First, let me
recap a bit about the basic LBL experience. According to the Newton
site, the LBL spiritual regression experience is characterized as a
means to consciously experience our own permanent identity and the
realm in which our soul resides, while answering the fundamental
questions ... ”Who Am I?” and “Why Am I Here Now?” The site points
out that the procedure requires entry into a deep trance during a
single 3–4 hour session. LBL assists individuals in realizing
themselves as spiritual beings—not through belief, but through an
actual conscious experience of that heritage. As a result of a
deepened perception of one’s own immortal soul, values—and the
priorities, emotions, and actions that spring from them—change.
The therapist I
chose for my LBL experience is Susan Wisehart (www.susanwisehart.com),
a well-known LBL practitioner who regularly lectures and gives
workshops with groups like the International Association for Near
Death Studies and the Edgar Cayce Holistic Center. The first thing I
found out is that LBL therapy is not a simple matter of making an
appointment and having a session. The experience is actually a
series of sessions, beginning with one or preferably two that focus
on past life regression. Susan points out that in current and past
lives, we create scripts and dramas that repeat over and over again.
By experiencing some in-depth past life regression prior to the
actual LBL, some of these patterns come to the surface. The
questions that arise because of these patterns help you craft the
questions that you’d like to address during your LBL session.
And then there is
the preparation for the actual LBL. Susan’s website advises the
following suggestions for both past-life and LBL work:
• It can be
helpful to have a specific issue or problem that you would like to
work on during the regression. Setting the intent by thinking about
what you want from the regression session several days ahead sends a
message to the subconscious mind that you are open to the
experience.
• Avoid caffeine
as much as possible on the day of your session. Stimulants can
interfere with deep relaxation.
• Get a good
night’s rest before you come in—so you won’t fall asleep during the
session.
• Try to not eat
for at least an hour before your appointment, but do eat something
so you will not be overly hungry.
In addition, I was
asked to bring a cast of characters (a list of the names and
descriptions of important people in my current life) and a list of
questions for my Council of Elders. My cast of characters list
contained the usual suspects: father, mother, brother, ex-husband,
friends, etc. The Council of Elders’ list included questions like,
What is my purposes or purposes in this life?; What have I
accomplished so far?; Where have I fallen short?; and What is my
soul path/purpose from this point forward?
I experienced the
actual LBL in July, 2006. It was an amazing and intense two hours.
First Susan takes you back to the last day of your most recent or
most meaningful (in relation to current issues) past life. For me,
this turned out to be a surprisingly emotional event. I was a young
woman dying in childbirth. I was observing this woman from the
perspective of my current existence and yet at the same time I was
there, feeling this intense sadness at dying and leaving my
family—in particular my husband. I started crying. It was not
something I could control. “It seems unfair,” I sobbed, referring to
the fact that this husband was the same as the husband in one of my
past life regression sessions, a husband who had marched off as a
young man into war and been killed. Now, I was the one leaving him
behind and it seemed unfair.
Susan eased me out
of body in that life and into spirit. Mentally, I expected to feel
all better and ready to get on with things as I’ve often read about
in Near Death Experience and LBL literature. But, I was one of those
who wanted to hang around for awhile and I did. When I finally was
ready to move on, I had another surprise. I expected to pop up in a
garden setting of some kind, but instead—after a journey that seemed
like a ride on a bullet train of pure energy—I ended up in a square
in front of a large building with several majestic pillars. My guide
who is with me tells me that this is a library and that I’m being
brought here first because of the questions that I had when I died.
We are met by a very tall being who shows me two books on a balance
beam. The message is that the things that happened in the life I
just left were meant to balance things that happened in previous
past life. Once these things are balanced, then things can go
forward in other lives.
Other highlights
of my LBL experience included:
• A visit to a
place called the Hall of Mirrors. My guide told me that he wanted to
take me there so I could see myself as I really am. It is a shiny
building with several different corridors and different entities
like me are entering them. I enter one of the corridors and come to
the end where I’m facing a mirror that is at first cloudy. As the
mirror cleared I came face-to-face with my higher self, which is a
large blue light. I’m told that there are many lives and some of
them are detour lives, that this was one of them, and that it is
time for me to get back on track with other things I need to do. I
like what I see and my guide tells me to step into the mirror. As I
do so, I go beyond the sight of my higher self into the feeling of
being part of that self. I am that higher self. I am shown that my
current life is a part of my higher self, but that the higher self
is the main essence. That essence is who I really am. I see each
separate life as a thread in a tapestry. In order to get the total
picture, the bigger picture, you have to stand back.
• A visit to my soul group. There are
entities there who I recognize as being close friends in my present
life. And there is one surprise. My mother’s there. Somehow, since
she is much more traditional in her religious beliefs, I didn’t
expect that. She tells me, “I’m more advanced than you think.”
• Two visits to my Council of Elders. One
of the visits occurs right after I visit my soul group and one right
before entering my present life. In the last visit, I ask them about
my progress in my present life. Their message: I am a bridge
builder. That is my role. That is what I’m continuing to do:
building the bridges of understanding between people. They tell me I
am doing a pretty good job. In this life, I can see that bridge
building is a central role. As the publisher of EXTRA Bilingual
Community Newspapers, I built bridges of understanding between
Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents. With my Ph.D. studies, I am
building bridges of understanding between science and theology—and
between traditional Christianity and alternative spirituality. In
this column, I also try to build bridges of understanding by showing
that there are many paths to the Divine and that we are richer by
exploring and appreciating them. Hmmm ... sometimes I get so
frustrated about all this soul path stuff—the “What am I doing here
anyway?” type of thing. The visit to my Council of Elders provided a
measure of comfort.
And now I’m off to
my next adventure. After the positive experiences with the LBL I did
with Susan, I decided to delve into a technique that she’s designed
called Soul Visioning. According to Susan’s web site, Soul
Visioning, which is based on her forthcoming book, is “a guided
process that allows you to envision and create in holographic time
(where all realities exist) your ideal future in the areas of work,
career, relationships, finances, health and spirituality.” I’ll let
you know how that journey evolves.
In the meantime,
if you’re interesting in experiencing what Susan Wisehart has to
offer, check out her web site. One of the upcoming events in the
“Events Calendar” section is “Soul Visioning™ Manifesting Your Ideal
Future with Soul” on Sunday, October 15, 1:30 to 5:30 pm, at the
Edgar Cayce Holistic Center (located within Unity Northwest Church),
259 E. Central Rd., Des Plaines, IL.
