Dr. Michael Newton is world famous for his spiritual regression techniques that take hypnotic subjects back to their time in the spirit world. His two best-selling books of client case studies, Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls, have left thousands of readers eager to discover their own afterlife adventures, their soul companions and guides, and their purposes in this lifetime.

Michael Newton, Ph.D., (California) has been a counseling psychologist, master hypnotherapist, and teacher for more than forty years. He is the founder of the Society for Spiritual Regression, which trains hypnotherapists in his pioneering techniques. He has appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows and cable TV's Discovery Channel.

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
The Initial Inquiry
Addressing Client Belief Systems	p. 3
Preparation for Spiritual Regression
Personal Demands on the Spiritual Regressionist	p. 9
Importance of Training and Experience	p. 11
Practicing Life Between Lives Hypnosis	p. 14
The Intake Interview	p. 17
Client Preconceptions	p. 21
A Client's Cast of Characters	p. 26
Final Instructions to the Client	p. 29
Beginning the LBL Hypnosis Session
Induction with the LBL Client	p. 33
Stages of Hypnosis	p. 35
Deepening and Visualization	p. 38
Pacing and Voice Usage	p. 42
Final Hypnosis Instructions Before Regression	p. 44
Moving Backward in Time	p. 46
Inside the Mother's Womb	p. 49
The Transition Into a Past Life	p. 52
Checking Conscious Interference	p. 58
The Mental Gateway Into the Spirit World
Past Life Death Scenes	p. 65
Desensitizing Trauma	p. 66
Initial Visualizations of the Soul State	p. 68
Instructions for Soul Departure	p. 72
Phrasing Questions at the Gateway	p. 74
The Unresponsive LBL Client	p. 79
Overcoming Specific Types of Client Blocking	p. 83
Blocking by the Client's Guide	p. 85
Visions of Light and Darkness While Crossing	p. 92
First Contact with Spirits	p. 95
Interaction with Welcoming Spirits	p. 99
Station Stops for the Incoming Soul	p. 105
Orientation with Guides	p. 108
Life Between Lives
Returning Clients to Their Soul Group	p. 117
Identification of Soulmates	p. 120
Recognition of Soul Colors	p. 125
Gathering Information on a Soul Group	p. 128
Primary Soulmates	p. 129
The Inner Circle and Missing Soul Companions	p. 133
Soul Energy	p. 135
Examining Character Types in Groups	p. 138
Clients in the Intermediate and Advanced Levels	p. 143
Taking Clients Before Their Council	p. 145
Therapeutic Opportunities During Council Visitations	p. 156
Reviewing Past Life Incarnations	p. 163
Surveying Other Spirit World Activities	p. 169
Life and Body Selection	p. 175
Connections Between Body and Soul	p. 181
Therapeutic Benefits of Spiritual Regression	p. 190
Closing the Session
Preparation for Embarkation	p. 197
Completing the Spiritual Regression	p. 201
Awakening the LBL Client	p. 203
The Exit Interview	p. 206
Conclusions	p. 209
Appendix	p. 211
Index	p. 219
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THE
PA R T O N E
INITIAL INQUIRY
Addressing Client Belief Systems
Before entering into the details of hypnosis methodology connected
to the practice of spiritual regression, I think it is fitting
to consider your approach to questions about the afterlife. As a
spiritual regressionist, you will have clients who are in a personal
quandary about their beliefs at the time of their first contact with
you. How you respond to their respective concerns might well be
the determining factor in their making an appointment.
While a large majority of the people who wish you to help them
access their soul memories are comfortable with their beliefs, others
are conflicted by religious teachings, concerns over the mechanics of
hypnosis in reaching their life between lives, or they may have some
skepticism about trusting themselves to you in facilitating their
mental entry into the spirit world.
I begin my sessions by explaining to the unsettled potential client
that it will benefit them to enter their hypnosis regression with an
open mind. I might even tell them that regardless of their belief system,
their unconscious memories are probably going to reveal a
home in the spirit world that will be consistent with the reports
from everyone who has undergone spiritual regression. A skeptic
could argue that this sort of reassurance is actually preconditioning
the subject. Even so, after conducting thousands of life between
lives hypnosis sessions, I am comfortable with making this statement
to an anxious client.
When considering bias, there is also the fact that my books about
the afterlife are already public knowledge. If a potential client raises
the possibility of being swayed by having read these books, I
explain that during the many years before my research was published
I told most clients very little in advance. Either way, you will
find it makes no difference. Once a subject mentally enters the spirit
world through deep hypnosis, regardless of their ideology or what I
have told them in advance, their reports are going to be similar to
everyone who went before them.
I have been told by the LBL hypnotherapists I have trained that
they have had clients who never heard of me or my books who,
without prompting, have also been consistent in their reports of the
spirit world. The differences are in the soul activities they see clearly
and those that are hazy. No two sessions are exactly the same because
each soul has a specific energy pattern for recovering stored
immortal memories and their own unique history of existence.
If a potential client has reservations about metaphysical philosophy
due to a rigid belief system, this may have created an inner turmoil
that you must address at the outset. This person has contacted
you because they do want spiritual information about their higher
self and yet ideological reservations are holding them back. I often
find in such cases that underneath this mental conflict lies unhappiness
and dissatisfaction over how these individuals consciously view
the world and their lives. Such people have contacted you because
they have finally reached a point where they are willing to seek answers
by a new approach. In these circumstances, an eclectic therapist
can be a good sounding board for open-ended philosophical
discussions that are reflective, interpretive, and encouraging to the
potential client.
For example, in America, with our prevalent Christian society,
you might be told, “I want to experience what Heaven is like, but I
worry that I might be committing a sin by coming to see you.” Another
slant on this same question could be, “I think there is an afterlife,
but must one believe in reincarnation in order to be a candidate
for spiritual regression?” I have had clients from cultures
where there are strong convictions about life being deterministic,
giving them little control over their destiny. Other societies are openminded
about reincarnation and fate but their rituals involve the
existence of angry gods, evil spirits, and undesirable astral regions
after death. Some belief systems do not allow for a soul-ego that exists
in a spirit world between lives. Atheists and agnostics, of
course, find it hard to accept a higher power and a grand design in
the universe. As I mentioned, regardless of ideological preconceptions
in their conscious minds, once these people are in a superconscious
trance state they will have the same soul memories about
their life between lives as all your other clients.
Thoughtful people with diverse belief systems will contact you
because they are searching for meaning in their lives. They are looking
for a different sort of spirituality that is consistent and makes
sense to them. Once we separate out the extremists and their radical
doctrines, all religions have wonderful creeds of compassion, charity,
and love. Yet they are also anchored by centuries of institutional
dogma that does not appeal to modern thinking. In my view, the
world's great religions are too impersonal for many people. In a
sense these powerful religions have lost much of the essence of individual
spiritual contact with the divine which gave rise to their origins.
People are disturbed by this evolution.
The historian Arnold Toynbee stated that throughout the history
of humankind when a belief system outlives its attraction as a spiritual
model for people it is modified or discarded. We live in a
world that is perceived as chaotic. There are those who believe this
is of our own making, while others blame the Source that created us
and turn away from all faith. Over my years of private practice, I
have seen an increase in the number of people who are seeking a
new spiritual awareness that is individual and unique to them without
intermediaries who wish to impose their will on what they
deem is spiritual.
All of us have a tendency to be intolerant of people who don't
think as we do. For the spiritual regressionist, having bias toward
your own truths is natural but this should not cloud your receptiveness
to ideas expressed by clients. As a life between lives therapist,
you want to assist the client in reaching both understanding and
equanimity about their existence without imposing your values.
Everything the client needs to know is inside their mind. Whenever
possible you must allow them to first recognize and then interpret
their own memories. Your understanding and positive healing energy
is vital as you work to expose the client's inner vision of their
soul life. In this way you also facilitate alignment of the subject's
vibrational soul energy to the rhythms of their human brains.
I try to explain to my clients, who represent many philosophical
belief systems, that we live in an imperfect world in order to appreciate
perfection. We strive for improvement through free will and
change. Searching for inner wisdom is essential because unless we
find a personal inner knowledge beyond those institutional doctrines
developed by others long ago, we cannot truly be wise about
how to live our lives today on Earth.
Current truths are succeeded by higher truths in each generation,
and it is this progression of knowledge and acute awareness of ourselves
that is at the core of expressing our personal identity. As spiritual
regressionists utilizing the power of hypnosis, we are now
blessed with a new medium of therapeutic intervention. If you are
able to assist people in seeing the light of divinity within themselves
and foster self-discovery, then you will have made a real contribution
toward the ultimate enlightenment of our race.

