“I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and
dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, ‘Hey, I know him.’”
— William H. Macy. American actor.
Many Lives, Many Modalities
Like psychoanalysis according to Freud, one of clinical counseling’s main goals is to provide clinical counselors with a profession. This has led to a pervasive kind of “Small-C” capitalism throughout the field of mental health.
A plethora of modalities are advertised as new and unique, requiring special training and certification. None of these modalities are particularly new or unique. As embarrassing as these claims to uniqueness are, providers keep posing as provisioners of novelty and consumers keep buying it.
Bill Owenby is the editor of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Mental Health Therapies, each of whose chapters will describe one of over 400 modalities. I’m the author of five of these chapters. Therapy Den, one of the many online provisioner marketplaces, distinguishes providers according to 70 treatment orientations. Psychology Today distinguishes practitioners according to 80 treatment specialties.
Hypnotherapy is regarded as one of these specialities, while Past Life Regression is one of the Encyclopedia’s 400 therapies. The truth is there’s only one orientation: people and their minds. The rest is marketing.
Past Life Regression
A search for “past life regression books” on Amazon.com returns 336 books. The most noted “originators” of this not original field are Brian Weiss and Michael Newton, and to a lesser degree Andy Tomlinson, Delores Cannon, Raymond Moody, and others. Of all the many authors, my favorites are Robert Schwartz and Helen Wambach. I stopped reading these books when it became obvious that nothing new was being added.
Despite the repetition, the publishing industry keeps cranking out past life regression titles by new authors. This endless presentation of the spectacular and paranormal is the main reason Past Life Regression has no respect as a therapeutic modality. This is embarrassing, unfortunate, and counter-productive.
Not being one to buck the trend, let me introduce my “novel, unique, new, improved, scientific, evidence based, celebrated, and effective” Past Life Regression technology! But don’t look too closely or you’ll see the similarity between this and the 239 other publications referenced in Wikipedia’s summary of guided imagery, such as “progressive visualization” (Schultz and Luthe 1969), and “directed daydreams” (Desoille 1965).
The most useful resources for the therapeutic use of Past Life Regression is not what’s written by Brian Weiss, Micheal Newton, or any of the other starry-eyed authors of the paranormal, but works derived from Roberto Assagioli’s well-informed psychosynthesis, which you can read online for free (Assagioli undated; Crampton 1969; Crampton 1974, Crampton 1975, Haronian 1976, Miller 1975).
“The waking dream, the conscious experiencing of images, has been discovered and lost, refound and shared, countless times. Although its significance has varied in different cultures and subcultures, there has accrued through repetition some notions or fantasies concerning waking dreams and involvement in them.”
— Mary M. Watkins (1976, 14)
Let me guide you through my protocol for a Past Life Regression session. You’ll find many steps familiar and the whole project to be free of contrivance and showmanship. I hope it’s something you could explore without embarrassment.
Understanding the Situation
Before I start a session of Past Life visualization I ask for a summary of your life today. This is a historical-emotional drama of questionable accuracy that highlights your life’s present issues and actors. This life story, which is always changing, is a picture that underlies your reality. It will project itself on any screen that you imagine.
I’m looking for a crude understanding of your hot-button issues. I’d like to know what turns you on or off, and what brings you up or down. This is important information. I might use to it rudder your imaginary worlds in interesting and hopefully useful directions.
I’m not interested in the actual story and I’m not going to comment on it. I’m just looking for the things that trigger you, as I can use these triggers to counteract the gravitational pull of your ego which attaches you to your old points of view. The ultimate purpose of Past Life Regression, or any of these guided visualization techniques, is to escape from your present mindset.
Progressive Relaxation
I use progressive relaxation to strengthen your connection with your body. I’ll guide you from head to toe, looking for areas of stress or tension, using your breath to smooth and soften tissues, organs, muscles, joints, and mind. Progressive relaxation is considered hypnosis, but hypnosis is not the object. The object is a deep comfort and a connection to layers of emotion held in your body.
After a complete scan of your body, my guided visualization starts you in a natural, comfortable location. This could be a garden, forest, hilltop, or familiar spot. It’s somewhere that can lead you into a wider, deeper wilderness.
