PART 1

First thing, as I’ve got the impression there’s still a lot of confusion about hypnosis techniques, even amongst psychiatrists, I’m going to quote a Spanish hypnotherapist named Horacio Ruiz, with more than 30 years of experience in the field, so that you see it’s not only me who says this, but the professional people who works on this.

http://hipnosisenterapia.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/sobre-la-regresion-hipnotica-i.html

“The hypnotic trance provides a great advantage to the hypnotized subject when confronting these traumatic memories, as it helps them to reach easier a deep relaxation and comfortable state, as well as a mental environment of great receptivity and concentration to access the contents of the unconscious, those that are stored and that are remembered more or less while being awake, and also those unknown by the conscious.

In regards to the influence of the hypnosis for the emergence of hidden memories, I have to point out  that, in certain subjects very receptive and suggestible to the trance, the so-called hypermnesia (hidden memory) activates, and memories, images, emotions and even sensations from other times are recovered. Real or fictional, these memories of supposed past lives sometimes emerge with a lot of strength and alongside an odd feeling of being something of their own.

Hypnosis allows us to approach those traumatic memories through disassociation (seeing it all from the outside, as if it was a silver screen), to make them more bearable.

Hypnotic regression, therefore, is not a technique that installs memories, but a method to recover them in an easier way, so that they can be faced with greater maturity or security, as the person has now some abilities to get over them, abilities that were not there when those events took place.

I also have to say, in regards to the reality or invention of those memories, that there’s an irrefutable fact: nothing can come out of the mind if it has not gone in before. It may come out mixed and confused, chaotic and almost unrecognizable. But, if it comes out, it’s because it had gone in before.

It’s my opinion this is irrefutable and brings down certain theoretical reasoning that claims some unconscious contents are false memories. In other words, if those images and memories are coming out from the unconscious, from the memory, it’s because they had gone in before. And, if they’re coming out, undoubtedly there has to be a reason and they must have a meaning. 

Experts in hypnotic regressions claim that any memory emerging from them must be considered only a product of the mind. A product of the mind, that, according to them, can be adjusted to reality or can have undergone some kind of distortion, because research has confirmed that memory tends to alter or mix images when a period of time has elapsed.

In other words, this means that memories can be true or pure fantasy, they can be adjusted to past life events or they can be not too precise.

 

The truth is there are some regressionists who tend to define the memories obtained by hypnosis as very reliable (even though they don’t completely adjust to what happened in the past), while there are some that give little credibility to what is remembered during hypnosis.

Does it matter to the therapy whether the memory adjusts to what really happened?

What usually affects us, for good or bad, is not what really happened, but the memory of such event, with all the distortions. So we’ll have to work (abreaction) in the appropriate direction to release those memories that falsify the past life experience.

Therefore, from the psychological point of view, it’s true and evident that what we remember under hypnosis can be certain or not historically speaking. But it will always be certain psychologically speaking. The forewarned clinician will have to remember what Carl Gustav Jung used to say: “A thief is as real as a ghost for the man who fears both”.  

It’s clear that I, as a person who has been more than a year doing regressions (with one of these recordings or by meditation), disagree with the last paragraph, as I’ve been able to validate a part of these “supposed past life memories”. I’m convinced that a great part of what we remember is real and it happened exactly as we remember. There’s a lot of persons who have even been able to find birth or death certificates, or they’ve found photographs of the person they were in the past. Besides, I think that validation must be attempted whenever this is possible, because this is what will allow us in the long term to prove that reincarnation is a fact, something that for me is transcendental for the human being.

But I also think that our memory is not perfect, and we don’t always get to interpret what we see correctly. I can assure though that the whole process is highly beneficial, it helps us to know and understand ourselves much better, and it makes us evolve spiritually when we realize we all are immortal beings, that whatever we do we will always be back to keep on learning, that our loved ones never leave us… in sum, that life is a lot more than we think.

That’s why I invite you all to try these techniques, without fear, as you have a whole world to discover.

In the next post I’ll give you some advice that was very useful for me at the beginning.

 

PART 2

Many of you who try one of these self-hypnosis recordings at home, will find it’s a bit difficult at the beginning: you will feel odd, you won’t feel capable of relaxing enough, you’ll think it’s ridiculous that listening to some instructions from an unknown person in your ear you’ll feel or see anything… Well, first of all, keep calm and get rid of prejudices. Put aside your beliefs and all your negative thinking. You have to trust the person who is talking to you and let yourself go. It doesn’t matter if you believe in reincarnation or not. Don’t have a lot of expectations, don’t think that in your first session you’re going to relive a whole past life. No, it doesn’t work that way. But don’t give up after the first try, neither think this doesn’t work for you or that you’ll never achieve anything with this method.

