The practice of Hypnotherapy is interactive and directly engages the client’s unconscious resources through verbal and non-verbal communication while the client is in the hypnotic state. Therapy done in this expanded state is greatly enhanced and supported because the client is able to access information, healing, creativity, memories and insight that is not normally available when in the waking conscious state.
By engaging a transpersonal or spiritual form of hypnotherapy, the client’s personal transformation can be supported even further. Invoking client’s higher Self (or higher power, or the Christ with in, or Buddha wisdom, or the Divine Self, called by many names) aligns clients in accessing profound states of consciousness similar to those experienced in deep meditation or in profound states of presence: states when the egoic or self- involved consciousness is transcended or simply out of the way. Healing and profound change can take place, often fairly effortlessly, through these transpersonal states of consciousness. Clients report that these expanded states of consciousness change them in lasting positive ways. Clients realize that, for instance, they have sadness, but are not the sadness. They can potentially experience themselves as spiritual in essence: as a spiritual being having a human experience.
In traditional talk therapy, the client works from the conscious egoic level most of the time, and in many ways she keeps reinforcing the stories, identifications and negative patterns around her difficulties by focusing on them and taking about them over and over again on a conscious level. In talking about the problems and feelings there is the hope that the client will have a spontaneous breakthrough of insight and change. In contrast, by dialoguing with the higher Self directly in a trance state, the hypnotherapist and client can elicit direction from the higher Self as to what focus and issues need to be addressed and guidance as to techniques and approaches to take. For instance, if a client comes into hypnotherapy wanting to release a symptom of claustrophobia, the therapist and client can, in trance, ask the higher Self what would be most effective focus and hypnotic approach in the session: inner child/inner family work, skill rehearsal, a childhood or past life regression, or processed that release anxiety. The session, therefore, is directly guided by the part of the client that already knows the cause of the fear and what the client needs to release it. The client’s wisest part is directing the therapy and helping both the client and hypnotherapist to give structure to the session and to support the step by step unfolding of the hypnosis process. The hypnotherapist helps the client to access her higher Self and supports her in cultivating ways to communicate and form an inner relationship with the higher Self so that it becomes a trusted and readily available resource not only in a hypnotic state, but in also daily life.
How will the client know when she has accessed this higher Self? The higher Self is loving, supportive, non-judgmental, offers gentle nudging, has the perspective of the big picture, is compassionate, and is focused on the good of all concerned. The higher Self may come in a visual form as an archetype, deity, symbol, or a representation as a self-actualized self. It could be perceived as an inner voice or telepathic communication. It could communicate through a knowing or body sensation. Every client has a unique experience of it. The higher Self is a direct link to an intuitive experience of the highest good and connection to the divine.
Working with a transpersonal form of hypnotherapy is often a mystical and spiritual practice for the client. She can learn to access and utilize expanded states of consciousness directly, at will, and for a variety of personal goals and purposes. The process of being in an expanded state is just as healing and significant in supporting change as is directing the state of consciousness towards a therapeutic personal goal or outcome. For the client in the hypnotic state, accessing awareness of the higher Self becomes a profound teacher of how our consciousness works to create our realities. These hypnotic states become vehicles through which we can re-create our realities. The practice of this form of hypnotherapy is a form of spiritual practice that puts us directly in touch with our spiritual nature and how our consciousness creates the forms and structures of our lives.
In hypnotically accessed transcendent states, you begin to have a new sense of self and a new way of relating to the challenges in your life. Through higher Self awareness and presence, you become dis-identified from your stories, negative patterns, and symptoms.
If you are interested in engaging in this transpersonal and spiritually focused form of hypnotherapy, interview a potential hypnotherapist to discover if the hypnotherapist invokes and works directly with the client’s higher Self as a co-therapist, resource, and inner guide for the client in the session. If so, you can be assured that the content of the focus of the hypnotherapy session will have absolute integrity and authenticity that comes from this wise and loving aspect of Self.
Holly Holmes-Meredith, D. Min, MFT, CCHT
Showing posts with label Hypnotherapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hypnotherapy. Show all posts
March 16, 2010
Transpersonal Hypnotherapy
January 23, 2007
Spiritual HypnotherapyY
WHAT IS HYPNOTHERAPY?
Hypnosis is a term used to describe a process that creates a non-ordinary state of consciousness. This state of consciousness allows clients to respond to suggestion with higher than normal receptivity. Hypnotic consciousness is a state that can spontaneously come about for a person, or it is a state that can be self-induced or induced with the help of a facilitator or hypnotherapist. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis because the hypnotic state of consciousness is generated within the hypnotee. The hypnotee allows herself to actively engage in the process. In some situations, the hypnotee may even choose to not respond.
Hypnotherapy is the practice of therapy that takes place in the non-ordinary state of hypnotic consciousness. Hypnotherapy directly engages the client’s conscious and subconscious mind in the process of doing therapy. The hypnotherapy process is usually interactive and involves verbal and non-verbal communications between the client and hypnotherapist while the client is in the non-ordinary state of consciousness. Most therapeutic work is greatly enhanced while clients are in a hypnotic state because they are able to access information, healing, creativity, memories and insight that is not normally available when in the waking conscious state. Change is facilitated from within the clients in hypnotherapy; it is inwardly generated and intrinsic to the clients, themselves. The hypnotherapist is responsible for having the tools and skills to assist the clients in helping themselves, which minimizes the often incorrectly perceived “power” the therapist has over the client.
By engaging a transpersonal or spiritual focus in hypnotherapy, the client’s personal transformation can be supported even further. By invoking and accessing the client’s higher Self or the wisest transcendent aspect of consciousness, clients are also able to access expanded states of consciousness similar to those experienced in meditation or in profound states of presence: states when the egoic or self- involved consciousness is transcended or simply out of the way. Through these transpersonal states of consciousness, healing and profound change can take place, often fairly effortlessly. Clients report that these expanded states of consciousness change them in lasting positive ways. Clients realize that, for instance, they have pain, but are not the pain. They can potentially experience themselves as spiritual in essence: as a spiritual being having a human experience of pain. From these hypnotically accessed transcendent states, clients begin to have a new sense of self and a new way of relating to the challenges of their lives. They become dis-identified from their stories and the previously perceived roles they have played in their lives. Their consciousness is expanded along with an expanded sense of Self.
HYPNOTHERAPY AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
I became a transpersonal psychotherapist because of my passion for work that engages people’s consciousness to promote change, healing, and transformation. As a client of hypnotherapy, a long-time practitioner of self-hypnosis, and as a hypnotherapist who has facilitated over 20,000 hypnotic sessions, I have years and years of experience of directly knowing the profound and lasting effects of hypnotherapeutic work. I have discovered over and over that facilitating a transpersonal form of hypnotherapy is a mystical and spiritual practice for both the client and the hypnotherapist. In hypnotherapy we can learn to access and utilize expanded states of consciousness directly, at will, and for a variety of personal goals and purposes. The process of being in an expanded state is just as healing and significant in supporting change as is directing the state of consciousness towards a therapeutic personal goal or outcome.
For the client in the hypnotic state, accessing awareness of the higher Self becomes a profound teacher of how our consciousness works to create our realities. These hypnotic states also become vehicles through which we can re-create our realities. Additionally, the hypnotherapist is often in an expanded state of profound presence entrained and aligned with the client’s state of consciousness. The art of guiding a client’s process involves being so present that the hypnotherapist is out of her own way and accessing her own higher Self as the hypnotic guide. The practice of hypnotherapy, both as a client and as a hypnotherapist, then, becomes another form of spiritual practice that puts us directly in touch with our spiritual nature and how our consciousness creates the forms and structures of our lives.
THE HIGHER SELF
Throughout the history of hypnosis, and since the first psychological theories of Sigmund Freud, we have understood that there are two aspects of consciousness that come into play in the hypnotic process: the conscious and the subconscious (or unconscious mind, as Jung referred to it ). With the work of Roberto Assiogoli and the birth of transpersonal psychology, however, there emerged an acknowledgement of a third aspect of consciousness: the higher Self, or the transcendent aspect of consciousness.
