Past Life Regression: A Guide for Beginners

A flash of déjà vu. An inexplicable pull toward a certain person or passion. If you can’t quite explain the cause of a certain phenomenon or problem in your life, it may be because its roots lie in one of your lives. Past life regression (PLR) is the practice of exploring these past lives through hypnosis to give you clarity and direction in your current life. In this article, we’ll explain exactly how PLR works and how it can help you, plus show you how to connect with a guide and get the most out of a session.

What does past life regression do?

Past life regression uses the power of guided hypnosis and suggestion to access your soul’s previous lives to gain new understanding and perspective on your current life. A session with an experienced guide can help you overcome fears, find your life purpose, and much more.^{[1]
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Joanna Cabot
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What is past life regression?

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Past life regression is a hypnotherapeutic practice for re-experiencing your past lives or incarnations. Past life regression (PLR) supposes that your current life—including some of your problems and the way you respond to them—is affected by experiences from your past lives. Essentially, PLR uses guided hypnosis to reveal forgotten memories and stories from your previous incarnations to help you gain clarity and understanding of your current life.^{[2]
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- PLR is a holistic approach to healing that takes your body, mind, emotions, and spiritual well-being into account.
- PLR therapy can be especially helpful when you’re unsure of the source of your problems. For example, a traumatic event in a past life may explain trust issues you have today that don’t seem to have a clear cause.
- Past life regression is slightly different from regression therapy, which uses hypnosis to recover blocked memories and emotions from your current life.

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What to Expect during a Past Life Regression Session

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First, you and your Advisor will discuss what you want to learn. Like other kinds of therapy or psychic sessions, your guide will ask you questions about your current life and problems to get an understanding of what you’re going through and what you hope to resolve or discover. The goal is to work together to identify recurring patterns or problems in your life and find the source of them in your past lives.^{[3]
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- Each PLR therapist does things a bit differently depending on their individual practice. However, you can expect the same general steps for most sessions.
- Tip: Be open and honest during this conversation. Your vulnerability will help you identify your problems (and their possible roots in your past lives) more easily.
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Then, your Advisor will guide you into deep relaxation.^{[4]
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Joanna Cabot
Psychic Medium and Energy Healing Practitioner

Expert Interview} This relaxed, hypnotic state allows you to unlock memories from the past more easily by blocking out the “noise” of your conscious, modern life. Relaxation techniques vary from practitioner to practitioner, but some common ones include:
- Guided visualization or meditation. Your guide may describe a scene for you to picture or a state of being to imitate in order to relax your body and clear your mind.^{[5]
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  Psychic Medium and Energy Healing Practitioner
  
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- Breathwork. Through guided breathing exercises, you’ll identify parts of your body that feel tense, blocked, or stimulated. These sensations may be related to past injuries or traumas.
- Color visualization. Your guide may ask you to focus on colors that you see or “sense” when you think about certain feelings, memories, or experiences.
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Once relaxed, your Advisor will ask questions for your past selves. First, they may ask you just to describe any visuals, smells, feelings, or sounds you experience in your relaxed state that may be connected to a past life. Then, they may ask you for your name, to describe what you’re wearing, or more specific questions related to your intention. For example, if you’re trying to understand your attraction to toxic partners, they may ask you to describe some of your relationships or talk about your past romantic experiences.^{[6]
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- Tip: Share anything you experience with any of your senses. Even a slight tingle or faint aroma can be a clue to a past life trying to break through.
- Everyone experiences this part differently. Some may get small glimpses of multiple past lives, while others may be drawn into one particular incarnation in more depth.
- Know that you’ll still have full agency to interact and participate as much or as little as you like. You won’t be “forced” to do or experience anything—it’s a collaborative practice.
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Your Advisor will "bring you back" to discuss what you experienced. After some questions and exploration, your therapist will talk you back into the present moment and share what you said or described. You will also have full memory of what happened during your session (unlike hypnosis in the movies, where participants have little to no recollection of their hypnotic state).^{[7]
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Research source} By talking through your past memories, you and your guide can start to pinpoint the root of your problems or obstacles and come up with solutions to help you improve your current circumstances.
- Most sessions last about 50 minutes to an hour, but it depends on your individual practitioner. Some sessions may be up to 2 hours long or more.
- Everyone feels different when they’re done. Some people feel lighter and less burdened than beforehand, while others may have a deeper understanding or new perspective of a particular issue.
- You may not feel or learn much after a single session. Some people take multiple PLR sessions to notice major changes or shifts.

