As a therapist, holding space for deep grief always reminds me that PLR is not just time travel, it’s " soul retrieval ". Every suppressed breath released by my client taught me to honour my own….
What a beautiful journey of my own release…!!
Name- Gagan ( name changed ) to respect his privacy
Age- 41 yrs and married
Location - Delhi
Profession - Senior Ops Manager( IT)
Pre-briefing went well and the client was most willing to get into the process of PLR and responded calmly and peacefully during meta questioning.
Session 1
Contract and Oath of Confidentiality was signed
Client assessment:- VAK 4/1/9, Eye Roll 3/5
Pain level 10(before)… After 00
( felt much relaxed and relieved), Hypnositability 9/10
Current life history:-
Gagan, a 41-year-old IT professional from Halwara. From the outside, Gagan appears to have it all together…a senior-level operations manager in a reputed multinational firm in Gurgaon, leading large teams, managing tight deadlines, and earning a salary that would be the envy of many. Tall, composed, and articulate, he gives the impression of someone who has mastered the art of balance.
But the truth is far more layered.
Gagan, now 41, has lived his life like a tightly sealed pressure cooker holding it all in, smiling through it, and breathing just enough to survive, never to feel fully alive.
Born into a conservative Punjabi family in Ludhiana, Gagan was the firstborn son…gentle, obedient, and painfully sensitive. As a child, he was unusually quiet, often found sitting alone, staring out at the sky with a faraway look in his eyes. His parents thought he was just “a little moody.” But even at age five, Gagan would ask questions that startled adults…
“Ma, why do I get scared when I hear loud drums?”
“Papa, why do I feel like I’m choking when I sleep?”
He suffered frequent respiratory infections and nighttime breathlessness. Paediatricians found nothing alarming
“just childhood asthma,” they said.
But his mother often said,
“ये बचपन से ही कुछ दबा के रखता है जैसे कोई पुरानी याद हो जो उसे सोने नही देती”
(He’s been holding something inside since childhood as if an old memory keeps him from sleeping.)
He is afraid of narrow spaces. Hated smoke or the smell of burnt wood. Once during Diwali, a firecracker exploded near him, and he collapsed unable to breathe. He told his father later,
“I thought I was dying. Like last time.”
That phrase stuck with his father
“last time?”
But no one explored further…
In school Gagan excelled in studies, kept a low profile, and avoided confrontations. But internally, he always struggled with persistent anxiety especially chest-related sensations. During board exams and stage appearances, he would often feel an invisible hand pressing down on his chest, making it hard to breathe or think clearly. Doctors blamed stress. His father asked him to toughen up.
Emotionally, he is a sponge…absorbing everyone’s pain but never expressing his own. He doesn’t cry easily…do not yell… does not ask for help…
He became a master at appearing “okay,” even when he isn’t.
He had recurring nightmares through his teen years somewhere dark…crowded streets…running barefoot and a choking feeling in the throat. Many times he would wake up gasping.
“I felt like I was dying…
But it isn’t me it is someone else, someone smaller, weaker, helpless.”
Still, he soldiered on.
Gagan graduated with distinction in commerce and landed a corporate job soon after. He quickly rose through the ranks in operations and compliance known for his discipline, he remain calm under pressure, and problem-solving abilities. But the higher he climbed, the more trapped he felt.
Every time he neared a major leadership promotion or visible leadership opportunity, something would collapse…his health, his confidence, or a panic attack.
“I can’t breathe,”
he would whisper before big presentations. “My chest tightens and I feel like I’ll faint. I don’t even know why. It’s not fear. It’s like… memory.”
He lost two long-term relationships to emotional withdrawal…
As per him they described him as loyal but distant…kind but closed-off… always holding something back.
“You don’t let anyone into your real pain,” one girlfriend said before leaving.
“It’s like you’re afraid love will kill you.”
At age 39, Gagan went through an emotional burnout. A toxic manager at work triggered unresolved anger.
For the first time in his life, Gagan snapped…yelled…cried and then collapsed with an intense chest spasm.
Again, no physical abnormality was found.
He took a 3-month sabbatical from work. During this time, he began questioning everything.
He tried everything…yoga, breathing techniques, counselling. They helped, but only temporarily. One day, while listening to a podcast on trauma memory, he heard a therapist mention
“past-life imprints carried in the body”.
It struck him like lightning. That night, he googled stories of people who experienced unexplainable physical symptoms rooted in past life trauma.
