Name: Vicky
Age: 50 Years
Gender: Female, Nationality: Romanian
Hypnotizability Score: 9/10
Eye Roll Score: 2
VAK: 7/5/2
Dominant sense: Visual
Second Dominant Sense: Audio
Pain Level Before: 0, Client reports curiosity and mystery than pain on the presenting issue
Pain Level After: 0
Session 1 (PLR Stages 1-6)
Oct 10, 2025: 10 am to 1 p.m.
Client History:
- Vicky is a 50-year-old Romanian National and lives in Bucharest. She was born into a traditional Catholic family brought up by two working parents in the communist era of Romania. During those time, religious activities were prohibited and were largely practiced by families privately. Her parents were not religious and did not follow any spiritual practice either. Her extended family did not practice Catholic faith either.
- Vicky grew up feeling emotionally deprived as both her parents were emotionally absent during her formative years. She has an older brother who provided emotionality, love and safety in her growing up years, something that normally comes from one’s parents.
- From early childhood, Vicky developed an inner calling for something deeper than the middle-class material life she was living in Bucharest. As a teenager she reports getting drawn towards the Catholic Church and would go there frequently with her maternal aunt by the same name. She liked the Church’s environment and found solace, peace and solitude while praying there. As years went by, she yearned for something even deeper and something that would awaken her inner self and bring her closer to her true nature.
- By a stroke of luck and coincidence she attended a Vedanta Philosophy class conducted by an Indian teacher in Bucharest. The session left a deep mark on her psyche and kindled her quest to know more. She joined a Yoga & Meditation class and started reading more about Advaita Vedanta and other Indian Philosophical Schools. Vicky felt deeply drawn and by each passing year she felt something strange happening to her as she dived deeper and deeper into Indian spirituality. She felt a strange spiritual current run through her body and the meditation sessions brough flashes of a world she was very familiar with but had never visited in her life.
- By another stroke of luck, she watched a documentary on folk dance of Rajasthan. As she watched, unexplained tears rolled down her cheeks, and she felt deeply drawn to everything she saw as if it was her own. She felt belonged, safe and one among the dancers on the screen.
- By now Vicky was convinced she had to visit India to know more and learn more. Her conservative family was aghast at her newfound passion and were worried where this would lead to. She went on her maiden India trip to Chennai and learnt Yoga from a renowned Yoga Master, a disciple of Swami Dayanand Saraswati. This was a turning point in her life. She abandoned her studies, dabbled for a few years into the world of advertising in Germany, only to return to the world of Yoga and Meditation. She got divorced and decided to focus on what was her true inner calling. At this point she decided to become a full time Yoga teacher in Bucharest. This was easier than done as it brought financial challenges as finding students who wanted to practice a purist form of Yoga in Bucharest was not easy. Her spiritual leaning and perseverance kept the practice afloat. Her parents worried about her wellbeing and future and would often advise her to come back to the mainstream life of Romania. While all this unfolded, Vicky could never forget her strange attachment with the images from Rajasthan and the surge of emotions it brought. Every now and then when she would think about it, she felt an urge to visit Rajasthan and explore the life of its people. She felt a connection with this land.
Session2:
Oct 10, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Theme Finalized: What is my connection with Rajasthan and India?
- I began the session with 425 Hz Maha Mrityunjay Mantra to let the cognitive fatigue of the previous session go away completely. Vicky was slowly settling down into her session and beginning to feel relaxed in her recliner. I followed it up with a few rounds of Kapalbhati and Anuloma Viloma and encouraged her to practice abdominal breathing.
- Vicky and I discussed the final theme to understand what had brought her to me. She reported that she was not feeling distressed or dysfunctional but wanted to understand what this connection with Indian spirituality was and why was she drawn to Rajasthan so much. She felt out of place with her life in Romania and would constantly think of living in India. She dreamt of settling down in India when she retired.
- As she settled into a relaxed mode in the recliner and I checked all the hygiene factors with her, she felt ready to begin the session.