We find a path and follow it to another level. I prefer to start at a higher elevation so that we can descend, invoking the familiar associations with the subconscious. I work to make you more relaxed and comfortable. The process requires you to be verbal, so I’m only aiming for a light trance.
Doors
After a short meander through the forest or garden we find ourselves in a clearing in the woods, dominated by four large trees, one in each of the four quadrants. After some more relaxed wandering around the clearing I point out the inconspicuous doors in each of the four trees.
I ask you to describe the shape, color, texture, framing, surface, and handle of each door in turn. This is your first opportunity to voice your imagination, and the result is usually four doors of distinct personalities.
I explain that we’ll enter each door before we’re done, and you should pick a door you want to enter first. I ask you to approach the door, examine the door, engage the door, open it, look into what is beyond it, pass through the door, close the door behind you, and repeat the word “closed.”
I ask you to describe what you see. You can see anything, nothing, or nothing clearly. I suggest possibilities like large or small spaces, daylight, darkness, the familiar or the strange. Once you have a picture I’ll check who you see yourself to be, your age, clothing, and appearance. I may suggest you look into a mirror that floats past, or imagine yourself in a dream.
Another Life
All the manifestly “past life” techniques direct you into a life scenario, suggesting familiar life circumstances such as town, family, work, spouse, parents, and children. You’re asked to elaborate details for each. This has two objectives, first, to imagine an aspect of yourself that you have not realized in your current life. And second, as a natural vehicle to approach death, that essential life transition we all face and assiduously avoid.
This visualization generates some fascinating dialog but, over the years, I’ve lost interest. There is something limiting about insisting on a life story. As the therapist, I get the feeling that I’m watching reruns of “Little House on the Prairie.”
Perhaps it’s selfish of me, but I want to know where you’ll go without my limiting you to a Past Life narrative. Encouraging greater creativity has resulted in stories that are more dreamlike and fantastic. So, instead of telling you that you have a house, family, and neighborhood, I just guide you from one space to another, asking you to tell me what you see.
My role is asking for detail. If it’s dark, I add light. If you’re at a dead end, I add a door. If you run out of ideas, I’ll give you wings to fly or fins to swim and ask you to imagine something entirely new. If you find yourself in emptiness, we float. If you find yourself in space, we move toward a star. Though it makes for a nice story, I drop the Past Life limitation. I give you more freedom.
Meaningfulness
At some point in your narration something significant appears. If it hasn’t, then I’ll lead you farther, deeper, darker, and into images of greater disquiet and chaos until something comes up. I use what you’ve told me of your life to set up a confrontation or suggest an epiphany.
I don’t know if this will be a positive or negative image, but we’ll take some time to explore it. We’re looking for an advantage, something inspiring, conclusive, empowering, or providing great relief.
The fact that this is imaginary is an advantage because many of our realities are somehow stuck. I can’t force a change, but every change starts with one’s imagination, and creative imagination is the essence of the Past Life technique.
All treasures need anchors, so I spend time putting things in context. The context can be real, as would be the case if an insight addressed a real-life issue, or it could be of potential use, such as something that affirms your self-worth. We take some time to create a container for powerful feelings.
The feeling might be good or bad, whatever is most pertinent. If you’re is looking for direction then we’ll anchor a good feeling. If you’re struggling with a medical issue, then we might identify and contain a bad feeling.
Whatever the case, I’m looking to put some treasure in the bag, as if we captured the prey. This hunt is then over and, with the anchor in hand, we return to the woods. Shortly thereafter, after a certain amount of rhythmic patter and emotional distance, we find ourself in the circle of trees in the woods, ready to enter another door.
I repeat this three more times, each time entering a new story, scene, and scenario. My role as guide is to direct each visualization in slightly different directions. I use what you’re told me of your life to cover the territory. One door may lead to family issues, another to health, life, work, relationships, or meaning. You won’t know exactly what I’m up to because I won’t be sure myself.
Destinations and Conclusions
The conventional Past Life technique takes a step beyond life. Maybe it considers one’s ultimate purpose, death, the afterlife, or rebirth. These are interesting topics but, again, I don’t care. Maybe I should care more, but I’m more interested in pragmatic things. I would like to see you reach practical conclusions.
