Over the years, I realized that there can be any number of techniques for past life regression. A technique is simply a means to guide an access to former lives. While working with the clients I come up with many innovative and versatile techniques to accomplish the goal of regression. I remain open to respond to the unique needs of a client. I still consider all the techniques and procedures as samples of the techniques. The availability of a range of techniques and the mind set for evolving innovative techniques make it possible for me to have a smooth transition from technique to technique until the goal of accessing past life is attained. My first technique of inducing past life regression was based on the typical procedure of Dr. Brian Weiss which helped me to capitalize and come up with an extensive range of techniques. Wherever applicable and required, I combine multiple techniques for accessing previous life.

Technique-1: Divine Light (Divya Jyoti): In this technique I instruct the subject to visualize a divya jyoti in his/her mind’s eye and ask the subject to confirm through ideo-motor questioning or verbal response when he/she is able to visualize the divya jyoti. This light may be small or large, bright or dim; of any color. Upon successful visualization, I suggest that this light would move and take him/her to an older time; he/she should allow his/her mind to follow this light and the light would disappear after some time. When the light disappears, he/she should report to me.

Upon confirmation, I tell the subject to narrate whatever pops up in his/her mind without any critical evaluation, judging whether it is imagination or a past life, just keep on describing like a cricket commentary. A high hypnotizable subject may develop dullness and have difficulties in narrating experiences because of extreme lethargy in speech mechanism. In such cases, I enable the subject for verbal reporting that his/her lips, mouth and speech mechanism are now empowered and enabled to report the experiences in sufficient volume. This enabling suggestion is quite powerful and saves lots of questioning and probing efforts of mine.

This was my first innovation in the techniques of past life regression which occurred due to the introspective reports of SD for his regression experiences. More than once he reported that there was some kind of jyoti (light) which carried him to the ashram. This experience and reporting of him was spontaneous. I formalized this experience for developing a technique and experimented on this divya jyoti technique which yielded positive results in many other cases. This remained my preferred technique of past life regression for many years.

On 8^th April 2004 at 6.30 pm Mrs. SV when told to follow the divine light experienced that the jyoti is moving in the sky, it is over a beautiful city… I want to step down to this city… it is a foreign city, does not belong to India…there is a huge round shape building… I am a male… I have a research lab… I want to get into it…I am a scientist related to medical field… this lab is situated in a hospital adjacent to Operation Theater… I am feeling frustrated… I am not getting the desired results of my experiment… I am trying to discover a treatment for some abdomen related disease… at present organ has to be removed… but I am researching a medicine through which it can be treated without organ removal… a patient is lying on the table… he is operated on his stomach… he could not survive, he died…most of the patients die with this surgery… it is a big organ… it is evening… others are telling me to leave….I am not feeling like going home…. I am young… probably it is London… I am going back to my home in a car… it is a small house… I have a wife and a son… (skip forward to significant event of that life)… I am feeling fatigue… I am having suicidal ideas… I am frustrated with failure of my research… I am not sharing my frustration with my wife and son… they are happy… I am angry and going to my lab… I am in conflict whether to live or not… on one side I am failed and the other side my wife and son… I am having destructive ideas… my efforts of several years have gone in vain… I am having glimpses of my wife’s face… I am feeling the need for guidance from someone… after a few days… my wife is re-assuring me and advising to begin afresh… (skip forward to next significant event of that life)… I am tired and sad…feeling heaviness in limbs… I am not able to move… there has been an explosion in the lab… the furniture of the lab fell over me… I am beneath a wooden almirah… I am not even able to scream…

Technique-2: A Gallery: In this technique, I suggest a subject to visualize a long gallery as seen in hotels… there are many rooms in both left and right side… the doors of all the rooms are closed…these rooms represent your previous lives… the doors are gateway to the corresponding previous life of yours…allow your mind to choose any of the doors…as your mind chooses one, you would go and stand in front of the door…when I say then only you would open the door…your mind is open to all the possibilities…it is getting prepared for a journey to your older times…the deepest layers of your mind are open and prepared to experience your previous lives…when I say you would enter the room… the room inside is filled with divine white light… upon your entry into the room, you would feel surrounded by the divine white light, and you would drift back to any of your previous lives… now open the door and enter the room…confirm your entry verbally or through ideo-motor response…(upon confirmation, I wait for a few moments)… now whatever pops up in your mind, just narrate and describe like a cricket commentary…do not judge, evaluate or discard any experience… everything is relevant and important… just keep on narrating….(If successful, I continue with exploration and healing; in case of failure, I would take the subject back and allow him/her to enter other room in the gallery and continue for about 2-3 rooms and if still failing I would smoothly make a transition to other technique).

