Past Life Regression, Power Animals and Family Constellations.

About four years back I attended a workshop on Past Life Regression (PLR). The experience was amazing. Till then I had read about the subject and practically read all books of Dr. Brian Wiess, a world authority on PLR. A few experiences during the workshop convinced me about the past lives I had lived where issues remained unresolved. It is amazing how a situation will repeat itself in a future life, till the underlying energy that caused it to occur is balanced, aligned and integrated.

Past Life Regression therapy is helpful to solve human issues that have roots in a past incarnation. It could be anything from a particularly bothersome relationship with an office colleague or even a fear of water that prevents you from learning how to swim. With a past life regression you can delve into the past and find out why a you feel victimised by your boss or why some self-limiting belief is hindering progress in your current life. It is amazing how we create situations in our current lives because of what occured in a past life, just to learn a particular lesson and integrate it into ourselves. There could be role reversals though!

The workshop was followed up six months later by an advanced workshop where we learnt about Shamanic Healing and Power Animals. Invoking their energies can help you face any issue or situation that is specific to you.

At the end of the workshop Dr K Newton who conducted the workshop, facilitated an experiment in Family Constellations work. We were dumbstruck at the energy dynamics that emerged when even those who knew absolutely nothing about the issue, began to replicate and enact the exact behaviour of family members represented in the constellation! The one seeking healing through a constellation remains an observer throughout the process.

Family Constellations is a kind of psycho therapy inspired and evolved by Bert Hellinger a German psychotherapist. It aims at healing not just the individual but the family as well. Universal laws require that all of us acknowlegde each incarnated soul and respect it without judgement about its chosen path for sorting out its own karma in ways best known to the individual soul essence. Unfortunately as humans we sometimes forget this and subject our lesser fortunate brothers to untold pain, misery and vicitimization through our judgemental behavior with them. As a result many situations in our lives evade solution because the 'orders of love' have been disrupted in the past due to the 'so called misdemeanor' of an ancestor that was concealed from younger generations to avoid social stigma.

My group of like-minded friends is always too eager to work with a Family Constellation. In fact this has become a regular experimental feature of our meets! The best thing about the group is that no one probes or judges a situation for which resolution is sought.

With all this comes the deep understanding that it is possible for each of us to connect at subtle energy levels in order to help heal ourselves, others and the planet as a whole! The collective consciousness is a vast field of energy many aspects of which still await exploration! It brings to my mind Issac Newton's famous quote:

“I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

More About Alternative Therapies

Here is something more to my earlier blog on Alternative Therapies. After learning quite a few I realised that each of them has a special attribute that aims at healing a particular aspect of human life. The subject is vast and extremely interesting. A regular spiritual practice often adds more insights into them as concepts about energy get clearer.

Herbal medicine acknowledges the use of herbs to set right body processes to achieve optimum health. They can help weight loss by speeding up metabolic processes and other bodily processes that are vital for good health.

Yoga, meditation and breathing techniques improve health and make you feel more peaceful.

Bach Flower Remedies were discoverd by Dr. Edward Bach. Each of the 38 remedies are aimed at a eliminating a particular characteristic or negative emotional state that can play havoc with the psyche and eventually cause deterioration of physical health. They can help you overcome negative emotions like impatience, poor-me feelings, dominance that can be opressive to others, inconfidence, hatred, jealousy, envy, self-centredness, overconfidence, procrastination, feelings of gloom and despair, feelings of being overwhelmed, fears both known and unknown and many more. Most humans a deeply self-aware of their shortcomings but a unaware how to address these feelings and weed them out. Bach Flower Remedies are a good modality in this direction.

Spirit-in-Nature Essences are made from flowers and fruits and were inspired by Paramhans Yogananda. The essences have been discovered after much research and are aimed at uplifting our spiritual energy by enhancing our positive qualities like kindness, mental vitality, cheerfulness, unselfishness, calmness, clarity of thought, etc. They are extremely powerful remedies and even a week's treatment combined with a positive affirmation can work wonders.