At the end of the voyage through the four doors I again take the helm and guide the visualization to a high place. A high, clear, free place that’s both safe and inspiring. In this space I recollect the anchors and the actors that we created beyond each of the four doors. I ask you to put these together like four pieces of an important jigsaw puzzle.
Anybody can put four pieces together assuming that they fit, and if they don’t fit together that's important too. Most likely, this is more interesting for me than it is for you since you’ve already experienced a unity as each anchor was created. At this point you’re ahead of me in understanding the significance of these images. I’m just working to tie things together in a memorable package.
I’ll suggest the way I see things fitting together, but what’s more important is how you see them fitting. If we come to conclusions or if important images emerge, then I’ll ask you to close your eyes and take these to heart. I’ll be free in using post-hypnotic suggestions, and I don’t care if you hear this in a trance state or not.
The Deliverables
This whole process takes at least three hours, so it’s an expensive adventure. It’s also fairly exhausting, at least for me. A lot of emotional transference goes on, and it’s tiring even if it’s not directed at me. I have to feel that I’m in the story. This might take more effort on my part than on yours, since you were already in the story to begin with.
I create an audio record of the session starting after you’ve presented your life issues. The audio recording is just of the guided visualization. It takes a fair amount of audio editing to boost the volume to a uniformly audible level and to edit out the many periods of dead air.
I also take notes during the session that sketch what emerges behind each of the four doors. These rough notes require editing and formatting. I then email you the notes and the audio recording.
Recounting your life issues takes an hour, each of the four doors takes half an hour, bringing the anchors together and coming back to ground takes a final half hour. And that’s not including the tools and time to edit the audio and transcribe the session notes.
I’ve conducted these sessions to more or less insightful conclusions. I cannot guarantee anything except the price. One thing is clear: the only “past” in Past Life Regression is the one you live in this life.
Dr. Stoller’s Magic Elixir
It’s unfortunate that more people are interested in entertainment than insight. This undoubtedly explains why the cheap thrills of soul retrieval, reincarnation, and visitation with the spirits dominate the market and why publishers encourage it.
For over a century guided visualization has been an essential therapeutic tool, yet it is not taught as part of the standard curriculum. Those who practice it as a primary modality, either for spectacle or therapy, are not taken seriously.
It would be great to see the protocol offered for more enduring and therapeutic ends. Perhaps I should create a brand, give it a new name, and start my own school: new, unique, unequalled! Get certified now! Such pretentious claims are just what I want to get away from. What’s new is not the method but the insights that emerge. This is a tool for everyone.
References
Assagioli, Roberto (undated). “The Technique of Evocative Words.” Psychosynthesis Research Foundation 25. https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/evocative_words.pdf
Crampton, Martha (1969). “The Use of Mental Imagery in Psychosynthesis.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 9(2), 139-53. https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/The%20Use%20of%20Mental%20Imagery%20in%20Psychosynthesis.pdf
Crampton, Martha (1974). Guided Imagery: A Psychosynthesis Approach, History and Manual for Practitioners. Quebec Center for Psychosynthesis. https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/Guidedimagery.pdf
Crampton, Martha (1975-1978). “Answers From the Unconscious.” Synthesis Journal 2: 140-52. https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/answers%20from%20the%20ucs.pdf
Desoille, Robert (1965 Jan 11). “The Directed Daydream.” Psychosynthesis Resources. https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/directed_daydream.pdf
Haronian, Frank (1976 Fall). “Psychosynthesis: A Psychotherapist's Personal Overview.” Pastoral Psychology 25 (1). https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/personal_overview.pdf
Miller, Stuart (1975-1978). “Dialog With the Higher Self.” Synthesis Journal 2: 122-39. https://psychosynthesisresources.com/NieuweBestanden/dialogue%20with%20HS.pdf
Watkins, Mary M. (9176). Waking Dreams, Gordon and Breach, NY. https://archive.org/details/wakingdreams0000watk/page/14/mode/2up
Schultz, Johannes Heinrich, and Luthe, Wolfgang (1969). Autogenic Therapy–Volume 1. Grune & Stratton. https://archive.org/details/autogenictherapy0001unse
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