Life-between-lives work (Newton)

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Michael Newton · 1994

What it is

LBL is an esoteric spiritual practice delivered by hypnotists whom MNI trains and certifies; it is not a psychotherapy. MNI describes it as "a deep hypnotic guided process that allows you to remember your experience of the afterlife": a journey into the "inter-life," the state between incarnations…

Format

• The LBL process as MNI publishes it. A standalone Past Life Regression (PLR) session, about 1.5–2 hours, is a prerequisite: it is used to "confirm that the superconscious can be opened" and to acclimatise the client to deep trance; "Some preliminary sessions may be required also," and MNI reports…
• Within the session. MNI describes beginning with "complete physical relaxation" and hypnotic guidance to an altered state in which the "subconscious and the superconscious" are accessed; a past life is revisited first as a bridge, then the client is guided to the moment after death and into the…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Facilitator training and certification. Applicants need at least 200 hours of formal hypnotherapy education covering age regression, trauma release techniques and past-life regression, and must have conducted at least 40 PLR sessions; "Only qualified and experienced practitioners are accepted." Required reading is Newton's three books. Training is a 16-day event with a high trainer-to-student ratio and support from…
• The MNI Code of Ethics as published. Facilitators are to act in the client's best interest and not work when "ill, exhausted, under the influence of drugs or alcohol"; explain the experience beforehand and discuss the client's expectations, intentions and goals, including the range of physiological and emotional experiences that may occur; assess readiness through history or intake, while stating that they "cannot…
• Children, referral, boundaries and complaints as they arise, and closing (4.12–4.15).

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (one line): no controlled evidence establishes between-life memories, spirit guides or a Council of Elders; in experiments on hypnotic past-life regression the hypnotist's prior suggestions shaped the "remembered" persona, and Ian Stevenson, founder of the University of Virginia's…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• medical or psychiatric need described as a spiritual stage; reluctance to involve anyone outside the practice.
• role confusion, the client seeing you as guru or medium, subtle steering toward your own worldview, feeling hurt by the boundary (Section 5, rupture).
• delay to assessment, a child's nightmares or fears about death, a child taking on a parent's guilt or mission. Working when the child is assessed and protected from trance work.
• notes that read session content as fact, or belief as symptom. Working when another clinician could read the note and neither dismiss the client nor take the content as history.
• self-blame ("I chose it"), retaliation fears, a complaint becoming the only focus. Working when the client feels they have choices and acts, or decides not to, on their own terms.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.