Siddha healing comes from Siddha yogis or Siddhas. A Siddha or a Siddha Guru is a perfected master or someone who has transcended his ego and can initiate a disciple through 'Shaktipat'. They were humans who through intense spiritual practice or 'sadhana' had achieved identity with the Supreme Spirit. Nityananda Baba, better known as Bhagwan Nityanand of Ganeshpuri and his disciple Swami Muktananda were all Siddhas. Saibaba of Shirdi, Jnaneshwar, Eknath and many other Indian saints are all Siddhas. These elevated souls are always present around us and actually come when invoked to help us to heal ourselves and others.

There are many more healing modalities that can be written about. Each is unique and can be creatively used to offer interesting solutions and insights into human life and its multi-level existence. All of them offer immense opportunity to delve into unknown areas of human existence that can be curiously interesting. But all said and done, learning about them affirms the belief that we are all spiritual beings on a human path come to this planet for an earthly experience!

I could go on and on about the subject, but may be more blogs on the subject are a better idea!

Temples of North Gujarat and Rajasthan

Am not one of the 'temple-visiting' kind। In fact I would rather avoid a visit to a famous temple just to steer clear from the crowds of frenzied devotee! Would prefer paying my respects to the Lord at any small temple amidst natural suroundings to take in the pristine energy such a place offers. But when you take a holiday via road, it is just right that you visit such places that are on your route or even make a slight detour to visit one that is a 'must see'.

Our first halt was at Shamlaji which has a lovely Vishnu temple situated at the base of hills and definitely a 'must-see' as compared to the ones that are overly frequented by devotees। We reached there by about 8।30 AM. This is a nice time to go when there are no crowds and one can get a good view of the temple architecture. The outer walls of the temple are replete with exquisitely carved figures that make one wonder about the skilled artisans that lived ages ago and probably spent an entire life sculpting them.

The next halt was a Nathadwara which is houses the famous Shreenathji temple, one of the most frequently visited ones this side of the country. At the entrance one comes across several 'temple guides' who are ready to take you in via the so-called 'vip transit'। It was fairly crowded but not as much as it normally is, so I was told. Probably we had got the timing right and could safely avoid the crowds, having reached there around 12.30 in the afternoon. We were able to get a good 'darshan' of Lord Shreenathji.

Some temple guides are barely 10 years of age and eager to learn the trade of making a fast buck with carefully learnt communication skills relating the history of the place। I was particularly taken up by this young lad who probably guessed I could be ready game to listen to his tales। I engaged him in conversation and learnt that he was earning his way to pay his school fees. I was touched by his appearance, his innocent, piteous-looking face was too much to turn away from. He wished that I should listen to him relate tales of the Lord of the temple and I readily obliged lending him my ears. In his own style and language, little of which I could comprehend, I heard him through and gave him a tenner, which he gratefully accepted. Older guys like him wanting to snatch away his earnings tried to tell me he was a sham, but my heart refused the believe them. I was touched by the experience.

Two days later on our return journey we visited Ranakpur which is famous for its Jain temple। Friends had told me much about this place and even though we had to make a detour, it was well-worth the visit. This beautiful temple is a structure of of white, glittering marble well-known for its 1444 supporting pillars of intricate, exquisite carvings, no two of which are alike! Again like the Shamlaji temple, one is awe-struck by the skill of the artisans that worked on them.

I like visiting Jain temples; they are quiet, peaceful and spotlessly clean, a quality which I greatly value and thankfully devoid of the jostling and pushing of frenzied devotees to put you off!

Our last visit was to Ambaji, a temple dedicated to Goddess Ambamata who symbolises 'Shakti' and is generally frequented by devotess every full-moon.

At the end of the holiday it now felt nice that I could visit all these temples, something that I was never too keen about despite having lived in Gujarat since birth!