Interview With A Past Life Therapist

Daniella is a practising past life regression therapist, and in the course of her work she makes use of energy clearing, hypnosis, karma clearing, Neuro linguistic programming, shamanic healing, guided imagery, affirmations, and many other techniques. She also uses evolutionary astrology to establish karmic patterns, and very often involve more esoteric techniques such as spirit release, soul retrieval and ancestral healing. I interview.

How would you say our own past-life experiences have led you to where you are now?

One of the earliest experiences of reincarnation in this life was when I was one. I remember my mother trying to take a photo of me sitting in that old fashioned push chair. I started looking at my foot, raising my gaze up my little leg until it reached my head or mind you like, when a fully formed thought exploded in my head and I screamed without being able to verbalise anything. And that thought was one of sheer terror – ‘Oh nooo, I am born again’. It was far more disturbing than that, but lets just say it was so strong that I remember it with clarity even today.

Strange prophetic dreams, weird coincidences, astral projections from a very early age led me to seek out more information which came in a form of a book when I was 22 and living in Cyprus. The book is the classic on this topic and is written by one of my dearest teachers and guides, the late Dr Hiroshi Motoyama, Japanese Shinto priest, engineer and seer. From that point onward, I started studying karma and reincarnation. I was drawn to anything of that nature and have spent many weekends on spiritual retreats, visiting Buddhist monasteries and reading books. Still I was in ‘the world’ doing my thing utilising my first degree in economics when everything changed when I moved and settled in England back in 1998.

When going through a marriage breakdown, I sought help of a hypnotherapist and have experienced what is known as ‘a spontaneous regression’. The poor therapist was quite shocked and taken a back but my mind took me to a past life with my husband at that time when I had been a middle age man dying of tuberculosis and he was a boy in a concentration camp. Amongst other insights, I understood why I have smoked most of my adult life. Having those sessions in which I remembered the process of my own birth was extremely helpful. Having understood the karma between myself and that person I was having difficulties with helped me forgive him, and me and move out without the heartbreak or normal suffering that ensues after such a traumatic event.

And from 2006 it was all fast and furious in terms of karmic experiences. In August that year, the intense study with my late teacher Dr Roger Woolger, a transpersonal and Jungian psychotherapist and the founder of Deep Memory Process started. On the very first residential workshop, I had, what is known as ‘ecstatic religious experience’ and I’m not ‘that’ religious I tell you. A high angelic form presented itself to me and I believe I had the Manipura chakra opened. In fact I am convinced as I started ‘seeing’ people’s past lives at will as well as being able to see ‘energy blockages’, ancestral karma, and ‘see through hands’.

A period of an intense five years of personal karma clearing followed. Things were flooding in faster than I could cope with sometimes and I spent those five years doing mostly that – working on my self, past life traumas, attending appropriate workshops, praying, meditating intensely, doing mantras, finishing an unfinished business and striving to be at peace.

I never thought I would say this, ever. I never conceived it possible at the first place. But I can say that I had released and healed a very heavy parental karma and found myself free from mentally arguing with either of my parents. I became aware that days were passing and I had not had a nasty image in my head. Peace of mind was becoming order of the day.

How important is belief in Reincarnation to working with Past-Life Therapy?

Not important at all. It is not required that one believes in the concept of reincarnation although it can be helpful. What I encounter with my clients on a regular basis is a question – ‘Was I making this up?’ or some form of doubt in the experience of the present moment. I had worked with many clients without any background in spirituality, let alone a belief in reincarnation and they have all experienced some form of regression into an issue that is important to them.

If a past life does not come up, that is also fine. I work with whatever presents itself. Being guided by the client’s subconscious mind, holding the space, making sure that I am alert to clues and the smallest changes in energy is my personal way of working in therapy.

I found that more important than a belief in reincarnation is a very simple and personal willingness to heal and change. Just a simple willingness.

What kind of things can Past-Life Therapy help a patient with?

Would it be an exaggeration if I said ‘everything’? It is not the past life therapy that is important here. It is a tool, a way, a proverbial horse and carriage to get you to your destination. It is always dependant on the level of personal willingness and readiness to enter into the therapy.
My client experience ranges from working with people with terminal cancer diagnoses, various types of early childhood trauma including sexual abuse, substance abuse, eating disorders to ‘normal neurotics’ and people facing everyday problems such as divorce, relationship and work issues and choppy family dynamics.

The space does not permit to list all of the types of issues people deal with in life and come to see me about, but believe me when I say that there were some miraculous success stories and personal victories. It is always down to client’s determination to work through the issues.

The added bonus and benefit is that this therapy works fast as it goes to the root of the problem and we don’t just “talk about issues”. I’m not too fond of ‘talking therapies’ but they most certainly have their place. Many people are just not ready to enter this type of deep healing therapy.

What are the biggest misconceptions people have about Past-Life Therapy?

This question made me smile. Whatever misconceptions are, they are always cleared by the end of the session. Many people have no concepts of past life, do not know much of what karma is and how it works despite being by their own admission religious, or sufficient level of believe in the simple law of physics that every action has an equal reaction.

If you Google the Newton’s Third Law and read up about it – well, that is what karma is. That’s quite simple to understand.

Client’s come into a session expecting to be transported to ancient Egypt instantly but it is much simpler than that. The fragility of someone’s concepts are actually amusing. Let’s say they do not believe in past lives and are adamant they will not see anything or experience any regression and by the end of the session, they are ‘converted’ by their own admission.

