Divine Encounters Episode 118 | Near-Death Experience Story
Dr. Toni Reilly was in her thirties, living what she calls a very mainstream life, when her marriage ended and a season of soul searching led her to past life regression. This Divine Encounters episode is a little different from most: it is not a near-death story. Dr. Toni Reilly tells Alex Ferrari about her own first regression session, how she says the work helps people let go of fear, what she calls the “unpopular truths” about incarnating, and the blueprint she believes each soul chooses before birth.
Key Takeaways
- Dr. Toni Reilly says that in her thirties, after her marriage ended, soul searching led her to her intuition and to the idea of past lives.
- She describes reading Brian Weiss’s book Many Lives, Many Masters, feeling everything click, and later training with him.
- She says her own first regression session played in her mind “almost like movies,” and cleared the fears she asked to clear.
- She believes regression comes directly from the soul, and that what a person is shown is meant to help the life they are living now.
- She says some fears, symptoms and even scars or birthmarks can be traced to something seen in a past life, and that seeing it feels detached and not scary.
- She says “the wiggles in that path are destined,” so no one is ever truly off path.
- Her message: to be yourself is the most powerful thing you can do, and finding what resonates with you leads to contentment.
| Guest | Dr. Toni Reilly |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 118 |
| Topic | Past life regression, soul contracts and the space between lives (not a near-death story) |
| Age at the time | In her thirties |
| What Toni says happened | Her marriage ended, she began soul searching, read Many Lives, Many Masters, and had her own regression session |
| Where she says she went | Into past lives she saw like movies, and into the in-between space |
| Who she works with | People who come for regression, and she trained with Brian Weiss |
| The message | No one is off path; be yourself, and let life make sense through your blueprint |
Who Is Dr. Toni Reilly? A Mainstream Life, Then a Turning Point
Alex Ferrari opens the way he always does and asks what her life was like before. Toni says that in her thirties she had a very mainstream life. Then came a time when big changes were happening. Her marriage split up, and she began soul searching.
In that phase, she says, she became aware of her intuition. She also became aware of past lives. She read Dr. Brian Weiss’s book Many Lives, Many Masters, and she says everything clicked into place. She laughs that it sounds so cliche, but she thought, “Oh, this is what I’m here to do.”
Training, Cases and a Growing Practice
From there she became obsessed with making it happen. A woman who told her to read the book taught her how to do past life work, and Toni went on to train with Brian Weiss himself. People began coming for regression. Who even knows where they all came from, she says, but they came.
She documented every case from the beginning, and took notice of what was happening in them. It was healing things for them, she says, and it was fascinating to watch. You can read a short explainer in our glossary entry on past life regression.
Her Own Session on the Couch
Before she worked with anyone, Toni had her own session, and she calls that “the clincher.” She was on the couch with the woman who taught her. She could see past lives in her mind, moving almost like movies. She felt as if she was there, and knew what was going on in them. Most of all, she says, they cleared the things she asked to clear.
She adds that she does not make things up or film herself. This was simply what happened for her.
How a Regression Works, in Her Words
Toni explains the process plainly. “I don’t even call it hypnosis,” she says. A person is guided into a relaxed state, usually through guided visualization, a meditative state. The person then starts to recall themselves at another time. Most people see it in their third eye, though not everyone does.
They may feel it in the body too. If someone finds themselves as a small child, the body can feel small, even though they are lying on a couch. All the senses are working, she says, the six senses and the physical senses: seeing, feeling and knowing what is going on. A facilitator prompts the person to respond, and the person relays what is happening. The facilitator guides them toward fixing something, or, in her case, toward the therapeutic value of it.
For related background, our glossary has an entry on the third eye.
Why She Believes It Comes From the Soul
Toni says, “I believe that it comes directly from our soul.” When someone comes for regression, or does it themselves, she believes their soul has guided them to that point so that something is revealed to them at that very moment that will help them now.
