Past-Life Regression and Soul Mates

Maybe it has happened to you. You walked into an old town for the first time and felt strangely at home. You fell in love with a century, a language, or a stretch of coastline you have never lived near. A child in your family said something about “when I was big” that made the room go quiet. And you wondered, quietly, whether the soul has been here before.

Past-life regression is one of the ways people explore that question. A guide leads you into a deeply relaxed state and invites images, feelings, and stories that may seem to come from another time. This guide explains what it is, where it came from, how a session works, what people report, and what skeptics say about it, including the serious concerns about false memory. It also covers how to stay safe and gives you a simple journaling practice you can do at home. We will be honest throughout: this is a spiritual and psychological practice, not a proven science, and we will say so plainly.

What Past-Life Regression Is

Past-life regression is a guided practice, usually done with hypnosis or deep relaxation, in which you are invited to explore images and impressions that seem to belong to another lifetime. A practitioner asks gentle questions. Where are you standing? What are you wearing? Who is with you? You answer in your own words, often with your eyes closed and your body at rest.

People come to it for different reasons. Some are curious about reincarnation. Some feel drawn to a particular era or place. Some carry a fear, a pattern, or a relationship that never quite made sense, and they wonder whether a longer story sits behind it. Others simply want to meet their own inner world in a new way.

What the images actually are is the open question. Practitioners and many spiritual traditions say they may be genuine memories carried by the soul. Psychologists tend to say they are creations of the imagination, shaped by what a person already knows, feels, and expects. A third view sits between the two: the images may be a symbolic language, a story the mind tells in order to say something true about the present, whether or not the story happened.

You do not have to settle that debate to learn something from the practice. At Next Level Soul, we hold the question with respect for both sides. The power is within you. Every guide, book, and session is only a way of pointing you back toward your own awareness.

Try this: Before you read further, write down in one sentence why this topic interests you. Keep it. We will return to it near the end.

Where the Idea Came From

The belief that the soul returns is ancient. Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain teachings describe rebirth, and many of the Greek philosophers, including Pythagoras and Plato, wrote about the soul living more than once. Esoteric movements in the West carried the idea forward, including Theosophy in the late 1800s. If you want the wider spiritual context, our guide to karma and how it really works explores how many traditions connect rebirth to cause and effect.

The modern practice of regressing people under hypnosis is much younger. Here are the landmarks most often named.

• Morey Bernstein and Bridey Murphy (1956). An amateur hypnotist named Morey Bernstein published The Search for Bridey Murphy, describing a Colorado housewife who, under hypnosis, spoke as a nineteenth-century Irishwoman. The book became a sensation. Newspaper reporters later investigated and suggested possible sources for her details in her own childhood. The case is still argued over, and it remains a perfect example of why this topic needs both wonder and care.
• Ian Stevenson (1966 onward). A psychiatrist at the University of Virginia, Stevenson spent decades collecting cases of young children who seemed to speak about a previous life. He published Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation in 1966. His work was careful in tone, and critics have questioned his methods and conclusions. His colleague Jim Tucker continued the research and wrote Life Before Life.
• Helen Wambach (1970s). A psychologist who ran group hypnosis sessions with more than a thousand volunteers and wrote Reliving Past Lives in 1978. She reported patterns in what people described. Skeptics point out that group suggestions and expectations may have shaped the results.
• Brian Weiss (1988). Weiss is a psychiatrist who writes that, in the early 1980s, a patient he calls Catherine began describing past-life scenes while under hypnosis. He tells the story in Many Lives, Many Masters, which became a bestseller and introduced past-life regression to millions of ordinary readers. According to Weiss, the experience changed his own view of the soul. Others read the same events differently, and the debate continues.
• Michael Newton (1994). A hypnotherapist, Newton wrote Journey of Souls, which describes what his clients reported about the time between lives. Many readers find the descriptions comforting. They remain personal accounts, not verified facts.

Notice the pattern. Each of these figures began as a professional or a curious person who followed a surprising experience. Each told the story in a book. And each story has admirers and critics. That is a healthy way to hold all of it: with interest, and with your own discernment.

Try this: Pick one of the books above that calls to you and read the first chapter before you decide what you think. Our guide to the Akashic Records offers another map of how traditions describe the soul’s long memory.

How a Session Works

Sessions vary by practitioner, but most follow a similar shape. Knowing the shape takes much of the mystery, and the nervousness, out of the first visit.

