Madhuri shares four techniques to explore your past lives, on your own.

People tend to think of past life regression as something highly esoteric and specialized – but actually the veil is thin, and it can be quite simple to slip through the cracks in the floorboards and descend deeper, deeper, deeper… So I’m going to describe a few different ways you might give it a try, all on your own. (These methods can also be adapted to do with a partner, but I thought it would be nice and empowering to give lone people a chance.)

First though, a caution: Don’t worry if you believe, or don’t believe, or are not sure if you believe, in past lives. These sessions can have a dramatic unburdening effect on our psyches – so it doesn’t really matter if the material you uncover is ‘true’ or not. The important thing is to trust what arises, give it a chance, put the mind and its doubts aside, and go in like an adventurer. You might find that the session proceeds moment by moment, and at each moment you will need to trust what is there, not knowing what will come next. And an amazing story might unfold. But if you only get fragments, that is also fine – that is what is right for you this time.

I sometimes think that there is in the Collective Unconscious a pool of all the lifetimes everybody has ever lived – and we just pull out the one we need that day. It doesn’t really matter whose it is. …But this is just an idea. Osho has said a lot on the subject and one thing I remember him saying is that he doesn’t want us to believe in past lives; because belief is not a real thing. He knows there are past lives because he himself has experienced it – and so, no need to believe it unless you have experienced it. Another time he said that the way you can tell if a seeming memory is real or not is if it comes back again and again. If it does, it’s real. (However, such a session as I am outlining here can effectively ‘de-fang’ a memory so that it might not need to come up again.)

But like I said – for our purposes, whether it is ‘real’ or not just isn’t the point. It is appearing to you – it wants to give you something – and if you refuse it, you are short-circuiting your access to the unconscious. Let it in, and see what happens.

Awareness is the magic – and just by seeing something from your unconscious that relates to a question you have about your current life, a welcome and timely relief and release can occur.

The Methods

I’m going to describe four different methods. One of them I got in the Mystery School in Poona, one in, strangely enough, the Center for Transformation, and two from books. The first two I’m presenting have the same lead-in, so we’ll do them first; I’ll describe the entire first process, and then the second process can just use the same intro.

Preparation

To prepare yourself, you’ll need:

about an hour and a half of undisturbed time
a quiet place where you can lie down
a blindfold
a shawl
if you have it, Orange Aura Soma pomander
an issue you want to look into

Be sure you have had a pee and are alert and your stomach isn’t full. Please no caffeine before the session!

If using Aura Soma, apply it to your aura in the usual way. Then lie down and get comfortable, with the blindfold or scarf over your eyes.

It is very helpful, when giving a session to yourself, to speak out loud: “I am now going on a past life journey. I want to find out… ” (here describe your issue. It could be, ‘Why I have such a hard time with money.’ ‘Why my health has this particular problem,’ ‘Why I can’t find a partner.’ ‘What is going on with the partner/child/boss etc that I have.’ The sky’s the limit – it is permitted in the inner world to ask anything!

Then, tell yourself, aloud, that you have waves of relaxing energy moving down your body… from the head towards the feet. And while these waves of relaxing energy are moving down through the body, a flame of awareness is burning deep inside the belly – so that you remain awake and alert. Repeat all that again and again, noticing the relaxation in different parts as you go.

# 1 – Movie theatre, boat ride

When you feel relaxed and yet alert, imagine you are in a movie theater, looking at a big blank screen. Think of a year not very long ago – whatever pops into your mind – for example, 2017.

Notice what memory-image appears on the screen from that year, and describe it to yourself aloud.

Then think of a year prior to that – for example, 2010.

Notice what memory comes onto the screen, and describe it aloud.

Continue in this way until you have gone back to about 3 years old. Emotional material might be arising – just allow it and observe.

Now look at your birth. Watch it as if on a screen.

Travel back then to your conception. Watch those two people making love. What is the vibe? Are they loving, or angry, or bored, or a mixture, or what? And why are you coming to exactly these people?

When you have seen that thoroughly, stand up and walk to the aisle of the theater; then over to the wall, where there is an exit sign above a door. Open the door, and you will find a set of ten steps going down. Step down them, counting as you go.

At the bottom there is a river with a boat on it. Get into the boat. There is a current, and the boat moves downstream by itself. As the boat moves, just relax; you are travelling, cruising, waiting for the boat to stop by itself at some point.

When it stops at the riverbank, get out and tie it to a bush or tree or whatever. Then walk away from the river a bit.

Now look down at yourself – what kind of shoes do you have on? What sort of clothing? What is your hair like? Is it night or day where you are? Are there buildings, or forest, or countryside? Are you alone, or is anyone with you?

