The Regression Video That Reportedly Reveals Who You Were In A Past Life
Who did you used to be?
If you have ever wondered who you were in your past life, you can find out on TikTok, of all places.
The app is full of emotional videos from people who claim to have followed a past life regression video, which asks the question, "Who was I in my past life?"
What is past life regression?
Past life regression is a type of hypnotherapy that helps guide people back in time through their past lives. It's done by accessing memories and events that are usually hidden in their subconscious.
Past life regression helps you learn about your past life, why you feel connected to certain places or things, and where some of your fears and anxieties stem from.
The past life regression video that seems to have started it all is a session by a hypnotherapist named Brian Weiss that was posted on YouTube.
This specific video is all about how to perform a past life regression meditation, which TikTokers are using to determine their past lives. Once you watch it, you’ll understand why.
What is past life regression meditation?
Past life regression meditation is based on the belief in reincarnation, the belief that there is life after death, and is part of religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism.
The meditation technique attempts to use hypnosis to try and recover or retrieve memories from previous lives you may have lived. Past life regression therapists use this method to help patients with mental health issues because it's assumed their issues stem from possible traumatic life experiences in their past lives.
Past life regression meditation is the only type of hypnotherapy technique allowed to be a method of therapy.
It's used in therapy to help better understand yourself, your habits and your desires. It's also used to get over phobias and re-occurring nightmares, as well as possibly eliminate physical pain and conditions; however, the possibility you will be healed from all this is not guaranteed.
It's practiced to help you allow yourself to see your life from a different perspective and see your purpose in life. It's believed that you can be taken to the past, future, and the space in between.
For some, they may want to try it to grieve a loss in their life or learn to forgive themselves or others. Some might want to try it to open them up emotionally and take them to a place they might have forgotten, which can be a healing and purifying process.
How does regression therapy work?
Past life regression therapy works by starting with guided meditation and visualization. The hypnotherapist will probably ask you a few questions beforehand to get to know you and maybe understand what your family looks like.
After 20-30 minutes, you should start to feel sleepy as the hypnotherapist guides you into a trance-like state, so you can allow your right-side brain to activate.
The hypnotherapist will then guide you through different questions to get you to explain what you're seeing, not questioning it. You'll be able to see everything about your past life: what you looked like, where you were born, what you did, and how you died.
Once you figure all that out, the hypnotherapist will slowly bringyou back to your present state and you will awaken. The process seems to take anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half to be completed.
After watching Dr. Brian Weiss's YouTube video, people responded and posted TikToks about what they see in their own past life.
A user named Leslie Rodriguez posted a TikTok claiming that when she did the session, she saw herself as “a white female with light brown hair” and had a daughter. She was wearing clothes from medieval times and was out with her daughter, harvesting and picking fruit.
When she was visualizing her past life, she saw men on black horses show up and take her daughter away from her. They proceeded to call her a “witch,” and as she watched the men pull her daughter away, they huddled around her to slit her throat.
Currently, Leslie has a hard time wearing turtleneck sweaters; she also can’t wear tight necklaces because she feels uncomfortable and suffocated when things are too close to her neck area. She claims these fears must come from her past life and learned where it stems from.
However, some people aren't convinced. Some TikTokers are skeptical about past life regression, especially after a hashtag started by Frederica Severinsen, describing her own child's experience of a past life regression, went viral, and other parents went to TikTok to describe their children's past life regression stories.
Another TikToker named Toria posted a video about a story her child told her from her supposed past life. The daughter explained that she had a previous "mommy" after recognizing her in a picture.
When Toria asked her daughter, "Did you choose me to be your mommy?" the child answered yes, "because I love you." Toria asked what happened to her daughter's other mommy, and the child launched into an entire explanation of her first mom dying.
When Toria asked her daughter how old her other mommy was, the child answered 49. Toria then explained that her daughter is at a young age where she doesn't comprehend what 49 is. "She can barely count to 20," she said.
Others posted TikTok parodies of the trend because some don't believe you can retrace every detailed memory from past life regression meditation alone. Yet there is an overwhelming amount of people who do believe in this practice that has been around for some time.
Another Tiktoker named Haley Michelle posted a video of an older talk show interview where a mother described her daughter's past life where she died in a car wreck.
The child was young enough to be in a car seat and had never seen TV, yet knew that pedals were needed to drive and that when you drown bubbles come out of your mouth.
Overall, past life regression sessions can bring up a lot of emotions.
There are some strong feelings that may come up if you watch the YouTube video, and people should take caution before trying past life regression themselves.
The most dangerous part of past life regression meditation is experiencing the trauma and deep emotions that were associated with your past life, and for some, that can be traumatizing.
According to a study by the Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, past life regression therapy has a high risk of implanting false memories into patients and can be dangerous.
If you have any severe mental illness like anxiety or depression and aren't stable, don't do the exercise. You may end up bringing trauma into your life when you aren't ready mentally and physically to process everything.
Past life regression meditation isn’t something everyone should try, and it's completely fine if you feel like it's not worth it to put yourself into such a vulnerable experience.
Jaycee Levin is a writer, influencer, and blogger living in New York whose work focuses on pop culture and entertainment topics.