The higher Self, a spiritual, wise, and infinite aspect of our consciousness, can be directly accessed and engaged as the inner therapist/healer in the hypnotherapy process. It is an aspect of human consciousness that goes beyond our waking, ordinary ego consciousness that embodies, presents, or can access certain wisdom not experienced in normal consciousness. (Alexander, 11)
Arthur Hastings, a professor of transpersonal psychology states:
…the higher Self is said to be a distinct part or function of the individual. It is an entity in itself, with consciousness or awareness like the ego, and it is assumed to be a part of everyone. It witnesses the person’s experiences. It is non-punitive, objective, and non-judgmental. Its orientation is towards higher values, life
purpose, healthy emotional and mental development, and spiritual qualities. (Hastings, 180)
Willis Harman believes that in all major religious and mystical traditions there is a parallel wisdom that is a necessary component of being human and is an impetus for the inner search of higher Self:
In studies of comparative religion it appears that, besides the many exoteric forms, there is within any of the major traditions an esoteric or “inner circle” form, which is essentially the same for all traditions. This “perennial wisdom” seems to recommend an inner search involving some sort of meditative or yogic discipline, and discovery and identification with, a “higher” or “true” Self. (Harman, 34)
ACCESSING THE HIGHER SELF IN HYNOTHERAPY
Now that we understand the concept of the higher Self, how do we access it and utilize its resources in the hypnotherapy process? By directly invoking the higher Self and by facilitating a technique of voice dialogue, the higher Self can become a resource for inner guidance and self- healing in the hypnotherapy process.
Learning to distinguish the higher Self from the egoic self is crucial when in hypnosis. How does a client know which “voices” to listen to and which ones to trust? Many years ago a friend gave me a simple diagram, which follows, that categorizes the differences between the higher Self and the egoic consciousness. I have been unable to find the source of the diagram, but I know that it was created by author Rowena Pattee Kryder.
The diagram follows:
Diagram: THE REAL VOICE OF SPIRIT
If voices or thoughts other than your own seek your attention or try to come through you, use the following chart comparing energies from different levels as a guide before you decide to accept or reject what is happening.
LESSER MIND GREATER MIND
The Voice of Ego The Voice of Spirit
Personality Level Soul Level
___________________________ _______________________
flatters informs
commands suggests
demands guides
tests nudges
chooses for you leaves choices to you
imprisons empowers
promotes dependency promotes independence
intrudes respects
pushes supports
excludes includes
is status oriented is free and open
insists on obedience encourages growth and development
often claims ultimate authority recognizes a greater power or God
offers short cuts offers integration
seeks personal gratification affirms divine order along with the good of the whole
By studying this diagram, and by becoming familiar with the different tone and qualities of the voice of ego and the voice of spirit, one has a tool with which to access the source of inner and outer guidance or teaching. With practice, we can know from which state the information or guidance is coming, and which guidance is empowering and supportive of our own highest good. Clarity and empowerment come from the practice of choosing the wisdom and guidance of the higher Self, as does a growing experience of knowing and accessing our intuition, our deepest inner wisdom.
In the hypnotherapy session, the facilitator or hypnotherapist can ask the client’s higher Self or voice of spirit to be the inner guide and director for the client. The hypnotherapist aligns with this part of the client through direct dialogue and verbal exchange. In self-hypnosis processes, the higher Self becomes the inner hypnotist.
Listen to the podcast on the HCH web site of a self-guided hypnotic process to meet with and dialogue with one’s higher
Self, enabling the reader to have a direct and personal experience of the impact of his or her own higher Self’s wisdom and guidance.
Bibliography
Alexander, Karen, Defining the Higher Self: A Theoretical Model and Techniques.Ph.D. dissertation, Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Psychology, 1994.
Harman, Willis, A Re-examination of the Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science. Sausalito, CA: Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1991.
Hastings, Arthur, With the Tongues of Men and Angels. San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart &Winston, 1991.
Patee Kryder, Rowena,”The Real Voice of Spirit”. Publication source is unknown.
Contact Holly at: Holly@HypnotherapyTraining.com
http://www.HypnotherapyTraining.com
Holly's hypnosis CDs are also available through the web site.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn more about Holly and HCH Institute.
Hypnosis is a term used to describe a process that creates a non-ordinary state of consciousness. This state of consciousness allows clients to respond to suggestion with higher than normal receptivity. Hypnotic consciousness is a state that can spontaneously come about for a person, or it is a state that can be self-induced or induced with the help of a facilitator or hypnotherapist. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis because the hypnotic state of consciousness is generated within the hypnotee. The hypnotee allows herself to actively engage in the process. In some situations, the hypnotee may even choose to not respond.
Hypnotherapy is the practice of therapy that takes place in the non-ordinary state of hypnotic consciousness. Hypnotherapy directly engages the client’s conscious and subconscious mind in the process of doing therapy. The hypnotherapy process is usually interactive and involves verbal and non-verbal communications between the client and hypnotherapist while the client is in the non-ordinary state of consciousness. Most therapeutic work is greatly enhanced while clients are in a hypnotic state because they are able to access information, healing, creativity, memories and insight that is not normally available when in the waking conscious state. Change is facilitated from within the clients in hypnotherapy; it is inwardly generated and intrinsic to the clients, themselves. The hypnotherapist is responsible for having the tools and skills to assist the clients in helping themselves, which minimizes the often incorrectly perceived “power” the therapist has over the client.
By engaging a transpersonal or spiritual focus in hypnotherapy, the client’s personal transformation can be supported even further. By invoking and accessing the client’s higher Self or the wisest transcendent aspect of consciousness, clients are also able to access expanded states of consciousness similar to those experienced in meditation or in profound states of presence: states when the egoic or self- involved consciousness is transcended or simply out of the way. Through these transpersonal states of consciousness, healing and profound change can take place, often fairly effortlessly. Clients report that these expanded states of consciousness change them in lasting positive ways. Clients realize that, for instance, they have pain, but are not the pain. They can potentially experience themselves as spiritual in essence: as a spiritual being having a human experience of pain. From these hypnotically accessed transcendent states, clients begin to have a new sense of self and a new way of relating to the challenges of their lives. They become dis-identified from their stories and the previously perceived roles they have played in their lives. Their consciousness is expanded along with an expanded sense of Self.
HYPNOTHERAPY AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
I became a transpersonal psychotherapist because of my passion for work that engages people’s consciousness to promote change, healing, and transformation. As a client of hypnotherapy, a long-time practitioner of self-hypnosis, and as a hypnotherapist who has facilitated over 20,000 hypnotic sessions, I have years and years of experience of directly knowing the profound and lasting effects of hypnotherapeutic work. I have discovered over and over that facilitating a transpersonal form of hypnotherapy is a mystical and spiritual practice for both the client and the hypnotherapist. In hypnotherapy we can learn to access and utilize expanded states of consciousness directly, at will, and for a variety of personal goals and purposes. The process of being in an expanded state is just as healing and significant in supporting change as is directing the state of consciousness towards a therapeutic personal goal or outcome.
For the client in the hypnotic state, accessing awareness of the higher Self becomes a profound teacher of how our consciousness works to create our realities. These hypnotic states also become vehicles through which we can re-create our realities. Additionally, the hypnotherapist is often in an expanded state of profound presence entrained and aligned with the client’s state of consciousness. The art of guiding a client’s process involves being so present that the hypnotherapist is out of her own way and accessing her own higher Self as the hypnotic guide. The practice of hypnotherapy, both as a client and as a hypnotherapist, then, becomes another form of spiritual practice that puts us directly in touch with our spiritual nature and how our consciousness creates the forms and structures of our lives.
THE HIGHER SELF
Throughout the history of hypnosis, and since the first psychological theories of Sigmund Freud, we have understood that there are two aspects of consciousness that come into play in the hypnotic process: the conscious and the subconscious (or unconscious mind, as Jung referred to it ). With the work of Roberto Assiogoli and the birth of transpersonal psychology, however, there emerged an acknowledgement of a third aspect of consciousness: the higher Self, or the transcendent aspect of consciousness.
