Chapter 7
Our mind, body, and spirit work together in a way that completes us as people. They are not the same, however. Each is a distinct part of us. Our minds can be exercised by learning and challenging our beliefs. We can increase our knowledge and brain power by learning, studying, and just living. Our body, too, can be physically exercised. We function better all-around when we treat our bodies with respect—eating right, sleeping enough, and exercising. Our spirits also need to be respected, as these, unlike our body, are ageless. We each are a spiritual being living in a physical body. Past-life expert Dr. Brian Weiss is an author and doctor who stumbled upon past-life regression as a means to bring healing and understanding to his patients. He writes, “Our bodies may be constrained by this physical dimension, but our minds and souls are not … Our souls are as vast and limitless as the stars.”9 Our souls, our ageless spirits, are gifts that live on.
Bringing Gifts Forward from Past Lives
We are influenced by every different lifetime we’ve lived, and we can consciously pull abilities we’ve already developed from past lives. Knowing this adds a whole new dimension of possibility. Just imagine how amazing it would be to not have to start at square one. By bringing forward psychic talents you’ve cultivated in your past, you will find yourself further ahead than you may have thought. As with your five physical senses, your sixth sense will benefit from any lessons you’ve already studied. Think of yourself as a sponge that absorbs liquid. You’ve soaked up a variety of intuitive talents over the years that you can take advantage of now.
Tracy came in one day for a past-life regression. She was hoping to uncover something that would help explain her current-life issues. So, we brought her back for her first regression. She immediately connected to a Native American lifetime. (Though somewhat cliché, Native American lifetimes are very common.) Tracy explained in her session that she felt she was a man from the Iroquois tribe and there was someone from a warring tribe chasing him. She described the mask the enemy wore and talked about the year, the early 1700s. Alli, the name Tracy was called during her past life, spoke of traveling alone and having to protect himself from predators. Alli felt lonely and scared, often relying on his intuition to survive. In the end, he died by himself.
At the end of the session, I asked Alli what he needed to share with Tracy, what she could let go of in this lifetime, and what lesson she no longer needed. He told her she needn’t be alone anymore and that she didn’t have to be afraid or hide because there were no predators in her current lifetime.
Tracy revealed that she currently, in this lifetime, had almost a dozen children and lived in a remote wooded area, but with her family around her she no longer felt lonely. She was able to relax a bit, and not be afraid because Alli had confirmed she was not being hunted. She e-mailed me after the session to validate that the Native American who was chasing Alli was indeed part of the Mohawk tribe and all the names and dates corresponded to the evidential data she researched afterward. She was able to find the name Alli, short for Alliquippa, was indeed an Iroquois name. Being able to confirm the information she was given from her previous life helped her understand the lessons she brought forward, as well as the knowledge that came with it.
Past Lives and Their Influences
Our spirit is stronger and more resilient than our physical body, so we live on after our physical body dies. We learn through every lifetime and to some extent we retain much of the knowledge we’ve garnered, in our spiritual body. This wisdom can be utilized in your present life to help you expand your psychic awareness. Your past lives can also influence your beliefs and your gifts in this lifetime. They often affect what you are afraid of and how you react to things in the present, including how deeply you go into the metaphysical realm.
As a psychic, I don’t like to tell people who they were in previous lifetimes. Rather, I like them to discover it for themselves through past-life regression. What I do know is everyone who has regressed with me discovers at least one past life and associates that life on multiple levels to this lifetime. Often, they are surprised by what they did, but they can usually relate it to their actions now. This goes for psychic gifts as well. I’ve worked with some clients who have come out of their regression with their metaphysical abilities stronger than they were before.
Jan, a twenty-year-old, came into my office wanting to explore her intuition and to learn how to tap into and expand her natural psychic ability.
“We can approach this in a couple of different ways,” I told her. “I can mentor you and we can work on developing your gifts. Or, we can try doing a past-life regression and pull some of your previous abilities into this lifetime to increase what you’re already working with. What do you think?”
“Wow, I hadn’t considered that,” Jan replied. “Do you think that would help?”
“There’s only one way to see,” I told her.
We began the past-life regression and almost immediately Jan was transported back to a recent lifetime, in the 1940s, where she discovered she was a healer. She was able to work with people using her medical intuition and practiced hands-on healing or laying-
on of hands. But, that wasn’t all. She immediately jumped back to another lifetime.
She discovered she was a healer, and a witch. She was able to psychically see things for people. She felt afraid of her gifts, though. She hid them, so she wouldn’t be persecuted or even tortured or killed for it. She was afraid for her life, so she learned to not expose who she was and what she was capable of. She kept that she could view the future to herself. She was more comfortable healing or helping to heal others, though she never shared how she did it.
When Jan was done exploring these two lifetimes, I brought her back to the present. As she came back through the years, we asked her guides and her higher self to allow her gifts to come back with her. When she opened her eyes, there was a spark that hadn’t been there before. Right away she began talking, very animatedly.
