Some of my patients describe having spontaneous memories from their past lives. Usually they recall vivid scenes and realize that they are viewing their past lives. These past life memories often are fragmented and may contain traumatic events. As a result, they can be confusing and frightening. These memories can be initiated by a person or place, an event, emotional feelings, or physical pain or sensations. Sometimes they can be triggered by sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch. Some of my patients reported having spontaneous past life recall while they were using hallucinogenic drugs. Other patients have reported having spontaneous past life memories while they were meditating.
Young children can sometimes spontaneously recall events from past lives, but are often discouraged by the family from talking about the experience and gradually they learn to block those memories.
When I have patients with spontaneous recall, I use that memory to access the past lives. I ask the patients to close their eyes and focus on that memory. They are then requested to expand their awareness and recall the rest of the story. The whole past life can be accessed this way.
Allen, a ten-year-old boy, was brought to me by his parents because he was having multiple physical and behavioral problems. He had head shakes, facial tics, and twitches and jerking of his whole body. According to his mother, in school they told him that he had a learning disability and yet he had knowledge of things he was never taught. During the first session, while I was taking his history, Allen told me that he had knowledge about different things, but he was afraid to talk about it. He was afraid that he would be locked in a mental institution.
When I promised him that I would not put him in a mental institution, he told me he could go into his past or his future any time at will, but sometimes he did not have any control over it. He simply rolls his eyes and he is there. He told me he remembered many of his past lives that he had lived in different places.
He had a fascination with airplanes. Sometimes in school, he drifted away with any noise and found himself in an airplane. He felt he knew all the buttons and switches in the plane and knew how to fly it. His teachers thought he was daydreaming and his grades suffered.
During the next session, his mother told me that just after the first interview there was a dramatic change in Allen’s attitude. She felt as if she were taking a different child home. Allen was less anxious and hyper because I was willing to listen to him and did not think he was crazy.
During the following session, I asked Allen to close his eyes and focus on that airplane and expand his awareness and tell me what else he was aware of. He recalled that he was a twenty-sixyear-old man, a fighter pilot, and his plane was attacked by an enemy, injuring his face, head, and his whole body and he died.
He also recalled many other lives. Just after one hypnotherapy session, most of his symptoms, such as his head jerks, facial twitches, and behavioral problems, were relieved.