The higher Self, a spiritual, wise, and infinite aspect of our consciousness, can be directly accessed and engaged as the inner therapist/healer in the hypnotherapy process. It is an aspect of human consciousness that goes beyond our waking, ordinary ego consciousness that embodies, presents, or can access certain wisdom not experienced in normal consciousness. (Alexander, 11)
Arthur Hastings, a professor of transpersonal psychology states:
…the higher Self is said to be a distinct part or function of the individual. It is an entity in itself, with consciousness or awareness like the ego, and it is assumed to be a part of everyone. It witnesses the person’s experiences. It is non-punitive, objective, and non-judgmental. Its orientation is towards higher values, life
purpose, healthy emotional and mental development, and spiritual qualities. (Hastings, 180)
Willis Harman believes that in all major religious and mystical traditions there is a parallel wisdom that is a necessary component of being human and is an impetus for the inner search of higher Self:
In studies of comparative religion it appears that, besides the many exoteric forms, there is within any of the major traditions an esoteric or “inner circle” form, which is essentially the same for all traditions. This “perennial wisdom” seems to recommend an inner search involving some sort of meditative or yogic discipline, and discovery and identification with, a “higher” or “true” Self. (Harman, 34)
ACCESSING THE HIGHER SELF IN HYNOTHERAPY
Now that we understand the concept of the higher Self, how do we access it and utilize its resources in the hypnotherapy process? By directly invoking the higher Self and by facilitating a technique of voice dialogue, the higher Self can become a resource for inner guidance and self- healing in the hypnotherapy process.
Learning to distinguish the higher Self from the egoic self is crucial when in hypnosis. How does a client know which “voices” to listen to and which ones to trust? Many years ago a friend gave me a simple diagram, which follows, that categorizes the differences between the higher Self and the egoic consciousness. I have been unable to find the source of the diagram, but I know that it was created by author Rowena Pattee Kryder.
The diagram follows:
Diagram: THE REAL VOICE OF SPIRIT
If voices or thoughts other than your own seek your attention or try to come through you, use the following chart comparing energies from different levels as a guide before you decide to accept or reject what is happening.
LESSER MIND GREATER MIND
The Voice of Ego The Voice of Spirit
Personality Level Soul Level
___________________________ _______________________
flatters informs
commands suggests
demands guides
tests nudges
chooses for you leaves choices to you
imprisons empowers
promotes dependency promotes independence
intrudes respects
pushes supports
excludes includes
is status oriented is free and open
insists on obedience encourages growth and development
often claims ultimate authority recognizes a greater power or God
offers short cuts offers integration
seeks personal gratification affirms divine order along with the good of the whole
By studying this diagram, and by becoming familiar with the different tone and qualities of the voice of ego and the voice of spirit, one has a tool with which to access the source of inner and outer guidance or teaching. With practice, we can know from which state the information or guidance is coming, and which guidance is empowering and supportive of our own highest good. Clarity and empowerment come from the practice of choosing the wisdom and guidance of the higher Self, as does a growing experience of knowing and accessing our intuition, our deepest inner wisdom.
In the hypnotherapy session, the facilitator or hypnotherapist can ask the client’s higher Self or voice of spirit to be the inner guide and director for the client. The hypnotherapist aligns with this part of the client through direct dialogue and verbal exchange. In self-hypnosis processes, the higher Self becomes the inner hypnotist.
Listen to the podcast on the HCH web site of a self-guided hypnotic process to meet with and dialogue with one’s higher
Self, enabling the reader to have a direct and personal experience of the impact of his or her own higher Self’s wisdom and guidance.
Bibliography
Alexander, Karen, Defining the Higher Self: A Theoretical Model and Techniques.Ph.D. dissertation, Rosebridge Graduate School of Integrative Psychology, 1994.
Harman, Willis, A Re-examination of the Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science. Sausalito, CA: Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1991.
Hastings, Arthur, With the Tongues of Men and Angels. San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart &Winston, 1991.
Patee Kryder, Rowena,”The Real Voice of Spirit”. Publication source is unknown.
Contact Holly at: Holly@HypnotherapyTraining.com
http://www.HypnotherapyTraining.com
Holly's hypnosis CDs are also available through the web site.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn more about Holly and HCH Institute.
"Look into my Hypnotic Eye": What is Hypnosis, Really?
LOOK INTO MY HYPNOTIC EYE………
The field of hypnotherapy has been tainted and misunderstood for years. All one has to do is look at the use of hypnosis in Hollywood movies or see a stage hypnotist at a county fair perform, and most of us will avoid being hypnotized. No one wants to be embarrassed because of clucking like a chicken, or loose control and say or do something we wouldn’t normally allow.
The truth is that hypnotherapy is not what most people have been “hypnotized” into believing. I know because I have been using hypnosis personally and professionally and training hypnotherapists at a California approved Hypnotherapy Institute for over twenty years. So, sit comfortably, take a deep breath and allow me to teach you what hypnosis really is…
You experience the hypnotic state many times during the day. I remember in high school in my driver’s education class reading about “highway hypnosis”, a state of consciousness we naturally experience when driving long distances. Have you driven while daydreaming and forgotten that you crossed a familiar bridge or gone through a tunnel and not been consciously aware of it? If so, you have spontaneously experienced the inwardly focused state of consciousness called hypnosis.
Hypnosis is natural. It is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. You may have had the experience of drifting off to sleep and having someone come into the room to ask you a question. Since you are not asleep yet, you can still respond coherently from a relaxed, inwardly-focused state. So, if you can go to sleep, you can be hypnotized. The question is: Do you want to allow yourself to be hypnotized?
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. Contrary to what most people believe, hypnosis involves the use of your free will. You choose to respond to the suggestions given in hypnosis. The “inner hypnotist” is the part of you that says to yourself, “ I can and will allow myself to let go and relax.” Because your own free will is engaged, you will only respond when you want to respond. Being able to be hypnotized is not the same as being gullible. As a matter of fact, being able to be hypnotized points to a higher than normal ability to be creative and be the “captain of your own ship” of your body, mind and emotions. When you are in hypnosis you are behind the wheel and driving your own life and in more control. The control, however comes from a more expanded and integrated state of awareness.
Hypnosis is a skill. Just as some of us were naturals in grade school when we first swung a baseball bat, some of us are naturals at allowing ourselves to access the state of consciousness that is hypnosis. And just like with hitting baseballs, we can all be coached and taught to go into a hypnotic state.
How is it that this state of hypnosis is a desirable and helpful state of consciousness? In a hypnotic state you are more resourceful and creative because you have access to more dimensions and levels of consciousness. You experience yourself as more that your normal waking thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. You are expanded to include access of your subconscious and your super-conscious self. In hypnosis you can access long-forgotten memories, control pain, promote self-healing and become more intuitive. In hypnosis you are also more highly suggestible to positive suggestions to promote change.
By accessing this state, you have an expanded sense of Self which carries into your conscious daily life.
You remember what you experience when in a hypnotic state. You experience hypnosis through all of your inner senses by seeing with your inner eyes, hearing with your inner ears, and feeling emotions and body sensations. In most hypnotic states you are very relaxed and you return to wakeful consciousness feeling refreshed and renewed. After a hypnotic session you are very likely to continue to think about what you experienced or feel the positive effects of the work you have done as you integrate your new levels of insight and self-discoveries into your conscious self. The positive effects will most often become a part of your conscious awareness and your daily life. The more you access the state, the more positive effects you will have. This accumulative effect is what many of my hypnotherapy graduates exclaim at the end of their 200 hour hypnotherapy certification training at HCH Institute. Many students exclaim that they have gotten the benefits of over 20 years of therapy in four months of hypnosis training. Our graduates have spent the better part of their 200 hours of training in the hypnotic state doing the work and practicing the hypnotherapy techniques with each other. They are learning to be hypnotherapists while accessing the hypnotic state!
Learn more about hypnosis and its many therapeutic uses by reading my other blogs on Past life Therapy, Sandplay and Hypnosis, Spirit Releasement Therapy, Manifesting your dreams and more.
Visit htpp://HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn about HCH Institute and our California state approved and registered certification trainings and classes for personal growth in hypnotherapy, coaching, energy therapy and parapsychological studies. And listen to samples of Holly’s Hypnosis CDs which are available on-line.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn more about Holly and HCH Institute.
