Easing her distress through a « beyond-birth » regression under hypnosis
Detailed clinical case

Article by Jean Touati, hypnotherapist

In accordance with professional confidentiality and ethical obligations regarding patients, their first names, as well as certain biographical details, have been changed.

Abstract

In this text, I offer a detailed account of a regression session « before birth ». The patient is highly receptive and quickly enters a deep trance. Once in a hypnotic trance, she proves to be remarkably talkative, enriching her highly literary account of what she « experiences » during the session with a wealth of detail. This degree of verbal fluency is not, however, particularly common; some patients in a deep trance have difficulty expressing themselves, or may even be completely unable to speak. After going back to her birth, and then to her fetal life, she will continue beyond her conception to encounter a benevolent afterlife, which I will leave you to discover.

To fully understand this account, I invite you to read the article :Regression into a past life under hypnosis: what is the reality?. This text reflects on the influence of psychoanalysis, and in particular its concept of repression, on these regressive practices, and then examines the malleability of our memories and the value of regression into a past life.

Excerpt from the patient's discourse under hypnosis

"Yes... that's it... it isn't my mother's womb that matters... it's the womb of life that is here. I can hear it... it's there... I hear its voice... I hear its heartbeat. At the centre of this immense beating heart I see a point of light... I see the tunnel. I'm going into the tunnel... I want to. I'm going very, very fast..." (she trembles). "I feel an immense surge of love. I see an intense light. There are people looking at me... greeting me...

My God... who are they? Wait... they're speaking to me: 'Hello, Latika. Hello.' This man is incredibly tall... enormous... he must be four metres high. 'Hello, Latika... hello.'

— I don't want to go back there. There's a woman there who doesn't want me... please... I have to stay here."

"My God... the kindness and love in his eyes are unlike anything I have ever seen. He understands me. He knows everything about me. The others are standing behind him, looking at me in exactly the same way. They all understand me. They know everything I feel—even the things I am not consciously aware of. They know them before I do. I don't need to speak. They already know everything."

Latika is 43 years old and originally from northern India. She speaks in a very gentle voice. She tells me that her family was brought to Mauritius by colonists 200 years ago, and that she herself lived there until she was six.

She tells me that she has come to see me because she has read many books and watched many programmes about spirituality, and remains convinced that her difficulties with her family and her “future ex-husband” are due to something that may have happened in a previous life.

She tells me her story: « Things are terrible with my two brothers. They stopped speaking to me when I was very young. My father apologized, he sacrificed me in order to keep the peace with my mother. My mother is a very authoritarian matriarch. My brothers despised me; I was the slightly stupid little sister who didn't have her head screwed on. Unconsciously, I conformed to this role. I did raise my daughter, after all! Whenever I go back to the family, I slip back into my role as the very stupid, ignorant and immature little sister. I have a certain physique and voice...; whenever I say that I'm 43 and that I have a 19-year-old daughter, people are always surprised. Even when I'm alone at home, I feel as though they are there, approving or disapproving of me. I always feel guilty whenever I do something, such as coming to see you today, for example. All along the way here, they were there with me, looking at me with disapproving eyes. »

— Let's tell them to leave us alone, so that it's just the two of us, I say to her lightly, using humour to help her gain a certain distance.

— My husband was like a child, pathologically jealous. He would have fits of rage and hit me. I am a former battered wife. He doesn't beat me anymore because I used to call the police. I became a cleaner. People look down on you terribly when you say you're a cleaner; especially the people who came to see my employers. I got married and soon had my daughter.

I am now a home care assistant for elderly and disabled people.

— What makes you think that your problems stem from previous lives?

— My mother had an unattractive appearance, she was strong, and she was the one who did all the chores around the house. She got married to escape all that. But my father was terrible to her. I consulted a clairvoyant who told me that my mother had a lover who loved her just to fuck her, whereas she truly loved him. My mother became pregnant with me and he left her. My mother always resented me for it. An anecdote came back to me last week: when I was little, I didn't like dolls and I couldn't understand why. I hated dolls! Suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, I remembered why I didn't like dolls. We were in Mauritius, and I loved my doll very, very much. I was cuddling my doll when my mother walked down the hallway and spitefully threw a pair of panties at my head. She laughed and made fun of me. I was only three years old. I was in so much pain, I felt so ashamed, and I was never able to cuddle a doll again.

