I am often asked to talk of the many past life regression sessions I’ve facilitated for clients over the years and the one question that is routinely asked by eager listeners is “Ray, tell us please, which is your most memorable past life regression? Over the years, out of all the past life regressions I’ve facilitated, the following will remain with me the longest: My most memorable past life regression session occurred during the early summer of 1998. Silke Scheideriter was a young lady in her early twenties at that time and was employed in the German department of AOL which was based at Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. Silke initially contacted me with a request which was quite straight forward for an experienced Hypnotherapist like myself. Silke’s father had passed over when she was only nine years old and the memories she had of him were not clear and her anxiety and concern was that the little memories she did have of him would eventually fade away. As Silke lived in Dublin, and my wife Maureen and I live in Barry, a seaside town on the most southern tip of Wales in the United Kingdom, a one hour appointment with me was simply out of the question. To overcome this problem, I suggested to Silke after she told me she was due some leave from work she could, if she so wished, fly over from Dublin and stay with my wife and I as our guest. This invitation was accepted by Silke with enormous enthusiasm! The date arranged for Silke to fly from Dublin was May 29th. Maureen drove to Cardiff International Airport, which is only a short ten-minute drive, to bring her to our home which is a terraced house in the center of Barry Town. After Silke unpacked and settled into our home the subject of our conversation soon turned to hypnotism, she told me she had only come across hypnotism recently after witnessing and taking part in a demonstration given by a comedy hypnotist hired by her employer for a social function. After this experience Silke became fascinated by hypnotism. This is how she learned of the technique of regression. Through regression she hoped to access the lost memories of her father. It was agreed to begin our first session the following morning. During the evening of Silke’s arrival, following dinner, she became totally engrossed in the many books on the subject of hypnotism that filled my bookshelf. One book in particular captivated her attention, “Hypnotism” published during the early 1900s by “The Psychic Research Company of Chicago and London,” in my personal opinion, essential reading for persons wishing to have a firm grasp on the practical techniques of hypnotism. As Silke read the section in the book detailing instant and rapid hypnotic induction techniques she asked me if it was really possible to put a person into a deep hypnotic trance state fast. On explaining this was possible, Silke then asked very enthusiastically, “Try it on me!” The events which followed I can only describe as incredible! On demonstrating to Silke a rapid or instant hypnotic induction technique I quickly discovered that she could enter into a deep hypnotic trance state instantly and experience deep trance hypnotic phenomena that is characteristic of said states. Later on, following more demonstrations, I discovered Silke’s sense of taste and even her perception of reality could be altered by verbal suggestion alone without resorting to any hypnotic induction whatsoever! Discovering this I believed would make my work with Silke the following morning so much easier. The following morning it took only fifteen minutes to restore Silke’s dim and distant memories of her late father into glorious technicolor and sound! Also, given to Silke by me that morning was a post hypnotic suggestion to the affect that whenever she thought of a certain “code word” she could access even further memories of her father in glorious sound and vision! A technique I believe she still uses to this day. As our hypnotic work was over in such a short space of time and its objective achieved, Silke explored the works on my bookshelf even further and chose a book titled “The Power Of The Mind” written by acclaimed British Hypnotherapist Joe Keeton. Having read it for a while Silke ridiculed the notion of people claiming to have experienced a previous earthly existence and the concept of reincarnation. At this point I disclosed to Silke that facilitating past life regressions was an interest of mine, or should I say a fascination, and then went on to suggest to her that, if she wished, she could experience a past life regression sometime during her stay with us. I also suggested that she may like to have a friend of mine video tape the experience to take home and keep as a souvenir of her stay with us. This she agreed to with quite some zest! Silke’s past life regression was a totally unique experience for me. For a person who had ridiculed and scoffed at the possibility regarding the reality of past lives and reincarnation Silke’s experiences during her past life regression with me seemed to be more colorful than a rainbow! One episode during her regression left me with much food for thought. Allow me to explain. A person may regress to one or even more characters previous to their present existence here on earth, the memories of the characters appear to cease at the point of their death during their previous lifetimes and no in-between life state appears to be experienced by the regressee. Maybe other hypnotherapists can tell me differently. During our past life regression session, in total, Silke regressed to five characters, four females and one male! As I mentioned earlier, there was one episode during Silke’s regression that left me with much food for thought. Silke was experiencing memories of one of her characters after death. Now, without going into too much detail regarding the character’s living memories, the following memories are of what was recalled by Silke: The first character recalled by Silke was named “Marie.” We joined Marie during her age of seventeen strolling through a wood on her way to fetch some milk and appeared to be happening during the early 1800s in Europe. Marie gave an account of her life up until the age of thirty-seven. At that age, Marie was struck with a severe fever from which she succumbed. The following is an account of the existence Marie experienced after the death of her physical body: First Marie fears the oncoming of death and the terrible thought of leaving behind her beloved family, by now Marie has married and has a husband and two young sons. These are the words spoken during the regression by Marie in death. “Everything is blurred; I can’t see anything”. When asked where she was Marie replied, “I’m looking down on a room; It has a bed in it; there are two people sitting by the bed; a woman is sleeping in it; It’s very bright! I’m not myself! I’m somebody else! I’m not myself anymore! It feels so nice!” At this point I questioned Marie regarding her family, she replied “I miss them all; I feel as if I’m floating, going up to the stars; it’s a wonderful feeling.” Asked to describe what she was seeing Marie gave an answer to which I still ponder to this day: “I don’t see, I just feel. I’m complete happiness! I’m calm.” Then quite unexpectedly, Marie exclaims “It’s all changing! It’s getting darker! I feel as if I’m being pulled down! I have to go back! I’ve let my family down! I have to go back! I don’t know how!” Marie suddenly finds herself back in the home she had lived in with her family and continues “I can see them now; they can’t see me! I’m trying to speak; they can’t hear me! I can’t reach them; I’m not in their lives anymore!” I asked Marie to tell me where she was going. “It’s like a fog,” was her reply. “I’m in a big dark room; there is light coming down from the ceiling.” When questioned once more on her family whom she had left behind the answer given me from a rather puzzled sounding voice told me “I’ve not left anyone behind.” Who are you? I asked. A relaxed, calm sounding voice gently replied, “I’m no one.” Silke’s trip to Barry and her experiences with both hypnotherapy and past life regression changed the direction of her life completely. Shortly afterwards, she returned to Germany and raised funds so she could make a serious study of hypnotism and psychology. I feel I must add, after Maureen and I came to know Silke better I can honestly say she does not do things by halves! Up until now Silke has completed a study of Neuro-Linguistic Programming tutored to her by its co-creator, Richard Bandler and has been coached in hypnotic techniques by renowned hypnotist, Paul McKenna. Since Silke’s visit to us here in Wales I have adapted my past life regression technique to allow persons to experience in between life states and if Silke, or should I say Marie’s, account of what happens to us all after our physical death has occurred is one day proven to be true, when the good Lord above decides to shine His light on me I shall be there with a large smile across my face and my arms widely outstretched! Views:]]>