The field of hypnotherapy has been tainted and misunderstood for years. All one has to do is look at the use of hypnosis in Hollywood movies or see a stage hypnotist at a county fair perform, and most of us will avoid being hypnotized. No one wants to be embarrassed because of clucking like a chicken, or loose control and say or do something we wouldn’t normally allow.
The truth is that hypnotherapy is not what most people have been “hypnotized” into believing. I know because I have been using hypnosis personally and professionally and training hypnotherapists at a California approved Hypnotherapy Institute for over twenty years. So, sit comfortably, take a deep breath and allow me to teach you what hypnosis really is…
You experience the hypnotic state many times during the day. I remember in high school in my driver’s education class reading about “highway hypnosis”, a state of consciousness we naturally experience when driving long distances. Have you driven while daydreaming and forgotten that you crossed a familiar bridge or gone through a tunnel and not been consciously aware of it? If so, you have spontaneously experienced the inwardly focused state of consciousness called hypnosis.
Hypnosis is natural. It is a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. You may have had the experience of drifting off to sleep and having someone come into the room to ask you a question. Since you are not asleep yet, you can still respond coherently from a relaxed, inwardly-focused state. So, if you can go to sleep, you can be hypnotized. The question is: Do you want to allow yourself to be hypnotized?
All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. Contrary to what most people believe, hypnosis involves the use of your free will. You choose to respond to the suggestions given in hypnosis. The “inner hypnotist” is the part of you that says to yourself, “ I can and will allow myself to let go and relax.” Because your own free will is engaged, you will only respond when you want to respond. Being able to be hypnotized is not the same as being gullible. As a matter of fact, being able to be hypnotized points to a higher than normal ability to be creative and be the “captain of your own ship” of your body, mind and emotions. When you are in hypnosis you are behind the wheel and driving your own life and in more control. The control, however comes from a more expanded and integrated state of awareness.
Hypnosis is a skill. Just as some of us were naturals in grade school when we first swung a baseball bat, some of us are naturals at allowing ourselves to access the state of consciousness that is hypnosis. And just like with hitting baseballs, we can all be coached and taught to go into a hypnotic state.
How is it that this state of hypnosis is a desirable and helpful state of consciousness? In a hypnotic state you are more resourceful and creative because you have access to more dimensions and levels of consciousness. You experience yourself as more that your normal waking thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. You are expanded to include access of your subconscious and your super-conscious self. In hypnosis you can access long-forgotten memories, control pain, promote self-healing and become more intuitive. In hypnosis you are also more highly suggestible to positive suggestions to promote change.
By accessing this state, you have an expanded sense of Self which carries into your conscious daily life.
You remember what you experience when in a hypnotic state. You experience hypnosis through all of your inner senses by seeing with your inner eyes, hearing with your inner ears, and feeling emotions and body sensations. In most hypnotic states you are very relaxed and you return to wakeful consciousness feeling refreshed and renewed. After a hypnotic session you are very likely to continue to think about what you experienced or feel the positive effects of the work you have done as you integrate your new levels of insight and self-discoveries into your conscious self. The positive effects will most often become a part of your conscious awareness and your daily life. The more you access the state, the more positive effects you will have. This accumulative effect is what many of my hypnotherapy graduates exclaim at the end of their 200 hour hypnotherapy certification training at HCH Institute. Many students exclaim that they have gotten the benefits of over 20 years of therapy in four months of hypnosis training. Our graduates have spent the better part of their 200 hours of training in the hypnotic state doing the work and practicing the hypnotherapy techniques with each other. They are learning to be hypnotherapists while accessing the hypnotic state!
Learn more about hypnosis and its many therapeutic uses by reading my other blogs on Past life Therapy, Sandplay and Hypnosis, Spirit Releasement Therapy, Manifesting your dreams and more.
Visit htpp://HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn about HCH Institute and our California state approved and registered certification trainings and classes for personal growth in hypnotherapy, coaching, energy therapy and parapsychological studies. And listen to samples of Holly’s Hypnosis CDs which are available on-line.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn more about Holly and HCH Institute.
January 22, 2007
Sandplay: Open Eyed Trance
Over the twenty-five years I have trained hypnotherapists and worked with individual clients, I have sought out many alternatives to formal hypnotic inductions as a way to assist clients in working with their subconscious resources for transformation and healing. Many clients new to hypnotherapy are surprised to discover that going into a hypnotic state is a skill. Some clients find it is a challange to allow themselves to "let go" into the altered state. Moving into a guided trance requires the clients to trust both themselves and the hypnotherapist; and developing that trust can take time. There is usually also a need for the hypnotherapist to educate the client about the myths and misconceptions of hypnosis so once the client is engaged in the trance experience he will have an educated basis for determining if he has achieved a hypnotic state. This preparation and education phase can take several sessions and some experimentation with hypnotic techniques and approaches before a client experiences success.
I strive to empower and support clients who find it difficult to trust themselves and their experience (or lack of experience) in the hypnotic state and commonly suggest to them early on in the therapy alternative approaches to working in trance states. One approach which proves to be evocative, playful , highly creative and is completely self-guided by the client is Sandplay Therapy. Originally developed by Margaret Lowenfeld in the 1930's for use with children in play therapy, sandplay therapy is currently used with adults, families, corporations and communities. Sandplay therapy is empowering, self-directive and gentle, yet deeply propelling as a transformational vehicle.
In the traditional form of sandplay therapy the therapist provides a waterproof tray approximately 18" wide x 28" long x 3" deep painted blue on the bottom and sides. The tray is half-filled with fine high-grade sand and the therapy room is equipped with shelves which hold a myriad of aesthetic, quality miniature figures. Included in a collection are small trees, plants and people from all races, cultures and periods of history; prehistoric, wild and domesticated animals from all over the world; materials from nature such as rocks, moss, shells, crystals, wood, driftwood and pinecones; and marbles, beads and baubles. A collection also includes toy cars, trains, boats, planes, wagons and other vehicles of travel; cross cultural spiritual and archetypal figures, symbols and icons; as well as miniature figures and objects from daily life. Structures and dwellings from all historical periods and cultures, bridges, fences, towers, and caves are represented in the collection as well as cartoon and fantasy figures that are prevelant in our culture. For the most part, the figures are to scale in relation to the size of each other and the tray of sand.
In the traditional sandplay process the client creates a series of scenes or worlds in the sand by sculpting the dry or wet sand and placing the objects chosen from the shelves in the tray. The therapist's role is to provide, as Dora Kalff emphasizes in her book Sandplay, a "free and protected space" and to support the client in dealing with any content or emotions that the sandplay evokes. In the traditional approach, the therapist has little or no interaction during the session and provides no interpretation of the tray, but rather waits until the full series of the trays has been completed. At a later time the therapist shows he client slides or videos of the trays in sequence as a map of the client's healing, integration and individuation process.
Sandplay approaches have evolved over the years to be used as an interactive process similar to hypnotherapy. In this more active approach, sandplay can be used for inner child work, parts therapy, dream work, pastlife therapy, problem solving, anchoring, learning and memory enhancement. A client's organizing of the figures in the tray is a metaphor for reorganizing one's consciousness. Clients may move figures around to tell a narrative story or use voice dialogue in psychodrama as figures tell their personal stories. In contrast to the private inner experience of hypnotherapy however, the symbolic work is created outside the client in full view.
When the client is a child, sandplay therapy is especially appropriate. A child relates to the world primarily through his body and sandplay gives the child the opportunity to engage in the therapeutic process in an active kinesthetic way. He can "show" rather than "tell" and allow the subconscious feelings and experiences to spontaneously emerge through play. The "hypnosis" happens in front of the child in the sand, rather than only within the child, giving both the client and therapist access what to before was information or content which was most likely inexpressable by the child. It is the process of engaging in the creative play which is healing. Expressing through symbols, personal maps of experience, metaphors or stories allows the client to become a witness to himself and give him a concrete and direct experience that he is the creator of his own world or experience. Simply observing one's own process in the box of sand can be tremendously releasing and freeing, giving the client perspective and an experience of not being the problem, but witnessing the problem.
