My Experience and What I Learned about the True Nature of the Soul from doing Past Life Regressions

I was born into this life a natural skeptic and never took anything at face value. From as far back as I can remember, whenever I encountered a religious, spiritual, or psychic idea of any kind, whether it was in church or at a neighbor’s house who did astrology or psychic readings, if something didn’t make sense to me, I didn’t “believe it”, and instead took an attitude of investing it to find the error involved. It was as if there was a part of me that knew the truth and I had a well-developed form of intuition. I also gravitated passionately towards the sciences and philosophy and took up a devoted study of these subjects at a very young age. So naturally, when I came into what’s now called “spiritual sciences” (Sacred or Esoteric Sciences), it was like coming home. Yet the modern-day versions of this formed by what we call the “new age movement”, grossly distorted much of the teachings through a lack of comprehension regarding the universal laws involved and how to accurately interpret them in developing true intuition and sound scientific methods for traversing the multidimensional planes that are all interlaced within this one.

As I went along in life I went through many challenging situations where I learned about my true spiritual nature and practice through the experience of seeming to know what to do and having many strengths and virtues already developed as a fundamental part of my nature. I pursued education in Naturopathic Medicine, Herbology, and traditional Psychology, and finally ended up in “Esoteric Sciences”, which turned out to be my true love. I earned my Bachelor of Science in Clinical Hypnotherapy, which is an in-depth study of the mind and the principles involved in using different aspects (the self-conscious and higher conscious) to program and direct the creation of the subconscious, which is the aspect of our mind constructing and projecting our entire material reality out of our mental paradigm. This same operation, which is occurring all the time at the unconscious level, can also be performed through hypnotherapy. My doctorate is in Esoteric Sciences, which expanded into self-mastery, understanding the universal laws governing the mind and creation, the Healing Arts, and of course our psychic, astral aspect, also referred to as our soul.

As I went through my studies, I also took seminars on a regular basis that often included 3 and 4 day workshops at the end, that went into specific subjects and the different methods for practicing these. Strangely enough, I never had an interest in past life regression, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, and as a result of the fact that I wasn’t comfortable allowing others to try and hypnotize me, because so few people actually understand the principles involved or know how to do it in a proficient and effective manner. But one of the workshops I signed up for and paid for in advance was canceled, and there was no refunds, so I had to pick another workshop. A class on Past Life Regression (PLR) was being taught by a man who was world renowned for his methods, so I decided to explore it with an open mind. After going through the 4 day workshop and undergoing several regressions, I realized this was one of the greatest methods for “true healing” I had ever come across, and pursued it from that point on with an attitude of perfecting it as a method conducted through a well-written script (most hypnotic processes are performed using scripts).

Through the course of the next few years, I took several classes and workshops and became totally involved in developing my method to a point where there was never any form of “suggestion” being given, and by achieving “rapport” as a primary form of mental entrainment (natural hypnosis as mind-reading), where I could literally “see” in my mind’s eye a vague impression of their perceptions. I also had others use my own method whenever I underwent a regression and was able to move into the memories of past lives buried deep within my own psyche (our souls constitution is comprised of memory) with vivid detail. Not so much in terms of the physical features and elements of that life, but more in terms of what that life was about, the drama as thematic patterns that were being played out that I was also playing out in this life, albeit in a different way, and the realizations that resulted from them. From these experiences I knew where my intuition was coming from, and I was able to see my karma in a new light where I knew what it was I needed to do as a means of rectifying it.

I later went on to become board certified by the IBRT (International Board of Regression Therapy), wrote professional manuals on it, and conducted professional training for years. I also practiced extensive forms of meditation over the years and developed heightened mental abilities, one of which was what we call the “witnessing” faculty, which takes on a third-person perspective and simply observes the activities of the “mind” from a neutral and detached perspective. In this article, I’m simply going to convey what I learned through open minded exploration, extensive practice, and from direct experience that wasn’t based on preconceived beliefs or “suggestions” given by an inexperienced practitioner.