Technique-3: Apple Technique: This is a light weight technique; I found it useful in analytical subjects also. I do not go for formal hypnotic induction for this technique; of course I can do it under hypnotic trance also. In this technique, a series of 4-5 questions within a few minutes allow access to previous life. This is a kind of bridge technique. There was an elderly lady with obsessive features for past life regression. She was not responding to other techniques, I was inclined to label it as regression failure. At that point this technique was revealed to me. I proceeded as under:

Tell me when you ate an apple last time…she responded that a few days back… now tell me what you are wearing, who are around you… she narrated all the requested details… now go to your childhood and tell me when you are eating an apple… I am 4-5 years old, wearing a frock and eating apple… OK… now go to the age of less than two years when you ate an apple… I am a few months old… I am on the lap of my father… he is giving me apple to eat…alright… now still go many years back from now when you were eating an apple… and LO she successfully accessed one of her previous life and narrated it in quite detail.

I have developed variations within this apple technique and now I use any cue for taking a person into past life regression.

To Mr. RR an adult with obsessive personality, I suggested…close your eyes and visualize a beautiful park… tell me what you are seeing in the park… he began to speak…children are playing… the edges are cut in animal shape… (what shapes are they?)…elephant… horse… tiger etc… (now focus on the shape of an elephant and tell me when you saw an elephant in your childhood)… I am a young child… an elephant came to our village… children are following it and enjoying… (now go to an age of less than two years when you saw an elephant)… I am on my father’s lap… we are on the roof… an elephant is passing through the road…(now go to the time before your birth when you saw an elephant)…it is a forest…I am a little tiger, I am alone hiding in a bush… a flock of elephants is passing by… I am afraid… the flock is going away and I am coming out of the bush.

Technique-4: Walking on an Old Road: This is one of the ultra fast technique of inducing past life regression. After trance induction, deepening and testing, I ask a subject to visualize an old road and move along the road and report what he/she is viewing on the way. That’s it.

To Mr. SA a person with obsession, after trance induction, I instructed to visualize an old road and move along the road and tell me what you see on the way. Quickly he began to speak, two tribal persons are there and I am one of them… there is a hut… it is night time… I am viewing eyes of an animal… many tribal people are following a lion… one of them attacked the lion with a spear…and killed the lion… they are bringing the body of the lion towards hut…

Technique-5: Sample Combination Technique: I make a smooth transition from technique to technique to induce past life regression. For example, when a special room technique does not work, then I would add one more room inside that room. I would suggest visualizing a gate to other room inside this room only and as he/she enters this room then he/she would drift back to older times. If still it does not work, then I would add, alright there is a door inside this second room, it opens to the backside, open this room and you would find yourself on a very old road, move along this old road and as you are moving tell me what you see on the way. And I would continue to make transition until I successfully hit the target of accessing previous life.

I put Dr. Z on 1^st October 2002 into hypnotic trance through relaxation based procedure. After trance deepening, I suggested to visualize a gallery having rooms on both the sides and allow the mind to choose one of them and stand before the door… when I say you would enter the room and as soon as you enter the room you would find yourself surrounded by a divine white light and you would drift back to your older times…he entered the room upon my instructions… nothing happened… then I took him to another room in similar manner… again nothing happened… again I took him to a third room… nothing happened then I smoothly switched over to other technique within the room… now visualize a divya jyoti in your mind’s eye, and with this jyoti he immediately accessed one of his ancient life.

Technique-6: Imagine Your Past Life: “close your eyes, imagine your past life and tell me what you are experiencing” can be a potent technique to have a similar experience which one has with lengthy techniques. I decided to explore what happens with such instructions.

On 26^th January 2003 at 10.30 pm I instructed Dr. MS “close your eyes, imagine your past life and tell me what you are experiencing” She began to speak… trees are there… there is a lady… she is alone… a girl wearing a dress as girls wear in Kashmir… a small cot is kept over there…the lady is cooking chapatti… there is an elderly man of dark complexion and the poor one…he is irritable…

She switched over to another life without any interruption or suggestion of any kind. there are 6-7 persons, appear to be employees of a King… the same girl is sitting but this time she is different in a modern outlook… the face is very similar… there is a queen she is asking something… she is a bit impatient… King is coming… queen is sitting…(soul mate: she is one of our relations in current life)…

Technique-7: Visitor from a Spiritual Plane: It is an ultra fast technique for hypnotic induction and past life regression. It is based on my conception that a slip from waking awareness into hypnotic awareness is a task of a few moments, it takes seconds only.  It evolved through my years of applications. It seems very simple but it works.

Yesterday, that is on 19^th September 2011 at 7.00 pm I evolved following procedure for hypnotic induction and regression. Ms. TP a young married lady made herself comfortable on my three seat sofa and lied down. Once postural adjustment was ensured, I asked her to close her eyes, visualize a beautiful park, lie down over there and tell me what she is viewing in the sky…quickly she reported clouds and a white light…I simply acknowledged it by saying OK and suggested further that a visitor from a spiritual plane is visiting her in the park and tell me when it arrives….she reported a white light in the sky and smoothly drifted back to her previous lives…there is a beautiful room, there are many books in the room, there is a lady who is being prepared for wedding… there is a ship, the year is 1934 and the ship is drowning and several people are falling into the sea… instantly there was an abreaction, she shifted to sitting posture and extended her both the arms as if she is in a running stance, she started crying…and showing grief reaction that so many people are dying…