1. The Conversation

A good session begins with talking, not trance. The practitioner asks what brings you in, what you hope for, and what you believe. Expect questions about your health and your comfort with hypnosis. This is the moment to say what you do not want to explore, and to ask how the practitioner works.

2. The Induction

Next comes relaxation. You are guided to breathe slowly and soften your body, often from head to toe. The practitioner may use a calm, steady voice and simple images such as a staircase, a garden path, or a door. This is the same kind of guided relaxation used in many meditation practices. If you have ever drifted during a meditation, you already know the territory.

3. The Regression

Once you are deeply relaxed, the guide invites you to step through the door, down the stairs, or along the path. Then come simple, open questions. What do you notice at your feet? What is the light like? How old do you feel? Some people see vivid scenes. Others get only a feeling, a color, a few words, or a body sensation. Both are normal. Many people say it feels like remembering a dream while still partly awake.

4. The Return

The guide brings you back slowly, usually counting you up and helping you feel your body and the room again. Then you talk about what came up. A thoughtful practitioner will not tell you what your images mean. They will ask what they mean to you.

A session usually runs between one and three hours. You stay aware. Most people can hear the practitioner, remember what was said, and open their eyes when they choose to. Hypnosis is not a loss of control, and you can stop at any time. If a guide ever pressures you to continue, that is a reason to leave.

Try this: If you are considering a session, write three questions you want to ask the practitioner before you book. We list good ones in the safety section below.

What People Report

People describe a wide range of experiences, and it helps to hear the range rather than only the dramatic stories.

• Vivid scenes. A farm, a battlefield, a market, a house by water. Some people describe rich detail, including clothing, tools, food, and the feel of the ground.
• Quiet impressions. A sense of being a certain age, working with their hands, or living near the sea. Not every session produces a movie.
• Emotional release. Tears, laughter, or a wave of relief. People often say the emotion felt real even when they were unsure about the story.
• Recognition of people. Some say a figure in the scene reminded them of someone in their current life, such as a parent, a partner, or a friend.
• Lifelong patterns that suddenly “make sense.” A fear of water, a pull toward a country, or a habit of holding back. Practitioners say the story offers a new way of seeing the pattern.
• Nothing at all. Many people report only relaxation and a few fleeting images. That is an honest and common outcome.

People often say they feel lighter, calmer, or more curious afterward. Others feel unsettled for a day or two and need time to settle. Those are personal reports, not promises. Past-life regression is not a medical treatment, and no honest practitioner should claim it cures illness or replaces care from a doctor or therapist.

It is also worth saying that many people find the practice meaningful even when they stay unsure about reincarnation. A story that moves you can still be useful. It may reveal what you value, what you fear, or what you have been carrying. In that sense, the images can work like a dream or a piece of art: you do not have to prove them to learn from them.

Some of our guests share their own experiences with the practice. Michael Hoffmann tells his story in Past Life Regression Saved My Life, and Suzanne Spooner talks about the Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique in Past Lives Truth from QHHT. Both are personal testimony from guests, shared in their own words. Listen with an open heart and a clear mind.

Try this: If you have ever had a strong pull toward a time or place, write down three details that attract you. Do not interpret them yet. Just collect them.

What Skeptics Say

If you are going to explore this practice, you owe it to yourself to hear the other side. The skeptical view is serious, and it comes from careful research on how memory works.

Memory Is Reconstructive

Psychologists have shown for decades that memory is not a video recording. We rebuild memories each time we recall them, and the rebuilding can be influenced by suggestion, imagination, and expectation. Researcher Elizabeth Loftus and others have documented how people can come to hold vivid, emotional memories of events that never took place. Hypnosis and guided imagery are exactly the conditions in which this can happen, because the mind is relaxed, open, and eager to answer the questions it is asked.

Suggestion Shapes the Story

In the early 1990s, psychologist Nicholas Spanos and colleagues studied people who were led through past-life regression. They reported that the characters people described tended to match what participants had been told or led to expect, and that historical details were often inaccurate. The takeaway for skeptics is that the story may be built from the person’s own knowledge and the guide’s cues, not drawn from a hidden archive.

Forgotten Information Can Feel New

A related idea is cryptomnesia, which means remembering something you once learned but have forgotten that you learned. A novel, a film, a museum visit, or a history class can slip into memory and resurface years later, feeling like a private discovery. The Bridey Murphy case is often cited as an example of this possibility.

