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And now please…Focus on Your Birthmark…- Athanasios N. Komianos (Is.22)

by Athanasios N. Komianos

Abstract

Regression therapists use whatever means are readily available to them in order to tune in their clients with their presenting issue. They may focus on a physical pain, an emotion, a “catch-phrase,” a slip of the tongue, and use it as an affect bridge. In this paper I want to suggest using more of a technique (already in our arsenal), which I find fascinating. That is encouraging our clients to focus on their birthmark (or birth-defect). You will be surprised at how many people around us have birthmarks (not moles). Include a question in your intake form and, if there is one, you may use it as a trigger to produce regression, if you think conditions are ripe and the time is proper. Most of the time you will have wonderful results.

Introduction

Any responsible practitioner in our field must be prepared literally for everything. When our clients enter altered states we should be open to a vast variety of unlimited experiences, reactions, and expressions. It seems that a huge stream of consciousness is running underneath us below the level of awareness, and when we shift our attention to this stream a multitude of possibilities spring up to surface.

Their range is tremendous, resembling pure Light, which when analysed through a prism some parts of the spectrum can be seen while others cannot. But the fact that ultra-red or ultra-violet cannot be seen does not imply that they do not exist.

What I’m suggesting here is that from our scope we must come to terms with (what others call) the paranormal or the metaphysical. Simply because one phenomenon is inexplicable or no devices have been manufactured to measure its existence does not mean it is metaphysical. But we, not only as therapists but as researchers as well, have to indulge all the relevant and credible literature offered around us (and there is a lot) in order to be prepared and alert for the multifaceted manifestations of the unlimited.

Regression Therapy As An Adjunct To Marriage Counseling: A Case Study – Esther Iseman (Is.22)

by Esther Iseman, Ph.D.

This case study demonstrates the potential benefits of regression therapy in healing troubled relationships. Each of us presumably brings a variety of memories from other lifetimes into current life relationships. These memories, which are beyond awareness and to which we subconsciously react (e.g., those resulting from trauma), can cause a variety of dysfunctional scenarios. Regression therapy can be a valuable tool in retrieving problematic memories so that the role of these memories can be discovered and used to resolve current issues.

 Background

“John” (age 39) initially began individual counseling because he had feelings of remorse resulting, in part, from a recent “drunken” one-time extramarital sexual encounter. He revealed that his wife of 17 years, “Melanie,” had recently been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (an almost certain death sentence). Despite his despair, he found himself distancing himself from her. He made excuses for not accompanying her to chemotherapy sessions and made only brief visits while she was in the hospital undergoing various surgeries. He focused his attention on their three daughters (ages 4, 6, and 9), using their care and his job to rationalize not being by her side. Clearly John was clueless as to how to deal with the death of a spouse, which is generally thought to be the number one cause of stress (followed by divorce, separation, and jail). John recognized that he was behaving like a “terrible husband.”

Kiki’s Fish Story – A Past-Life Journey Recalled – Virginia Waldron (Is.22)

By Virginia Waldron

In 1999 I went to see Thelma Freedman for several sessions to help me deal with a relationship issue in my current life. I was hoping to have a better relationship with two people in my life. We explored several lifetimes that involved the three of us. One of the first ones, however, had a surprise ending which neither of us expected.

I found myself on a beach, not sandy but made of small stones and pebbles, round and smooth. I was with other women and children. Behind us was a low cliff. There was a path or trail that led up the cliff and back to our village. I was a young girl, in my early teens. My sense was this was in Japan hundreds of years ago. Maybe 400’s. I was with my mother and my 2 younger sisters. We were “processing” fish that the men in the village had brought in that morning. It was our job to gut and clean the fish that the men brought in, and then put them out on racks made of driftwood to dry in the sun. This activity had been going on for many generations at this site. Everything was covered with fish bits and innards, including us. You can imagine how we smelled!

Soul Exploration: The Next Frontier in Self Understanding – V. Ray Long (Is.22)

by V. Ray Long

 “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein

 Spiritual Exploration is an expression of the soul’s journey. It can provide a clear path toward personal growth, understanding, and insight. When a client can personally visit their own spirit world, the purpose and reason of why they are the way they are – are revealed.

