I Tried Past Life Regression & The Experience Helped Me Release Trauma I Didn’t Know I Had
I would be lying if I said I haven’t spent countless hours daydreaming about who I might have been in a past life. Perhaps I was a queen who reigned over a powerful kingdom. Maybe I was a soldier who fearlessly charged into battle. Eager to find out once and for all, I tried past life regression, which allowed me to recall memories of a life I lived during the 18th century. And while the experience was just as thrilling as I thought it would be, it also helped me release trauma I didn’t know I was still carrying.
As someone who is both spiritual and a truth-seeking skeptic, the logic behind reincarnation has always made sense to me. If energy truly cannot be created or destroyed, that means consciousness would have to be transmuted once the soul leaves the body and our earthly vessel expires. It would then make sense for our soul to eventually crave another shot at life; to make the decision to be reborn with a different set of obstacles, circumstances and spiritual goals. And with each reincarnation, we would accumulate karma based on the experiences we had and the decisions we’ve made; karma that we may have to spend our next life dealing with.
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When I made the decision to try past life regression hypnotherapy, I wondered if certain aspects of my current life could be explained by delving into what happened during my past lives. Would there be parallels? Would I find evidence of karmic patterns that I’m in the process of repeating? I hoped that by accessing deep-seated memories stored in the dustiest corners of my subconscious, I could find the key to unlocking my true purpose. By understanding who I’ve been, could I then understand who I can become?
Here’s why past life regression completely changed my perspective of life (for the better):
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What Is Past Life Regression?
Past life regression is a form of hypnotherapy that guides an individual to recall memories from their past lives. The experience is often directed by a professional hypnotherapist, but it can also be done by yourself through a guided meditation.
Human beings have been accessing memories of past lives since ancient times, but the process that we have come to know as “past life regression” was discovered by accident. In 1980, Dr. Brian Weiss—an Ivy-league educated psychiatrist—was practicing hypnotherapy on one of his patients, who he has since referred to as “Catherine”. During one of their sessions, Catherine suddenly began to discuss memories of a different life. She also began to channel the spirits of his father and his sons, relaying information about his life that there was no way she could have known. Not only did the experience eventually convince Weiss that there is an afterlife, but it also compelled him to develop past life regression as a form of hypnotherapy so that we can better understand the journey our souls have taken.
Since then, there have been countless testimonials that support the idea that we can remember our past lives. A fascinating example can be found in episode six of Surviving Death, a Netflix docuseries. Atlas Auberry—who was born in 2014—was just five-years-old when he said “I miss when my mum took me to the playground.” When his mother asked if he was talking about her, he said “No my other mum with the really pretty hair”. He then confessed that he used to be a child named Jaylen Robinson and that he was murdered. After Googling the name, Auberry’s mother discovered that Jaylen Robinson was a 19-month-old boy who lived in Brooklyn, New York and was murdered by his babysitter in 2005. After working with psychiatrist Jim Tucker, they found that Atlas Auberry was able to correctly identify several images that pertain to Jaylen Robinson’s life, such as photos of his parents and photos of the playground that he once loved.
Skeptics and academics have their own explanation for why we can “remember” our past lives under hypnosis—cryptomnesia and confabulation (a phenomenon that causes our imaginations to fabricate memories that feel real). However, even if you don’t believe in past lives, I believe there is still merit in using past life regression as a form of therapy. Being a believer in past lives is not a requirement for past life regression to work, because it can help you release trauma either way.
My Experience With Past Life Regression Hypnosis
I researched several hypnotherapists before choosing to reach out to Mallorie Shannon, a specialist in past life regression based in Portland, Oregon. Before our session—which was conducted over Zoom—Mallorie asked me a few questions about my life, including what I am hoping to get out of our session. I explained that I’ve always struggled with a feeling of deep, overwhelming loneliness and a life-or-death fear of abandonment. And while I can attribute some of these feelings to certain childhood experiences I’ve had, I always felt like I was carrying the weight of immense trauma that I could not get to the root of. After all, I have two extremely loving and supportive parents who are still together. Where did this undeniable feeling of abandonment come from?
Through meditation and breathing techniques, Mallorie Shannon’s gentle and reassuring voice guided me into a light trance, which is the state of mind that past life regression requires you to be in. She began by taking me back to my childhood, which brought me back to early memories of a family vacation. She then guided me through the memory of being in my mother’s womb, which gave me such a strong feeling of love that it instantly brought me to tears. And with that, Mallorie announced that I would be taking a trip back in time; back to a different life.
Once Mallorie could tell that I was fully immersed in the memory, she asked me to look around. At first, I saw gray, wooden buildings with old-fashioned windows. I saw a dirt road in the process of being turned into a cobblestone street. I looked down and saw myself wearing worn leather brown shoes, a Puritan-style black and white suit and suddenly, I knew I was a boy of about 7 or 8 years old living in what appeared to be the end period of Colonial America. I also knew I was totally and completely alone in the world. Mallorie continued asking me questions, helping me get to the core of my situation, and that feeling of loneliness and abandonment washed over me with startling intensity. I realized then that not only did I not have parents, but my caretakers left me here alone, in this strange town, and I did not want to believe that they were not coming back for me. In this memory, I found myself looking for the local church, knowing it was where I would be sleeping for the foreseeable future.
Mallorie continued to guide me through the process of remembering this life, showing me how I evolved as an adult. I saw myself living in a beautiful house along the coast of much more developed New England city, married with two healthy sons. I knew I should feel happy, because I made something out of myself. But I never felt a sense of pride or joy in what I had accomplished; only shame and trepidation. I felt like I was longing for something different, but most notably, I felt like a fraud; someone who did not deserve to be loved. By the time Mallorie brought me to the moment of my death, I knew that I had lost it all. The edges of that memory were blurry and difficult to discuss, but I knew I was once again alone in the world, having alienated everyone who loved me because I chose self-destruction instead. I died alone on the side of the road.
As it turns out, the most memorable thing about this life was how I was completely and utterly alone. The only constant in this life was feeling unwanted, unneeded and unnecessary. And by returning to the memories of my past life, I could understand why the shadow of that life was hanging over my current life so heavily.
Conclusion: Would I Recommend Past Life Regression?
It’s been almost a year since my 90-minute session of past life regression with Mallorie Shannon and a lot has changed since. I’ve been able to distance myself from this feeling of being an outsider, because I now understand that so much of my fear of abandonment was actually stemming from a past life. The experience has also taught me how to extend kindness to myself when I experience these feelings, because I felt nothing but empathy for that man I was long ago. If I can have love for him, I can have that same feeling of love for myself (because we are the same person).
The process of reliving some of the worst memories my soul has was not easy, but it was definitely cathartic. I was surprised by how quickly the emotions flooded through me once the session started, as though they were right beneath the surface, just waiting to be released. Ever since I was able to release these emotions, along with help from Mallorie Shannon, I’ve found that they have a lot less power over me. In fact, they’re a testament to everything my soul has gone through. And something beautiful I realized is that I am now getting to live the life I couldn’t live before. The life I lead now is overflowing with love, loyalty and consistency—almost as if this life is a direct response to what I experienced in my past life. I’m living the good life now and I might as well start believing it.
If you’ve spent your whole life carrying a burden that cannot be explained, past life regression may be what helps you understand why you’ve always felt what you’ve felt. Whether that burden is physical, psychological or emotional, past life regression can help you get to the root of the pain, and eventually, learn how to let go of it.
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