“I was a witch! I hid my power, my psychic abilities! That makes perfect sense. That’s why I feel like I’m clairvoyant, but it always seems just out of reach. I also knew I was a healer. That’s why I’ve wanted to change my major to nursing. Wow, this is so exciting!” she exclaimed.
I told her to be with this new energy for a while and practice her psychic exercises. When she called me a week later her excitement was still palpable.
“I can’t believe it. I can see. My clairvoyant gifts are opening more than I can remember they ever did before. Also, I’m surprised by my medical intuitive abilities now. I can see inside a person’s energy and figure out where they’re blocked or if they have a health issue. This is amazing,” Jan said, and I knew it was just the beginning for her.
When I facilitated Jan’s past-life regression, it was as though she went back in time and was able to pull forward her psychic gifts that had lain dormant during this lifetime. She was able to assimilate her past-life gifts with her current life. But, what was almost more interesting was that she knew there was something currently missing, she just couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. Traveling back in time had allowed her to discover what she didn’t know she had forgotten. Luckily, she found it again, and so can you!
Past-life regression is a form of hypnosis. Generally, a good hypnotist, someone specifically trained to facilitate past-life regressions, can bring you back to a place and time where you lived before: same soul, different body. But, having someone like me, a certified hypnotist trained and certified in past-life regression and a practicing psychic, is the perfect blend to help you go back in order to bring forward your own abilities. However, past-life regression can also be done through self-hypnosis. It works, though generally not as well as if you journey with the aid of a professional.
Exercise
For this exercise it’s a good idea to do a voice recording of the regression so you may play it as a guided meditation. Or, if possible, have someone else read the regression exercise to you. As always, go somewhere you can be comfortable. Bring your journal with you and allow enough time to visit your entire life and retrieve details. You don’t want to be interrupted.
Take a few deep breaths and relax. Let that relaxation travel down from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Take another deep breath and imagine yourself at the top of a staircase looking down. We will count with every step down; you will become more and more relaxed, getting closer to a place and a time that has everything you do with who you are today.
Take another deep breath and take your first step down the stairs.
Ten … heading down now. Nine … more deeply relaxed. Eight … going further down now. Seven … more deeply relaxed. There’s nowhere else you need to be. Six … further down now. Five … half way, more deeply relaxed. Four … down deeper, now. There’s nothing else you need to do. Three … almost there. Two … deeper down, and one … at the bottom now. Totally relaxed.
In front of you is the entrance to the most beautiful place you’ve ever been, the most amazing place you’ve ever seen. The colors are crisper and brighter, and the sounds add to your feeling of total relaxation. As you began walking through the space, you notice there is a bridge up ahead. In a moment you will walk over the bridge. When I count from three down to one, you will cross the bridge. Three … taking your first step on the bridge. Two … moving over, knowing that on the other side of the bridge is a time and place that has everything to do with who you are today. And, one … step off the bridge into a time and a place where you’ve used your psychic gifts before.
Is it light or dark out? Are you inside or outside? Are you alone or with others? Looking at your body, notice if you are a man or a woman. Then, by looking at your clothing and your surroundings, try to determine what year or decade or even century it may be. Look at where you are and gather as much information as you can. Who else is there? Where do you live? Do you work? What do you do?
Now, focus on your psychic gifts. How do you utilize them in this lifetime? Do you psychically hear? See? Feel? Know? Do you have the ability to intuit when someone needs healing and why? How are you using your gifts, and do you share them with others? Or have you denied them entirely or hidden them from everyone? Take a while to discover whatever else you can about your abilities in this time and place.
When you are ready, go back to the bridge. One … take your first step toward coming back to the present. Two … moving over the bridge, bring your psychic gifts with you. Three … step off, back to your current life, but with a greater metaphysical intelligence. Take a deep, clearing breath and open your eyes.
Grab your journal and immediately write down every detail you can recall. You don’t want to lose it. Did you go to a previous life? Did you discover which gifts you had? Were you surprised?
Give yourself a couple of days to uncover your newly matured abilities. Did this regression help to cultivate the gifts you already had? Did it ripen new gifts? Do you feel like it was easy to access your past lives and the psychic abilities you used during them? Sometimes it’s just about giving yourself permission to experience your metaphysical senses. If you had an experience that caused you to be afraid of your gifts, you may discover you’ve closed them off. Past-life regression is one more tool in your tool belt to help advance your psychic abilities beyond a beginner level.
How Deceased Loved Ones Can Help
There is good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad news. You have probably lost at least one or more people that you care about. This is our reality. We are born, we pay taxes, and we love and have family, and then we die. Now, for the good news. Our loved ones are never really gone. They are on the other side, and they are rooting us on! They want us to succeed. And, they want to help us tap into our inherent gifts from our ageless spirit.
Just like us, their spirit lives on as well. They will always be linked to us, through our spirits, connected in a way that transcends time and space. We progress through our lives, learning and hopefully improving our souls, and our loved ones travel alongside us, both in the physical realm and the metaphysical. They aid us in our past-life discoveries and they welcome us to the other side and back again. And, they help us develop our gifts.