False Memories Can Feel Completely Real

This is the heart of the concern, and it is worth stating plainly. A false memory does not feel false. It can carry real emotion, sensory detail, and certainty. That means the strength of a feeling is not proof that an event happened. It also means a guide who leads too much can plant ideas without meaning to. This is one reason many mental health professionals urge caution, especially around anything involving trauma, abuse, or accusations about real people in your current life.

What Skeptics Cannot Say

To be fair in the other direction, skepticism does not prove that reincarnation is false. It shows that past-life regression sessions are not good evidence for it. Those are different claims. Some researchers, including Stevenson and Tucker, argue that spontaneous memories in children deserve serious study, and critics argue those cases have other explanations. The honest summary is this: the question of rebirth is open, and the regression experience cannot settle it.

You can hold both truths at once. The images may carry meaning. And they may not be literal history. Many thoughtful practitioners say exactly that. Treat what comes up as a symbol to reflect on, not a verdict to defend, and never as a reason to blame, confront, or cut off a real person in your life.

Try this: After any regression experience, write two lists. In one, put what you felt. In the other, put what you cannot verify. Keep the lists side by side.

Soulmates Across Lifetimes in Past-Life Regression

In past-life regression, a soulmate is usually someone a client feels they have known in more than one lifetime, often a partner, parent, child or close friend whose presence feels strangely familiar. Relationship stories sit at the heart of some of the best-known books on the subject, which is why many people search for past-life regression and soul mates together. Here is how this work is usually described, and how to approach it with care.

What Practitioners and Authors Say About Soulmates

Brian Weiss, whose Many Lives, Many Masters helped bring regression to a mass audience, wrote about the theme directly in Only Love Is Real (Grand Central Publishing, 1996). The book follows two people, Elizabeth and Pedro, who are described as lovers across many centuries, and Weiss argues that each person has a soulmate from past lives. Michael Newton’s life-between-lives work is related but different. It aims at the time between lives rather than a single earlier life, and his clients described meeting a close circle of souls there. In his writings, the same soul may be your parent in one life and your child, partner or rival in another. Our guide to soul groups and soulmates explains this idea in more depth, and you can hear a hypnotherapist’s view in Dr. Linda Backman’s conversation on past lives and in-between lives.

The wider teaching is familiar from the traditions behind reincarnation: souls return, relationships continue, and love is one of the main reasons we come back. A soulmate in this sense does not have to be a romantic partner. A friend, a sibling or a teacher can be the one you feel you have always known.

How Recurring Relationship Patterns Are Explored

In a typical session focused on relationships, the work starts with a present-day question. You might ask why you keep drawing the same kind of partner, why one friendship felt familiar within minutes, or why a certain fear shows up whenever you get close to someone. After the induction, you describe whatever scenes arise, and the practitioner asks gentle questions about who is there, what is happening and how it feels. Rather than hunting for proof, many practitioners look for the theme: loyalty, abandonment, protection, power, a promise left unkept.

Afterward comes the part that matters most. You ask what the story shows about how you love now, and what you would like to do differently. Some practitioners frame a repeating pattern as karmic, and our guide to understanding karma explains that idea. Whether or not you take the scenes as literal memory, the useful question is the same: what does this ask of me in my relationships today?

Cautions About False Memories and Suggestion

Relationship scenes can feel powerful, and that is exactly why they deserve care. The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies, a research group that studies claims of past-life memory, points out that personas that appear under hypnosis are mostly imaginary, that the hypnotist’s wording can shape the details, and that any accurate historical detail often traces back to ordinary sources such as books or television. It also notes that a strong emotional experience or a sense of relief does not prove a real past life was remembered. A study from Maastricht University found that people who had been through reincarnation therapy and reported past-life memories made more errors in remembering where information came from, which is one way false memories form.

• A feeling of recognition is not proof. Deep familiarity can arise from imagination, suggestion or a real emotional pattern, and it feels the same either way.
• Do not act on a scene about a living person. Never confront, contact or end a relationship because of what appeared in a session.
• Do not let a session name your soulmate. A trustworthy practitioner will not tell you who someone is or promise a particular outcome.
• Stay with the present. Choose how you treat people by how they treat you now.

Finding a Qualified Practitioner

Look for someone who is a licensed mental health professional or works closely with one, who explains how consent works and how to end a session at any time, and who does not suggest what you will find. The questions and green and red flags in the section on staying safe and choosing a practitioner apply fully here. If a session stirs painful memories, pause and read our gentle guide to healing from trauma spiritually, and speak with a licensed professional.

