Why I Believe in Past Lives - Honestly, from Both Sides
People ask me this all the time, usually right at the end of a consultation. 'So, do you actually believe in past lives?' The question is always half-curious, half-careful - as if they're worried about putting me on the spot.
The honest answer is longer than they expect, and I think it's more interesting than a simple yes or no. So I'll write it out here, for anyone who's wondered but hasn't asked.
If you've never read about this work before, the about regressive hypnotherapy page is a gentler starting point.
The Honest Answer
The short answer
Yes, I believe in past lives. Probably. Most days. But the word 'believe' is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and I want to be careful with it.
What I mean is that when I sit with clients who are describing experiences that feel like past lives, something in me responds as if what they're describing is real. Not in a credulous, everything-is-obviously-literal way. More in the way you respond to a powerful piece of music - with a sense of having encountered something true, even if you couldn't prove it in a court of law.
What I notice when I try to be sceptical
I spent a long time trying to be a hardnosed sceptic about this work. I wanted to be able to say: 'I'm only in this for the therapeutic benefit, the past-life framing is just a useful metaphor, the whole thing is symbolic.' That framing let me feel respectable. It's also defensible intellectually - there's no scientific consensus on reincarnation, and the evidence is largely anecdotal.
The problem is that the more sessions I ran, the harder that purely-sceptical position got to hold honestly. Too many details landed too specifically. Too many clients came away with information they couldn't have known. Too many experiences had a quality that was genuinely different from ordinary imagination. I started finding the sceptical position required almost as much faith as the believing one - just pointed the other way.
Where I've landed
Where I've landed is somewhere unusually comfortable. I hold both possibilities at once. When a client describes a past life experience, I respond to it as real - because to them, in that moment, it is. Whether it's literally historical, or symbolic, or a third thing I don't have words for, is a question I'm content not to answer.
The work is useful either way. The shifts are real either way. The client's relationship to their present life changes either way. So whether reincarnation is the correct metaphysical framework turns out not to matter very much for the actual practice of the work. It only matters for people who need a single answer to feel safe.
What I tell clients who ask
When someone asks me in a consultation, I give them a shorter version of all this. I tell them I'm open, not closed. I tell them I don't need them to believe in past lives to do the work together. I tell them I don't interpret their experience for them - I hold the space and let them decide what it means.
That usually lands well. People who are anxious about 'having to believe' can relax. People who already believe can feel seen. The work accommodates both, because it was never really about belief in the first place. It was about what happens when you let your subconscious lead for a couple of hours in a safe space. These sessions are a complementary wellness practice, not medical or psychological treatment. A free consultation is the right place to ask any of the questions you haven't asked out loud yet.
Book a free 30-minute consultation
Got questions or a specific goal? Let’s talk it through. In this free call we’ll check fit, outline a simple plan and walk you through how sessions run online. No pressure, just clarity.
Last updated: