Some scholars argue that Christianity itself was reincarnationist in its origin until the word “reincarnation” was taken away from the Bible for political purposes in the middle ages.
This is when the western world lost all the knowledge about reincarnation and its principles.
The Principles of Reincarnation
Even though there are differences in the way religions and traditions deal with the concept of reincarnation, all of them have some points in common: it is said that one is born many times, evolving continuously through many lives in order to learn new lessons and become a better being.
The body is different in every new life but the spirit remains the same, keeping all the memory from previous lives, all records and lessons learned. The actual body doesn’t need all information from previous incarnations so it keeps only the necessary for the actual life, and the rest remains in the unconscious mind.
However, there are times in which records from past incarnations that should be stored in the unconscious mind start to reverberate negatively in the actual life, creating phobias, relationship problems and even physical reactions.
This could indicate that it’s time to dig into the deepest side of the mind to unveil memories that have long been forgotten and bring them to consciousness in order to solve a specific problem.
In a quiet room, lying down with the eyes closed, the therapist will start to induce a light trance. There are many different techniques of induction, some authors like Brian Weiss and Edith Fiore use hypnosis to help the patient relax and access memories in the unconscious mind.
Others such as Morris Netherton and Roger Woolger state that hypnosis is not always necessary, but in all cases, the patient needs to be aware and comfortable, able to remember everything that was said and done after the session.
After inducing a light trance, when the patient is relaxed, the therapist asks the patient to go to the root of the problem that he/she is experiencing.
If the problem started in a previous life, the patient starts to remember just as if he/she was remembering an episode of childhood.
Like psychoanalysis, it is believed that if a person finds the origin of a problem, it becomes easier to solve it. With past life regression therapy is no different and all authors agree that knowing how a certain behavior started or developed makes it possible to change.
Influence of Past Lives in Today’s Life
The moment of death is, for many people, scary and traumatic. This is especially true for those who die under violent and abrupt circumstances or for those who are very attached to the physical body.
So, the way a person dies can be stored in the unconscious mind as a very painful memory and it can reverberate negatively in the actual life.
If a person, for example, died in a small and closed space and it was a very traumatic death, he/she can associate small and closed spaces to pain and panic. In actual life this could cause claustrophobia.
People that drowned could associate water to death or to negative emotions, and this could cause them to be afraid of water or resist to learn how to swim, for example.
The list of events that could cause a negative association is infinite, and of course these rules are not set in stone, as every person reacts differently to trauma.
Many authors agree that not everyone will necessarily develop a negative response to trauma from past lives as some people do not seem to react negatively no matter the level of pain and suffering related to death in a previous incarnation, so every case is unique.
It is said that some events in the actual life can trigger memories from past lives and if they are not well resolved, these memories can have a negative impact.
People tend to swing between two extremes of behaviors. Either keeping the same behaviors and attitudes through many lives or going to the opposite side when that behavior causes a trauma.
For example, if a person trusts everybody and the person he\she trusts the most murders him\her, the consciousness will tend to associate trust with death. In the next incarnation, he/she cannot trust anybody and is afraid of commitment, he/she ends up breaking relationships when it gets more serious and losing friends because he/she is unable to trust.
Without knowing, this person is associating trust with a negative feeling, which are remnants of a previous life. Of course this is just an example as there are many different reasons for the same kind of behavior.
Past life regression therapy can show a person that some behaviors are no longer necessary since the context in which they originated was different.
Past Life Regression Therapy – Indications
Some believe that past life regression is effective for treating:
all kinds of phobias;
relationship problems;
depression;
addictions;
chronic pain;
panic attacks;
insomnia;
headache, etc.
Generally, it’s thought that past life regression therapy is not recommended for some individuals, including: pregnant women, mental illness, people with some kinds of heart condition.
Past Lives Memories – Evidences of Reincarnation?
Some argue that the memories that emerge during a session of regression therapy are not past lives memories but a result of the therapist’s suggestion during the trance.
Experiments have been made in order to investigate this possibility but the results remain inconclusive, although the positive results of the therapy can be easily assured.
Authors argue that the patient’s improvement doesn’t depend on the veracity of the memories, but how that psychic material from the unconscious mind relate to their problem. If suffering is diminished, relationships are improved and behaviors are changed, then the therapy reached its objective.
Tags
Spirituality