Technique-8: Third Eye Scan: I found this technique useful even for the subjects who initially appeared analytical to me and difficult to regress. This procedure is based on the bridge techniques of past life regression, hence carries a high potential for abreaction, because in this procedure a subject usually lands on a traumatic experience of previous life. I adapted this procedure from the work of Andy Tomlinson. While a subject remains in lying posture, I ask him/her to close his/her eyes, I would then make rotational movements of my palm above a few inches of the point between eyebrows and ask him/her to scan his/her body and mind for any alternation in sensations and feelings, when the subject reports such changes, I would then ask the subject to focus on the altered feeling/sensations with a suggestion that his/her mind would drift back to the source of this altered feeling/sensation. When subject commences speaking, I discontinue my rotational movements. This procedure smoothly results into access to a previous life.

I asked Dr. PM to lie down on my three seat sofa and make himself comfortable. I asked him to close his eyes, placed my right palm above 2 inches of the point between eyebrow and commenced circular moments, after about 5-6 movements, I gave following suggestions, ‘scan your body top to bottom for any altered sensations and feelings, if there is one report to me, within a few seconds he began to report altered sensations in right side of his chest, I stopped my circular motions and suggested him that his mind is open to all possibilities and being drawn to the source of this altered feeling in the chest and I allowed him to continue… he began to complain of severe cramps and pain, it was an instance of severe abreaction which was making him uncomfortable and in distress… I had to interrupt the procedure and terminate the session. If the session would have continued, then he would have come up with detailed experiences and background of this distress in the right side of the chest…

I also use many other hypnotic trance based techniques such as followings for past life regression.

1. There is Viman (a specialized plane), you are sitting on the Viman and it is taking you to older times or any of your former lives.
2. Look into the sky and clouds are floating, focus on one particular cloud and let your mind follow it, when the cloud disappears, begin to describe everything what you see and experience.
3. Recollect your recurrent dream and go to the source of this dream
4. Focus on your symptom, say headache and allow your mind to drift to the source of this symptom (bridge technique).
5. Focus on the face of any of your friend, family member, boss or enemy and allow your mind to drift back to an older time when you were together
6. Déjà vu bridge – focus on the place where you have a sense of familiarity and allow your mind to drift back to older times when you had any connection with this place.

Block Removal: At times some subjects get stuck into the process and find it difficult to experience regression. I try to remove such blockages through following procedures.

1. I would gently tap on the third eye (the point between eyebrows) 2-3 times with a suggestion that his/her mind is opening up to previous experiences. I seek permission of the subjects before touching.
2. I would verbally ask the subject to report what is preventing him/her from having regression experiences.
3. I would also enquire if there is any specific expectation of procedure or experience; and then modify my procedure as per the feedback.
4. I would keep on reiterating that he/she should report all the experiences even if it appears trivial or irrelevant.
5. I would make transition to other techniques or intuitively evolve newer techniques
6. I would emphasize that it is not necessary that he/she would be having any visualization, a regression experience can reveal itself in other modalities like feelings, sensing, bodily sensations, just thoughts or feelings or imagination.
7. I would go blind and suggest that whatever is blocking the regression experience is getting dissolved and being removed and I would reinforce it with simple 1-5 counting.
8. I would suggest to the subject that he/she should not try too much to have regression experience, let it happen naturally, spontaneously and leave all the active efforts. It is a passive process and let the experiences pop up into the mind in any manner.

Despite all the best efforts, a few clients may fail to experience regression. In such cases I have developed alternative set of strategies which I would describe at appropriate place in this book. A client should rest assured that there are instances when a person does not get regressed in first or a few subsequent sessions; there is nothing one should get ashamed of it.

Past Life Regression of Children: Regressing children is quite easy and I can smoothly facilitate past life regression in children. Prior to venturing into the past life regression of children I read Carol Bowman (1997) Children’s Past Lives. This book provided me comprehensive guidelines and manners in which children respond to past life explorations. I use following script either in sitting or lying position and continue the exploration as for the adults. I maintain a soft, gentle, compassionate attitude towards exploration of the events and traumas of previous lives. There can be quick and large abreaction in children and I remain prepared to handle them.

Close your eyes, feel loose and light, visualize that a fairy with its magic wand is descending from the cosmos and coming towards you, (confirm when a fairy is there), you are safe and secure in the presence of this fairy and the fairy is taking you to older times when you had a different mummy and papa.

It can also be as easy as asking a child to focus on his/her fears or other problems and asking him/her to narrate what he/she is seeing or experiencing. A child can behave quite intelligently during past life regression and there can be mixing of present life and past life events. A young child who is able to comprehend instructions and co-operate in the process can be taken for past life explorations.

I have done a few past life regression on children of late childhood age. They accessed their past lives quite smoothly and quickly using above procedure and I explored their previous lives in age blocks of 10 years beginning from childhood. One of the children relived his previous life in a foreign country and died in a car accident. The other one was robbed by dacoits and killed.