At the maternity hospital, I couldn't kiss my daughter.

My mother was terrible to me, always making hurtful remarks. According to the clairvoyant, I was already in conflict with them in a previous life.

My brothers haven't spoken to me since I was seven. When I was little, my brothers used to beat me badly. This clairvoyant told me that my older brother was in love with me, that he wanted to have sex with me. Once, I caught him taking a photograph of me while I was partly undressed. My brother would blush whenever I came near him to kiss him on the cheek. »

.../...

« What would you like to see change in your life today?

— I would like to stop feeling them beside me with every step I take. I would like to stop being seen as the stupid, immature little sister. I'd like to ask you something: "When you see me like this, how do you perceive me: as a woman my age or as a child-woman? Be honest." »

.../...

I explain to her what hypnosis is and how the hypnotic state is used in therapy. I then guide her into a hypnotic trance by having her fix her gaze on an object.

« Would it bother you to turn off the light? » she asks me.

Once she is in a hypnotic trance, I invite her to recall a pleasant memory. After a few moments, she lets out sighs of pleasure and spontaneously tells me:

« I'm in the water, at the bottom of the ocean. I'm wearing a wispy white dress, my hair is much lighter. I can hear the inner sound of the ocean, the seabed, that deep muffled sound. I see corals of every colour. Suddenly, I lie down on the sand. I'm drawn to a conch shell. I can touch it. The inside is black, a mouth with something like a tongue.

— How do you feel, Latika?

— It's very pleasant. There's sunlight on my left.

I guide her to experience this feeling of well-being through all her senses, then I tell her to hold on to this pleasant moment in her left hand as a symbol. I then induce a levitation of the hand (the hand rises without the person feeling that they are consciously raising it) to make sure she has entered a hypnotic trance and to deepen the level of trance. After a metaphorical story evoking the possibility of change and each person's responsibility for deciding to make that change and bringing it about, I ask her to relive a situation in which she feels like a little girl when she is with her family. I anchor this feeling by gently holding her right wrist. I then guide her to go back through the course of her life and allow certain moments from her life to return « without knowing how or why », which she will indicate by moving a finger of her right hand.

Quickly, taking on the voice and, above all, the intonation of a little girl, Latika tells me:

« A scene comes back, always the same: I'm little, I'm playing hide-and-seek with my brothers. I'm six years old. They're kind to me, they're playing, I hide in the hallway, we're laughing.

— Are you happy? Can you see what's around you?

— I can see very clearly. I can see everything.

— Do you play for a long time?

— We played almost all day. »

I suggest that she keep a photograph of this moment. She chooses to make a large black-and-white photograph, then changes her mind: « No, not black and white, in colour. There weren't many colours. » I tell her that we can change the colours, and she happily plays along: « Pale green, beautiful tiling, beautiful furniture, a very refined, beautiful, comfortable setting without being ostentatious. I liked this elegance, I liked this cleanliness that I had never known. » Then, with an expression of disgust, she returns to what her reality had been: « My mother and my brothers were dirty. They only washed once a week. They didn't wash their hands after going to the toilet. » Then she adds: « We can look at it, yes, but that's not reality. » I tell her: « That's what it should be. We can invent. »

In the article Life Story Remodeling — LSR —, I explain that although I may offer very general suggestions about what the patient can change, it is always, as we can see here, the patient who accepts, refuses or suggests something else. Even while under hypnosis, the patient knows perfectly well that they are imagining these other possibilities and that the purpose is to soothe or dissociate the emotional imprint of a memory.

Latika continues.

« All right, the kitchen is very beautiful, my brothers are very clean.

— Let's put everything that is dirty into a photograph that will move away.

— Yes, but it's not easy. My parents used to tell me that I'd end up in my own filth, so I can't put that into a little photograph that moves away. It's not normal. Why am I in this family that doesn't fit me?! she exclaims. »

I suggest that the grown-up Latika go and see the little girl and find the words to help her.