Very much like in hypnosis, sandplay engages the power of suggestion. If a client creates an experience of a potential solution to a problem in the sand, the solution becomes imprinted as a future positive response for the client in his daily life. The memory of the tray or a photo of the creation becomes a post-hypnotic anchor or cue not only for the potential solution to a problem, but also gives the client a way to emotionally have a new and positive relationship to the problem.
Also, sandplay, like hypnotherapy, induces the client into an altered state of consciousness where the subconscious mind becomes a active player and resource in the therapeutic dance. The self-directed ritual of preparing the sand, choosing the objects and focusing on creating the scene in the sand functions very much like a hypnotic induction and deepening process where the subconscious is more accessible. As in non-directive hypnotherapy, when creating the sandtray the client may choose to focus on a specific issue or concern or to allow the subconscious to spontaneously guide the focus of the session and the focus of the tray. Often a client will have no conscious awareness of what he is creating until he sits back to take in his scene in the tray.
Most importantly, sandplay is highly creative, even for people who believe they aren't creative and it is deliciously fun. Creating sandtrays bring to the forefront issues that need transformation and assist the client in accessing the healing source from within.
Holly Holmes-Meredith, MA is a licensed psychotherapist, a doctorate candidate, and the Clinical Director of HCH a state-licensed hypnotherapy training institute in Lafayette, California. HCH is the only hypnosis school to incorporate sandplay into the basic training and the only hypnotherapy school which offers sandplay therapy training groups for therapists and the public. If you would like to try an individual session in hypnotherapy or sandplay therapy contact the HCH $30 low-fee clinic at 925 283-3951 or email Holly@HypnotherapyTraining.com.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn more about Holly and HCH Institute.
I strive to empower and support clients who find it difficult to trust themselves and their experience (or lack of experience) in the hypnotic state and commonly suggest to them early on in the therapy alternative approaches to working in trance states. One approach which proves to be evocative, playful , highly creative and is completely self-guided by the client is Sandplay Therapy. Originally developed by Margaret Lowenfeld in the 1930's for use with children in play therapy, sandplay therapy is currently used with adults, families, corporations and communities. Sandplay therapy is empowering, self-directive and gentle, yet deeply propelling as a transformational vehicle.
In the traditional form of sandplay therapy the therapist provides a waterproof tray approximately 18" wide x 28" long x 3" deep painted blue on the bottom and sides. The tray is half-filled with fine high-grade sand and the therapy room is equipped with shelves which hold a myriad of aesthetic, quality miniature figures. Included in a collection are small trees, plants and people from all races, cultures and periods of history; prehistoric, wild and domesticated animals from all over the world; materials from nature such as rocks, moss, shells, crystals, wood, driftwood and pinecones; and marbles, beads and baubles. A collection also includes toy cars, trains, boats, planes, wagons and other vehicles of travel; cross cultural spiritual and archetypal figures, symbols and icons; as well as miniature figures and objects from daily life. Structures and dwellings from all historical periods and cultures, bridges, fences, towers, and caves are represented in the collection as well as cartoon and fantasy figures that are prevelant in our culture. For the most part, the figures are to scale in relation to the size of each other and the tray of sand.
In the traditional sandplay process the client creates a series of scenes or worlds in the sand by sculpting the dry or wet sand and placing the objects chosen from the shelves in the tray. The therapist's role is to provide, as Dora Kalff emphasizes in her book Sandplay, a "free and protected space" and to support the client in dealing with any content or emotions that the sandplay evokes. In the traditional approach, the therapist has little or no interaction during the session and provides no interpretation of the tray, but rather waits until the full series of the trays has been completed. At a later time the therapist shows he client slides or videos of the trays in sequence as a map of the client's healing, integration and individuation process.
Sandplay approaches have evolved over the years to be used as an interactive process similar to hypnotherapy. In this more active approach, sandplay can be used for inner child work, parts therapy, dream work, pastlife therapy, problem solving, anchoring, learning and memory enhancement. A client's organizing of the figures in the tray is a metaphor for reorganizing one's consciousness. Clients may move figures around to tell a narrative story or use voice dialogue in psychodrama as figures tell their personal stories. In contrast to the private inner experience of hypnotherapy however, the symbolic work is created outside the client in full view.
When the client is a child, sandplay therapy is especially appropriate. A child relates to the world primarily through his body and sandplay gives the child the opportunity to engage in the therapeutic process in an active kinesthetic way. He can "show" rather than "tell" and allow the subconscious feelings and experiences to spontaneously emerge through play. The "hypnosis" happens in front of the child in the sand, rather than only within the child, giving both the client and therapist access what to before was information or content which was most likely inexpressable by the child. It is the process of engaging in the creative play which is healing. Expressing through symbols, personal maps of experience, metaphors or stories allows the client to become a witness to himself and give him a concrete and direct experience that he is the creator of his own world or experience. Simply observing one's own process in the box of sand can be tremendously releasing and freeing, giving the client perspective and an experience of not being the problem, but witnessing the problem.
Very much like in hypnosis, sandplay engages the power of suggestion. If a client creates an experience of a potential solution to a problem in the sand, the solution becomes imprinted as a future positive response for the client in his daily life. The memory of the tray or a photo of the creation becomes a post-hypnotic anchor or cue not only for the potential solution to a problem, but also gives the client a way to emotionally have a new and positive relationship to the problem.
Also, sandplay, like hypnotherapy, induces the client into an altered state of consciousness where the subconscious mind becomes a active player and resource in the therapeutic dance. The self-directed ritual of preparing the sand, choosing the objects and focusing on creating the scene in the sand functions very much like a hypnotic induction and deepening process where the subconscious is more accessible. As in non-directive hypnotherapy, when creating the sandtray the client may choose to focus on a specific issue or concern or to allow the subconscious to spontaneously guide the focus of the session and the focus of the tray. Often a client will have no conscious awareness of what he is creating until he sits back to take in his scene in the tray.
Most importantly, sandplay is highly creative, even for people who believe they aren't creative and it is deliciously fun. Creating sandtrays bring to the forefront issues that need transformation and assist the client in accessing the healing source from within.
Holly Holmes-Meredith, MA is a licensed psychotherapist, a doctorate candidate, and the Clinical Director of HCH a state-licensed hypnotherapy training institute in Lafayette, California. HCH is the only hypnosis school to incorporate sandplay into the basic training and the only hypnotherapy school which offers sandplay therapy training groups for therapists and the public. If you would like to try an individual session in hypnotherapy or sandplay therapy contact the HCH $30 low-fee clinic at 925 283-3951 or email Holly@HypnotherapyTraining.com.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com to learn more about Holly and HCH Institute.
Reincarnation: Echoes of the Soul
Many people in our modern times have what they describe as memories of having lived past lives. Remembering a past life has a potential profound healing effect on one’s health, relationships, life work, spiritual understanding and sense of Self. A past life memory can also be an opening for one’s spiritual evolution and growth. I know because I have remembered many of my own past life experiences and I have facilitated thousands of people while they were in a hypnotic state as they remembered their past lives.
Both spiritual traditions, Hinduism and Buddhism, have versions of reincarnation in their theologies. In both traditions there is a belief that the soul is eternal and that it takes different forms through out the process of birth, death and rebirth. In each tradition there is a belief that the incarnate form and life experiences one has is the effect of past lives. The concept of Karma, cause and effect, is also universal to these traditions. It is interesting to me that in the class readings reincarnation is never addressed as a part of the spiritual precepts or beliefs. In both spiritual traditions reincarnation is a basic component of the theology. The ultimate expression of spiritual growth is moving beyond the cycles of death and rebirth, to a state of re-emergence with the divine.
In this paper I will discuss the concept of reincarnation from two spiritual traditions: Hinduism, and Buddhism . I will weave into the discussion the phenomenology of personal experiences from my twenty-three years experience as a psychotherapist who specializes in past life regression therapy, and as a client of past life therapy . And I will discuss how doing regression therapy can assist the spiritual practice of people who follow the spiritual paths of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Hinduism
Sacred Hindu texts use the term atman to refer to the spiritual essence of a human being. The atman is one’s true self because it connects each individual soul to one Source or Supreme Reality – Brahmin. In Hinduism life is a journey which takes each individual soul back to the oneness of Brahman from which everything is born. On this journey we human beings tend to forget the truth of who we are: we tend to fall into samsara the seemingly never-ending cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Humans are destined to reincarnate over and over again until our atman, or spiritual essence as a human being, can remember that we are Brahman. Lifetimes give us on-going opportunities to reach a state of awareness called moksha or liberation. We can only reach this state by realizing that we are not our personalities and simply material beings. We must follow a path of dharma, a path or moral and ethical conduct to become one with spirit.
