In July of 2005, I wrote a column about the web site for the Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy. I am a long time fan of the books of Dr. Michael D. Newton (Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives and Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives).  I ended that column with a promise that I would share any LBL explorations I decided to undertake with my readers.

  Well, I did it—and here are the highlights of that experience.

     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 purpose 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 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.