So even though it comes from soul energy, she says, what is presented is always meant to make this life better: “to fix something, to heal something, even maybe just to help people realize that there’s more.” We are not just here as humans, she says. Our soul energy exists. That, she believes, is why it can be so effective, including for people who want to lose the fear of death and start embracing life, and not worry so much about things that do not matter.
She says anyone can do it, because we are all born of our soul energy, and our soul prepared or agreed what we are doing here. She has colleagues who prefer a facilitator, and she understands why. A facilitator knows what to ask and can bring closure. But in her twenty years, she says, doing it yourself is completely fine.
Fears, Symptoms and Scars in Her Experience
Toni says that very often what caused someone’s fear or symptom now turns out to be simple and ordinary in the past life. She never suggests what it could be, because it is often something so ordinary that no one would guess. The fears she names are fire, heights and flying. For those, she says, something pretty wild will usually have happened.
She says scars or birthmarks can often be traced back to an injury in a past life. She gives an example of a person with shoulder problems that Western medicine and X-rays cannot detect. In her view, a mystery physical symptom like that may be from a past life.
She stresses that the person sees what happened detached. “It’s not scary to see what happened,” she says, “but it fixes it.” We share these as her observations from her own practice. They are not medical advice, and they are not a substitute for care from a doctor.
Self Awareness: “My Favorite Side Effect”
Beyond clearing fears, Toni says, regression helps people understand themselves. That is “my favorite side effect of past lives.” Someone may see a past life that stirs the same emotions they feel now, perhaps around a troubling relationship. They find out what happened and what caused it.
That, she says, gives big self awareness, and self awareness takes away blaming other people. A person might even see themselves with the same soul in a different dynamic, perhaps with opposite sexes. They then understand why the dynamics are the way they are now. “You can’t go back from it,” she says. “It’s just amazing.”
For more, see our hub on past life regression and the guide to reincarnation.
The Unpopular Truth: You Are Not Off Path
Toni calls this one of her unpopular truths about incarnating. People feel they have gone off path, she says, because life got tough or did not go the way they wanted. But “it’s not a bed of roses and it’s not a straight path.” The wiggles, she says, are destined.
Realizing you did not go off path is actually liberating, she says, because saying you went off path is a way of blaming yourself. I am so bad, so silly, I did the wrong thing. No, she says. You were to have that experience.
She knows this is hard to hear. So many terrible things happen that people cannot imagine anyone would plan or agree to them, and she understands the resistance. She also says it is easier to say someone else went off path, especially when they left you, but she says they did not. We always have to bring it back to why our life went there, and that often only comes with hindsight.
If you are interested in how people describe this, see our glossary entry on soul contract.
The Space Between Lives and the Blueprint
Toni describes the in-between as the space “where we’re preparing to incarnate.” When people describe it, she says, there are human elements, because we talk about choosing. But beyond that space we do not have a mind, so there is no choice. It is “this beautiful everything and nothing.” Within the in-between, there is some interaction. Sometimes it looks human, and sometimes it is much more energetic, a color for example.
What happens there is that we decide what we are doing. If we go back for a visit, she says, we find out why we planned this life, why we have these circumstances and what their purpose was. All of the information about what we are doing here, what we have done before and what we will do, is accessible there. She says it “surpasses anything that our mind could perceive,” and cannot be explained without having the experience.
She also says you do not have to go to the in-between to reach the blueprint: “you don’t even have to go between actually, to access the blueprint.” Her body of work on this became a part of her psychology, which she calls Life Map. She believes it is why psychics can read us. Accessing the blueprint, she says, makes life make sense, and makes us more comfortable with who we are, even our insecurities. Our glossary has an entry on life between lives.
A Fulfilled Life, in Her View
Toni closes with a simple idea of a fulfilled life. It is finding what resonates with you and working with that, not fighting yourself. “Do what it takes to make you happy,” she says, or bring you joy, through touch, taste or sound. Life is a blessing, she says, and the good parts are really good.
She believes “contentment is the ultimate space that we can be in most of the time.” And then her last point: “to be yourself is the most powerful thing, I believe, on the planet.” It can take a lot to get there, she says, and part of her own journey has been coming back to being herself all the time.