Staying Safe and Choosing a Practitioner

Most people who try a session have a calm, interesting experience. Still, you are inviting deep imagery and strong emotion, so a few sensible precautions go a long way.

Talk to a Professional First If You Need To

If you live with a mental health condition, a trauma history, or a period of intense stress or grief, speak with your doctor or a licensed mental health professional before you book a session. Many clinicians advise caution with hypnosis and guided imagery in those situations. Our guide to healing from trauma spiritually offers a gentle, grounded way to think about support that works alongside professional care, never in place of it.

Questions to Ask a Practitioner

• What training do you have in hypnosis or guided imagery, and where did you receive it?
• Do you hold a license or credential in counseling, psychology, or another health field?
• How do you handle strong emotion if it comes up?
• Do you lead with open questions, or do you suggest what I might see?
• Can I stop at any time? What happens if I want to end the session early?
• Do you record sessions, and who keeps the recording?
• How do you describe what the images mean?

Green Flags

• Open questions, not leading ones
• Clear boundaries, fees, and cancellation terms
• Honesty that nobody can prove what the images are
• Respect for your pace and your right to stop
• A suggestion to see a doctor or therapist when the topic is health

Red Flags

• Promises to cure illness, remove disease, or replace medical care
• Claims that your problems are caused by a specific past-life curse, to be fixed with an expensive package
• Pressure to buy more sessions, products, or courses
• Telling you exactly what you saw or who someone was
• Encouraging you to confront or accuse a real person based on a session
• Discouraging you from asking questions or leaving

A good practitioner makes you feel more like yourself, not less. If anything feels off, trust that.

Try this: Choose two practitioners and speak with each briefly by phone. Notice who answers your questions plainly and who gets defensive. Your instincts count.

A Self-Guided Journaling Practice

You do not need a hypnotist to explore the themes behind this practice. Many seekers prefer a gentler route, one that keeps them fully in charge. This simple journaling approach uses quiet attention, a few good questions, and a notebook. It makes no claim about literal past lives. It simply helps you listen to what rises in you.

If anything stirs strong distress while you write, stop, put the pen down, breathe, and reach out to someone you trust or a licensed professional.

Before You Begin

• Choose a quiet time of day when you will not be interrupted. Fifteen to twenty minutes is plenty.
• Keep a notebook for this purpose only, and a pen you enjoy.
• Have a glass of water nearby. A candle is lovely but not required.

Step One: Settle

Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and take five slow breaths, letting the exhale be longer than the inhale. If you are new to this, our meditation guide is a good place to start. Let your thoughts pass like traffic outside a window.

Step Two: Set a Gentle Intention

Silently say something like: “I am open to whatever is useful for me to notice today.” Skip demands and expectations. You are not trying to force a scene. You are leaving a door open.

Step Three: Follow the Pull

Think of the place, the era, or the feeling that has always attracted you. Let it be vague. Then ask yourself, without hurrying, a few simple questions.

• What is under my feet?
• What is the weather like?
• What are my hands doing?
• Who is near me, and how do I feel about them?
• What matters most to me here?

Write whatever comes, even if it feels silly. Short phrases are fine. Do not edit, argue, or look anything up while you write.

Step Four: Ask the Present Question

Now turn toward your own life. Ask: “What in my life today does this remind me of?” Look for feelings rather than facts. Perhaps the scene carried a sense of loneliness, courage, or longing, and those echo something you are living now. That connection is the useful part.

Step Five: Close With Care

Write one sentence beginning with “What I can verify is…” and another beginning with “What I feel is…” Keep them honest. Then place a hand on your heart, take three breaths, and thank yourself for listening. Drink some water. Do something ordinary, such as a short walk or a cup of tea, to ground yourself.

Over the Following Week

Reread your pages after a day or two. Look for themes that repeat: a place, a feeling, a fear, a gift. If a theme feels meaningful, take one small real-world action that honors it. Learn a few words of a language. Visit a museum. Call a friend. Forgive yourself for something small. The practice is only as valuable as what it moves you to do in this life.

If you want to go deeper into the idea that the self is larger than the story you tell about it, our guide to spiritual enlightenment offers a patient, grounded place to continue. And if the question of what happens between lives interests you most, our guide to near-death experiences gathers accounts from people who describe the threshold of death.

Try this: Return to the one sentence you wrote at the start about why this topic interests you. Has your answer changed? Write the new answer beneath it.

Books on Past Lives

These are the books most often named in this conversation. Some argue for reincarnation, one questions how memory works, and all of them are worth reading with your own discernment.

• Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss. The 1988 account that brought past-life regression to a mass audience.
• Journey of Souls by Michael Newton. Case studies of life-between-lives hypnosis.
• Life Before Life by Jim Tucker. A researcher’s look at children who seem to recall previous lives.
• Reliving Past Lives by Helen Wambach. An early, large-scale hypnosis survey.
• The Myth of Repressed Memory by Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham. A clear look at how memory can be shaped by suggestion.

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Go Deeper on Next Level Soul

If rebirth and the soul’s long story call to you, there is more to explore. Reincarnation and the Law of Karma is available on Next Level Soul, and it pairs well with the reading above.

Sources and Further Reading

• Concerns About Hypnotic Regression, University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies. Why imagination and suggestion matter in hypnotic past-life work.
• Remember a Previous Life? Maybe You Have a Bad Memory, Scientific American. A report on the Maastricht University study of reincarnation therapy and memory errors.
• Only Love Is Real, Brian Weiss. Publisher page for the 1996 book on soulmates reunited across lifetimes.
• Journey of Souls (book), Wikipedia. Background on Michael Newton’s work and life-between-lives therapy.

Where to Go Next

You do not need to decide whether you have lived before. You only need to stay curious, kind, and honest with yourself. Read the history. Try the journaling practice. Ask good questions of any guide you meet. And remember that you are already enough to begin.

Go Deeper with NLS Mastery: Beyond the Veil

If this topic draws you toward the other side of the veil, you can go deeper with a guided course. Julie Ryan teaches it in Beyond the Veil, part of NLS Mastery. Watch the course preview below.

Explore the Course

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Past-Life Regression?

A guided practice, often using hypnosis or deep relaxation, in which you are invited to explore images and impressions that seem to come from another lifetime. Whether they are memories, imagination, or symbols is debated.

Does Past-Life Regression Really Work?

It depends on what you mean. Many people find sessions interesting and meaningful. There is no scientific proof that the images are literal memories of earlier lives, and research shows suggestion and imagination can shape them.

Is Past-Life Regression Safe?

Most people have a calm experience, but it can bring up strong emotion. If you have a mental health condition or a trauma history, speak with a licensed professional first. Choose a trained practitioner who lets you stop at any time.

Can Past-Life Regression Create False Memories?

Yes, that is a real concern. Memory is reconstructive, and guided imagery can produce vivid memories of things that never happened. Treat what comes up as something to reflect on, not as proof.

Who Is Brian Weiss?

Brian Weiss is a psychiatrist and author of Many Lives, Many Masters (1988). He writes that a patient began describing past-life scenes under hypnosis, and his book helped bring the practice to a wide audience.

How Long Does a Session Take?

Most sessions run between one and three hours, including the intake conversation, the relaxation, the guided exploration, and time to talk afterward.

What Does a Past-Life Session Feel Like?

Many people describe it like remembering a dream while still partly awake. Some see vivid scenes, others notice only feelings, colors, or body sensations, and some experience mostly relaxation.

Do You Have to Believe in Reincarnation to Try It?

No. Some people approach it with curiosity or as a reflective exercise. An open mind and honest discernment matter more than belief.

Can I Do Past-Life Regression Myself?

You can try a gentle journaling or meditation practice at home, as described in this guide. It makes no claim about literal past lives, and it keeps you in charge. Stop and seek support if anything feels distressing.

How Do I Find a Qualified Practitioner?

Ask about their training in hypnosis or guided imagery, whether they hold a license in a health field, how they handle strong emotion, and whether they use open questions. Avoid anyone who promises cures or pressures you to buy more.

Can Past-Life Regression Show Me My Soulmate?

Some practitioners and authors say people meet familiar souls in sessions, but a session cannot confirm who anyone is, and vivid scenes can be shaped by suggestion. Treat what comes up as a story to reflect on, not a verdict about a real person.

Do Soulmates Reincarnate Together?

In the writings of Michael Newton and Brian Weiss, yes: souls are said to return together in changing roles. It is a spiritual belief that science cannot test. Read more in our guide to soul groups and soulmates.

What Is the Difference Between Past-Life Regression and Life-Between-Lives Regression?

Past-life regression explores scenes from previous lifetimes. Life-between-lives regression, associated with Michael Newton, aims at the time between lives, including meeting a soul group.

Should I Make Relationship Decisions Based on a Session?

No. A session can offer reflection, but it is not evidence about a real person. Base decisions on how someone treats you now, and talk with a licensed counselor about major choices.