Age Regression & Past Life Regression

The two types of hypnotic regression -- age regression and past life regression -- are similar in that they both take you back to find the cause of your current blocks and clear past traumas. Sometimes, for seemingly unknown reasons, things bubble up to the surface no matter how hard you try to keep them underground. Like lava in a volcano, they burst out, splattering on everything , and there is nothing you can consciously do to stop it. Something triggers a memory and the "tape" is retrieved from the library and played. It might be a smell like Grandma's apple pie, or words that come out of your mouth that you swore you would NEVER say to YOUR kids. Age regression is one way to go back to the incidents and traumas that left an indelible imprint on your personality and soul, to finally deal with them and move on.

In an altered state, you can access your subconscious mind, which is similar to a video tape library. Everything you've ever experienced is stored there, along with all the associated sounds, smells, and emotions. In your subconscious mind you are more aware, more in tune with all your senses, including creativity and imagination.

An example: A man wants to cut down on smoking. During age regression he recalls an incident when he was a toddler, sitting on his father's lap, feeling his love and having his attention, while his father is smoking. He recalls another incident at age 7 when his big brother, who was 11, includes him in a gathering of his friends for the first time. His brother and friends are smoking. When he was 13 he smoked and his friends gave their approval by admiring him. He felt "big" and self-assured. These and many other incidents reinforced his link between smoking and a feeling of love and acceptance. The reason he finds it hard to stop smoking is that he unconsciously equates that with cutting off the feeling of love and acceptance from others. Understanding that link and exploring the many ways he is loved and accepted today has helped him actually quit smoking.

The subconscious mind remembers behaviors that we have used to protect ourselves and repeats them until we tell it not to. The problem is, we've consciously forgotten why we needed these behaviors, or that we ever did without them. By allowing the subconscious mind to surface, we can re-frame our outmoded behaviors now that we don't need those particular ones any more.

An example: A woman remembers when she was 2 that her parents gave her away to her aunt. She always thought the only reason she was returned was because she wouldn't eat. During hypnosis, she remembered that when she returned home she had a baby brother. Now she knows her mother only sent her to stay with her aunt while she was giving birth and recovering. She wasn't giving her away at all, so the feelings of abandonment she'd had all her life were removed.

Past life regression adds the assumption that you have had past lives and that by going back to view one or more of them you will understand your soul's path in the past, present, and future.

People usually start out by thinking past lives is a questionable assumption. If you are not comfortable with the language of reincarnation, we can just as easily use the language of heredity. Most psychologists will agree that traumas that happen in your family of origin affect you, even if you don't know about them. The recent popularity of Family Constellation Work is a verification of that premise.

For example, suppose you have been dealing with a fear of water since you were a child, and during a past life regression you imagine that the fear is due to a past life drowning. It really makes no difference if the person who died in a flood five generations back was your great-grandmother, or yourself in a past life. The trauma of that person drowning affects you just the same. And the emotions evoked are 100% true, even if you think you made it up. If it feels right, and the problem is relieved by what you imagine to be true, then it's true for you.

Past life regression is used to discover causes of fears, repeated dreams, undesired tendencies, even "psychosomatic" pains. Some people have found their "aha moments" when seeing or reliving a past life incident. Current problems can be understood and dissolved by seeing where they originate. During a past life regression, you are guided to "be" a past personality, and experience or view the incidents from that era that have influenced you in your current life. You are assisted in resolving any remaining issues and integrating the experience into the present.

The sub-conscious emotional body holds energy from past traumas, which we are not aware of. Through hypnotherapy you can choose to access that emotional memory and deal with it. You can get to a point where you see the big picture. You see why you created the situation you are in, and how to get out of it. As one of my teachers says, "You're smarter now than you've ever been in the past".

We all want to change and move forward, clearing whatever is blocking us, and see our future path. This is one method to achieve that goal.