During a past-life regression, you can ask your loved ones to travel with you. We usually don’t share the same relationship with each of our family members and friends throughout our lifetimes. Rather, we share the same group or pod. For example, in this lifetime we may be a man named John, married to a woman named Carrie with two kids, named Sarah and Jeffrey. In our previous lifetime, we may be Sarah, with Jeffrey as our mom and John and Carrie our best friends. We change our physical bodies, our genders, and our relationships, but travel with our familial pod.
We learn lessons throughout each lifetime and these loved ones are part of those lessons. We continue, generation to generation, trying to repattern what we’ve learned and brought into our lives. Breaking the cycle is crucial to moving forward. To illustrate, imagine your grandmother grew up impoverished and had a very difficult life, financially destitute. Then your mom grew up, stuck in the same scarcity mind-set, barely managing to stay afloat. Now, it’s your turn. Have you learned the lesson yet? Or, are you going to go through life broke, expecting to stay broke?
Your peeps on the other side are there to break the psychic stigma as well. If you uncovered during your past-life regression that you hid your gifts out of fear of persecution, then it may be time to ask for help releasing your fears. If you weren’t permitted to be your authentic psychic self because your grandparents or your parents didn’t allow it, they are now ready to encourage and foster it from the other side. If you’ve forgotten how skilled you were, your familial pod will nurture and inspire you to recall your gifts. Essentially, they are your mates, the ones you will continue with until you are done learning from each other. They are the ones who know you best and can, along with your guides, help you raise your spirits. They want to be of service.
Exercise
In a quiet spot, close your eyes. Begin by breathing deeply, inhaling and exhaling with conscious intent. When you are comfortable, feel the energy in your toes. After you’ve detected the energy, move it up into your ankles and feel the warmth as it fills up your joints. Now, move that energy up into your calves and shins. Feel the heat move up into your knees and hips. Let your focus continue through your abdomen and your solar plexus. Up a bit more, now, into your chest and shoulders and arms. Continue this energy up through your neck and face. Move it all the way up, out of your crown chakra, allowing the energy to flow over your body.
Take another deep breath and imagine you are standing in front of a tree. It is a beautiful tree with nice full branches. It has a thick trunk and it reaches up and out toward the beautiful blue sky. Streaks of sunlight shine down, surrounding you with the energy of the universe. Step closer to the tree. As you do, feel the energy of the earth connecting to your energy. Reach your arms out and hug the tree. Become one and let your mind, body, and spirit experience the connection.
Now, while still linked together, stretch your awareness out to the branches. This, you see, is your family tree. You have many family members and friends branching out, still attached to this life and on the other side. Spread your spirit through the limbs and extend outward, through the wood and the leaves until you feel yourself connecting to a deceased loved one, someone who was part of your family tree. It might be a family member or even a close friend. Ask for their name or initial so you can identify who they are. If you don’t receive a name, state that only those with positive energy and intentions are allowed to be part of your tree.
Now comes the good stuff. Use your familial pod to enhance your gifts. Ask this first person to heighten your psychic abilities. Ask them, “Do you have a specific psychic gift you want to help me with?” Wait for their answer. If they say yes, ask them to send the energy to you through the branches. Notice if you can tell which psychic sense they assist you with. If they say no, ask them to send whatever energy they can to augment your gifts. Be open to receiving the boost either way.
Continue making your way through all the branches in your family tree until you no longer feel you are connected to anyone. Then call your energy back. When you’ve pulled away, take a deep breath and release the tree. Thank your ancestors, friends, and family that shared their psychic gifts with you to help expand yours.
Open your eyes and breathe deeply. Check in with your body, mind, and spirit for any improvements. Do you notice any enrichments? Are you experiencing any kind of heightened awareness? Pay attention to anything that may feel different than before you connected to your tree.
You might have noticed a strong connection when you worked with your family tree. You travel lifetimes together; you’ve built roots that meander through your current life and join with your familial pod. Learning from each other not only increases your general awareness, it enhances your metaphysical intelligence. It adds to your capability to progress from a beginning level or entry-level psychic student to a rank beyond. We usually pick up and absorb information every day. If we wait for it to come to us, we will glide along, probably happy, but never advancing past our current situation. But, if we decide we want more, it’s up to us to extend ourselves to tap into it. Our family is there to help us achieve that.
You can look to your past lives as well as your familial pod to learn and make adjustments in this lifetime. Knowing that your cousin may have been your daughter in a previous life can also help explain why you may have an extra special connection to them. Appreciate that we don’t have to start from square one with our psychic gifts—rather we can tap into the knowledge that we’ve gathered in our previous lives. We accumulate so much psychic wisdom; it would be silly to not reap the benefits by pulling it back up to our current reality. Knowing it’s there adds an extra layer of security and can be harvested to take your psychic abilities beyond a beginning level, especially when practicing with other people.
9. Weiss, Brian. Miracles Happen: The Transformational Healing Power of Past-Life Memories. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2012.