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Benefits of Past Life Regression Therapy

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Past life regression may find answers to unexplainable emotional, spiritual, or even physical problems. If you’ve ever felt like something is “off” or like you’re stuck in life and don’t know why, a journey into your past selves and their experiences can offer clarity and a path toward growth and healing. PLR is also a great opportunity to explore your inner self out of plain curiosity. You might try PLR for reasons like:^{[8]
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- Finding your life’s purpose
- Connecting to your inner wisdom
- Conquering fears of death or dying
- Finding the “real you”
- Fixing relationship issues (like negative dating patterns or inexplicable attractions)
- Understanding or stopping vivid dreams or recurring nightmares
- Understanding déjà vu feelings
- Unraveling unexplained fears or phobias

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How to Prepare for a Past Life Regression Session

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Enter your PLR session with an intention and an open mind. Your intention is what you hope to learn, understand, or correct during your past life regression session. It could be something related to a specific issue that you want to resolve (like a pattern of relationship problems or an unexplained fear), or something more broad and existential (like the meaning of your life). Enter your session with a clear idea of what you want to explore to get the best results.^{[9]
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- Tell your psychic Advisor or PLR therapist what your intention is. This will help them guide you during the session and find the solutions or answers you seek.
- Try to stay open-minded during your session. If you’re “convinced” that PLR doesn’t work or that reincarnation isn’t real, you’re unlikely to uncover deep, hidden truths about yourself or your past lives.

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Is past life regression therapy effective?

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There are anecdotes about success, but more research is needed. While there’s no scientific backing to past life regression, many that have tried it have reported recalling details from past lives that have helped them tackle their current problems or given them a deeper understanding of their lives. Many spiritual practices receive little scientific attention, however, so more dedicated research is needed to look into the efficacy of life regression therapy and how it works.
- Critics of PLR argue that the past lives people remember are confabulations (false memories) constructed from pop culture, living memories, and suggestive questions or comments from the PLR therapist. Again, though, more study is needed to really understand this practice.

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Is past life regression right for you?

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Past life regression can help anyone of any background or belief system. PLR can provide clarity on a wide range of problems and concerns no matter your age, gender identity, religious or philosophical background, ethnicity, or personal beliefs as long as you’re open-minded and willing to give it a chance.^{[10]
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- Generally, PLR is more effective for people who believe in (or don’t totally discount) reincarnation. Even if you’re skeptical about reincarnation, you can still learn more about yourself through the process.
- PLR is also most effective for those looking for spiritual guidance and solutions or a deeper understanding of themselves as more than just a physical body.

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How to Start Past Life Regression Therapy

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Work with a trusted Spiritual Advisor or therapist with training in PLR. While PLR can be done by yourself, the heavy emotional burden can be a lot to deal with alone and many prefer to work with a skilled Spiritual Advisor. Some professional therapists may also have training and experience in PLR.
- There are no licensing or certification requirements for past life regression therapy, so ask any potential guides about their past experiences and read reviews from their former clients to get a sense of what their sessions and results are like.^{[11]
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Origins of Past Life Regression

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PLR is rooted in ancient beliefs about karma and reincarnation. For thousands of years, religions and spiritual practices like Hinduism, Buddhisms, and Jainism have taught that your soul does not perish when your physical body dies but can be reborn into another body (reincarnation), and that your soul carries the marks of your earthly deeds or actions (karma).^{[12]
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Research source} Therefore, your soul can live for multiple lifetimes without having its slate wiped clean by physical death.
- The Hindu scholar Patanjali described the practice of prati-prasava (“reverse birthing”) in the 2nd century BC, which uses memories from past lives to address current problems.
- In Jainism, your soul can be freed from the reincarnation cycle by “separating” it from its accumulated karma. Jains use the practice Jati-Smaran to remember their past lives and discover the karma attached to them.
Beginning in the late 19th century and gaining steam in the 1970s, a new wave of spiritualism (loosely based on ancient Eastern belief systems like Buddhism) introduced the ideas of past lives, reincarnation, and heightened spiritual awareness to the West.^{[13]
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Research source} The concept of an eternal soul that evolves through reincarnation cycles and preserves memories and experiences led to the practice of past life regression, as well as other spiritual practices like accessing the Akashic Records (a collection of your past experiences preserved in the astral plane).

What Can You Learn From Your Past Lives?

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Keep in mind that past life regression is not a substitute for sound medical or psychological treatment for things like addiction, chronic illness, or mental health disorders.

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Not all memories you explore have to be negative or traumatic. You can also uncover happy moments and positively transformative experiences that help you learn more about yourself, too!

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