The Hindu perspective on reincarnation also includes the concept of transmigration of the movement of the soul from mineral, vegetable and animal forms before becoming human. After going through the many human forms to samsara the soul evolved to become angelic. Some Hindus believe that transmigration can also be reversed: that the human soul can also become animal in its next life if the soul needs to experience the karma of de-evolving. (Dury, p. 14)
The Hindu practices follow the teachings in the Vedas which are believed to have been composed between 1200 BCE and 1000 BCE. ( Cole, p. 103) The Bhagavad- Gita, a Vedic text, is the story of prince Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, who turns out is the reincarnation of the supreme God, Vishnu, the Lord of the Universe. In the Gita , Krishna explains how spiritual knowledge is attained. Knowledge is attained through the playing out of karma, living out one’s dharma, or spiritual duty, and through the perfection of one’s soul’s and learning through reincarnation. The experience of life and all of its teachings is so vast that it is unlikely that in one life time the soul can move into perfection.
The concepts of Karma and reincarnation are woven throughout the Bhagavad-Gita and are more than dogma to Hindus. In an article that appeared in India’s Illustrated Weekly (September 26, 1971) is the statement, “Karma and reincarnation are to them [Hindus] more than dogma, they are like the air that they breathe. And Hindus cannot help themselves feeling that they are a part of a cosmic scheme that is perpetually in a whirl. As Krishna says in the Gita, ‘All worlds up to that of Brahma are subject to rebirth again and again.’” (Cranston and Williams, p. 233)
In past life regression therapy a client has the opportunity to directly experience the effects of karma or cause and effect in one’s own present and past lives. Through the life stories that unfold and through the associated state in the body, time and place of the past life, the client experiences direct emotions, sensations and soul awareness of the “hows” and “whys” of the past life in relation to current circumstances in one’s present life.
An example is from my own regression therapy work. I grew up with a physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic mother. By the time I was an adolescent I had given up on getting my mothering needs met by her and I lived with resentment and hate. I rejected my mother with the same passion I felt with which she rejected me until I accessed a past life memory when my mother was a child and I was her stepmother. I had the image and sensation of being angry and resentful toward my stepdaughter and beating her as she crouched in a corner. I experienced that I beat her often and that I was relentlessly emotionally cruel to her. I had the realization that in my current life my mother and I carried the soul memory of the past relationship and that karmically we were balancing out the drama by reversing the roles. This experience explained to me so clearly why I was the one out of four daughters she abused. In an instant not only did I understand the cause and effect of her abuse, but I also came to a place of forgiveness of my mother this life time and for myself in the past. Our relationship changed dramatically after this regression. The hate and resentment were gone. I was able to accept her and my relationship with her with more compassion. Understanding the karma between my mother and myself supported my ability to accept what is and to come to a place of peace and healing. I have no way of knowing to what degree this healing of my relationship with my mother has supported my spiritual evolution. I do know, however, that in this life time I feel more able to be present with what is and I felt less reactive and judgmental where my mother is concerned. I have also committed to the dharma of helping others to come to a more accepting and compassionate place in their lives through understanding the “why me?” of difficult situations in their lives. When one comes to the karma of the “why me?” as it is related to the past life connection to current life effects, awareness shifts and healing takes place. Past life regression work can help one do the spiritual work of Chanda in the Hindu tradition: “ This is the wholesome desire of chanda- to be free, the desire to relieve suffering, to be healthy, to promote well-being.” Past life regression therapy brings into the current life the spiritual practice of liberation, and basic self-esteem and equality with others.
Buddhism
Reincarnation is also a basic part of the theology in the Buddhist tradition. The Buddha, Siddhartha, at his moment of enlightenment saw all of his past incarnations as he looked into his reflection in the river. One effect of enlightenment is that the wheels of karma are broken and one no longer must reincarnate to perfect one’s Being. (Matt, p. 115) A Boddhisattva, however, is one who reaches enlightenment or Nirvana and chooses to incarnate to assist all others incarnated in reaching nirvana through teaching how one can release suffering and attachment. Reaching perfection is the goal of Buddhists and perfection is reached by incarnating over and over again to experience and learn how to let go of all attachment and suffering created by the mind. The schools of Mahayana and Zen Buddhism hold the belief in personal reincarnation and those who practice these forms of Buddhism are focused on stopping the karmic pull that bring us back into a body in human form.
The original Buddhist scriptures, known as the Pali Canon, were recorded several hundred years after Buddha’s death. The most celebrated of these is the Dhammapada. Here Buddha plainly speaks of two selves within the human being, the lesser self and the greater self, the former being perishable and the later enduring from life to life. Here is a selection from the Dhammapada: “I call him Brahmana [a true Brahmin] who has destroyed his doubts by knowledge and had plumbed the depth of the Eternal….Him I call a Brahmana who knows the mystery of death and rebirth of all beings, who knows his former lives, who is a sage of perfect knowledge and who has accomplished all that needs to be accomplished.” (Freedman, p. 4)
In the Diamond Sutra the opening paragraph refers to a past life of the Buddha when he was born a king’s son and his raging father cut the infant into pieces:
When the king of Kalinga cut my flesh from every limb, at that time I had no perception of self, of being a soul, or a person. And why? If at that time I had had a perception of self, I would have had a perception of ill-will….With my superknowledge I recall that in the past I have for five hundred births led the life of a sage devoted to patience. (Cranston. 79)
In the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism the Dalai Lama is chosen because of his ability to remember certain objects and spiritual teaching from a prior lifetime as a Dalai Lama. He is put to tests to prove the authenticity of his reincarnational heritage before he is accepted into the role as the new Dalai Lama. His ability to remember is a sign of his advanced spiritual state. The Tibetan Buddhists want to honor the past learnings and wisdom of their spiritual leader; he can pick up where he left off in a prior life time. Bradford Smith of Colombia University writes:
When the previous Dalai Lama dies, wise men who had gone to seek the new holy one, had found a little boy who recognized things that had belonged to his predecessor and could pick them out unerringly from among similar objects….So here is a religion where an infant is born obscurely, recognized by wise men and worshipped: where a holy man prophesies that he will return from the dead……In Tibetan Buddhism, with its firm faith in the rebirth of the soul, not only of the
Dalai Lamas but of all, and of a progress based upon behavior during past lives, this impulse is dramatically present. (Cranston, p. 99)
The Dalai Lama speaks of the effects of Karma and reincarnation in a poignant way in a discussion of the sad state of Tibet where suffering has been inflicted upon the people, and where the Chinese are attempting to stamp out every vestige of Buddhism may wonder how the Dalai Lama views all this in the light of reincarnation. An answer is given in an interview with the Lama as reported in the New York Times (November 12, 1967):
As a Buddhist he said that he believes that the present events are determined by intricate sets of causes stretching back into the previous lives of those who are affected by them. “Thus”, he said, “it was only an ‘outward appearance’ that the Tibetans were suffering today because of the Chinese aggression. The aggression must have come because we did something bad.” “Similarly”, he went on,” it is only an ‘outward appearance’ that Chinese rule in Tibet is now permanent. The chain of causes that will eventually undermine it, must already be lengthening, even if it cannot be seen.” “Cause and effect, cause and effect, cause and effect, “ he said cheerfully in English, his fingers darting in the air to join the links of an imaginary chain. “There will certainly be change.” (Cranston, p. 101)
Past life therapy is a spiritual process through which you can remember the Self and the truth of who you are as a spiritual being. Through direct experiences of emotions, body sensations and events one can come to a profound understanding and acceptance of the way it is. One has a direct experience of karma and the bigger picture of the spiritual lessons that come through the process of karmic experiences of cause and effect.