He resonated deeply. The phrase
“body remembers what mind forgets” stayed with him…
Through his very close buddy ( my first cousin ) he came to know about my work on emotional and karmic healing through past life regression.
After reading case after case, he wrote a hesitant email to me…
“I don’t know what I’m looking for. But I’ve felt like I’ve been suffocating my entire life. Not metaphorically but literally. I’ve never been able to breathe freely. I feel like I’ve died before, choking on something invisible. I want to know the truth, whatever it is.”
That’s what brought him to the regression room.
He wasn’t chasing mystery. He was chasing breath. Not just oxygen, but permission to live.
Why He Came for Regression
- Recurring chest tightness despite normal reports
- Inability to speak up or rise fully in career, despite being competent
- Persistent fear of abandonment and emotional exposure
- Vivid dreams of running, smoke, and suffocation
- A deep inner voice saying “Something from before is blocking you now”
- Seeking closure from patterns he couldn’t explain intellectually
Theme: The Soul That Couldn’t Breathe: A Journey Through Three Lifetimes of Chest Pain
Session 2 :
We began the session with a prayer which Gagan repeated after me to seek the blessings from my guruji
हे ईश्वर,
हे मेरे अंतरात्मा के दिव्य स्रोत, इस यात्रा में मुझे प्रकाश, संरक्षण और सच्चाई का साथ दो।
जो जाना आवश्यक है, वही प्रकट हो ,
जो छोड़ना आवश्यक है, वह प्रेमपूर्वक विलीन हो जाए। मेरे भीतर की हर पीड़ा, हर स्मृति, अब उपचार की दिशा में gently बह निकले।
मैं पूर्ण श्रद्धा से, खुले हृदय से, अपने आत्मा की स्मृतियों के द्वार खोलती हूँ।
आपका प्रकाश मेरा मार्गदर्शन करे और मेरा चित्त पूर्ण रूप से सुरक्षित, शांत और ग्रहणशील बना रहे।
ॐ शांति: शांति: शांति: ॥
Gagan lies comfortably on a recliner, hands resting , breath slow and deep.
After, Dave Elman - Progressive relaxation - Ball of light - staircase - Garden - inner child healing - integration and closure.
Session 3
T: Gagan, you said the chest pain mostly comes at night?
C: Yeah… it wakes me up. Like… someone’s pressing down on my chest. I can’t breathe for a few seconds. It’s terrifying.
T: And the doctors haven’t found anything physically wrong?
C: No. ECGs, scans… all normal. No asthma, no anxiety. They keep saying “you’re fine.” But I know I’m not…
T: Then maybe… the answer isn’t in your body… maybe your subconscious remembers something your conscious mind doesn’t…
Shall we explore that?
C (after a pause): … yes. I just want to know why this is happening.
(I dim the lights slightly… Gagan lies back. and I begin guiding him into deep relaxation.)
T : Close your eyes … take a deep breath in through your nose… and out through your mouth…
Again… in… and out…
Let your body sink into the chair.
Dave Elman - Progressive relaxation - Ball of light - staircase - affect bridge
With every count from 10 to 1, you’re going back… to the very root of this pain. 10… 9… drifting… 8… 7… deeper… 6… 5… 4… going back in time… 3… 2… and… 1…
Where are you, Gagan?
C (after a silence, voice different ):
…I…I’m… running… My feet are dusty… ground is hot… I’m barefoot.
T: How old are you?
C: 16… maybe…
T: What’s happening around you?
C (voice quickens):
I hear a lot of noise… so much of shouting… Gunshots… People are screaming… we are trying to catch a train.
T: Who’s with you?
C : …my mother… She’s gripping my wrist… tight. Her dupatta has slipped off her head.
T: hmm…take a deep breath…
Now with a count from 3 to 1… you may go to the exact moment this chest pain began.
3… 2…and 1…
C (suddenly gasps): Ahh… something sharp… a sharp object has hit me… in my chest…it’s some metal…it pains.
I think… I fall…and I… can’t breathe…
(Gagan starts trembling slightly… I gently place my hand on his forehead.)
T : …you’re safe, Gagan…you are protected…this is just a memory. You’ are watching it from a distance.… and not living it… you may if you wish to step out of the body…n float above.
(… silence…)
Tell me what you see ?
