Past life regression hypnosis is in the news . . . Giving more life to Marilyn? . . . Sherrie Lea Laird claims to be the reincarnation of Marylin Monroe . . . having uncovered her past life with the help of Malibu psychiatrist Adrian Finkelstein.

According to Finkelstein, he has proven that Laird is the reincarnation of Monroe through painstaking research via hypnosis. His videotapes of the sessions have evidently been transcribed for his new book.

One very powerful difficulty with a case of this type is that it is so easy to show that the person has been exposed to information about the "past life" via the media. You can find folks whose lives have been chronicled more intensely by the media than Monroe but it’s pretty difficult. Monroe is an icon so it is possible, even very likely, that any of the several folks currently making claims to be her reincarnation are influenced more by wishful thinking than karmic soul journeys.

I haven’t seen any of Finkelstein’s sessions on video and can’t really comment on them in particular . . . however, I have seen a number of high profile hypnotists who make similar claims of proof of pastlife in video sessions only to clearly see what should have been quite obvious errors in the use of language to lead a client into an experience rather than to guide them using clean or neutral language.

It is very important when using any form of regression to use clean language. Unfortunately, the context of most past life regression sessions are inherently leading as well. Just as the folks who go to see an alien abduction expert expect such an experience to be behind their difficulties, so do folks who see someone for a general past life regression. Then there are the folks who perform past life therapy without the client’s knowledge of their agenda. I have met more than one hypnotist who automatically bring clients into such a session regardless of presenting issue or the client’s belief system. This is patently unethical but the practice has grown in recent years amonth certain types of alterantive therapists. Even the licensed folks have begun jumping more and more on this particular bandwagon.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against past life regressions. I have conducted a number myself and even have taught classes on the subject. However, when I teach the processes related to metaphysical hypnosis, I also teach a crticial mindset that understands that a hypnosis session can never inherently prove anything one way or another and that before one can accept the improbable, one should first eliminate the very possibility of the probable. If there is any doubt then it should be filed under interesting or recreational or as useful metaphor and not presented as proof of anything.

All the best,
Brian