The following revised and summarized excerpt is from my book “Meditation, Hypnosis, and Past Life Regression”. The book uses a simple metaphor I created, developed, and refined over many experiential workshops and classes which I also led. During the workshop, attendees would experience the three practices — meditation, hypnosis, and past life regression — within a two-hour class and have the opportunity to evaluate the similarities and differences for themselves. This is a brief synopsis exploring the central thesis of the book.

Meditation is a glass of water. Hypnosis is a swimming pool. And Past Life Regression is an ocean.

Meditation, like a glass of water, is immediate, refreshing, and relatively small in scale. It is finite. I might meditate for two or twenty minutes. I might drink a glass of water in a few seconds or take my time with it. The glass holds the water like the cranium containing the brain. If I let the glass sit unbothered, the water becomes still. The glass is full, and its contents become calm in the absence of disturbance. It’s clear, though the water and glass will alter my view.

Hypnosis as a swimming pool is a larger container. The substance is the same, but the boundaries have expanded. We can stay close to the surface when using wakeful states of trance and conversational hypnosis. Or we can dive into the deep end as we do in a deep trance. In hypnotherapy, we can explore the past from new and undiscovered perspectives, and we can pace the future planting seeds of possibility to meet down the road just as we explore the depth and boundaries of the pool.

Past Life Regression is an ocean. Now the water is a little different and the container is seemingly infinite in size. We lose sight of the horizon. Sometimes it is beautiful and generous, others it is tumultuous and dark. We may have a smooth journey that brings us home or be capsized by a sudden wave. What emerges can be strange, familiar, alien, frustrating, soothing, elegant, or absurd. Most often we explore it because we don’t know what we’ll find.

We are mostly made of water. And like water, each of these experiences is natural to us. They generally include attention with the breath, a calm present-moment awareness, progressive relaxation, and guided imagery provided by an individual using little more than their voice. There is no pill or external substance required, although increasingly there is experimentation with everything from ambient music to aromatherapy to psychedelics as aids in the process. Generally, a calm, quiet, and comfortable setting are all that’s necessary, and sometimes not even that is required. Like sex, music, a wonderful conversation, or a delicious meal, they are experiential and will change our states.

Their differences begin with the intention. The intent to meditate compared to exploring what might be past life memories could feel worlds apart. And yet, most successful past life regressions I’ve witnessed and certainly those I’ve conducted have all had moments of meditation.

As expressed in many of the ancient and essential texts on meditation, it was not originally intended as the mental health and wellness tool we see it popularly sold as today. Historically, we were invited to meditate as a free means of stepping out of the wheel of good and bad. Acknowledging that even centuries ago people like us were caught in cycles of judgment, unhelpful self-talk, negative states, and repetitive thinking. Meditation was an opportunity to compassionately break that cycle and do something different by doing nothing at all. A moment of intentional quiet. Closed eyes, deep breaths, and conscious rest are ways to interrupt the noise in our heads.

There is a core principle of hypnosis that “All hypnosis is self-hypnosis”. While there are certainly external stimuli all around us vying for our attention (Consider the advertising throughout NYC), our internal frames, unconscious biases, preferences, and personal narratives will be decisive in where our attention goes and how long it stays there. This principle is well-known to hypnotherapists, but I would suggest it’s imperative in this technological age that this be understood by individuals. Screens, computers, and phones are trance-inducing substances. A little education on trance psychology can equate to inoculation, and the disregard for this can come at a great cost.

The intention is the first and greatest differential in these otherwise similar-seeming practices. With the direction of a skilled and qualified guide, they could be life-changing. Unless something goes very wrong, the worst that can happen is you’ll be the same person afterward as you were before. As a simple tool primarily for people new to the subjects — for young people in particular in need of a decoder — I suggest the use of the metaphor as a reminder that while each is different in scale, they are as natural as the water we consist of.

Meditation is a glass of water. Hypnosis is a swimming pool. And Past Life Regression is an ocean.

*This document specifically references Hypnotherapy and Clinical Hypnosis used as a therapeutic tool and source of relief which often closely resemble a guided meditation with targeted goals and additional techniques. This does not include stage hypnosis, hypnosis for entertainment, and the displays therein.

Disclaimer: The definitions of these experiences belong to no one person. Particularly in the case of hypnosis, there is a marked absence of clear definitions. What takes place during, as well as the results, can be so varied and disparate that I might suggest we don’t yet have enough shared vocabulary (at least not in English). These are my interpretations and understanding based on decades of personal and professional experience and study.