« But the grown-up one isn't much stronger.

My mother makes me understand that I'm not welcome, but I don't yet know why.

— The two of us are going to go and see little Latika. What could we say to her to help her? There must be things about life that we can explain to her.

— No, but I was an unwanted pregnancy to my mother.

— Does little Latika know that?

— Little Latika doesn't know it yet, but she feels it. You were an unwanted pregnancy to your mother, do you hear me? Your eyes open wide in astonishment; you don't understand why. You are pretty, you are kind, you haven't hurt anyone. Oh! How could you possibly be unwanted, and yet you are, my child? (she cries) Oh, my God! I take you in my arms, I hold you close, I wish I could take you away from here...

I comfort her with soothing and reassuring words... She strokes my knee, stroking, in her mind, the little girl's head. She cries.

« She is trembling, she is unhappy, she is afraid of the life that awaits her, » she continues.

— We are going to reassure the little girl, tell her that there are things she will be able to do or become. Sometimes we find ourselves in families where parents don't know what words to say to a child, where they have never learned how. Perhaps she will see her mother differently.

— Yes, my mother was a fragile teenager who found herself with three children to care for when she was only 19. Like the little girl today, I feel sorry for her. Sometimes I feel stronger than she is. I want to reassure her and take her in my arms, and tell her: "My poor girl, you were unlucky."

Her mother makes her suffer despite herself. She makes her daughter suffer. She is trembling and unhappy, she is afraid of the life that awaits her. There is so much suffering; she is still so very young.

Her father gives her love. She can feel it. Despite all the hurtful things, she can remember the kindness in her father's eyes.

— Let's make that father's kind gaze grow stronger. How can we make that benevolent gaze greater, stronger?

.../...

I suggest that she go back very far: « Sometimes we can go all the way back to birth, and sometimes even further. » Considering what she is asking for, I think she can give it meaning and thus engage in a kind of « healing » process.

« I can feel the heartbeat.

I can feel a great deal of anxiety coming from my mother. The little girl already knows that she is unwanted; she is unhappy. Afterwards she forgot, but now she knows it.

— What could we say to the one who is in the womb and is beginning to feel things? Sometimes, Latika, we find the words ourselves. We could put a hand on the belly...

— Yes, I'm looking at my hands and I'm telling myself that what she feels isn't me, because I am in the process of bringing about the miracle of life. And that was what had to happen. My mother is moving towards separation, towards death, and I am watching the miracle of life unfold because I can see the translucent fingers separating. Whatever she may think, I have to live my own life.

— The baby is stronger because it has the message of life within it, I tell her firmly.

— That's it, that's it: I have the message of life within me! She wants me to die, she wants to have an abortion, she wants to get rid of me! (She cries.) That's it, I have this, I have the message of life within me. She wants me to die, she didn't dare get rid of me, why? She didn't have the courage. Perhaps she sensed that my will to live was stronger.

I want to feel this presence of life again. I see cords, connections coming out of me, like membranes extending from my body, and they are connected to something over there, like an immense beating heart, a pulsation.

— She is in the womb of life even though her mother has a dark thought.

— Yes, that's it. It's not my mother's womb that matters, it's the womb of life that is here. I can hear it, it's there. I hear its voice, I hear its heartbeat. At the centre of this immense beating heart I see a point of light, I see the tunnel. I'm going into the tunnel, I want to. I'm going very, very fast (she trembles). I feel an immense surge of love, I see an intense light, there are people looking at me, greeting me... My God! Who are they? Wait, they're speaking to me: "Hello, Latika, hello." This man is very, very tall, he's enormous, he's four metres tall.

"Hello, Latika, hello.

— I don't want to go back there. There's a woman there who doesn't want me. Please, I have to stay here."

Oh, my God! The kindness and love in his eyes are unlike anything I have ever seen. He understands me. He knows everything about me. The others are standing behind him, looking at me in exactly the same way. They all understand me. They know everything I feel, even the things I am not consciously aware of. They know them before I do.

I don't need to speak. They already know everything.