Past Lives as a Psychic Reading

Let me start by assuring you that there is no such thing as having a “past life reading” by a psychic of some kind. When you take this approach, you’re engaging in an “illusion” as a very basic form of suggestion, and you can’t know what a past life was “about” without “being in the experience of it”, where natural realizations arise, and you make a direct connection to your current life in terms of “patterns” being played out that all have a common theme to them. If you understand that memories are patterns of thought that have certain frequencies, and were created by “you”, which means the same inner nature, mind, and soul, and you understand the basic laws of physics as “vibration”, you’ll realize that you “access memory” through “resonance”, and only you can access your own memories of past lives in terms of being “in them” with the same “feelings” you had as an experience.

Hypnotic regression is the only true method for doing this, and as you realize things about your past lives, you’ll also come to understand and thereby learn to “trust” your intuition. A lot of times your intuition (inner knowing) around things is formed out of knowledge you acquired and integrated into your being in past lives, and now comes as an inner knowing or special abilities of some kind. The other challenge you’re going to face is being able to find a truly good hypnotherapist, because unfortunately this area has been bastardized by those who take weekend certification courses and then call themselves “hypnotherapists” and concentrate more on writing cool scripts than on the actual psychology of what they’re doing. Because they lack a basic understanding of how the subconscious works, they often conduct the process by feeding you constant suggestions, which the subconscious readily takes in and imagines as a form of memory, and you go on a purely imaginary journey as a result. Both imaginary ideas and memory are created in the faculty of the imagination, making it easy to confuse them. One of the biggest differences comes in the fact that actual memories give rise to a whole series of “realizations” that are systematically born out of them and form an intimate connection to your current life in terms of similar patterns and ideas being played out. I know a few people who are very popular and considered experts in PLR and what they call “in-between lives”, whose script leads everyone to the same reality and conclusion without them seeming to realize that it’s because they’re giving them constant suggestions by the type of questions they ask and the language they use.

What I came to Realize through Experience

Much of what I learned through experience that was born out of memory was completely unexpected and a bit mind-boggling in relation to conventional thought on the nature of the mind, soul, time, and reality. Here are some rather interesting ideas that came from experience. I’ll start off with a general description of consistent features that not only accompanied my own experiences, but just about everyone I regressed, all without any suggestion born out of the type of questions I was asking.

All regressions begin by setting an intention or making a specific type of inquiry. Whatever “intention” you set for the regression determines what memory (life) you access. Most ask for information about a problem or relationship, but you can also ask for information around gifts, talents, special abilities, life purpose, and life-long interests.

Some hypnotists will get distracted with things designed to “prove” past lives are real by asking about things like what year it is, what’s your name, what town are you in, and so on, which is meaningless in the most basic sense and will hardly ever stand out unless it was an important part of your experience.

What’s important isn’t so much the actual setting or events and circumstances of that life, but how you experienced it, how you felt, what psychological dramas you were playing out as life themes, and how they all culminated as “realizations” you formed because of them. This is because at the end of each life our memory is formed as a summation and conclusion we form around what that life was about and how we created and developed our “self” as a result. This is the actual memory that’s absorbed and assimilated into the higher part of our soul, which is constantly evolving by acquiring memory of itself through numerous personalities and different life situations, all of which bring new types of experiences while playing out the same type of life themes. We evolve our soul’s memory through that life, whether unconsciously or with conscious awareness, and the accumulated experiences are synthesized into a whole memory as our character and inner nature, which becomes the “karmic seed” for a new and succeeding life cycle. Every life provides us with a step in our souls overall growth and becomes the means through which we “evolve” ourselves by learning how to create from a primarily conscious state of self-awareness.

As you go through the “death experience” of that life, which you should always do, you have clear and profound realizations of what that life was about in terms of what was meaningful and what wasn’t. In going through the experience of dying and transcending my body, as well as other people’s experience, I realized that our experience of dying is based on our beliefs in that life. We form our experience out of our beliefs and expectations just like we do in life, because it’s the “same mind” that’s creating both. It’s our mind that transcends our body as our soul and it continues to create its own experiences in the afterlife. I realized with a deepened sense of clarity that there’s no such thing as death in terms of the mind and spirit, it’s only the body and the identity created through our body that dies. We continue to create our experience in death, which is merely a different dimension of existence, in much the same way we create our experiences in living, except we no longer associate our “self” with being our body. We take on a much more universal identity, formed through numerous lifetimes and personalities where we have a direct awareness of being the one who created that life experience from a primarily unconscious state. Every death experience I had was different, even though they all involved a similar process.

