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Dr. Michael Newton was a traditional psychotherapist opposed to past life regression work when a client spontaneously entered what seemed like a past life regression.

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The man had complained about a persistent pain in his side that doctors couldn’t diagnose or treat. In the regression, the man found himself in the battle of Somme of World War I  on the British side. He was dying of a bajonet wound. Newton, a keen scholar of martial history immediately asked him to look at the division patch on his arm. The client could describe it correctly. That was the clincher for Newton. But was it proof a past life?

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I’m in two minds about past life regression because on one hand I have reservations about the validity of so-called past life experiences. On the other hand, I’m happen to be one of the people who may have had a past life experience. (I’ll tell you about it further down).
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Past life regression

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This is a form of therapy where people allegedly access previous lives in the course of hypnosis. It’s a controversial form of treatment and there are two main questions one could ask. One is: are these really previous lives? The other: is this therapeutic intervention useful?

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Are past life regression memories real?

They certainly feel real to the person experiencing them and seem convincing to therapists who evoke them. Whilst I have some reservations about the validity of this therapy, it’s fair to say that there are respected psychotherapists and psychiatrists amongst the PLR (Past Life Regression) therapists, as well as people whos qualifications are more doubtful.

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One of the leading developers of PLR therapy was Brian L. Weiss, M.D., the Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. The well-known psychotherapist Dr. Michael Newton explains why he became a PLR therapist in this video.

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I’m not sure whether past life regression is a useful tool for well-being and mental health. I would hate to see people whose psyche is already fragile burdened with more life-times of trauma. To heal the wounds of this life seems to be more than enough for many people.
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Prof. Ian Stevenson’s work, whom I introduced in my article on reincarnation, is often quoted by therapists as supporting evidence for the validity of Past Life Regression. Actually, he was dead set against it. In an article he voiced strong concerns: Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Peter K
What do you think about most? It’s likely to be about yourself. How you were, how you are, how you will be, what people think about you, and so on.

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That is why the world is like it is: full of suffering. Just open the newspaper and you will see suffering all over the world. You can also find suffering right next door. I am sure you too know friends and family members who are going through hard times. And maybe you yourself are suffering.

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I want to share with you a wonderful way of changing our self-centred way of being. It’s a meditation that heals and opens. It’s from an ancient Buddhist text, called the Metta Sutra. Metta - or loving-kindness - is an ancient form of Buddhist meditation.

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In the Metta Sutra it says:

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Cherish all living beings;
Radiate kindness over the entire world;
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downward to the depths;
Outward and unbounded,
Free from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down,
One should sustain this recollection.

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What a wonderful aspiration! Aspirations are like lofty mountains that we look up to. We may never make it to the summit but the towering peak defines the path we travel. I think if you and I - and everyone else on the planet - were to live by this loving-kindness practice, the world would be a better place.

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Well, we can’t be responsible for the way others live their lives. But we can determine how we live. To this end I want to show you a simple way to put this grand aspiration into practice.

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The root of the word ‘aspiration’ is the Latin word ‘aspirare’, to ‘breathe upon’. The breath is life-giving. When we breathe in, we take in the energy of the whole world. When we breathe out, we connect with all beings. Mindful breathing is a natural meditation technique that many spiritual traditions include.

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The particular kindness meditation I want to suggest to you today - which I call Boundless Kindness - has the breath at its centre. The central practice is to radiate kindness in all directions and at all times. You can approach this practice by following the seven steps below:

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1. Choose a time when you are undisturbed
2. Sit upright and silent
3. Focus softly on your breath flowing in and out
4. Dedicate each breath to the wellbeing of all
5. Imagine your kindness flowing into the world with every out-breath.
6. Feel it flow from you in all directions
7. Notice kindness flow through your own body, softening it with each out-breath

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Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Chris Darling
Is the brain hardwired for mystical experiences? These and other questions are the focus of a new breed of brain scientists. Before I describe some of their research results, here’s a question for you.

What do you think of the following experience?

I stood in my bathroom ready to go into the shower and realized I could no longer define the boundaries of my body, of where I begin and where I end. Then the chatter in my brain went silent. For a moment I was shocked to be in total silence… I felt enormous and expansive, and my spirit soared. I remember thinking: “There is no way that I can squeeze the enormousness of myself back inside my tiny body.”

Instead of a continuous flow of experience that could be divided into past, present, and future, every moment seemed to exist in perfect isolation…On this special day, I learned the meaning of simply “being”

Wonderful experience, right?
Maybe it’s even the start of an enlightenment experience?

Wrong.

It’s the start of a stroke! Read the rest of this entry »