My hypnosis path started with Past Life Regression…
As a kid, I was always into magic and sciences that seem like magic. So I took out books from the library on magnetism and hypnotism.
I assumed hypnosis was just a trick, sometimes it is, but I found out in my late teens that it was real.
I was 18, my girlfriend at the time and I were in a book store in Center City Philadelphia and decided to buy a “psychic powers” book for fun. After looking for 20 seconds we ended up buying Instant ESP by David St. Clair. The book was very easy to read and was in the tone of a mentor/friend. We read through it and found a chapter on Past Life Regression.
We didn’t particularly believe in past lives but turns out that’s fine. The book points out that science/psychology recognizing past life regression as a working form of therapy. It’s either possible that the past lives in your head are true or your mind makes them up to entertain you OR to help you deal with your current/real life.
We started the technique on each other (I’ll write it up at the end) and got results immediately. It’s important to try it with someone that isn’t going to just play around – we trusted each other.
If I recall, this was 20+ years ago, in my girlfriend’s first try she was back in WWII Germany and believed she knew me there. I don’t think it was more detailed than her having a walk-through of Germany in that time.
I, for whatever reason, wasn’t able to do it. Which at first made me question it. But I quickly became experienced at assisting/leading others through the process.
We lived in the dorms in Philly and many people wanted to try anything to get rid of boredom. I believe I tried it on around 20 or more people.
Examples:
A dorm-friend that was an illustrator, kinda surfer-ish, was up for doing regression. He, my girlfriend, and I were the only ones in the room.
He “went under” very fast. I asked him to describe the area and he said he was in the woods. He was a guard guarding a painting. He said he was wearing wood on his body. He began to shiver. Our dorm was an old Marriott so we still had the 90s Marriott breakfast table and chairs. He was in one of those chairs. He started to shake so hard from it being cold that the chair sounded like it was cracking. I “brought him out” rapidly. Not recommended mainly because the people feel like they woke up too quickly from a dream.
He was a unique case. He got up, look exhausted, lit up a cigarette and started smoking out of my window. I asked him for more details and he said “from what?” He didn’t remember it at all. He started to get really angry at us because he thought we were messing with him. He ended up leaving and never spoke to me again. I felt bad about that because he was such a nice person. My guess is, it affected him and he had no way to explain the feeling. He then doubted there was something he couldn’t remember and focused all that concern on us possibly lying to him.
After that, I started to video tape (actual tape) the sessions.
One of our friends from the floor, who happened to be gay (relevant), wanted to try it. After I put him “under” he said he went back to what I guess would be the mid-late 1800s. He suddenly had an english accent AND was straight. Married to a woman. Or, if I recall, he WAS married to a woman and she died. When speaking about her he started to cry with his eyes closed. I have it on tape somewhere.
During these sessions people have their eyes closed. It puts you into a state right before sleep. Very calm and relaxed. You voice reflects the state. You speak like you’d about to take a nap.
After our “Englishman-turned” friend was done, we put his roommate under. His was completely different than most. REALLY different.
He went into a memory from his current life. He said he went into his childhood room and sat down on his bed. After that, he said “the ball of light is here”. He then explained that a ball of light would come out of a crack in his wall and speak to him all the time. After he came out of the sleep state he said that was a real memory from his childhood.
My first time…
Oddly enough my first successful time with hypnosis was on the phone. I was speaking to a friend – that I’m still close with 20+ years later. I was in Philly and he was in North Carolina. I had a bunch of successful attempts guiding him so he was happy to try with me.