The only part of us that’s carried forward after death is what we acquired through experience and practice, where it was “built into” (integrated) our subconscious and became a natural part of our nature and character. All synthesis takes place through “experience” where its integrated into our mental paradigm as a coherent memory that forms a “holographic model” also known as our etheric double or “light body”. Any idea or education only held as a theory and never practiced and acquired through direct experience, dies with the body. It’s only what we acted to “create” as an experience of ourselves that we carry forward into future lives.

We play out the same karmic patterns as theme-based dramas with the same group of souls, and by playing different parts and roles in the same overall idea. We can recognize these souls by looking in their eyes. The eyes always reveal the soul of a person, regardless of what they look like. The relationship is always similar in nature regardless of gender, role, culture, or status, and the same type of feeling and dynamic is played out through a different set of conditions and circumstances. We continue to play out these same dynamics and life themes with the same souls until we act within our own life to transform them.

As you relive any part of that life, you’re also making a direct connection to that same feeling and idea playing out in your current life. This connection comes from the “feeling” you have, and the dynamic associated with it that naturally emerges out of that feeling. Many past life memories come more as feelings that form vague impressions that seem far off in the distance and have a sense of familiarity around them. Almost like a déjà vu that you can’t quite put your finger on.  

There’s always 2 parts of you reliving the memory – one is directly in the experience as the body having it from within it, while another part of you is removed from it and viewing it like a movie while overseeing the greater process. These different aspects of yourself can be thought of as your higher self, which never incarnates into the physical body or material world, but remains outside of it, “watching” or witnessing it, while also conducting, orchestrating and administering it. This aspect of the soul is also what we can call the true “conscious mind” of a higher plane, that’s always awake and aware from a detached, rational, and unemotional perspective, and serves to guide and teach us through prayer, dreams, and intuition. The part of us that’s in the body and directly experiencing the story that’s playing out, is our lower soul, which enters an unconscious state and plays out the drama without realizing it’s all being created by them, and so they mistake it as being real and all there is.

Whatever conclusion we draw as realization at the end of the life, becomes the basis for the next life where the same basic idea is reestablished through our conditioning and life situation, where we either continue to play it out unconsciously, or we begin realizing we have the ability and means to transform and lead it by use of our conscious mind, and through this awareness of our true nature, dissolve unconscious patterns and begin creating and directing our life experiences from a self-aware state. This comes by detaching from the emotions involved in any situation, which are always attached to memories, and begin viewing and processing everything through our rational, reasoning mind, where we see it in a different light and can easily direct our own behavior and actions.

Many of our natural fears, apprehensions, phobia’s, anxiety around different ideas, and tendencies that can’t be explained as being acquired through our current life, were formed in previous lives and come to us through deep seated memory that’s not “seen” but “felt” in a pronounced and all-pervading manner. The memory formed out of these experiences become our higher soul’s constitution as our nature, personality, and character.

Our physical appearance and general features tend to be similar in every life, regardless of gender or race. This may be due to the fact that our “mind” is what forms itself as our etheric/astral blueprint which is used to construct our body and general makeup, and this same “image of ourselves” as a hologram is formed and evolved through each incarnation, varying only by how the mind itself evolves from lifetime to lifetime. We also form the same basic “personality”, varying only by the influences of our genetic makeup and gender or cultural conditioning. Every lifetime I experienced I had similar features, characteristics, and type of personality, all of which only varied in degree from my current life.

