Dr. Weiss on past-life regressions

Dr. Weiss (mentioned in an earlier post) on how past life memories can occur even without regression hypnosis....maybe there's hope for me yet....  Incidentally, by clicking on the video here, or linking to it on my Pinterest page, you can access Dr. Weiss' entire channel of videos about past-life regression. Enjoy!

Yesterday's past-life regression session

Hi All,

Sorry that it took me until today to write about it, but it really was a long afternoon and I needed to think about what I experienced before I wrote about it.

In a nutshell, I did not have any memories of past lives or future planning (for this life or any others).  I'm not even sure if I was hypnotized, but it was the one of the most relaxed states I've probably ever been in - especially for such a sustained amount of time.  I did speak quite freely when asked questions, and usually I am fairly private, particularly until I get to know someone well. 

The session was to last two hours - with the first 15 minutes or so to talk about the game plan - including what I wanted to focus on.  I think this might have been the larger issue as to whether I was actually hypnotized or not because I chose to tackle something that's been bothering me for quite some time.  Now this is my usual M.O. - classic over-achiever - have to go for the gold.  But what ended up happening in the session yesterday, was that any time she touched on that topic....I tensed up, started to come out of the extreme state of relaxtion (I really couldn't feel my body---that's how 'relaxed' I was), and couldn't "see" anything - in this life or any other, other than the visualization techniques she used for the hypnosis.  So basically, I should have crawled before I attempted to walk - let alone run.

If I ever try this again (and I'd like to in order to compare experiences...or maybe you just get better at it over time?), I will definitely start with baby-steps.....

The other problem for me during the hypnosis is that I felt like with the prompts to do so, I was working too hard to try to see something.  Even with nearly two hours...it felt rushed.  That's not a criticism of the hypnotist though.  I like to take my time to process things and analyze them.  She did ask permission if she could give me a general prompt while under hypnosis (if I was under) to see things while I was dreaming at night (because my dreams are pretty techni-color, and often recurring).  I did, and funnily enough last night I did have a recurring dream, somewhat mundane, but one I've had many times over the past handful of years.  Was it the power of suggestion?  Something else?  I don't know.  But I have been thinking about the dream all day.......
Any thoughts?

Past life regression session

Sorry to keep everyone in suspense.... but I was there for a couple of hours and I need time to process it.  I promise to share the experience tomorrow.  :)

An infographic I created about reincarnation beliefs by select religions

A Challenge from Beyond

I'm working on an infographic right now to try to simply explain (and understand) the differences in reincarnation beliefs across different religions.  I revisited the howstuffworks.com article about reincarnation, and realized I never read this sidebar referring to Dr. Ian Stevenson, whose video lecture you might have watched on my blog last week:

“Although Stevenson never publicly stated a personal belief in reincarnation, he did express his desire to communicate after death. Nearly 40 years ago, the psychiatrist purchased a combination lock and set the code himself with a mnemonic device. He sequestered the lock in a file cabinet and placed it in the Division of Perceptual Studies. He reportedly told colleagues that after death, he would attempt to pass on the mnemonic device. Since Stevenson's death in February 2007, the lock has not been opened.”

From howstuffworks.com;  http://people.howstuffworks.com/reincarnation4.htm

If you come across any 6 year olds mysteriously talking about locks and codes...by all means, contact the University of Virginia.  :)   Wouldn't that be extraordinary?!

For the non-neuro-scientist: How the brain works

Try this great interactive from National Geographic (click on link then mouse over the picture to get started)

Brain, Brain Information, Facts, News, Photos -- National Geographic

A "Deeper Shade of Soul"

If something akin to a “soul” or some essence of our being can transcend physical death and have a re-birth, it stood to reason that I needed to examine the concept of the soul.  Growing up Christian, of course our collective faith does not believe in reincarnation, but the existence of one’s soul (and the salvation of such) after your physical death is definitely part of our faith.  Something of you still exists.  I’ve been exploring other perspectives, and recently I’ve been reading through some philosophical accounts of what constitutes our soul.

Some philosophers like Rene Descartes have written about the dualistic nature of the mind and body – that they operate separately.  Now that stance should make neuro-scientists protest loudly, as their research shows that the brain and our nervous system are pivotal for us to have memory (information comes in, is coded and stored, then used perhaps).  Philosopher Gilbert Ryle also agreed with the concept of mind and body being one, in his famous critique of Descartes’ philosophy about the mind/body connection, which he called the idea of a mind separate from a body as the “ghost in the machine,” and essentially mental states are not separate from physical states.

Then there’s genetic memory….which is basically the notion that what is useful  is encoded genetically and passed along because it gives you the ability to respond to certain stimuli – and these are not learned traits – they exist at birth (please forgive me for oversimplifying this – I am not a scientist).

So I’m wondering if memory and soul are equivalent concepts?  If the collective experiences of a group of people are encoded in genetic memory…and contributed to the “collective consciousness” as Jung said, is that a way to live on?  Think about what that also means in terms of living on in the collective consciousness online……  hmmmmm….