Have you read Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton? It is a great book on spiritual regression that explores what happens after a client has been regressed into a past life, then moves to the last day in that lifetime. Without a body, where are you?

Dr. Newton uses hypnosis to help the client find the past life memories. He’s performed so many of these sessions driven by a desire to further research and understand his findings.  The book is written in a dialogue fashion between hypnotherapist and client.

So back to the question: Without a body, where are you? Eventually you return to the Spirit Realm. Dr. Newton does a fantastic job of mapping out these inner worlds.

The only problem with this book, and others like it, is that every session that makes it into the book is a nice tidy package - bow included.

As a hypnotherapist specializing in Past Life Regression, Life Between Lives, and Spiritual Hypnotherapy, I get a vast amount of clients who have read Journey of Souls and other books like it. Many arrive full of nervousness, fear, excitement, and expectation.

I always tell clients, "I cannot guarantee you will go back to a past life (although most do), or get to the Spirit Realm. What I can guarantee is you will get exactly what you need."  Sessions are as unique as each individual, and often not a neat, tidy and predictable package.

I'm writing this article in the attempt to help people seeking the wonderful benefits of Past Life Regression to process their experience if it doesn't follow the typical pattern laid out in past life regression books. And to encourage them in finding the healing and transformation in a not-so-typical session!

Several weeks ago I saw Jill, an engineer who had lost her father years earlier.  She was still suffering with grief. She had read Journey of Souls and was concerned about being able to let herself go deeply enough into trance.  Despite spending much of her days in her left-brain thinking as an engineer, intuitively I knew she wouldn't have a problem going deep, but that she would end up fighting her experiences.

We went back in time to revisit happy childhood memories and then through a tunnel with the intention of traveling to the perfect lifetime to assist with her present life, moving forward.  Jill struggled to get to a past life. On the other side of the tunnel, it was black.

She was disappointed and her mind began to fight the process. Intuitively I could see the black wasn't bad. As a matter of fact, many of my clients go to a black when they skip the past life and go directly to a higher realm. More on that later.

I asked Jill to go deeper and trust what was happening, turning her attention to the feelings. She said she was feeling a pulling, floating sensation. We spent several minutes in the darkness which became outer space and eventually pulled her home to her soul group. She was met by her father in this life. The experience was quite emotional and ultimately profound.

Everything in my intuition told me that this reunion was the entire reason this session had occurred. I also felt she would need to process all that she experienced before the next session, you know the one that would provide her more of what her logical mind wanted to happen in the first place.

After coming out of session, Jill admitted her disappointment for not being able to reach a past life or her guide. I asked her to trust the process, keep her thoughts positive, and allow what she experienced to settle in.

She did. She followed up with a letter the next week. Here is an excerpt:

"I walked into your office with hopes for past life visions of locations like Europe during WWII, or Egypt during the time of the pharaohs. When I left your office I had nothing like that. Instead, what I left with was something infinitely more valuable: A connection with my Dad and a new found feeling of peace and joy.

I can’t put into words how it felt, but it was the single most spiritual experience of my life. I was enveloped and filled with joy, love, happiness, relief, peace, and home. Long pulsating waves of love, pure love coursed through my entire body. It was electric. Try to imagine the most meaningful embrace you have ever felt in your entire life and multiply it by the largest number you can conceive…that was how it felt."

I've seen a few clients take their session and react negatively, belittling their experiences just because they didn't get to a past life. This makes me very sad.

Typical Life Between Lives or Past Life Regressions are not always a tidy little package, like a 30 minute television show containing a clean beginning, middle and end. So, if you are thinking about undergoing a past life regression, try to keep your mind open and release any expectations.  Your hypnotherapist should help you through this as well.

Clients who walk away with expectations dashed have a choice to find the healing in the process or go to the negative and dismiss the experience. My hope is for them to find the healing and beauty in their experiences.