak in character get hypnotized. Often the regression process is termed as hypnosis, though one stays in control of one's faculties and all it means is that one is in a very deep state of relaxation and can remember everything. I think it takes far more courage to open yourself and allow yourself to access information from the subconscious, than it does to shutting yourself to any such possibilities. It is a risk in that it is a step into the unknown. and only the courageous tread where others have not gone. Of course, a few others have tried the method and many have found it very beneficial, but what they accessed related to their life stories. What you might access is deeply personal to you and therefore the journey that you undertake is one for you alone.

Whether the methods that claim to access past life information can indeed do so is one question and whether they can be used to apprehend parallel lives is another. So far there is some but not much hard scientific evidence that the material accessed is indeed of past lives. Several people recall specific places and times and this can be counterchecked in the real world. Dr. Ian Stevenson has devoted several years to this kind of research and he has found that the cases of children spontaneously reporting past life recall is fairly reliable. In a past life regression session, suggestion plays a key role, so the safest path is of least suggestion. But when one calls a session a past life regression session the suggestion is already implicit. Hence, whether the recollection is an actual past life occurrence or merely ‘a construct of the mind' can be argued and debated unto eternity. And that is not even a real issue for me. The fact is that it comes from the deepest recesses of one's own mind and what better source might there be to rely on for one's solutions? Whether one construes that which surfaces as past life remembrance, or as parallel self's experiences, or as one's sub/unconscious motives, is a matter of choice and preference. I am open to any and all of these choices.

For me, the interesting bit is in connecting the recollection with one's current situation and learning from that. Even if there is no actual (?) connection and one is merely imposing it by presupposing that there is such a link, I think it is a worthwhile endeavor. For, I believe, there are no answers in life only choices. (Stanislav Lemm/Andrei Tarkovsky - Solaris)

So, finally, I believe in past lives and I believe that there are methods that allow you to access deeper levels of your psyche/mind and it is possible that these very methods allow you to access past lives as well; because it is highly possible that the deeper levels of the mind/psyche store information from more than one lifetime. I have used past life regression with others when they have asked and more often than not been surprised by the results. Whether a session actually throws up past life information or not cannot be guaranteed but it is worth attempting, especially when one is interested in learning more about, or rather in knowing oneself.