I am really enjoying my research on self-care and have focused on being open to exploring anything that supports personal growth. I feel this way about taking care of myself and also about the therapy I provide. I often encourage my clients to try a multi-pronged approach to their wellness plans and to explore a variety of ways to find the source of their current distress. I've been finding that my research has ventured into a more holistic and spiritual realm, which I have really enjoyed learning about and sharing with my community!
Current topic-Past Lives. I began by researching the use of past life work as a compliment to traditional psychotherapy treatment. It makes sense that exploring one's past lives could allow a client to learn about how patterns or old behaviors may have originated and developed. Often in therapy, people find themselves stuck repeating mistakes, seeking the same wrong partners, and being unable to let go of certain things for unexplained reasons. Traditional "talk" therapy often focuses on the present life and stressors, sometimes in a concrete way and does not always allow for accessing deep emotions and traumatic experiences that may be stored in a client's cellular memory. Past life work can assist the therapeutic process by adding another deeper element of past past healing.
I first came across the work of Dr. Brian Weiss, who was one of the first doctors to explore the concept of past lives with his therapy clients . A 2011 study by Dr. Heather Rivera revealed an overall positive experience for people who participated in past life work, with 80% of participants reportedly less fearful about death and 74% of participants reported that they found their life more meaningful. Snow (1986) found that past life regression therapy resulted in 63% of study participants reporting improved physical symptoms and 40% reporting improved interpersonal relationships.
Here are some signs that you or someone you know could have a past life:
- Birthmarks and birth deformities.
- Fears and phobias.
- Strong feelings (good or bad) for a significant person in your life.
- Meeting a stranger that you feel you've met before.
- Repetitious patterns or issues in your life.
- Health issues.
- Relationship problems or issues with a certain person.
- Dreams of being in another time and place.
- Conscious flashbacks of things which don't fit here and now.
- Strong feelings for a certain country, period of time, music or culture.
- Feelings of deja vu. Feeling as though this is familiar or you've done this before.
- Talents and abilities at an early age.
- Children between the ages of 2 and 5 discussing past memories that do not exist in the current life.
- Unexplained strong likes or dislikes.
Past life readings and regressions can be done in person or long distance, usually via Skype or telephone. Some therapists are formally trained and others are natural healers who are simply gifted with the ability to tap into other's past lives. Past life readings and past life regressions are different from each other.
A past life reading is when a psychic person looks into your past lives and relays that information to you, usually in the form of a story. They may ask you some questions or you may be asked to have a question in mind that you're seeking an answer for. Often, this person has had no formalized training but is known to have psychic gifts. They may also have guidance from angels, departed loved ones, or spirit guides to access the information from your past. The main disadvantage of past life readings is that their quality can depend on the psychic ability of the healer themselves. Some advantages of a past life reading include affirmation of questions that the client has had about their past, the passive approach of relaying information without much heavy emotional investment from the client, and a more minimal time commitment, if desired. The psychic may also have other useful gifts, such a skills in reiki or other energy therapies that may be helpful to the client.
A past life regression is assisted hypnosis guided by a regression therapist, who typically has been through training and/or certification. Sometimes taking several hours or spanning several sessions, the regression therapy accesses the unconscious mind and is an interactive exploration of the client's past lives. One of the most important advantages of past life regression therapy is that the client gets to re-experience and sometimes reprocess the past life trauma under the guidance of a trained professional. The client is highly involved in the process and exploring the relevant past life trauma while in a relaxed setting. The experience can feel more emotionally involved and deeper than a past life reading, which can seem passive and more like a story being told to the client. Some other useful benefits could be a release of fears and anxiety linked to past life traumatic, the decrease in physical symptoms which had a root in past life trauma, and an overall understanding of life's purpose and general feeling of contentment.
Spend some time during research, reading testimonials, and exploring tips to watch for before deciding on which past life reader you choose.
To start your personal past life exploration, try some of the links below to begin!
The Newton Institute-Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy
The Research of Dr. Brian Weiss