As with many therapeutic modalities, Spiritual Exploration has its share of disbelievers. Some people just don’t believe “the spirit world,” or think it is blasphemy to discuss “going there;” others have gone to great lengths to prove that it is possible. The important thing is not whether it is real but whether it can help you understand your life from another perspective. Regardless of beliefs, there is profound benefit from the experience.

The process begins the same as a regression therapy session. It quickly moves past the death scene to the higher realm of the spirit world. It allows a true portrait of the individual as a spiritual being. Your client will identify with their own soul/spirit purpose.

When we unwind the circle of life, as humans we only experience the tip of the iceberg. The remainder lies beyond.

The Bloxham Tapes Revisited: Why Cryptomnesia is Not The Complete Explanation – Ian Lawton (Is.22)

by Ian Lawton

Abstract

One of the most celebrated cases of supposedly verifiable, past-life recall involved the Welsh hypnotherapist Arnall Bloxham, about whose work Jeffrey Iverson produced a BBC documentary and book in the seventies. His most responsive subject was given the pseudonym Jane Evans, and three of her supposed past lives are of particular interest. The one most commonly referred to is that of Rebecca, a persecuted Jewess in twelfth-century York, but in fact it has important weaknesses that are usually overlooked. Worse, it is rarely reported that her regression to the life of a Roman woman called Livonia in third-century Britain has been conclusively proved to stem from a historical novel. That would be the end of the matter were it not for a third life, that of Alison, a servant to the medieval French entrepreneur Jacques Coeur. Similar attempts to suggest a fictional source for this life can be shown to be entirely inadequate. Indeed it seems close to impossible that some of its obscure but eventually verified details could have been contained in any “normal” source to which Jane could have been exposed, however briefly. It would therefore appear that, overall, Jane’s is a fascinating and mixed case that should hold some interest for “believers” and “skeptics” alike.

 

Could an Altered Vision Exist in an Altered State? – Athanasios N. Komianos (Is.22)

by Athanasios N. Komianos

Abstract

 The intent of this paper is to debrief some research done on alter personalities of Dissociation Identity Disorder, who display significant and measurable physiological differences, specifically, in the domain of vision. If such research has been done on MPD patients, then why would it not take place with our regressed clients who impersonate their former incarnations? Would it not be a challenge to do so and bring about visible results?

 “With sight concealed our psyche views our body’s torments”

Hippocrates

 Introduction

 One day during my early days of experimentation my guinea pig (my wife) told me: “Do you know why I enjoy regressions?” Why I asked, “because it is the only time I see better and clearly.” I was astounded! She is near sighted, astigmatic, with hypermetropia from a very young age and always had to wear glasses. But while regressed, and a short while after she was brought back to consciousness, she could see clearly without glasses. Could that be possible? Could one see, or hear, or smell better under regression? It was not long after that when I happened to read an interview of the legendary hypnotist George Vouloukos who pioneered in regressions since the early 70’s in Greece. He was asked what was the most impressive regression he ever had. The reply was illuminating. He had once regressed a blind man by birth. When this man was regressed he exclaimed crying in joy that he could clearly see and described things for the first time in his life. Then I found in an article (unreliable as you will realize) an experiment, which was supposedly conducted at the University of Chicago by Dr. James Pareiko and Paul Palmer on six blind persons by birth who were all regressed and all had a visual experience. However, no matter how hard I tried to find this information in the literature I never encountered the original source to review it myself. Could that man really see or was it a self-delusion? Is there a way to validate this? Can modern science “objectively” measure such an experience? 

Family/Systems Therapy in the Fourth Dimension: A Theoretical Model for Past-Life Therapy – Paul W. Schenk (Is.22)

by Paul W. Schenk, Psy.D.