- Post a short prayer, I administered Dave Elman’s induction followed by progressive relaxation and ball of fire visualization. Vicky quickly went into deep trance and given her hypnotizability score and motivation to discover her inner self, this was not a surprise. Then I guided Vicky down the staircase to the Safe Garden where she responded well to the sight of flowers, water streams, birds and went further into deep relaxation. Vicky was now in deep trance, and her body had nicely slumped into a relaxed posture,
- Happy Childhood Memories: Vicky reported growing up in a middle-class family in Bucharest. Her parents provided everything that any middle-class family could afford, education, food, toys and comfortable housing. Her parents were perpetually hosting parties at home where families would bring children along to their home. Her mother was an amazing cook, and they would relish the dishes she would make and as well as the amazing desserts. She particularly liked the cakes and pastries her mother made during her growing up years. Her father would bring the best of grocery and meat in a country where things were often rationed and in scarcity sometimes.
- Vicky reported feeling adequately taken care of all her material needs and while she craved for emotional indulgence, she described her childhood as safe, playful and well provided for, she was given what was necessary and often more than that.
- After an extended session of regression to her childhood, I progressed her back slowly to the conscious experience of the Safe Garden and the slowly up the stairs. She came back to conscious self smiling and reminiscing about her pleasant childhood memories. She left for home and planned to have a light meal and retire early to bed.
Session 3
Oct 11, 2025 10 a.m. to 1 .30 p.m.
- Vicky reported feeling calm and relaxed and had a relaxed sleep. Without further ado I started her into Dave Elman’s induction, progressive relaxation and visualization experience of the Ball of Fire, She was remarkably quick to slide into deep trance and her body started to loosen and slumped nicely into a deep relaxed state. She responded well with her index finger to the questions I was asking to test if she could listen to me clearly. She was now ready for PLRT to begin.
- Vicky regressed first to the time when she was first exposed to Vedanta, Yoga and videos of Rajasthan. She vividly remembers experiencing waves of joy and pain of separation of what she felt was her true homeland. Post visiting Chennai and many other parts of India, she became convinced that this was indeed her true identity. When she visited Rajasthan for the first time, she felt an irresistible pull towards its colors, costumes, dance and food. Rajasthani culture, mannerism, clothes, smell and the way of life enchanted her beyond her imagination. She felt an intimate bond with the culture as if she was from here and this place felt so familiar and complete.
- Unlike other PLRTs I did, this was not a case of pain and angst but one of love, identity, belonging and a passionate longing to rejoin her true culture. And as well as the mystery surrounding why it was that way. I brought Vicky back to the Safe Garden to recharge and recoup.
- I took Vicky to her diety Mahalaxmi’s temple and it immediately brought relaxation, joy and peace to her. She had a beautiful smile on her face. As she prayed and immersed into the holy environment, I guided her to one of the many doors inside the temple and asked her to open one of her choice to begin her journey into her previous life.
Script of Vicky’s PLRT:
Therapist: T Vicky: V
T: What do you see or feel
V: I can see a familiar cottage
T: Is it your home
V: Yes
T: Tell me more
V: I am Laxmi, married with two daughters. My husband is a priest
T: Where are you
V: It is a small village in Churu in Rajasthan
T: Are you happy
V: Yes, I am very contended with my life as we have a pious and loving environment at home. My husband is a kind person, very knowledgeable and spiritual. Post marriage, I learnt Vedanta, Yoga, Bhagvad Gita and Meditation from him and we are so happy that our two daughters have also taken to this spirituality whole heartedly.
T: What about your parents and in-laws
V: Our respective parents are very spiritual too and follow a simple and honest life. We are fortunate we received their love and spiritual wisdom, and our daughters benefitted from their benign nature.
T: What do you wish in life?
V: I am so fortunate to be born in this land and spiritual home. Me and my husband wish to go on Vanaprastha once our worldly duties are accomplished after our daughter’s marriages. Our spiritual Guru lives in Rishikesh, and we intend to go and stay in his ashram and do seva, lifelong sadhana and self-discovery. In some ways our daily sadhana now feels like a preparation for the wonderful stage of our life next. I am very hopeful, excited and grateful for what lies ahead. Many times, me and my husband discuss how we both are prepared for the next phase of our life and fortunately our families are fully supportive of the same. Once we go Rishikesh, both our parents would like to spend the last years of their life with us, This gives us immense joy as we will be able to look after our aging parents in their most vulnerable last stage of their lives,
T: Could you share more about your spiritual practice
V: We both wake up at 3.45 am and do intense sadhana for 2 hours. Then we pray and chant together before eating our morning meal and starting the day. We do short sadhana at 12 pm, 6 pm and finally at 9 pm before sleeping. We observe fasts on Ekadashi and Navratras. We are both fond of travelling to religious places and have been to the four Dhams with our parents and daughters. My husband does religious Vedic rites at home and whenever he is invited for Homas and Havans. I am fond of gardening and tend to my vegetable and fruit garden along with looking after the two cows and a calf we have at home.