Nineteen years ago a man came to see me to do a past-life regression around his lack of ambition and success in the field of music. The minute he walked into my office I was struck with a deep and profound recognition of him. This man is now my husband of eighteen years. Through out our life and spiritual work together, I have come to understand so much about our connection and our karma.
In a past life we shared in Ancient Egypt, Paul, my husband now, was a man of spiritual responsibility. He was to watch over the Priestess virgins who were to be sacrificed whenever a pharaoh died. The Priestess spirits would accompany the dead pharaohs into the afterlife to protect them and care for them. I was chosen to be sacrificed. He chose me to die because I was the most evolved of the priestess. This choice infuriated me. We had fallen in love and I wanted to be free to be in relationship with him. This was not possible since I was a well-guarded virgin priestess. I was furious that he would choose his spiritual responsibility to sacrifice the highest priestess over our personal love and that I was the victim of a spiritual ritual that I knew was based on superstition, not on the reality of the power of love. When I died I was angry at the stupidity of personal religious sacrifices when I knew that love was the most important healing force in the universe.
Well, in this life time we get to be together to explore personal and spiritual love. I feel that Paul is very dedicated to exploring the experience of personal and spiritual love with me. And I am exploring more lessons about personal sacrifice: what it is and when it feels appropriate and inappropriate. We have both moved beyond religious dogma and adopting external authority where our spiritual life is concerned and we both are involved with the dharma of supporting others in being in relationship with their own spiritual power. We are consciously working on freeing ourselves from the karmic wheel that keeps us caught up in the suffering and entrapment of mind. As stated by the Buddhist scholar Bassui Tokusho:
If you would free yourself of the sufferings of samsara [rebirth], you must learn the direct way to become a Buddha. This way is no other than the realization of your own Mind. Now what is this Mind? It is the true nature of all sentient beings, that which existed before our parents were born and hence before our own birth, which presently exists, unchangeable and eternal. So it is one’s Face before one’s parents were born…When we are born it is not newly created, and when we die it does not perish. It has no distinction of male or female, nor has it any coloration good or bad. It cannot be compared to anything, so it is called Buddha nature….
Should your yearning be too weak to lead you to this state in your present life time, you will undoubtedly gain Self-realization easily in the next, provided you are still engaged in this questioning at death, just as yesterday’s work half done was finished easily today. (Cranston, p. 89-90)
Past life therapy is a tool that will support the soul’s spiritual work in moving towards finishing… in moving towards one’s Buddha hood, today. Past life therapy can give one the direct understanding and experience of cause and effect and can help one to more consciously choose thoughts and actions that will support the lessening of personal and planetary suffering. Through doing the work of past-life therapy one can realize more fully that we are all Buddhas in the process of Self-realization.
Bibliography
Buddism and Taoism and Indigenous Religions, Volume I, Hana Matt, no information.
Hinduism, W. Owen Cole and V.P. (Hemant) Kanitkar, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., London, UK, 1995.
Hunduism, Hana Matt, no information.
Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery, Sylvia Cranston, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA, 1977.
Reincarnation: A New Horizon in Science, Religion and Society, Sylvia Cranston and Carey Williams, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA, 1993.
Reincarnation, Nevill Drury, Barnes and Noble Books, Singapore, 2002.
Soul Echoes: The Healing Power of Past-Life Therapy, Thelma Freedman, PhD, Citadel Press, New York, NY, 2002.
Spirit Releasement Therapy, William Baldwin, Headline Books, Inc, Terra Alta, WV, 1992.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com and listen to Holly's Past Life Regression hypnosis CDs and find out about trainings at HCH Institute
Both spiritual traditions, Hinduism and Buddhism, have versions of reincarnation in their theologies. In both traditions there is a belief that the soul is eternal and that it takes different forms through out the process of birth, death and rebirth. In each tradition there is a belief that the incarnate form and life experiences one has is the effect of past lives. The concept of Karma, cause and effect, is also universal to these traditions. It is interesting to me that in the class readings reincarnation is never addressed as a part of the spiritual precepts or beliefs. In both spiritual traditions reincarnation is a basic component of the theology. The ultimate expression of spiritual growth is moving beyond the cycles of death and rebirth, to a state of re-emergence with the divine.
In this paper I will discuss the concept of reincarnation from two spiritual traditions: Hinduism, and Buddhism . I will weave into the discussion the phenomenology of personal experiences from my twenty-three years experience as a psychotherapist who specializes in past life regression therapy, and as a client of past life therapy . And I will discuss how doing regression therapy can assist the spiritual practice of people who follow the spiritual paths of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Hinduism
Sacred Hindu texts use the term atman to refer to the spiritual essence of a human being. The atman is one’s true self because it connects each individual soul to one Source or Supreme Reality – Brahmin. In Hinduism life is a journey which takes each individual soul back to the oneness of Brahman from which everything is born. On this journey we human beings tend to forget the truth of who we are: we tend to fall into samsara the seemingly never-ending cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Humans are destined to reincarnate over and over again until our atman, or spiritual essence as a human being, can remember that we are Brahman. Lifetimes give us on-going opportunities to reach a state of awareness called moksha or liberation. We can only reach this state by realizing that we are not our personalities and simply material beings. We must follow a path of dharma, a path or moral and ethical conduct to become one with spirit.
The Hindu perspective on reincarnation also includes the concept of transmigration of the movement of the soul from mineral, vegetable and animal forms before becoming human. After going through the many human forms to samsara the soul evolved to become angelic. Some Hindus believe that transmigration can also be reversed: that the human soul can also become animal in its next life if the soul needs to experience the karma of de-evolving. (Dury, p. 14)
The Hindu practices follow the teachings in the Vedas which are believed to have been composed between 1200 BCE and 1000 BCE. ( Cole, p. 103) The Bhagavad- Gita, a Vedic text, is the story of prince Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, who turns out is the reincarnation of the supreme God, Vishnu, the Lord of the Universe. In the Gita , Krishna explains how spiritual knowledge is attained. Knowledge is attained through the playing out of karma, living out one’s dharma, or spiritual duty, and through the perfection of one’s soul’s and learning through reincarnation. The experience of life and all of its teachings is so vast that it is unlikely that in one life time the soul can move into perfection.
The concepts of Karma and reincarnation are woven throughout the Bhagavad-Gita and are more than dogma to Hindus. In an article that appeared in India’s Illustrated Weekly (September 26, 1971) is the statement, “Karma and reincarnation are to them [Hindus] more than dogma, they are like the air that they breathe. And Hindus cannot help themselves feeling that they are a part of a cosmic scheme that is perpetually in a whirl. As Krishna says in the Gita, ‘All worlds up to that of Brahma are subject to rebirth again and again.’” (Cranston and Williams, p. 233)
In past life regression therapy a client has the opportunity to directly experience the effects of karma or cause and effect in one’s own present and past lives. Through the life stories that unfold and through the associated state in the body, time and place of the past life, the client experiences direct emotions, sensations and soul awareness of the “hows” and “whys” of the past life in relation to current circumstances in one’s present life.
An example is from my own regression therapy work. I grew up with a physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic mother. By the time I was an adolescent I had given up on getting my mothering needs met by her and I lived with resentment and hate. I rejected my mother with the same passion I felt with which she rejected me until I accessed a past life memory when my mother was a child and I was her stepmother. I had the image and sensation of being angry and resentful toward my stepdaughter and beating her as she crouched in a corner. I experienced that I beat her often and that I was relentlessly emotionally cruel to her. I had the realization that in my current life my mother and I carried the soul memory of the past relationship and that karmically we were balancing out the drama by reversing the roles. This experience explained to me so clearly why I was the one out of four daughters she abused. In an instant not only did I understand the cause and effect of her abuse, but I also came to a place of forgiveness of my mother this life time and for myself in the past. Our relationship changed dramatically after this regression. The hate and resentment were gone. I was able to accept her and my relationship with her with more compassion. Understanding the karma between my mother and myself supported my ability to accept what is and to come to a place of peace and healing. I have no way of knowing to what degree this healing of my relationship with my mother has supported my spiritual evolution. I do know, however, that in this life time I feel more able to be present with what is and I felt less reactive and judgmental where my mother is concerned. I have also committed to the dharma of helping others to come to a more accepting and compassionate place in their lives through understanding the “why me?” of difficult situations in their lives. When one comes to the karma of the “why me?” as it is related to the past life connection to current life effects, awareness shifts and healing takes place. Past life regression work can help one do the spiritual work of Chanda in the Hindu tradition: “ This is the wholesome desire of chanda- to be free, the desire to relieve suffering, to be healthy, to promote well-being.” Past life regression therapy brings into the current life the spiritual practice of liberation, and basic self-esteem and equality with others.
