Past Life Regression

For Christmas I was given a CD meditation to induce past life regressions, something I have always wanted to do given my absolute belief in multiple lives (see Reincarnation Dilemma, 4-26-09). I was thrilled with the idea of spending a quiet evening being hypnotized by this thing and seeing who I was and where I'd been before I was the me I am right now. Thrilled, that is, until I foolishly decided to mention it to someone who burst that bubble of mine in short order with, and I hate to admit this, some very valid points.

Being hypnotized and brought back to one's past lives is a tricky thing as you never know exactly what you're going to encounter, including the possibility of reliving your death in those various incarnations, which might be a bit unsettling for some. It was suggested to me that this might not be something I'd want to undertake alone. Having a trained professional in the room with you, guiding you and bringing you out of your trance quickly and carefully if need be, is probably a very good thing. After all, who wants to relive a previous death of theirs all by their lonesome, even if it is just a mental exercise and even if the meditator has no fears about death?

Like just about everyone, I do have other fears and neuroses and I was asked, "What if you have this particular fear in this life because of a very traumatic, violent death in a another life? Are you really prepared to live through that ordeal again alone in your living room?" Hmmm. What if you have this fear as you were the one who inflicted this pain on another and your karmic debt is to suffer from the oftentimes debilitating fear of it this time around? Frankly, I'm not sure how well I would deal with the knowledge of having been someone who was violent and evil in another lifetime, a fact that however awful, is just as possible as my having been a decent person too.

And these two innocent questions were just the beginning. All sorts of "what if" scenarios popped into my overly active, highly imaginative mind. And they all boiled down to whether or not I should do this by myself and the answer is "probably not." I still desperately want to do this and I am still in love with my little gift, but maybe the first time I undertake this journey it should be done with someone who has both a sound reputation and a great deal of experience in this field. Then when I have gotten my feet wet with someone who can help me digest whatever information I might learn about myself, then and only then should I do it on my own. And when I do, I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut about it until afterwards!