— They know how to give her what she needs.

— They give me courage, strength, the energy I need to fight. They tell me: "Latika, we know that you have enough strength within you." But I still want to stay here.

— Yes, but we can't stay there. She has to go back through the tunnel because life is stronger. They have to tell her that. They have to tell her: "You're going to go back, and you're going to live your life. You'll see."

— With a promise to come back?

— Well, yes. In the end, we come back. She knows that, but she has to live her whole life.

— They tell me that I am an intelligent woman, that I have so many qualities, that I am strong and mature. They tell me: "Don't listen to what other people tell you, because we know what you're worth, and that's something you mustn't forget. Don't forget that when you go back there."

— Latika will remember... »

She suddenly interrupts me. I am pleasantly surprised.

« Wait, don't say anything. Let me hear, let me absorb their words, let me hear what they're telling me.

They're stroking my hair. »

She strokes my knee, mimicking the way one would stroke a child's head. She opens her eyes wide, still in a trance, without seeing me, and launches into a long « dialogue » with this gratifying « afterlife »: « "Latika, look at your hair, how long it is, how beautiful and silky it is. Someone with such beautiful hair, with such a beautiful face filled with purity, cannot be what they say she is, surely.

There is light deep in your eyes, there is our strength deep in your eyes, we put it there in you. You can see it by looking deep into your eyes: there is this intense light. You see, it's there. There it is. Can you see it now?

— Yes, I can see it. I can see it deep in my eyes. I see this white light of strength and radiance, and silver at the same time. It's there, it's inside me.

— Yes, it is within you. You are going to go back there with an awareness of everything you possess. There it is, you keep it within you like a diamond eternally embedded within you, which you cannot lose because it is an intimate part of you, because this light deep within you is us. It is us who are within you and you who are within us. We are united and indivisible. You are part of us, you are our body and our flesh. Beyond this separation brought about by birth, we continue to be within you; we are always one and the same body. But how could you have forgotten, Latika, that we have never left you, since we have never been separated? It's as if we wanted to separate a piece of bread, but that piece of bread cannot be cut. That's what you are: you are a piece of us, and everything that you are, we are as well. That's why you mustn't be afraid. You are never alone; you have nothing to fear. But don't forget one thing: every human being, like you, is indivisible from us. That's what they don't know. But for now, put them aside; that's another story. What matters is what you feel now, what matters is that you must know, you must feel. All this strength, all this innate wisdom, all this maturity that you were never credited with is within you. It was within you; it has never left you. It was within you before your birth, so why would it no longer be there today? It has always been there because you are part of this light. Now that you know all these things, you are going to return to the tunnel." »

What more can I add? Will she let me speak? I resume our exchange.

« Yes, she knows all that now.

— She had forgotten.

— She is going to remember and continue on her way now. The light is going to appear different to her, and a new life becomes possible.

— But it's not at all the same journey. I feel at peace, it's different, I feel good. The light is much brighter, covered all over with diamonds. Oh, yes! Deep in my eyes, deep in my eyes, there is an immense knowledge.

And you know, you know what? The people I saw over there, even through the tunnel, I can still see them. That's it, I'm back in my mother's womb.

I'm there, inside her. There she is, the poor woman, the poor little girl, I should say.

You're nothing but a lost and frightened little girl who is afraid, who is cold, who is in so much pain, who wants to cry. She feels so alone. She is the little girl now, the seven-year-old girl who needs comforting.

I want to think about myself. I'm tired of thinking about my poor little mother. I need to think only about myself. I'm tired of thinking about other people's unhappiness. I want to think about rebuilding myself.

I want to focus on my own suffering and I want to think about myself.

But I feel guilty towards this poor woman. In fact, the truth is that I feel guilty about this little girl, my mother, for having hurt her by being born.

— She doesn't need to feel guilty about life. Latika has seen that it is they who give life.

— That's true. It's not this woman who decides, it's not even me! Life is stronger than everything. That's why we return to Earth, and after death we return to magnificent places that we call paradise. We come back to improve ourselves further. Hell is nothing more than the mirror of our own guilt. Life is stronger than everything. »

.../...