Where This Conversation Sits on Our Site
Most Divine Encounters episodes are near-death stories. This one sits beside them because it asks the same question from a different door: what is a life for, and what happens to the soul between one chapter and the next? Many near-death experiencers describe being shown a plan or purpose, and Toni’s description of a blueprint echoes that.
For more, start with our complete guide to near-death experiences. We share these conversations as experiences and beliefs, in the person’s own words, and we do not make medical claims.
Questions to Sit With
- Toni says people often feel they have gone off path. Where have you blamed yourself for a detour that may have been part of the journey?
- She says self awareness takes away blaming others. Which relationship might look different if you looked for the cause in yourself first?
- What brings you joy through touch, taste or sound, and when did you last make time for it?
Pick one thing this week that you enjoy through your senses, such as a favorite tea, a song or a warm bath. Give it your full attention for ten minutes, with no phone.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Dr. Toni Reilly says what a regression shows comes from the soul, and is meant to help the life you are living now.
- She says no one goes off path; the wiggles in the path are destined.
- She describes the in-between as a space where we prepare to incarnate.
- She says a blueprint exists, and accessing it makes life and ourselves make sense.
- She says being yourself is the most powerful thing you can do on the planet.
Please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Toni Reilly.
Guest Links: Connect With Toni Reilly
- Toni Reilly’s official site
- Toni Reilly on YouTube
- Toni Reilly on TikTok
- Full conversation with Toni Reilly
Listen to the Episode
- Watch this episode ad-free on Next Level Soul TV
- Download the MP3
- More episodes: Divine Encounters
- Listen to Divine Encounters on Apple Podcasts
- Listen to Divine Encounters on Spotify
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Dr. Toni Reilly?
Dr. Toni Reilly is a past life regression practitioner and author who trained with Dr. Brian Weiss. She shares her story and her views on Divine Encounters. She has worked with regression for about 20 years.
Is this a near-death experience episode?
No. This episode is a conversation about past life regression, the in-between and soul blueprints. We include it because it explores the same questions about purpose and what happens to the soul.
How did Dr. Toni Reilly get into past life regression?
She says that after her marriage ended in her thirties she began soul searching and became aware of her intuition and past lives. She read Many Lives, Many Masters and felt that this is what she was here to do.
What was Toni’s own regression session like?
She says she could see past lives in her mind, moving almost like movies. She felt as if she was there, and the session cleared the fears she asked to clear.
Is a past life regression hypnosis?
Toni says she does not call it hypnosis. She describes it as being guided into a relaxed, meditative state, usually with guided visualization.
Can you do a regression by yourself?
Toni says that in her 20 years it has been completely fine to do it yourself. A facilitator, she says, knows what to ask and can help you reach closure.
What does Toni say about fears and symptoms?
She says a fear of fire, heights or flying may be traced to a past life, and that scars, birthmarks or unexplained physical symptoms may too. This is her observation, not medical advice.
What does Toni mean by being off path?
She says the feeling of being off path comes from life being hard, and that the wiggles in the path are destined. She says that believing you went off path can be a way of blaming yourself.
What is the in-between space?
Toni describes it as the space where we prepare to incarnate. She says we decide what we are doing there, and information about this life, past lives and future lives is accessible.
What is a Life Map?
Life Map is the name Toni gives to her work on accessing the blueprint a soul sets before birth. She says it can help life make sense.
Is a near-death experience proof of an afterlife?
Next Level Soul shares near-death experiences as lived experiences told in the person’s own words. Researchers continue to study and debate what they mean. Nothing here is medical advice or a medical claim.
Keep Exploring
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- What is past life regression? (glossary)
- Soul contract explained (glossary)
- Past life regression hub
- Mariko Frederick on hidden realms and life between lives
- Eben Alexander on reincarnation and the quantum universe
- Mark Hodges on other dimensions and past lives
- Anne Bayford on seeing past lives after a bus accident
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like before you died.