PREPARATION
PA R T T W O
FOR SPIRITUAL REGRESSION
Personal Demands on the
Spiritual Regressionist
At one of my workshops, I was discussing the effort required in
taking people to their life between lives. At the first break a
hypnotherapist came up to me and said, “Thank you very much for
your time, but I'm leaving. I now realize this work is just too difficult.
I have a nice, regulated practice. The hypnosis management requirements
of spiritual regression is just not an area of therapy I feel
equipped to handle.” I told this honest person it was a good thing
he recognized these concerns now rather than later.
There is no question that three to four hours of intense work,
juggling many balls at once, without rest, is demanding. Essentially,
you must contend with the simultaneous interaction of a client's immortal
soul and the mental processes of their current human brain.
These two egos may be conflicted by disrupted integration. An LBL
facilitator must cope with this duality of the client's mind while refining
and adjusting long phases of spiritual imagery to support a
comfortable passage. To do this you must constantly track their
mental journey through the geography of the spirit world. This is
called mapping.
The motivations, fears, self-image, and expectations of your
client will be determined by the physical, emotional, and mental
makeup of their host body. These elements of temperament are influenced
by what I call “the I signs of the soul”: insight, intuition,
and imagination. While your hypnosis subject is telling you about
their spiritual life, they are communicating this information through
their current mortal body. This can be both confusing and gutwrenching
for them. As the drama of the afterlife unfolds in the
mind of the client, their transpersonal view of the other side is affected
by how well they can face truths about their real self.
In addition to everything else, you will also be required to concentrate
on the many previous karmic experiences your client has
had in other bodies so they will comprehend patterns of cause and
effect that affect their life today. Practicing LBL therapy will increase
your past life regression skills greatly as you move from life
to life using the spirit world as a bridge. You may be required to alternate
both permissive and authoritarian hypnosis techniques
while shifting back and forth between the client's past lives, soul experiences,
and current life. Much depends upon their receptivity,
which may vary from past life to spirit world settings.
Your task as a spiritual regressionist is to help the client manage
their visualizations by allowing them to bring all this information
into focus so that they can see relationships by truly understanding
their soul and purpose in life and thus be empowered by their session.
As an LBL facilitator, this effort can be arduous and requires
both skill and tenacity. Certainly we don't engage in personal attachments,
but it is a cold therapist who does not feel compassion
and empathy for a client who may be going through a difficult time
recounting all the reasons why they are in their current body and
what their guides and masters have to tell them. No motivated, caring
hypnotherapist can remain detached in this work. After a demanding
spiritual regression session I usually find myself drained.
Clearing my head with hard exercise in the mountains helps me a
great deal.