Hypnosis is only an altered state of consciousness. This is not anything strange. In the contrary, it’s perfectly safe and natural, it’s a state you often reach even when you’re not aware of it.

 

Learning to do it without assistant can be difficult. According to Henry Leo Bolduc, learning self-hypnosis is similar to assembling the parts of a bicycle while trying to follow the printed instructions. Depending on the person, the way of doing it will be different: some will find it an easy task, others will look at the instruction book for a minute and will despair, others will put it aside and will observe the pieces to assemble them on their own.

Well, it’s advisable that before trying self-hypnosis, you stop for a second and analyze which is your way of learning things. Generally speaking, there are three types of learners: visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

- If you have strong visual skills, you belong to the first type. This means you can look at the diagram of the bicycle and assemble the parts only using your imagination. This is a very important ability for self-hypnosis, as you’ll be able to visualize very clearly the environment that surrounds you, your clothes, the objects, etc.

- If you prefer that someone tells you the instructions, someone giving you directly the information, then you belong to the second type of learner. In this case the self-hypnosis recordings will also very useful for you. Relaxation music too, and you can even do your own recording using a script.

- The kinesthetic learner tends to learn best by doing, taking a physically or mentally active role in learning. In this case emotions that emerge during hypnosis are very important, and these individuals will notice movements or subtle vibrations in their bodies while in trance. 

You can adapt self-hypnosis to your way of learning, so that the sessions are more productive.

 

PART THREE

You also must take your expectations into account: it is possible you are not sure of the exact meaning of entering a hypnotic trance.

- Though I’ve said this in other parts of the forum, I will say it again: hypnosis is not something that a hypnotist imposes on you, it’s not something from the outside acting over you, IT IS NOT AN INDUCTION. At most, someone may help you to reach that state. But it’s something that comes from inside of you. That’s the reason why you have to give yourself permission to do it, even if it’s only at an unconscious level. They say you don’t remember anything if you’re not ready to accept it. In this regard, I can talk from my own experience. If there’s something that scares you, or something you don’t want to see, whatever the reason, you won’t see it. Only when you tell your subconscious “Ok, I’m ready”, you’ll begin to see it. And even then, it will come little by little. And it’s a work you have to do by yourself, it takes some effort and it will probably affect you, because it’s coming from the inside of you.

- Maybe you think you’re going to lose consciousness during hypnosis, and this is not so. Only you’re not going to lose it, but all your senses are sharpened. And even when you’re in the middle of the trance and you’re seeing images that possibly come from other times, you still can hear the traffic sounds or the phone ringing in the other room. And many times you will not only see images, you will also hear some words in a foreign language, or you’ll remember a smell, or you will feel a slight physical pain… Besides, when you come out of the self-hypnosis, you will remember everything.

 

- Hypnosis is not synonymous of falling asleep. The most important thing is relaxation, physical and mental. If you’re not relaxed enough, the information you get won’t be as clear as it’s desirable.

- You will never lose control. The regressionist will never be able to force you to do anything you don’t want to. You can never get blocked. If you’re feeling bad or you think you can’t bear what you’re seeing, you can stop any time you want.

Finally, this is VERY IMPORTANT for all of us who try to remember past lives: you have to learn to analyze what we have seen AFTER you have lived it. If you start to analyze every detail in that precise moment, you go out from the hypnotic state and the process shuts off. What your rational mind provides is not coming from the inside and can contaminate your memories. The story you’re building is like a jigsaw. At the beginning maybe you’ll think it’s senseless, but it doesn’t matter, just let it come out. Later we’ll see how it fits.

This has to do with the way we use our brain: the right hemisphere is the one working mainly when you’re in trance, while the left hemisphere analyzes. If you are shifting constantly from right to left, there’s a leap in the process, a break in memory and creativity. If you focus on your doubts and questions, you might get stuck at the first portal and you might prevent yourself from gaining a deeper experience.

You must avoid doing two things at the same time. During hypnosis, avoid analyzing in which part you are, or what you are learning… Leave this for the end. The processing of the information has to be done at a conscious level.

You can find the whole article here: http://www.henrybolduc.com/articles/atpoabdiyh.htm