Past lives have always been a fascinating subject to me, and to others judging by the number of inquiries I've had about it. Going back over thirty years I've read many books on the subject from Edgar Cayce's mention of it in his trance readings, to books by prominent physicians and psychiatrists such as Dr Bruce Goldberg, Dr Raymond Moody, Dr Edith Fiore, Dr Helen Wambach and past life therapist Dick Sutphen. Many of these authors have discovered the value of looking at past lives totally by accident.

I must admit it made sense to me that the soul would continue and return to the earth plane in different countries and times in order to add to its experience and education. It certainly seemed a logical explanation of my passion and familiarity with certain cultures and historical periods.

Many cultures embrace reincarnation as fact and there seems to be growing evidence in favor of it. Reincarnation references were part of the New Testament until removed by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. He feared that those thinking they had other chances would be less obedient. The sixth century, second council of Constantinople declared reincarnation heresy (again Constantine) and twelfth century French and Italian Christian Cathars were brutalized for their belief in reincarnation. Check your history!

In my twenties I had several opportunities to experience past life regression for myself. I found a daylong seminar through Continuing Education in Surrey. It was quite an exciting experience, even though it was a large class of twenty or so. Later I found a seminar presented by a couple that had been trained by Dick Sutphen. This was even better because the class was about six people. With the smaller class and two instructors we were able to do more and share more. Just around that time I was privileged to attend a lecture by a hypnotherapist who did past life regression. It was the most riveting lecture I have ever attended. He told us of a patient with severe asthma that was being helped through regression.

Back then I took these classes simply out of curiosity. I was not alone, that is where many people start. More recently, with the massive amount of books about research available, many are finding relief from phobias and pain, with apparently no physical cause, through regression.

One of my favorite authors on this subject is Dr Brian L Weiss. He was by his own description a unidirectional, highly academic psychiatrist, that is, until he worked with a patient called Catherine. His book, Many Lives, Many Masters chronicles that story.

Weiss has some impressive credentials, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University. His medical degree is from Yale where he was also chief resident in psychiatry. He tells us that since he was brave enough to publish his experiences he has received thousands of communications from other professionals that have had similar experiences, but were afraid that publicly documenting these cases would hurt their careers. After several books, Weiss seems to be unscathed.

Weiss explains that hypnosis is a "state of focused concentration", which many of us experience everyday. "Hypnosis is really self-hypnosis in that you, the patient, control the process. The therapist is merely the guide." Hypnosis is a way to access the subconscious from whence come moments of intuition, wisdom and creativity. Under hypnosis your mind can comment, criticize or censor. You are always in control of what you say.

The books of Dr Weiss, and the others mentioned, contain many examples of pain relieved by regression.

A radiologist suffering many years of severe back pain regressed to two lifetimes, where he had sustained fatal injuries to his back, quickly improved.

An engineer with TMJ, migraines and neck stiffness gradually improved after her memory of being speared in the face surfaced in a regression.

A young woman with a throat problems, including choking and frequent respiratory infection found relief after viewing several lifetimes where not revealing information had turned out disastrously.

A pilot with a phobia of his right wing falling off never feared this again after seeing himself as a German pilot shot down by friendly fire. The plane's right wing was shot off.

Weiss's wife has been relieved of severe migraines through regression with another therapist.

Weiss tells us that there is no way to prove whether regression memories are true or not, although many times names and dates can be checked and are found on tombstones etc. However, "fantasies and daydreams do not cure such severe symptoms. Past life therapy very often does."