Importance of Training and Experience
My LBL training classes have a mixture of licensed therapists and
certified hypnosis professionals. Typically, a substantial number
of hours in basic and advanced hypnotherapy training is required,
along with a few years of private practice. Having some
background in past life experience is of great benefit before tackling
the demanding work of a spiritual regressionist. One does not need
to be licensed as a psychologist, psychotherapist, or counselor to be a
skilled hypnosis facilitator. However, when working with troubled
clients, some background in counseling guidance is invaluable.
Ethically, therapists are expected to recognize their level of competence
and professional qualifications and not employ treatment procedures
that are beyond the scope of their training. To all practitioners
of spiritual regression who assist clients in seeking the truth about
themselves, I would say the more exposure to academic training and
professional experience, the better.
The issue of self-awareness is important to you as an LBL therapist
since it directly relates to your influence on the client. Your energy
is affected by your own intuition, motivation, and integrity. I
have great respect for Taoist philosophy. The Taoists believe that inspiration
occurs when one's conscious mind gets out of the way of
their natural unconscious energy. In a sense, our cosmic chi (energy)
is what brings harmony and clarity to the body. Having a keen internal
focus also makes you a better therapist.
The best regressionists have a perception that allows them to
know something without the use of conscious reasoning. These
therapists sense things at appropriate moments when working with
people. During LBL therapy it is possible for both facilitator and
subject to receive help from their respective guides, and these moments
should be recognized, especially in the behavioral areas of
making choices and problem solving.
I believe it is possible to train yourself to recognize and analyze
symbols which illustrate spirit-world experiences that cannot be defined
in a material way. These metaphors may be symbolic of something
on Earth that has applications to a visualized spirit-world
event. Frankly, there are times during a session when I feel I am
somewhat telepathic. This can be a hindrance when I don't consciously
block what I am thinking at critical moments with a client
who can pick up my thoughts.
I find daily meditation and controlled breathing to be helpful in
my LBL practice. In yoga, prana refers to the life force or energy
that is manifested in each of us through our breath. As a spiritual
regressionist, I manipulate my breathing at times during a session in
an attempt to extend my mind into a higher state of consciousness.
I may even enter into a self-induced light trance state to be more
open to the spiritual forces I feel around me.
Please understand that prana is not the breath itself nor the oxygen
involved with breathing but the energy connected to the breath.
It is a connection to the energy of all living things as a universal life
force. I have worked to train myself to seek the energy pathways
necessary to reach a particular client's mind while asking for help
from my guide and my subject's guide. I begin by opening my mind
and asking for guidance. In this way I try to receive information
and not send it. What I do send to my clients are messages of confidence
and reassurance.
The key to being a good therapist is to listen. Another is allowing
your client to first interpret their own metaphoric symbols based
upon what they are experiencing before you engage in your own interpretations.
There is a delicate balance between listening and
questioning. To know when to speak and when to be quiet is not
easy to teach students. In LBL work one must learn when to gently
assist a client in understanding a visualization after they have spent
time analyzing what they are seeing themselves. This comes with
training and practice, and along the way this exercise and your own
creativity may enable you to become more intuitive.

Excerpted from Life Between Lives: Hypnotherapy for Spiritual Regression by Michael Newton
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