The next patient has had to cancel, so I extend this session, which will last three hours in total. As she comes out of the trance, Latika tells me with a nostalgic sigh: « I would have preferred to stay there longer. » She continues talking at length, commenting on the scenes she has seen. To reinforce her confidence, I tell her that she has a particular talent, that it is rare for patients to spontaneously see so many things. She tells me that she had surgery on her nose and that she can breathe better physically, but that she now also breathes better emotionally. She adds:

« I asked you how you perceived me. I understand that what matters most is the way I now see myself. I feel as though a single session has been enough. I really went far, I found the answers that were there deep within me, but I needed someone to guide me. »

Télécharger le texte en pdfApaiser son mal-être grâce à une régression « par-delà la naissance » sous hypnose

Therapeutic hypnosis in Paris 1st arrondissement can help ease feelings of distress, a lack of self-confidence, or a fragile sense of self-esteem. In some cases, regressive exploration in a hypnotic state can provide access to deep, symbolic inner experiences that give new meaning to certain emotional experiences and open the possibility of lasting relief. I accompany you at Cabinet Orgadia hypnotherapy in Paris, in the 1st arrondissement, in the Rivoli – Châtelet – Les Halles area, and by video consultation, helping you develop a more confident relationship with yourself and your personal history.

Several of the articles below examine, from a clinical perspective, topics closely related to those discussed in this paper, including autobiographical memory, hypnosis, age regression, suggestibility, and therapeutic change.

Past-Life Regression Under Hypnosis: What Is the Reality?

Can hypnosis really uncover memories from a previous life? This article examines one of the most controversial applications of hypnosis. Beginning with the detailed account of a past-life regression session, it explores the historical influence of psychoanalysis—particularly the concept of repression—on regression techniques, before reviewing what contemporary research tells us about autobiographical memory, suggestibility, and imagination. Rather than attempting to verify extraordinary claims, the article argues that the therapeutic value of such experiences lies in the meaning they acquire for the individual, not in their historical authenticity.

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Building Self-Confidence Through Hypnotic Regression Beyond Birth

This article presents the detailed narrative of a therapeutic session in which a patient experiences a symbolic journey extending from childhood to birth, fetal life, and ultimately to an imagined existence beyond conception. The account is preceded by a discussion of the origins of regression techniques, the influence of psychoanalytic thinking, and the reconstructive nature of autobiographical memory. The emphasis is not on establishing historical truth but on understanding how imagination may contribute to psychological change.

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The Return of Hypnosis After a Long Silence

This introductory article traces the revival of therapeutic hypnosis in France and presents the principles of the therapeutic approach known as Life History Rescripting (RHV). It explains how hypnotic age regression can be integrated into psychotherapy while illustrating the method with several clinical examples.

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Age Regression Under Hypnosis: A Clinical Case of Social Anxiety

This case study follows the first therapeutic session of a forty-two-year-old woman suffering from severe social anxiety. It provides a detailed account of hypnotic age regression and illustrates how emotionally significant autobiographical memories may be revisited within a therapeutic framework.

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Psychoanalysis and Hypnosis: A Forgotten Relationship?

Why did Freud abandon hypnosis? This article revisits the origins of psychoanalysis, the reasons behind Freud's rejection of hypnosis, and the later contributions of Sándor Ferenczi, whose clinical innovations anticipated several principles of contemporary hypnotherapy.

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What Makes Ericksonian Hypnosis Unique?

Drawing on the work of several authors, this article examines the distinctive characteristics of Ericksonian hypnosis and the principles that differentiate it from more directive forms of hypnotic practice.

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Life History Rescripting (RHV): Understanding the Therapeutic Process

This article explains in detail the therapeutic protocol known as Life History Rescripting (RHV), describing its objectives, stages, and clinical rationale. Particular attention is given to the role of hypnotic age regression in facilitating emotional change.

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Speaking to the Patient During Hypnotic Age Regression

This companion article examines the therapist's language during hypnotic age regression. It discusses how different ways of addressing both the adult patient and the child they once were may influence the therapeutic process and contribute to emotional integration.

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