Once a past life is revisited and viewed from within it, it comes as a vague memory at first, that can seem far off in the distance yet imbued with a pronounced feeling of affinity. Once this memory is brought into our current life it acts like a seed for opening the door between what seems like the past and present, and as we go through our everyday life more and more memories or realizations come into our awareness, either in a spontaneous way, or through associations of some kind. New details seem to unfold in a continuous manner, in much the same way a flower blooms or a seedling grows to maturity. As this happens, you become more and more aware of the karma involved, and you become much clearer on what you need to do in this lifetime to resolve and redeem yourself by rectifying or counterbalancing it.

The Mind-Boggling Nature of Deeper Planes of Existence

As I went along, viewing several lifetimes, I came into direct contact with a deeper awareness that these lifetimes weren’t happening in a singular, linear timeline, where one followed another in a synchronized fashion, but instead seemed to be happening “all at once”. This came in a direct sense when I had visited one life, realized the pattern-theme I was acting out, and how that same tendency was playing out in my current life, and I resolved it (healed myself of it psychologically), and when I revisited that same life later through an intention I set, the dynamic that had been playing out earlier had changed, and I was no longer acting it out. At first this struck me as being strange and somewhat confusing, so I did it a couple of more times, and found it resulted in the same phenomena. I then did the same process with a few other people without telling them what I was doing, and again, got the same result.

This is when I really started grasping the true significance of “time” being an illusion (created by the conscious mind), and is actually “cyclical” in nature, and that the reason “prophecy was possible”, was because from a higher or outer plane everything on the lower inner plane had “already happened” and was being viewed in its entirety. We are simply “submerged within it” as a means of experiencing ourselves through it as a part of it. The same principle plays out on different levels and scales, one nested within the other as coherent states, and we’re all playing out a personal story within the greater story of mankind that are of a similar nature. Much like a hologram where the part contains the whole, and the whole contains the part, because they’re comprised of the same information being viewed from different perspectives and being interpreted in a way that makes it into a personal experience.

I then realized that some “lives” appeared to be running concurrently, or through “overlapping time-frames”. Some lifetimes that were being conducted from different bodies and life circumstances by the “same soul”, seemed to overlap each other by several years. Where two or three were “alive” at the same time at different places on Earth, all playing out a similar theme through a similar personality. This brought a whole new perspective to the idea that we’re all born as “twins”, and the scientific principle of entanglement, polarity, and quantum superposition, where a person can appear in two places at once, and the fact that we’re all multidimensional beings living on different levels simultaneously and the realization that “all lives” were happening at the same time. If we change the “state” of one as its inner constitution, the others all change in the same way instantaneously because they’re all being produced by the same soul. Not as a pathway of communication, but because they were all the “same essence”, the same thing. The physical body exist simultaneously as a waveform. This gave me new insight into the idea of the soul being “eternal” and not living within the time-space continuum, but existing on a higher or greater level where time doesn’t exist, and the now known fact that time is a mental construct formed by our conscious mind and doesn’t exist at the subconscious level.

After encountering these ideas, which were mind-boggling in terms of how we’ve been taught to think about time, I was walking down the beach on a moonlit night, and I had a distinct vision of myself as an accomplished teacher and speaker, while also wondering why I had never had a “spiritual teacher” in my life. I always seemed to be self-taught, no matter what I embarked on. I was literally modeling an “image of myself” that seemed like a form of memory. Even when I was going to school for Spiritual Sciences I was always involved in a very independent way of thinking about things that seemed to come about through a form of memory as “knowing”, which I simply attributed to my creative nature, when I suddenly realized this vision of myself that I was “modeling” was actually myself in “the future”. This led me to exploring the possibility of doing “future progressions”. What I discovered from doing this was that I could access my future self in this life, but that my future self as a different person, wasn’t on this same plane and type of experience, and hadn’t been determined yet, because it was based on how I continued to develop myself through the choices I made and how I formed my moral nature based on those choices.

This led me to realize that life comes as an evolutionary process of growth and development conducted by our own hand, and that while we can change the past by changing the same karmic patterns playing out in the present, we can’t know the future life until we conclude this one, because it’s based on the summation of this point in our evolution as a “single memory”. I also seemed to lead me into the idea that whenever we’re faced with a major life decision that will change our path in a significant or fundamental way, that the path we were on before making the decision keeps on playing out on a parallel plane while we begin creating a new path through our decision. It came as more of a fork in the road where even though we chose to go down one, the other remained and led to its destination. This completely changed the way I thought about reality and the multidimensional nature of my soul that contradicted everything I had been taught.