Abstract

The author presents a layered genogram model for conceptualizing and utilizing hypnotic phenomena of the “past-life” type. An earlier article (Schenk, 1999) discussed a different model which bypasses the question of reincarnation by interpreting the client’s “waking dream” as a purely metaphorical projection from the unconscious. The model presented here incorporates reincarnation concepts by adding a fourth dimension to family/systems models of psychotherapy. The article then applies the model to several case studies to demonstrate some of its clinical applications. Whether the hypnotic imagery is understood as factual or symbolic, a growing body of literature indicates that treatment strategies associated with past-life therapy are often effective in treating Axis I symptoms which have not responded to other treatment approaches. These techniques can also bring about, albeit more slowly, durable Axis II personality changes similar to those seen as sequella of near-death experiences.

 Psychotherapists risk professional ostracism from their colleagues when they work in an area that is perceived by many as lacking scientific credibility. This creates a classic double bind: Scientific credibility can only be established by those who are willing to risk their own credibility by doing research in areas where credibility has not yet been established. For the clinician doing research in past-life therapy, however, this double bind is accompanied by an additional obstacle. Past-life therapy presupposes reincarnation is a reality – a possibility that many therapists and lay people believe is impossible because their religious convictions exclude it. The author finds this particularly ironic, as this kind of psychotherapy tends to be intensely spiritual.

Research in a Strange New Field: The Potluck Principle – Thelma B. Freedman (Is.21)

by Thelma B. Freedman, M.A.

Shortly before closing this issue of the Journal, I asked Thelma to share with our readership her thoughts and wisdom on this vital topic. The need to encourage research looms so importantly in my own thinking, that it also became the topic of the Editor’s Page. (Did you take the time to read it?) In a manner so typical of her, Thelma drew from her knowledge and experience, and penned the following. I am not sure whether it is most appropriately called an article, an encouraging lesson, a set of instructions, or an admonishment. Perhaps all four. First and foremost, it presents the reader with thoughtfully prepared and practical advice. Her style is simple and direct, the true sign of a teacher-mentor. The message is clear for those who read it – and, after all, is not the mark of a wise person the ability to recognize and heed good advice?
Russ Davis

Introduction

Our Editor has, in his opening statement in this issue, compared research to the typically American gathering known as the “potluck.” At a potluck, everyone brings something, whatever they can, be it a simple basket of apples or a complicated and risky new main dish. I attended a potluck dinner recently where a footloose bachelor arrived with the paper plates and cups, and these too are vital to the success of any potluck! Whatever the contribution, all are necessary and all are freely given and shared.

Russ has chosen an apt metaphor. It fits research at its best, and in a field as new and strange to others as ours, it is the approach we must take.

Spiritual “Splinter” Removal – Gayla Reiter (Is.21)

by Gayla Reiter
Abstract

Severe phobias led a young man to several emergency room visits, taking powerful medication and eventually changing jobs. He finally was led through a series of synchronistic events to Past Life Regression Therapy. This article describes his intense regression journey as well as the resultant healing…a healing that resulted in relief of his intense anxiety/phobias as well as lifelong asthma and allergies.

Synchronistically, I recently ran into a man I had worked with over 12 years ago…he recognized me and started recalling the impact the past life regression we had done had upon his life. Indeed, the e-mail he sent me after that encounter noted: “It was an amazing experience and helped me more than any medications could, this simple session made a huge impact on my life…it changed my health, my career path, the direction of my life and my spiritual search.” Sharing such stories and hearing from my fellow therapists regarding techniques they’ve found helpful is one of the things I most enjoy about IARRT, so I thought I might prime the pump a bit by sharing this man’s story.

The Fallacies of Freud: Thoughts about effective regression therapy – Jan Erik Sigdell (Is.21)

by Jan Erik Sigdell

Abstract

There has been some criticism of Sigmund Freud’s work. A recently published “black book” shows that many of the cases he declared as cured were not cured at all. In the beginning he worked with hypnotic regression, not to past lives, but to traumatic situations earlier in the current life. The results were disappointing to him, wherefore he developed another approach, that of free association. Even then he failed to cure several of his patients. Why did that happen?

 In the author’s view this may well be because he avoided having the patients relive the emotions in the past trauma. However, reliving the emotions and dissolving them is an essential step to catharsis. This is just as important in regression therapy of any kind, including past-life therapy. A procedure for doing this is described, after which the released negative emotional energies are replaced with positive energy.