Karma and PLR

Past life therapy is a therapy in which an individual is regressed to past lives in order to heal and resolve ailments and situations from the current life. It is is based on the ancient belief of reincarnation. The foundation of Hindu philosophy, reincarnation dates back thousands of years. It is the notion that the soul is eternal and incarnates again and again, retaining all the knowledge of events that occur during each lifetime.

Karma is an important component of reincarnation. It is a Sanskrit word meaning action. The basis of karma is that every action has a reaction: cause and effect. Each lifetime is lived in order to resolve unwholesome actions in previous lifetimes. The circumstances of each life are determined by the growth and progress achieved in a past life. According to this theory, a person's actions in one lifetime determine the conditions, situations, relationships, environment, and opportunities of the next life.

The actions carried out in one lifetime are often carried through to the next life. For instance, someone who committed a murder in a previous life may encounter a lifetime in which he will have to deal with anger and violence. Although "past lives" began as a religious concept, since the 1960s it has been used in the therapeutic community to help people reframe current issues in their lives that are blocking their health and well-being. Whether or not there are past-life experiences and memories is debatable and ultimately unprovable. They may be metaphors of the mind. Even so, they can serve as useful processes for bringing understanding and resolution to present conflicts.

In the past life regression, the patient may recognize people from her current life. According to the karmic theory, souls who are closely related in one life will meet in another. Often people who bond together in this lifetime, such as family, lovers, or friends, have also been together in previous lives. The significance of meeting again is to resolve karmic issues from other lives in order to promote growth and healing.

Past lives generally are not experienced in a sequential fashion. This is due to the karmic understanding that past lives are revealed at a time when the individual will benefit most by the lesson learned through the review.