This week, I had the privilege of working with Craig Meriwether, a hypnotherapist from Arizona. He had been a guest on my show Neff Inspiration, and we immediately hit it off. After the show, we chatted, and I mentioned my fascination with the work of Prof Brian Weiss, a psychiatrist who had brought the topic of past life regression into the mainstream. Before long, it became apparent that Craig was fascinated about the topic as well, and we agreed to a session in which he would hypnotise me.
Facts or Fiction?
I had previously benefited tremendously from hypnotherapy in the treatment of my PTSD and certainly know about the great benefits that this treatment modality can hold for many people with anxiety, phobias and other mental health challenges. A little voice in my head was, of course, sceptical. It is said that you can’t bullshit a bullshitter, and I am an expert in that matter. Nevertheless, I put that little sceptical voice aside and agreed to this adventure.
Fear and Catastrophising
Wakening in the morning, I was quite apprehensive and nervous, and a bit of catastrophising manifested itself.
What if I conjure up some demon?
What if I am a failure and I can’t see anything?
Add to that a few dozen other negative thoughts, and part of me would have been pleased if the meeting had not gone ahead. Luckily, I learned that 80% of success lies in showing up, so I did.
Collecting Evidence
I placed a microphone next to my bed and rigged up a camera so that it showed me lying on the bed to be able to zoom across the ocean to Arizona. More importantly, the sceptic in me wanted to record my hypnosis. I had no clue how much I would be able to remember after the session, and I knew that this first impression would be the key to me either continuing with this work or being too close to Dore, at least for the time being.
Rapport and Trust
It helped tremendously that I had already established a deep rapport with Craig and trusted the man. I am sure that there are nefarious ways of mind manipulation using hypnosis being used for all the wrong reasons out there. However, in general terms, hypnosis is a treatment modality in which the hypnotist bypasses your ego and dives into the subconscious. This is a voluntary process, and in reality, at any one moment during a hypnotherapy session, you can step out of your trance. Craig ensured that I was comfortable, and we had agreed that a three-hour session is too long to remain sitting and keep your head upright under a trance. This was a good call. Lying down immediately allowed me to engage in deep breathing exercises that rapidly calmed down my anxiety and prepared my mind to open up. Craig used his voice masterfully, and I quickly went through some relaxation and tuning exercises to practice visualisation with all five senses.
Tuning your transistor to the right frequency
When you’re hypnotised, time is truly flying. This time distortion is, in fact, a well-recognised feature of being hypnotised. Yet, I was still astounded when I came out of my trance to realise that three hours had passed. To my surprise, I could see five different visions and sets of images under hypnosis. At first, images appeared and disappeared rapidly, often in such a fashion that I could barely make out something. Imagine you are looking into a kaleidoscope and rapidly are turning it so that constantly new pictures emerge and old ones disappear. Imagine now that the kaleidoscope lens is smeared, and it’s hard for you to see anything clearly. That was how I felt for the first half an hour, which was a little bit frustrating. However, Craig carefully coached me through it. After all, I had never done such work. How do I expect to look at the perfect HD picture on a large-screen television that somehow displays something from my past? Talk about the wrong expectations!
After some practice, the pictures stayed longer and became clearer, which in its own right was a bit scary. This was no dream, no imagination that I ever had in the 57 years of my life. Instead, I experienced a sensation of reality and truth, a feeling of familiarity and certainty attached to these visions that I have never experienced with any dream.
My Visions
The first clear vision was that of a bomber in WW2, a flying fortress in flight. I watched the front of the bomber as if I were in a fighter plane attacking the bomber or trying to avoid it. I felt no emotion but could recall the glint of the sun on the cockpit cover. As real as it felt for me, the vision only lasted a few seconds and was followed by garbled images again. A few minutes later, I saw myself standing in a hallway, looking up a staircase, and I could see a picture containing a large blue butterfly on the wall. The staircase was lined by a strong wooden bannister with a wooden ball on its bottom, the size of a large man’s hand. I felt more than I saw myself wearing a suit, which appeared normal. A bit later, I found myself standing outside of some sandstone houses that I would expect to be somewhere in an English university town. It was evening, and the last rays of sunshine had disappeared beyond the horizon. I felt that I was smoking a cigarette and enjoying the evening. It was intriguing to feel those feelings as if I were in the body.
Craig fast-forwarded me to the last day of this life, including the last moments. Without any emotions, I had visions of being inside a tube, kind of a fuselage. Fast forwarding further, I again saw the tubelike structure, and this time from the inside, broken, black with a red light similar to flames emanating from the blackness, until this vision disappeared into nothing. I felt no emotion at this moment, and the picture changed into a white light that was neither blinding nor overwhelming, simply welcoming. The light was associated with serenity and peace, and I enjoyed lying on my bed while my brain, or shall I say soul, was bathed in this serenity. It is bizarre to recall all those visions even now with a degree of clarity.
In previous hypnotherapy sessions, I could barely remember anything that my hypnotherapist had said. The difference was that she implanted new coping mechanisms and rephrased belief systems in my subconscious. This time, however, Craig made it abundantly clear that I could remember things clearly and that the meaning of missions and images might not immediately be clear.
Skilfully, Craig guided me from one set of images to another. I can recall five distinct scenarios, of which four of them were experiencing a male body, whilst in the fifth scenario, I was actually in a female body. It was strange to feel a feminine power within me.
In none of the visions was I anyone important. It is a shame that I could not see more of my lifetimes. In one scenario, I stood on a small hill overlooking a South American temple and other stone installations that surrounded the temple. I was too far away to recognise details or see people, but it all appeared to be new and currently used. I would have loved to find out more about life at that time.
Key Question To Ask The Universe
As part of each past life regression hypnosis, your hypnotherapist and you will agree on some key questions you want answered. In my case, I had specifically asked to be shown a lifetime in which I had found my soul partner and experienced true love. My second request was to be clear about my mission and purpose in this lifetime.
You should be cautious of what you wish for, for it might become true. As far as true love is concerned, I was disappointed. In none of my visions did I meet or see anyone to interact with? I accepted that. Again, this was the first time I had done such work, and who was I to expect all answers to be served on a silver platter?
As far as my mission and purpose in life are concerned, I had visions that I did not expect. It is beyond the scope of this article for me to discuss either my visions or my mission and purpose.
It is fair to say that this was a wonderful experience that raised more questions than it gave me answers. Again, I expected this to happen, and I was not disappointed. It is similar to you deciding to get healthy and join a gym. You can’t just go once to the gym, lift a few weights, and then expect to be healthy for the rest of your life. Even the Dalai llama meditates two hours a day. You would think the man by now knows what he’s doing. Yet, he keeps meditating. It is the same when you start a healing journey or explore the spiritual world.
My Conclusion
In summary, this was an amazing experience, and I wonder how many other lifetimes were important for me to remember. It is strange for me to write these words, keeping in mind that I consider myself an atheist who does not believe in deities and a sceptic who thinks twice before engaging with things that are well out there. Nevertheless, if you could take a time machine and travel back to your great-grandparents when they were young, imagine now that you are telling them about a place where you buy food packaged in plastic, which you then put into a microwave cube. Once you have pressed a button and waited five minutes, your food is steaming hot and ready to eat. Can you imagine what your great-grandparents would have thought about you?
Seeing how fast technology evolves around us, I have little doubt that there is so much more to our existence than we could imagine. Our journeys are unique as humans, and each of us will have challenges and obstacles. I strongly encourage you to start working on your spiritual and emotional well-being. For far too long, I have subscribed only to external validation and to core beliefs that are not necessarily helping me in the long run. Instead, it is time to stop in our busy days and make time for ourselves. Let’s empty our minds and receive the messages from our subconscious waiting to be sent. Let it be through meditation, deep prayer, or other modalities that allow you to focus on the here and now and, in turn, empty your mind and live in the moment. The journey that awaits you is truly amazing, whatever it will bring.
Look after yourself and live with intention.