C (voice shaking): lot of people… they are stepping on me…my face is against the ground… gravel… maa… she’s still trying to hold my hand… someone pulled her away…
The train is moving… She is… she is gone.
( crying…)
Maa… maa… I’m dying…
I’m dying with my eyes open.
(I gently hold his hand and speak softly, grounding his breath…asking him to breathe deeply)
(After a pause)
T: You’re here now. That life is over. Take a deep breath…n release it.
Let that boy rest…
with a count from 5 to 1 you may if you feel, drift into the space between lives.
5…4…3…2…and 1…
What do you feel?
C (breathing slowly n tears drooling)
It is… quiet. I see golden light. There’s a man. He looks like a sadhu… white beard… kind eyes.
T: Does he speak?
C: Yes… he is saying that I am brave…he is smiling at me… I think he knows everything.
T: Do you know him?
C : No… but I’ve seen him somewhere… maybe in my dreams. He is saying that I left too early…he says my love for my mother will find her again…
T: oh…that is very nice.
How does your chest feels now?
C (after a pause): I feel warm… Open…like… the weight is gone. I can finally breathe.
T: Beautiful. That memory lived in your chest all these years… Now that it is seen, it can rest. You’ve carried enough.
Are you ready to return to the present?
C : umm…… I want to explore more the reason of pain as I feel there is some calling…
T: …calling?..what kind of calling?
C: that the reason for suffocation is…
( Silence)…
T: you are doing good…take deep breath…you are safe Gagan…
What is the calling you are talking about?
C: …there is something more to it…that love… comes back.
T: yes…it always does.
Now, take a deep breath, you’re safe…
As I count back from 5 to 1, if you may feel, allow yourself to drift… deeper… n deeper into the source of this pain that your soul still remembers…
5… 4… 3… 2… and 1…
Where are you?
what do you see?
C: … a banyan tree… a small village. It’s quiet. I am… a man…may be 30… I am wearing a white cotton kurta. And carry a jute bag of some जड़ी बूटी
.
T: …take a deep breath…you are safe… you may go closer to see…
Who are you?
C: … Raghunath…everyone calls me वैद्य जी…. I help people… with leaves, roots, oils. I learned from my grandfather. He taught me how to listen to plants.
T: you are doing so beautifully…
. Is there someone important here?
C: Yes… a little boy… Harish…he lost his parents in the plague. I look after him… teach him to grind herbs… to chant before mixing. He is like a son.
T: with a count from 3 to 1 we may move to a time something significant is about to happen in this life…
3…2…and 1…
What is happening?..
C: …Britishers came… बागियों को ढूंढ रहे है…someone knocks my door…he is wounded…he is hiding from britishers… helping him means death… I see fear in his eyes… same as Harish’s when he first came to me.
T: then what do you choose?
C: …I hide him in the store room under the hay…gave him neem decoction… heal his wound with turmeric and ghee…
Three days…it’s three days I have not told anyone.
T: And then?
C: Someone has told them…they come with rifles… dragged me out in front of the villagers… Harish is crying and clinging to my kurta.
T: where did they take you?
C (whispers): …they tied my hands… and called me a traitor…but I am not afraid. I am worried… about Harish.
They hang me from a mango tree. Not the neck… a rope under my arms, pulling up, crushing my chest. I cannot breathe… my lungs collapsed.… silence…
T : And as you leave the body… what do you feel?
C: …weightless… Painless…pain is left behind.… there is a deep sadness.
T: sadness for??
C: That truth costed me everything…
T: you may watch it from a distance…you are completely safe…
See the little boy. What happens to him?
C: Harish runs away…villagers are scared… someone unties my body… they light a small fire for me by the river…it’s not a proper cremation but… someone sang a prayer…it is comforting me.
T: …you are doing excellent …
with a count from 3 to 1 you may drift…may drift into a space between lifetimes…where your soul rests and reflects.
What do you see?
C: … a golden light…a being… no face, only energy. He feels like a teacher.
T: you may ask him… the lesson you had to learn in that life?
C: …he says every truth has a price, but… the breath… the breath is sacred…every moment is breath. I forgot that while saving others, I did not breathe fully for myself.
T: What else is he showing you?
C: Harish… I can see Harish…he is grown up and become a healer… and me… I have to return to this life to heal again. This time… I hold so much tension in my chest, fear in my lungs. Because some part of my body still remembers… the breath being taken.