This brought me in touch with the “Law of Paradox”, where one idea of a similar nature appears to completely contradict another one, yet both exist and are true. This is the point where we realize through direct experience that different planes operate according to different laws and exist in polarity to each other as correspondences and possibilities. With this realization I came to understand how we can use the laws of a higher plane to work with the laws and forces of the lower plane and transmute them as a result. We can transcend the lower plane by vibrating on the higher one that corresponds with it. The reason we can’t accurately see future lives is because the future is being created in the moment by our thoughts and decisions, and the actions we take as a result of them. We are the one creating our self and our future life through active use of choice and free will, and this would be taken away from us if we were to see a future, we hadn’t acted to create for ourselves. To show us what our future holds would violate our free will and ability to be self-determined, which is a universal law that all beings must obey.

Any future life is based on the frequency we cultivate in this life through how we create our experiences and then integrate them into our mental model as memory of ourselves. Our mental model is steadily developed throughout our life and becomes the “karmic seed” for continuing the same idea in our next life. There isn’t a planning process performed by a kind of committee, it’s all based on vibration as the patterns we establish and maintain. Whoever we act out thematic patterns with as a shared reality, we continue to incarnate with where we play out the same type of patterns while playing different roles in those same patterns. It’s the patterns of our life as a general theme that we use to shape our identity, and it’s our identity (“I” and “I AM”) that determines our future life.

General Conclusions

These are the realizations I formed from direct experience, some of which completely defied common beliefs that we’ve been taught through conventional means. Through hypnosis, where we completely subdue and put to sleep the self-conscious, thinking aspect of our mind, and we reside fully within the subconscious, which contains all the memories we’ve acquired in a deep and somewhat latent form, can be directed to recall memories of specific lifetimes based on the intention we set as a form of “self-inquiry” about our own nature. Whatever intention you set as a way of asking for more information around an area of your current life, directs your subconscious to reference and access that memory. It does this by recalling only the significant events of that lifetime that pertain to your question, because each life is synthesized into a single memory as a mental model that contains all the information acquired through experience in a single and coherent state. This operates in much the same way you form and maintain memory in your current life, where you only remember and can recall the events that had a significant emotional impact and played a major role in how you formed your identity by how you interpreted them. How many people can remember the address of the house they lived in when they we a kid by the time they’re in their 60’s or 70’s? Especially if they moved around allot as a child. It’s the major events of our life that shape us and that we continue to use throughout our life as a means of creating more of the same type of experiences.

There’s no such thing as a series of single memories that are independent and unrelated to each other or to all your memories. All perceptions, projections, reorganization of information, interpretations, meaning, and internal dialogue is formed out of the same mental model to form how we experience the events of our life, and we reabsorb all our experiences back into the same model that produced them as a variation, where they’re integrated in a way that’s harmonious with the whole, upgrading it accordingly as a primary means of evolving it to a higher and more expanded level of understanding. This is how it is that we’re always creating ourselves by how we restructure our reality to form how we experience it, and then identify with our own creation.

What’s referred to as a “life review” we have as we’re dying that comes as a part of transitioning, where we view the significant events of our life through what appears as a chronological timeline, and we have the “experience” that we “caused others” through our actions, is the integrative process as a summary of all our life experiences into a single model that forms our “nature” (soul essence). Our internal essence as our character forms into what becomes our predisposition, temperament, attitude, tendencies, beliefs, values, preferences, life theme, memories, and internal image of ourselves, and is what forms the basis for our next life. It’s all formed into a single paradigm and becomes our karmic seed for the next life experience as a continuation born out of the same essence. Each life is simply one part and perspective in a continuous evolutionary growth process, where we’re the only one acting on ourselves as a means of evolving ourselves through various life cycles.

Dr. Linda Gadbois  

Transpersonal Psychologist, Mind-Body Health Consultant, and Spiritual Teacher/Mentor