The most common misconception of an entrenched ego of a person who is very pragmatic would sound something like this: “Well, I think I have imagined all that” or something to that effect. That’s fine because imagination heals. The frame work is unimportant as long as it produces result. If a result is that a person stops abusing substance, or heals sore family relationship, what does it matter if they believe in reincarnation or not!?

I never ever try to make people change belief systems. It is their job to find out more about their inner world, what makes them tick and what they will ultimately chose to believe. I know one thing for sure – believes change by themselves in face of evidence and personal experience. It is inevitable.

As I always say, I am just a guide.

Say a client comes to you for a session: what kind of thing would they expect to experience?

Experience is individual. Most of my clients survive 🙂

Whatever expectations are, it does not quite matter as much as people think. I would access by the way of an interview and the questionnaire which I ask all clients to complete before a session and return by email, and by looking at their astrological chart for the sticky karmic points (given my thirty years of astrological experience, I can tell a thing or two). What I assess and what I look for is driven by my neuro-linguistic and esoteric training. I look for language patterns because words and language is what we use to create our lives. Most people do not know this but we can’t know everything for every situation, and that’s ok.

I will then spend some time looking at the person’s chart and ‘feel’ around their energy. I actually spend additional time doing this kind of processing as I want to be centred and balanced for the session.

If a client comes in ‘not knowing what to expect’, that’s fine. I explain the process in the first ten minutes and explain that what actually happens is the series of questions and answers. So while they lie on the mattress feeling comfortable, I will ask questions and we go from there. This is usually enough to provide reassurance.

Because of the type of clients sent to me, i.e. everyday people, I have learned to be very gentle and observant as to where people are. Some other therapists who teach courses and hand around ‘spiritual circles’ can afford to go ‘straight in’ as most of their client base are experienced spiritual seekers. Mine just come in from the ‘cold outside world’ and need a bit of looking after :).

What is your most gratifying experience as a therapist?

What a lovely question this is.

My most gratifying experience is to see how people’s faces light up and how much they change for the better. I love to be able to help. I love to see the transformation takes place and a wonder at a new possibility that opens affront of someone’s eyes. I love to see the amazement on my client’s face as they realise they can live free of pain, they can be free of a particular behaviour, they are freer then they have come in. The body follows the mind, and as the mind heals, the body is happy to follow.

My most deeply gratifying experience is to enable people to take their power back where it belongs – into their heart and mind. The power to create the life they truly want to live and go out and live it. I love being a good guide and doing God’s work.

How does one train to be a Past-Life Therapist?

I believe there are various courses you can find online, but the best therapy training is Deep Memory Process training which is nowadays facilitated by a lady who runs the website after Dr Woolger’s passing. I was fortunate to be one of the last generation of therapists he has trained personally.

I think that a person would feel the call. They would be drawn to past life work as a moth to a flame. It has always been a passion of mine and even thought I did not know I would end up doing this work, since a very young age, I knew I was different and that my life would be different in some shape or form.

A shaman would encounter much of the stuff that surfaces in past life therapy such as spirit release, soul retrieval, ancestral healing etc. Hypnotherapists as well. I am sure many have clients that experience spontaneous regressions. Regular psychiatrists and psychotherapists who deal with clients with various psychosis diagnoses would encounter much of the ‘spirit talk’ in schizophrenia for example but most are busy medicating rather than treating.

I’d like to say a word of caution here: if you, the reader, are interested in doing this work, please make sure you are properly trained. People’s suffering is not to be taken likely and many ‘strange’ things happen in this therapy. I have witnessed many occasions when demonic spirits show up, really scary energies, so if you do not know ‘thyself’, then its best to stay away from this work as it can get hairy. You can go off and get a certificate over a weekend thinking you know what you are doing, but in truth, you can do more damage to your client and yourself than you can imagine. I hold a MA, – a masters degree in movement psychotherapy which I have obtained after having completed my training in NLP, hypnosis, shamanism and deep memory process, to name just a few. I am also a lifelong meditator and student of esoteric arts but I wanted to bring my clinical level to an academic level even though I also practice a different therapy which is the topic of this interview – a past life therapy. It must be said that what I have learned by obtaining the masters in psychotherapy and the proper clinical approach is invaluable. The past life therapy work is not fun and not easy. If you wish to do this work, please make sure you are property trained. I can’t stress this enough.

What are some good books or resources to which my readers could go in order to learn more?

Of course they are. Just go on Google and you will be inundated by the amount of stuff which has been written on this topic.

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the late Dr Hiroshi Motoyama, whom I recognised as my father in one of my past lives. I have read all of his work which includes studies of yoga and consciousness. His classic on this topic, ‘Karma and Reincarnation’ was my saving grace at the early 90’s when I did not know what was happening to me at the time. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the subject.

My other late teacher, Dr Roger Woolger’s books such as ‘Other Lives, Other Selves’, ‘Healing Your Past Lives’ are excellent too. The classic by Edith Fiore ‘You Have Been Here Before’ is another favourite. For more of a classical approach to the subject, look up Swami J and his writings on karma or indeed, any Vedic text that explain the reincarnation process such as The Bhagavad Gita. This work is essentially an epic poem but it its heart, the theme of birth and rebirth is the springboard for all life dramas that unfold around us. Any books by Dr Ian Stevenson such as the classic ‘Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation’ or ‘Children Who Remember Previous Lives’ explore the phenomena of ‘spontaneous recall’.

My intention is to write several books in the future resulting from my personal experiences and what I had witnessed in therapy, so watch that space.

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Daniella’s website: The Spiritual Healing Center