T: Is there a lesson you have learnt in this life
V: Of all the nectars of grihastha ashram that I have tasted, sadhana supersedes all of them by a mile. This has been my biggest and joyous learning. I am grateful for tasting this nectar and am deeply drawn to its depths and what lies ahead. My only purpose in life is to accompany my husband to find our true respective nature, Our true selves, I also know that eventually I am on my own and not glued to my husband also, And that does not scare me anymore as Advaita Vedanta knowledge has shown me the true path, one of becoming one with the One. And I find so much solace with the internalization of this ultimate reality of my life.
I progressed Vicky to her old age to see how her life had unfolded. I asked her what she could see and feel at her death bed.
V: I had a strange feeling that my end was coming near. While I was healthy and doing all my chores efficiently, I told my husband of more than 50 years that it was time for me to say goodbye to him. I have been very grateful of a fulfilling life with him, My end came quickly and peacefully with all my family and relatives bidding me an emotional goodbye.
T: What did you see or feel when you left your body?
V: I felt light and satisfied as I ascended from my body to the skies. I moved at a great speed to a very bright light, As I went closer to it to I was overjoyed with gratitude to see Goddess Mahalaxmi in her full glory. She was smiling and I bowed and prayed to her.
T: Did you ask Goddess Mahalaxmi anything?
V: I asked for forgiveness for any lapses at my end and for her command on what she would like me to do next. She smiled and asked me if I would like to come back to the Earth and spread the spiritual wisdom of what I had learnt in this life so I could alleviate the pain of others, I readily agreed to her command and wish and slowly the bright light faded away as I stood there in complete awe, prayers and gratitude.
T: Do you wish to go to another life, or you feel your queries have been answered.
V: I feel satisfied with what I discovered and would now like to go back.
I took Vicky back to the Safe Garden to rest and recoup. I reinforced the amazing discovery of her cultural roots in Rajasthan in a priest family and her deep spiritual and pious nature. She had a gentle smile on her face and gratitude in her voice, She felt her biggest dilemma of life had been resolved and she clearly knew her path ahead. Any doubt whatsoever she had about her true purpose of this life had been answered and she was looking forward to doing seva and spread the spiritual message far and wide to reach as many people as she could in this lifetime. That was her only true purpose now, And since it came directly from her deity Goddess Mahalaxmi, she felt grateful and fortunate to be on this path in the lifetime. She felt empowered to carry on and connect deeply with her true cultural roots, identity and home. Rajasthan and this spiritual path truly felt like her home.
Integration: I brought Vicky back to the conscious self through the staircase and asked her how she felt. She reported she felt complete and satisfied with her life purpose and direction in life. With this realization the PLRT was drawn to a close and she went back.
Summary and Therapeutic interpretation:
This was a unique case for me as the client was not in a pain mode but in a curiosity and discovery mode. Though there was some angst of finding out where her real roots were, but her life was not dysfunctional, In life an 'Identity Crisis" can often become dysfunctional and take on a pathological route. Fortunately for Vicky, it was a dilemma and not a crisis. Its pull was spiritual, cultural and rooted in her past life’s unfinished ask from the Goddess. Vicky’s integration and finding resolution within herself as to who she really was and what was her true purpose in life, felt very liberating to her, This integration between internal emotional, intuitive and cognitive processes and external actions was a great outcome for Vicky as it has the potential to significantly improve her overall satisfaction from her life leading to holistic wellbeing and peace of mind. As a therapist I felt privileged to witness this process of self-discovery of someone living thousands of miles away from India and yet so intimately connected with its spiritual and cultural ethos.