T: You have remembered all now… you are safe now n that life has ended…the memory is released…
What is your soul likly to reclaim from that lifetime?
C: Uhh… purity of service…the love in healing without fear…and without dying for it.
T: and what about the breath?
C: It’s not a fragile thread anymore. It’s my anchor…my gift. I can breathe deeply now.
.
T: …you are doing beautifully…
If Raghunath could speak to you today, what would he say?
C (smiling …): … let truth bloom…do not forget to breathe… that I am not meant to die for it this time… I am meant to live through it.
T: you are doing so beautifully…
Lesson learnt about breadth…
Now with a count from 5 to 1 we may if you are willing…go deeper n deeper……n drift to an even older memory…the root…
Only if you may be willing let your breath guide you gently… you may if you wish to drift… float back… back… n back to where this heaviness in your chest may have begun.
5…4…3…2…and 1…
Where are you…?
C (in a tense voice…): (Silence… n breathing changes)
It’s hot… blazing sun…
We’re ambushed. Desert bandits are hiding near the cliffs. I lead them…
T: who do you lead?
C: …my cavalry… they are waiting.
(Sudden wince)…
something… like a spear… has gone through my ribs… right side.
(Clutches chest unconsciously)
I fall off the horse… the sand is red… with my blood. My chest… it’s locked… can’t… expand. I’m drowning… but there’s no water. Only sand…
T : You’re doing very well… what happens next?
C ( voice crackles…):
I see her… Zara. She’s beside me. kneeling… crying.
(Sobs…)
She is saying ’ Why didn’t you tell me you loved me? ’
My eyes are open… but the words… I want to say … my breath… won’t come. I die… the words are still stuck… inside me. Tears… hers… and mine. I couldn’t say I love you.
T: you may…if you want to ,let this go now…n take a deep breath… you are safe…
allow yourself to rise above… you may look from above…
what do you understand or see now?
C : I see zara…she is still holding my hand… her little hands. Even in death… she’s there. I realize now1… I loved her deeply… but I never said it… my love… died in silence. I am dying… with words trapped in my ribs…
So much unsaid… So much unsaid…uhh…
T : Who is Zara to you?
C: …my daughter…she is everything… her mother died when she was born…
I raised her. Alone.
She has fire in her eyes… she is fierce even as a child.
T: very powerful…
now with a count from 3 to 1 you may drift into a memory that holds deep meaning for you…
3… 2… and 1…
Where are you now?
C (smiling…):
It’s my home… our stone house.
She’s seven… sitting near the window. she loves drawing…she is drawing horses… She keeps asking me
“Will you come home tomorrow ?”
and I always say, Inshallah.
(Pause…)
I never said I love you… not even once…
T: why were you not able to speak…?
C: …not because I didn’t feel it. because I thought… that’s not what men say…not commanders… not warriors…
but every night… before I left… I whisper to her before leaving to forgive me if I fall…
T : You loved her deeply… but silently.
C: Yes… and that silence… it lives in my chest… I feel it even now.
T: hmm…now with a count from 3 to 1 you you may if you want drift into another important moment in that life…
3… 2…and 1…
What do you see?
C: … sun… shining bright… armor is pressing into me… sand in my mouth.
I’m on horseback… leading the Sultan’s men. I feel loyalty… but I’m tired. I don’t agree with everything… I carry many burdens.
T: what is your name?
C: … Rafi… Rafi ibn Omar.
T: where is this place?
C:… near the Green Sea… I see stone houses, minarets… it’s a very old city.
[ Google search says ’ red sea’ was referred to as ‘green sea’ in ancient Egypt.]
T: Is anyone guiding you now?
C (soft, reverent tone): Yes… a woman… in blue clothes… She is glowing. She touches my chest. and says
“Love must be spoken.”
(Silence… A deep exhale…)
She says that I will return again n again… not to fight, but to speak… to love… The wound will return, but only to remind me to breathe… and to say what matters…
T: Where are you now, Rafi?
C: In light… Floating… with peace… after lifetimes. There are beings here… guides. One of them is the woman in blue. She is showing me my soul path…
T: What is the lesson your soul is carrying?
C:… express love…n speak. I have carried this silence through lifetimes… same pain… in the chest… same tightness… But when I see now this isn’t just injury…it is all the “I love yous” I never said…
T: And in this life… who is Zara?
C: …She is my daughter… again… I think. Or maybe my younger sister now… or even my inner child. That longing… that bond… is there. So is the silence. Sometimes I struggle to say what I feel… I leave people guessing…but, I hold back the words.