Dr. Toni Reilly 0:08
So I was in my 30s, and it seemed I had a very mainstream life before that, actually, and there were came to a time in my life where big changes were happening. My marriage split up, so I began soul searching. And in that soul searching phase, I became aware of my intuition, and also in that process, I became aware of past lives. I read Dr Brian Wise's book, many lives, many masters, and I thought everything clicked in. And I thought it sounds so cliche, but I thought, Oh, this is what I'm here to do. And from there, I became obsessed with making this happen. So I learned to do past lives. In fact, the lady who told me to read that book taught me, and I went on to train with Brian Weiss. And also people came for regression. They came. Who even knows where all these people came from, but they came, and I documented every case from the beginning, and so got a lot of them, and just took notice of what was happening in them. And it was healing things for them. Was very fascinating for me back in the day. But even before that, actually, before I started working with people, I had my own session, and that's the clincher for me, because I don't make stuff up or film myself. And I was on the couch with the lady who taught me having a session, and I could see these past lives in my mind, and they were moving almost like movies. And I could feel I felt like I was there. I felt like I knew what was going on in them. And most of all, they cleared the fears or that. They cleared the things that I asked to clear. And basically, you're guided into a relaxed state. I don't even call it hypnosis, actually, it's just you're guided into a relaxed state, usually with guided visualization, so meditative state. And what happens is the person starts to recall themselves at another time. So what happens is they usually will see it in their third eye. Not everyone sees, but most do, so they'll have feelings as well as in if they find themselves as a small child, then body might start to feel really small if they're just lying on the couch, but it's all the senses are working, all the six senses and the physical senses, so they're getting, usually seeing, feeling and knowing what's going on in there. And when it's facilitated, the facilitators prompting for them to respond. You can always respond, and so they'll relay back what's happening, and then the facilitators guiding them through, usually to achieve fixing something, or at least mine was for the therapeutic value in it. I believe that it comes directly from our soul. And when someone comes along for regression, or they do it themselves, I believe that their soul has kind of guided them to that point so that they have something revealed to them at that very moment in their lifetime that is going to help them for now. So although it comes from the soul energy, it's always what's given or presented to make this life here now better, to fix something, to heal something, even maybe just to help people realize that there's more. And it's we're not just here in life as a human, that our soul energy exists. So it has many facets of why it would come to help somebody, but yes, it comes directly from the soul, and I feel like that's why it's so effective. It's why it's so effective as a therapy, or even just for people to lose the fear of death and start to really embrace life and not worry so much about things that don't matter. Anyone can do it because we're all born of our soul energy and our soul prepared or we agreed what we're doing here, so we can all do it. There's some colleagues of of mine, even that are not fans of doing it yourself. But I, in my whole 20 years, it's completely fine to do it yourself. I think the thing with a facilitator is perhaps because your energies are together and it's and they know what to delve for to get to the bottom of a specific issue that you might have. And also you're not left with questions, because the facilitator will know exactly what to ask so that you get closure from it. So you can do that yourself as well. However, the facilitator is going to take any of that thinking away for you. But very often, people get into the past life and what's happened to cause their fear now, or their symptom now, is so simple, it's so simple and it's so ordinary that we are never if someone's. Coming for a certain symptom. I never suggest what it could be, because often it's something that was so ordinary or normal that happened that caused it, but certainly with the fires and things, those are not really normal things to experience, but a lot of it happens. If people have a fear of fire or heights or flying, any of those things, something pretty wild will have happened for it to be such a fear. So scars or birthmarks, even they, we will always be able to trace them back to and usually it's an injury from a past life. So certainly, with the scars, they may maybe don't even have to have a scar. It might just be that they have shoulder problems and Western medicine or X rays and things cannot detect anything. So it's this mystery physical symptom that's when it's like that's from a past life. And you go along and you see potentially something brutal, but you see it detached. By the way, it's not scary to see what happened, but it fixes it, almost like this self awareness my favorite side effect of past lives. I think what it does is it helps them, aside from clearing fears or phobias or physical symptoms, it helps them understand themselves. So if we look at emotionally what it does, they'll often see a