Have you ever wondered who you were in a past life?

If so, certified hypnotherapist and psychic medium Karn McKane can help guide you to those answers. McKane is a popular practitioner at New Insights Boutique at 111 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook, where people from Newtown and beyond seek her out for the specialized expertise she provides.

She says that past life regression is the process of using hypnosis to “bypass your conscious mind to access your subconscious mind where all your memories are stored.”

McKane’s journey to honing her skills in this field began in the early 2000s.

“The way I got into this was at the Connecticut Healing Institute … we were basically doing hands-on healing and one weekend they did this segue into past life regression hypnotherapy,” she said.

McKane was immediately energized by the topic and wanted to learn as much as she could about it.

She sought training from Joyce St Germain in Burlington for her certification, then studied with Dr Brian Weiss a couple times at the Omega Institute. Weiss is considered a leading authority in past life regression therapy.

“At the same time I was doing this, I got involved with a place called Forever Family Foundation on Long Island. I was volunteering with them … helping get everything put together and organized for the mediums with Dr Gary Schwartz. He was in Arizona at the time and had put out his book called The Afterlife Experiments,” McKane recalled.

She connected with Schwartz and learned more about cellular memory, specifically how the body holds onto the past. The subject intrigued her exponentially because her profession by day is a transplant coordinator.

While cellular memory can be a compelling component of past life regression, it is not the focus or necessary for a session.

Think Positive

McKane does advise that when people come to a session they should be in a positive headspace.

“First of all, I ask them not to have caffeine for about two hours prior. I tell them to wear comfortable clothing and to try to let go of expectations,” she said. “A lot of people think they are going to be Queen of the Nile or kings. We are not all that way. Most people have boring lives and find themselves in boring situations, but there is still a story to tell when we go back.”

McKane emphasized that letting go of expectations does not mean giving up control.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. We are going where the client wants to go. I just facilitate the ride. I can’t force anything or do anything that they wouldn’t do otherwise. I can’t take them to anyplace they wouldn’t want to go,” she explained.

Through the guided meditation she helps put people at ease in their “mind, body, and spirit,” then transitions them to a state of hypnosis.

“A lot of times people drop down to that state anyway because they get so relaxed. Most people think they can’t be hypnotized, especially if they have never been before. The state is kind of like a feeling of being so at ease,” McKane said.

Even in this state, people can remember what goes on in the session. To avoid people hyper-fixating on remembering details, she encourages people to record the session.

After reaching the point of hypnosis, McKane said, “I take them through a gateway to go into their past life. Once they are in there, I ask them questions — nothing leading. I want to make sure they’re doing everything themselves.”

She continued, “I’ll ask them to let their eyes travel down their body, up and down, and see what kind of clothes are you wearing. People use different senses. Most people are visual, but I have had people go through their whole past lives smelling things. It depends on what you really connect with.”

McKane notes that having an understanding of a person’s clothes, the setting, or people around them can help associate the past to a certain era.

“You see what they want and what they are looking for in that time period,” she said. “Then if you have time, you move ahead. Sometimes people stay in the same lifetime, sometimes people jump to another lifetime. It’s really neat. It’s like time traveling.”

Productive Outcomes

Generally, McKane offers the first session to be an hour and a half to give clients an explanation of what to expect. From then on, sessions are usually an hour.

“People like to come back,” she added.

McKane shared that there are many benefits that people can gain from having a past life regression session, including remedying troubled relationships.

“You could be in a neighborhood where everyone likes everyone, but there’s just the one neighbor where you both can’t get along and you don’t know why. You’re both really nice people. Then you go back in time, and you find out that you’re opposing knights of the round table. It’s weird, because one of you can go back and fix it and then suddenly the neighbor is waving at you [in the present]. It ripples forward in a way that our linear minds can’t really process,” she said.

Not only that, but McKane says participating in past life regression can heal and explain physical issues a person is dealing with; it can clear up emotional stress and trauma, such as repetitive dreams; and it can help a person understand their behavior.

“Or some people just do it for enjoyment and to discover past life talents,” she said.

McKane is offering one-on-one readings with clients at New Insights Boutique on Saturday, February 18, and Sunday, February 26, from 11 am to 4 pm on both days. She will also be leading a Past Life Regression group at the boutique on February 26, from 4 to 6 pm.

To make an appointment for her individual sessions or sign up to join her group class, stop by New Insights Boutique during business hours or call the store at 203-204-6263.

To learn more about past life regression and connect with McKane, visit karnpsychicmedium.net, e-mail kbabes61@gmail.com, or call 203-430-5811.

“People can always feel free to call me with any questions,” she said.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.