T: And now?
C (tears falling, voice lighter):
Now I will choose to speak… tell the people that I love .… that I love them… say it without shame. To exhale…n finally.
(Takes a long, full breath.)
( may be this time… the breath rises not in pain… But in release.)
T : Beautiful…seems you’re reclaiming your voice… your heart.
C (smiling through tears): Yes… No more rusted heart. I have returned.… not as the warrior of silence… but as a man who dares to love aloud.
T …let yourself remain in this peaceful space… held in light… with your guides around you. You’ve seen how this silence is carried across lifetimes. And now, with your soul’s wisdom awakened… I invite you to return gently, to the present moment… To this lifetime… To the here and now. With a count from 3 to 1… you may find yourself in your current life… bringing the clarity of your soul with you.
3… 2… 1…
Where are you now?
C : … in this life… Here… in this room… but something has shifted inside…my chest… it feels lighter. Like the grip that’s always been there… has loosened.
T: What do you understand now… about this tightness in the chest that has followed you for so long?
C: It was never just physical. It was silence. Generational… may be karmic… soul-deep silence…not speaking… not saying what I felt… Even in this life I hold back. I love deeply… but I don’t say it enough. I wait… just like Rafi waited. And it hurts.
T: Who in your current life mirrors the bond you shared with Zara?
C (after a pause, voice emotional):
My daughter. She’s young… so curious, always seeking reassurance. Just like Zara. And I love her. Fiercely. But I struggle to say it. I always say “Take care,” or “Be good,” but not “I love you.” Just like Rafi… I stand at the door and leave quietly, instead of saying what’s in my heart.
T: How would it feel… to say it now?
C (deep breath, voice trembling): Freeing. I want to say it… To her… To my wife… Even to myself… I want to speak it before it turns into pain again.
T : That’s beautifu…
Your soul chose this healing. The wound returned in this lifetime not as a punishment, but as a reminder. And now, the words are no longer trapped… You can breathe… You can speak.
C : Yes… For the first time in a long time, I feel… Open. I want to go home and hold her… just hold her. And whisper, “I love you, more than words can ever say”
T: You have just changed a pattern that spanned centuries… And in doing so, you’ve given your daughter a gift your soul longed to give Zara. This is how healing ripples through time.
C (tears flowing freely now): Thank you mam… I can finally… exhale. And this time… It’s not fear. It’s love.
T : Let this breath stay with you… and when you’re ready… you can return fully to this room… Bringing back the love, the voice, and the freedom your soul came here to reclaim.
(after session, sipping warm water):
I didn’t know why my chest always tightened during conflict…?
why I feared leadership roles…?.
Now I understand. I was silenced, crushed, punished for doing what was right.
T: And now?
C: Now… I choose to lead again. But this time… with breath… with safety… with wisdom. I forgive that past and I honour it.
After experiencing the past lives something has shifted… For the first time in 41 years, he cried not out of pain, but release.
Gagan is now on a conscious healing journey…breathing slower, speaking freer, and remembering who he is, beneath lifetimes of fear.
He works , but no longer sees his job as the whole of his identity. He’s learning to set boundaries…
He’s considering training in somatic therapy…
And above all, he’s no longer afraid of what will surface when he breathes deeply…
Because now, he knows whose pain he was holding.
In our next meet after couple of days Gagan told me that he had started writing letters to people he loved, to himself, even to those he had never said goodbye to.
He has also joined a pranayama class.
For the first time in years, he could sleep without fear and waking up gasping…
Sometimes, breath is not just air. It is the soul’s permission to live.
“Gagan’s lifetimes revealed deaths involving chest wounds, hanging, and breathlessness…all mirrored in this life as tightness, pain, and emotional choking.”
This makes my belief even stronger that the body never forgets… it keeps echoing the soul’s oldest screams.
One powerful learning was witnessing how his soul repeatedly chose sacrifice and emotional repression across lifetimes to preserve duty and honour. In this life, he finally saw the cost and consciously chose freedom.
I learned that the Breath is not just Physical…It’s the Language of the Soul.
In Gagan’s case, the return of breath became symbolic of his return to self…'breath became liberation’.
Despite decades of suffering, his soul opened fully only during the session, not before. This affirms that healing can’t be forced, it blooms in divine timing when readiness meets safety.