Buddhism
Reincarnation is also a basic part of the theology in the Buddhist tradition. The Buddha, Siddhartha, at his moment of enlightenment saw all of his past incarnations as he looked into his reflection in the river. One effect of enlightenment is that the wheels of karma are broken and one no longer must reincarnate to perfect one’s Being. (Matt, p. 115) A Boddhisattva, however, is one who reaches enlightenment or Nirvana and chooses to incarnate to assist all others incarnated in reaching nirvana through teaching how one can release suffering and attachment. Reaching perfection is the goal of Buddhists and perfection is reached by incarnating over and over again to experience and learn how to let go of all attachment and suffering created by the mind. The schools of Mahayana and Zen Buddhism hold the belief in personal reincarnation and those who practice these forms of Buddhism are focused on stopping the karmic pull that bring us back into a body in human form.
The original Buddhist scriptures, known as the Pali Canon, were recorded several hundred years after Buddha’s death. The most celebrated of these is the Dhammapada. Here Buddha plainly speaks of two selves within the human being, the lesser self and the greater self, the former being perishable and the later enduring from life to life. Here is a selection from the Dhammapada: “I call him Brahmana [a true Brahmin] who has destroyed his doubts by knowledge and had plumbed the depth of the Eternal….Him I call a Brahmana who knows the mystery of death and rebirth of all beings, who knows his former lives, who is a sage of perfect knowledge and who has accomplished all that needs to be accomplished.” (Freedman, p. 4)
In the Diamond Sutra the opening paragraph refers to a past life of the Buddha when he was born a king’s son and his raging father cut the infant into pieces:
When the king of Kalinga cut my flesh from every limb, at that time I had no perception of self, of being a soul, or a person. And why? If at that time I had had a perception of self, I would have had a perception of ill-will….With my superknowledge I recall that in the past I have for five hundred births led the life of a sage devoted to patience. (Cranston. 79)
In the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism the Dalai Lama is chosen because of his ability to remember certain objects and spiritual teaching from a prior lifetime as a Dalai Lama. He is put to tests to prove the authenticity of his reincarnational heritage before he is accepted into the role as the new Dalai Lama. His ability to remember is a sign of his advanced spiritual state. The Tibetan Buddhists want to honor the past learnings and wisdom of their spiritual leader; he can pick up where he left off in a prior life time. Bradford Smith of Colombia University writes:
When the previous Dalai Lama dies, wise men who had gone to seek the new holy one, had found a little boy who recognized things that had belonged to his predecessor and could pick them out unerringly from among similar objects….So here is a religion where an infant is born obscurely, recognized by wise men and worshipped: where a holy man prophesies that he will return from the dead……In Tibetan Buddhism, with its firm faith in the rebirth of the soul, not only of the
Dalai Lamas but of all, and of a progress based upon behavior during past lives, this impulse is dramatically present. (Cranston, p. 99)
The Dalai Lama speaks of the effects of Karma and reincarnation in a poignant way in a discussion of the sad state of Tibet where suffering has been inflicted upon the people, and where the Chinese are attempting to stamp out every vestige of Buddhism may wonder how the Dalai Lama views all this in the light of reincarnation. An answer is given in an interview with the Lama as reported in the New York Times (November 12, 1967):
As a Buddhist he said that he believes that the present events are determined by intricate sets of causes stretching back into the previous lives of those who are affected by them. “Thus”, he said, “it was only an ‘outward appearance’ that the Tibetans were suffering today because of the Chinese aggression. The aggression must have come because we did something bad.” “Similarly”, he went on,” it is only an ‘outward appearance’ that Chinese rule in Tibet is now permanent. The chain of causes that will eventually undermine it, must already be lengthening, even if it cannot be seen.” “Cause and effect, cause and effect, cause and effect, “ he said cheerfully in English, his fingers darting in the air to join the links of an imaginary chain. “There will certainly be change.” (Cranston, p. 101)
Past life therapy is a spiritual process through which you can remember the Self and the truth of who you are as a spiritual being. Through direct experiences of emotions, body sensations and events one can come to a profound understanding and acceptance of the way it is. One has a direct experience of karma and the bigger picture of the spiritual lessons that come through the process of karmic experiences of cause and effect.
Nineteen years ago a man came to see me to do a past-life regression around his lack of ambition and success in the field of music. The minute he walked into my office I was struck with a deep and profound recognition of him. This man is now my husband of eighteen years. Through out our life and spiritual work together, I have come to understand so much about our connection and our karma.
In a past life we shared in Ancient Egypt, Paul, my husband now, was a man of spiritual responsibility. He was to watch over the Priestess virgins who were to be sacrificed whenever a pharaoh died. The Priestess spirits would accompany the dead pharaohs into the afterlife to protect them and care for them. I was chosen to be sacrificed. He chose me to die because I was the most evolved of the priestess. This choice infuriated me. We had fallen in love and I wanted to be free to be in relationship with him. This was not possible since I was a well-guarded virgin priestess. I was furious that he would choose his spiritual responsibility to sacrifice the highest priestess over our personal love and that I was the victim of a spiritual ritual that I knew was based on superstition, not on the reality of the power of love. When I died I was angry at the stupidity of personal religious sacrifices when I knew that love was the most important healing force in the universe.
Well, in this life time we get to be together to explore personal and spiritual love. I feel that Paul is very dedicated to exploring the experience of personal and spiritual love with me. And I am exploring more lessons about personal sacrifice: what it is and when it feels appropriate and inappropriate. We have both moved beyond religious dogma and adopting external authority where our spiritual life is concerned and we both are involved with the dharma of supporting others in being in relationship with their own spiritual power. We are consciously working on freeing ourselves from the karmic wheel that keeps us caught up in the suffering and entrapment of mind. As stated by the Buddhist scholar Bassui Tokusho:
If you would free yourself of the sufferings of samsara [rebirth], you must learn the direct way to become a Buddha. This way is no other than the realization of your own Mind. Now what is this Mind? It is the true nature of all sentient beings, that which existed before our parents were born and hence before our own birth, which presently exists, unchangeable and eternal. So it is one’s Face before one’s parents were born…When we are born it is not newly created, and when we die it does not perish. It has no distinction of male or female, nor has it any coloration good or bad. It cannot be compared to anything, so it is called Buddha nature….
Should your yearning be too weak to lead you to this state in your present life time, you will undoubtedly gain Self-realization easily in the next, provided you are still engaged in this questioning at death, just as yesterday’s work half done was finished easily today. (Cranston, p. 89-90)
Past life therapy is a tool that will support the soul’s spiritual work in moving towards finishing… in moving towards one’s Buddha hood, today. Past life therapy can give one the direct understanding and experience of cause and effect and can help one to more consciously choose thoughts and actions that will support the lessening of personal and planetary suffering. Through doing the work of past-life therapy one can realize more fully that we are all Buddhas in the process of Self-realization.
Bibliography
Buddism and Taoism and Indigenous Religions, Volume I, Hana Matt, no information.
Hinduism, W. Owen Cole and V.P. (Hemant) Kanitkar, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., London, UK, 1995.
Hunduism, Hana Matt, no information.
Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery, Sylvia Cranston, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA, 1977.
Reincarnation: A New Horizon in Science, Religion and Society, Sylvia Cranston and Carey Williams, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA, 1993.
Reincarnation, Nevill Drury, Barnes and Noble Books, Singapore, 2002.
Soul Echoes: The Healing Power of Past-Life Therapy, Thelma Freedman, PhD, Citadel Press, New York, NY, 2002.
Spirit Releasement Therapy, William Baldwin, Headline Books, Inc, Terra Alta, WV, 1992.
Visit HypnotherapyTraining.com and listen to Holly's Past Life Regression hypnosis CDs and find out about trainings at HCH Institute
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