Past Life therapy

To most people, including many therapists, "past life therapy" is seen as a means of confirming that we have lived before and its purpose is merely to satisfy curiosity.

There is much more to be gained...

As a past life therapist with over 18 years' experience, I can tell you that there is so much more to be gained from a past life therapy session!

It is quite possible that present-day relationship problems may originate in a past life and can be resolved by going into that past life. Negative patterns of behaviour, or even persistent negative conditions, can also be identified as symptoms or "carryovers" from a previous existence. For example, imagine a past life as a monk or a nun where you would have been required to take a vow of poverty... it may very well be that in this life you find yourself working long hours and no matter how hard you try you never seem to have enough money... in the past life session it would be suggested to you, at the resolution and healing stage that comes after the death, that you rescind that vow of poverty so that you now have the freedom in this life to make your own choices, decisions, etc.

Very often physical problems, illnesses, irrational fears or phobias are directly linked to the cause of death in a past life. Going through that death and then doing the healing that is required will obtain the necessary release. This is why it is important to discuss at the consultation stage that comes before a past life session present-day problem areas, such as those highlighted above, including recurring dreams or nightmares set in another time.

Costa at work

When considering a past life therapist it is advisable to find out whether there will be any healing components to the session, unless your sole aim is to satisfy your curiosity about having lived before. Seek out those therapists who have been on a specialised past life therapy training course, even though it may mean a longer journey for you to meet with them. Ask if they have certificates in past life therapy, and what healing or benefits you can expect from a session. For instance, after qualifying as a hypnotherapist, I trained regularly over a 2-year period with the Association of Past Life Healing, and I prefer to use guided visualisation, not hypnosis, to take clients into an altered state of consciousness and into the past life that is most affecting them.

Very often you will find that many hypnotherapists will have been taught past life, or "regression", therapy on a half-day of a week-end course as part of their basic or advanced training, and may not have a full appreciation of what past life therapy can achieve for their clients. Some may simply regress you into the most recent past life or even bring you out at the first hint of pain! In my opinion it is so important to take you through the death experience. Why? Because it is only once you are in spirit form that you can then heal and resolve so many problems that may have carried over into other lives, including this one.

Questions & Answers

Q: Do you need to believe in reincarnation for Past Life therapy to be successful?

A: It certainly helps if the client, and indeed the therapist, is open to the possibility of previous lives, but it is not essential. The focus of a past life session is on therapy, not on challenging belief systems.

I have witnessed clients experiencing very "real" past lives that would seem to provide, in my opinion, almost irrefutable evidence of a previous existence.

At the end of the session the client is happy and relieved that their problem has been resolved, but will leave saying that they do not believe in reincarnation! No matter.

What does matter is that they arrived with a problem, they went through a process which happens to be called past life therapy, and at the end of the process they no longer have the problem.

Q: Is it possible that I have been with my parents before?

A: Yes, it is very likely that the people who are closest and dearest to you in this life will have featured in many of your previous lives, but not necessarily in the exact same relationship. For example, your best friend in this life may have been a sibling or parent in a past life.

There is a theory that we attract the same group of souls lifetime after lifetime. Perhaps you have experienced meeting somebody for the first time and after only 20 minutes feeling closer or more in tune with that person than people you have known for many years- this would indicate a close past life relationship. Conversely, you may know some-one who may be popular with others but with whom you feel decidedly uneasy... it transpires in your past life session that without good reason he denounced you as a witch and this brought about your death...

In the session you have an opportunity to redress the balance and come to a resolution with that person, so that the very next time you meet them in this life you may find that your attitude towards each other has changed. I call this the "cosmic knock-on effect"; even though the other person hasn't been through therapy, something inside of them has changed.

In a past life session, should a scene involve some-one very close or important to you, e.g. Mother, Father, son, daughter, best friend, bride or groom, then I will normally ask you to look into their eyes. As you do so, it is very common for you to recognise them as a loved one from your current existence.

Q: Is there a difference between "Past Life therapy" and "Regression therapy"?

A: Most hypnotherapists and many psychotherapists will have been trained to undertake regression work with clients. This usually entails requesting the client's subconscious while in hypnosis to go back to the incident (or "the scene that set the stage") that caused, or "has everything to do with", the problem so that a release can be obtained. 99% of the time it will be in this life. Hence a therapist advertising Regression therapy may have little or no training in past life regression as a therapy.