Without playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of imagination is incalculable.
Carl Jung
Scene Study
I hung on her every word. The amount of detail she would receive during past life regressions was unprecedented in my experience. She knew what the curtains were made of and where they came from. She could feel the material of every piece of clothing that the characters in her mind wore, from the Prima Ballerina’s finery to the female pirate’s ensemble and the alchemist’s robes, name their fabrics, and identify three scents in them.
Over subsequent sessions, she lovingly constructed a library (not unlike a memory palace) from which most of her regressions would begin. In it there were many rooms, including a puzzle room, map room, a lunarium and a grand hall with stained glass and a magnificent fireplace. I can still see these locations, though they don’t exist in the physical world.
She is a renowned artist and a public figure. It’s not surprising at all that her mind would produce such wonders. Working with her is always thrilling. Every session is a testament to the healing power of story. She possesses tremendous creative capacity. Past life regression provided a structure and process for working with the narratives inside her, transforming them into tools.
It seems unlikely that past life regression would be such a powerful means of unlocking creativity. The field of regression therapy has been caught in a feedback loop of the same messaging in its public perception since the 80s. The popularity of Brian Weiss’ Many Lives, Many Masters coupled with the low budget investigations of cable television have painted a one-sided story that has been hard to break out of. The odd celebrity-endorsement has done nothing to move the conversation forward either. People are distracted by the superficial implications of past life memories, making it easy to overlook certain other questions. From where inside us do these narratives emerge? What occurs in those rare and transformational cases where fears and phobias are dissolved in a day? What part of ourselves is speaking and from what part are we listening?
Getting into Character
The truth about her family was hidden from her as a measure of protection. Her father, a doctor, had died in a plane crash 16 years ago. She was raised by grandparents, extended family and friends mostly in Southern California. Her story was filled with mystery and secrets. There was money set aside for her, forces working beyond the adults around her, and men beginning to offer her unwanted attention. Engaging the young woman directly in conversation, it was easy to forget she was fictional and the protagonist in a script hovering at 80% completion.
Sessions with the aforementioned artist had turned into creative play. She was working on finishing a script that had been with her for some time. The themes she was exploring personally were also being expressed in her projects narratively, and she was now interested in blending the two. Combining a few different techniques, I developed exercises for bringing writers into the worlds they create and conversing safely and directly with their characters. The primary location in her story might as well have been one of the main characters. She described the space with lustrous tactile sensuality. I felt the dust in the hot desert air slowly floating through beams of light as I guided her. Her characters sat around a table at which she occupied the head. She had questions about how they were going to finish this script and they had the answers.
Before long, the conversation was flowing. I scribbled furiously as the information poured out. Knowing the keystone of the greater work could be in any syllable, I didn’t want to miss a word.
Imagine past life regression in a secular frame as a natural treatment for Writer’s Block. The method takes place at the intersection between healing and creativity. Usually through relaxation, the context is created where new stories naturally rise in the mind reflecting and projecting aspects of ourselves through symbols and metaphors. From a certain point of view, it might be a miracle cure. There is also training in the invaluable skill of quieting the critical mind which is so often unhelpful. In past life regression, self-talk or commentary will usually only serve as an impediment. For instance, judging a past life regression as a dream you had or a book you once read usually injures the experience. Even if it’s true, when simply embraced for what it is or played with, something else can be revealed, like peeling back an onion. Some might say creativity operates similarly.
I often suggest to clients and students that we not place the experience “in a box.” There is no need to decide that it is one thing; whether that’s a past life memory, a film half-remembered, a dream, or something else. If we instead allow the story to be just a story, we can continue to learn from it over time, regarding the tale as one might Aesop’s Fables. The perspective changes and grows, and different lessons can be extracted. We can consider the work of figures like Joseph Campbell or Carl Jung here too. These are the myths of ourselves. The journeys within past life regression often contain the ingredients of The Hero’s Journey and/or Jungian Archetypal Journeys.
Of course, hyperbole and magical thinking can also be problems in these kinds of therapies and projects. Understanding there are no universal prescriptions, past life regression offers artists terrific potential.
A Variety Show
Practitioners will offer the experience differently; guided meditation is a reliable reference point. Generally, during past life regression the client will be guided with progressive relaxation and/or imagery, utilizing light hypnotic techniques and visualization. I have had the pleasure of working and collaborating with writers, actors, dancers, photographers, musicians, sculptors, painters and others in the arts and while I believe all tools of inner-exploration offer creatives something of value, past life regression remains in its own category. It can be a spiritual experience. It certainly sounds like it’s designed as one. Interesting then that it can be just as, if not more, rewarding approached as a creative endeavor.
The name suggests we’re exploring memories of past lifetimes. And then again, perhaps we’re not? It’s also evident that the experiences are metaphorical in nature representing dominant themes, challenges or relationships in our lives in the present. This points to the possibility that we’re being communicated to symbolically.
Symbolic Reasoning is the unique human ability to understand layers of meaning. We use it to understand and communicate through language, establish value, use money and appreciate art. Without this essential ingredient of our intelligence, society would literally fall. Why is this relevant to past life regression? Metaphor, as understood through symbolic reasoning, is often described as the “language of the subconscious mind” and past life regression appears to also be using its native tongue. It’s suggested there is no deeper language in us, and to have this dialogue open, relaxed and productive may be the foundation to a healthy internal life.
Three Acts
A teacher once told me that healing, creativity and sexuality were the same thing. We separate them linguistically and conceptually because we have to, but in their essence they are the same. He gave the examples of the best doctors always finding creative solutions in their approaches to healing. When our skin is cut, new skin is literally created. Creative processes are inherently vital and alive. In a powerful flow state, the artist generally is at their peak. I was curious about sexuality and he quickly dismissed the exploitative, sexualized imagery we’re regularly assaulted with. “It’s tantric.” He said. Our life force, the deepest stuff in us that calls us to procreate. I understood sexuality in this context to have less to do with having sex and more to do with what we find innately sexy. Qualities like confidence or sense of humor that transcend gender.
The observation of this trinity of forces yields many interesting discoveries. In my office, I’m mostly focused on healing. (Though I don’t call myself a healer.) I’m sorting for what makes people feel better on their terms. Once we’ve established our goals, we apply the tools of hypnotherapy or past life regression. In this, infinite moments naturally occur where healing and creativity are indistinguishable. Humans are at all times sexual beings, so that would of course also still be true.
I believe the imagination to be the unsung hero of all therapies. Without it we cannot ask ourselves what life will be like after whatever challenge we might face, whether it’s depression, fear, anxiety, or something else. Positive psychology, neuroplasticity and the continuing momentum of mindfulness are also finding ways to shine light here. When talking and writing about this, I feel like I’m pointing to a truth hiding in plain sight, but there is no perfect word for it (at least in English). I end up prattling on using a thousand words to describe what is self-evident in stillness. Is it new information that creativity would be healing or that healthy sexuality would also have healing and creativity in it? These feel more like reminders of larger truths that are too easily forgotten in between moments of scrolling through inspirational messages in my Instagram feed. These are also abstract forces that will operate differently for each of us. It happens in session, those moments when I’m honored to peer through the fog and engage in a dialogue where I learn again “Oh yeah, we’re different, but the same.”
On Tuesday, June 28th, Daniel Ryan will lead an experiential workshop on opening up and enhancing one’s creativity through past life regression at The Alchemist’s Kitchen in NYC. Learn more.