What happens next? Where do you go, and what happens? Just stay with it… trusting what arises. You can speak aloud if you like. Stay with the whole experience – be it war or peace, marriage or murder or childbirth or betrayal, no matter how scary or weird or painful, until it is done and you have emerged from it.

Then ask to go to your death in that life. How did it happen? How did you feel? What did you learn in that life? Express your gratitude for the lessons.

You can also look forward at your life in the 2020s and see if you have anything to remark about it.

Go back to the boat then. If you still want to go deeper, you can take the boat further into a previous life, just stopping at the riverbank when the boat stops by itself. Then get out, walk a bit, and ask the questions as above, about what you are wearing on feet and body, and how your hair is, and so on. See what unfolds. When complete, go to the death, as above.

When you have had enough, do not retrace your steps: just stand wherever you are and clap your hands three times. Say, “I am back!” and affirm to yourself that waves of alert and vivid energy are moving from your toes up to your head… Repeat, repeat, till you are fully back. Then turn on your side and rest a little while before getting up.

# 2 – Looking down while flying

This one begins like the first one, and is the same until you open the door at the side of the theater. Instead of descending steps inside the building, in this one you will descend ten steps outside the building, counting aloud.

Now you are in a yard, in the dark, and suddenly you feel yourself being seized by some invisible force and pulled way up high into the night sky. You are so far up that you can almost see the curvature of the earth… and now you begin to fly, high in the sky, looking down… and you begin to notice, in the blackness, some little lights, like campfires burning in the wilderness. There might be many of them, or just a few – but as you fly you find yourself being pulled down towards one of them, faster and faster… then slowing until you land with a little bump – somewhere.

Look around you. Is it night or day? What shoes do you have on? What clothes? Are there buildings? Is anyone else there? And, as in the previous description, see what happens to you here. What experience do you live out? Trust it and let it flow…

Visit the death for that life – see what you learned. Express your gratitude for this. Look forward to the 2020s and see if you have anything to remark.

If you want to go deeper, ask the Invisibles to take you flying again until you are pulled down to another light, and go through all the observings and allowings of the experiences. When complete, go to the death, and also look forward to now.

The return to daily life is the same as for the first process: clap three times, find yourself back in your body, feel the waves of invigorating energy moving up the body, repeat that phrase aloud quite a few times. Then when you are really back, turn on your side and rest for a few minutes.

# 3 – Doors (no preparation)

This one is simpler, but because it leaves out the preparation, you might find the quality different – or not. It’s an experiment! I would use this one when I had a bit less time or was already relaxed; for example, if I had just woken up. It’s good to identify an issue before you start. Once you’ve stated it, let it go – the process will address it, or perhaps something even more timely – no need to worry.

Simply count to ten as you imagine yourself walking down ten steps.

Now you are in a corridor. Walk along it, noticing the doors that you see on each side. They might be different from each other – some might have carvings, or be different colours, or made of different materials.

One of the doors calls to you somehow – no need to know why.

Go to the door and open it. Step inside. You will find yourself in some place… ask all the questions as above, proceed just the same as in the first two techniques.

If, when you are done, you want to try another door, that’s fine. Three is a good number – probably not more.

Bring yourself back in just the same way as the first two. Clap-clap-clap! And so on.

# 4 – Active walking

This is completely different, though it takes the same amount of trust, or perhaps even more. Wadud taught it to us in a group in the Mystery School Stream.

This is done standing up. Clear furniture from a room or push it up to the walls. Put on music you would like to have playing – something that feels somehow relevant to your issue. Then begin to walk around the room in a big ellipse or circle. For a few minutes just walk around.

Now, as you walk, notice how your body is naturally moving, and start to exaggerate the movements. Keep moving, becoming more and more extreme with the movements that are naturally happening. Soon the movements will become so extreme that something will start to emerge from you and take over. It might be rage, or fear, or hunger, or fighting, or anything – and it can be accompanied by images, memories, of a whole other time and place. Just let them occur and let your body act them out freely.

If you end up falling over or lying down or sitting, it’s fine – just keep going with the exaggerated movements and see where they take you. You might be experiencing something very uncomfortable… if so, just allow it and watch, knowing that you can come back to the present whenever you want. If you can stay with it though, you might end up rolling about wailing, or anything else that happens! See it through till it feels complete… and again, ask to go to the death in that life, see what you learned, look forward to the 2020’s, and then, when you are ready, clap your hands three times to come straight back to now.

Turn on your side and lie still for a while… say Thank You to the Invisibles – and come back.