past life that is similar, or certainly it invokes the same emotions in them that they're feeling now or experiencing now. Let's think about a relationship that's trouble for them gives them trouble so they'll find out what happened then, what the cause of it was and somehow it really gives them this deep understanding. And hence, when they understand themselves and why things are happening, it gives them big self awareness. And also, of course, what we know is self awareness is it takes the it takes away blaming other people. So no matter what you see in the past life, let's say someone's got a hard relationship, and they might see themselves even potentially, with the same person, but in a different maybe different dynamics, even maybe the opposite sexes, but they see it, and then they can understand why the dynamics are the way they are now by what happened before. And it's the awareness from that. You can't go back from it. It's just amazing. So I think one of the things, I call it the unpopular truths, or one of them about incarnating, is that people feel like they're off path. Oh, I've gone off path. And that's because life got tough. It didn't go the way that you wanted, or it's and the natural thing is we did the wrong thing. That's how come we ended up over there. But actually, the experience of life, it's not a bed of roses and it's not a straight path. It's two the wiggles in that path are destined. And I think realizing that you didn't go off par, but it was part of the the journey, if you like, is it's actually liberating, because in one way, what you're doing when you say you've gone off path is you're blaming yourself. I'm so bad, I'm so silly. I did the wrong thing. But it's like, no, no, you didn't it was you were to have that experience. And I think so many terrible things happen that when they happen, people can't perceive that that could possibly be planned, or that one would agree to it, so you can understand where the resistance for that they didn't go off path, and that it was actually meant to happen is hard to take, but it's truly part of it. And I think the other thing that people like to tell themselves is this person went off path, and it's because they don't like where they went. For example, someone left them and they love them so much. And it's like, it's so much easier to say, well, they've gone off path, but they didn't. It's all we always have to bring it back to why, why did our life go there? And to be honest, it doesn't come to you like that until you're back usually. So Hindsight is the big, hard Bringer, oh, that's when we go, oh, okay, I get why, why I ended up there and had to, you know, ramble back. So the way I see in between lives is the space where we're preparing to incarnate. So when people describe it there, there's human elements to it, because we're talking about choosing. But really, beyond that space, we don't have a mind, so there is no choice. It's just this beautiful everything and nothing. But in the in between space, there's some interaction. Sometimes you see it as human like, and sometimes it's more, much more energetic color, for example. And but what happens there is, we're deciding what we're doing. You know, we all when we go back as now, if we go back for a visit in between, we'll find out when. Why we planned what we're doing now, why we have these circumstances, and what the purpose of them was. So all of the information for what we're doing here, what we've done before, and even what we'll be doing in the future, is accessible there. So it's quite the it's such a liberating and beautiful experience to get that information, because it surpasses anything that our mind could perceive. Gives us a different perception, and it's something you can't really explain without having the experience. Can't quite articulate it as it feels to be our life is it has a blueprint, and you don't even have to go between actually, to access the blueprint. There are ways that we can do that. In fact, it was one of the big bodies of work that I did from knowing that we have a blueprint and how to access it. So I made that part of my psychology. It's called Life map. But essentially you can't, because it is predestined before we're born, of course, we we can access it. It's why psychics can see what's happening or read into us, read our aura and tell us about our attributes and our characteristics, these kinds of things. So when we access it, it makes our lives make sense. It makes us make sense. It makes us more comfortable with who we are and even with our insecurities, everything is destined. Everything is blueprinted that we do hear, that we experience. For me, living a fulfilled life is finding what resonates with you and working with that, not fighting yourself and doing things that make you feel good, so whether touch, tastes, sound, do those things. I feel like life is such a blessing to enjoy the aspects of it that are good, are really good. Do what it takes to make you happy and or bring you joy, I suppose, because ultimately, contentment is the ultimate space that we can be in most of the time, be yourself and realize that you don't know what that means until you are but to be yourself is the most powerful thing, I believe, on the planet that we can do for ourselves, and it can take a lot to get to that stage. And part of my journey of self awareness is coming back to being myself all the time, the collective that we are all part of collective energy to experience emotion.
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