You're probably familiar with the fact that events from our childhood—particularly those we don't consciously remember—can have a profound effect on how we operate in our relationships and in our world. What many people don't realize is that the events from our prior lifetimes, and we've typically had hundreds of them, are similarly affecting us.

The unfinished business carried forward from your prior lifetimes—particularly those traumas that have not been processed adequately, feelings that have not been worked through, and relationships that have not been resolved—are unconsciously carried forward in our psyche. This phenomenon occurs so we can learn from them, heal, and expand our abilities to master the human experience. This is a key part of our soul's journey.

After spending some years as a conventional psychotherapist, I found myself drawn toward past-life work as an avenue to more rapid change, as well as an opportunity to incorporate significant spiritual work into my practice. I had experienced some dramatic results from my own past-life work as far back as graduate school, when a professor performed a past-life regression that enabled an immediate resolution of a persistent physical challenge.

As I pondered how I might move into this work myself, the universe confirmed the calling. The world's two top past-life regressionists of that era showed up at a retreat center near my home, each offering a weeklong professional training. The approach resonated very strongly for me, and I found I had an innate ability to help people retrieve their own past-life memories.

Many of us have probably had the experience of a psychic or intuitive healer telling us about a past lifetime that is affecting us now, which can satisfy curiosity but usually doesn't engender significant change.

In contrast, past-life regression therapy is a profound experience in which you recall your own past-life memories while in a relaxed state. With a qualified guide, you unearth limiting patterns, learn from them, and release them so you can move forward more freely to achieve the greatest fulfillment with your current life and personality.

Many times, the release comes from simply seeing and honoring the prior personality's story—the key events, feelings, possible traumas, and significant relationships of that lifetime. At times the guide will use therapeutic imagery, rescript the outcome, use cleansing light and energy, and pull in higher spiritual guidance in order to clear the negative impact of the prior lifetime. We also identify and invite forward the skills and positive aspects of the past life.

Exploring the unfinished business carried forward from your prior lifetimes can dramatically increase your effectiveness in your current life. For example, a woman who has struggled with a very difficult relationship with her family of origin traveled to a lifetime in Victorian England where she was a male traveling salesman. He is in love with a young woman whose family has much greater wealth and social standing. They send her away and then arrange for the young man to have a fatal accident. The client actually recognizes some of these individuals as members of her current family of origin. Following this past-life recall and clearing, she suddenly moves forward in her life in wonderful new ways. She quickly finds a fabulous new apartment, decides to take a hiatus from her current, conflictual love relationship, and expresses in wonder, "Everything around me is a profound gift, no matter where I look…the session has unblocked something profound."

Here are a few signs you, too, could benefit from the practice:

• Do you have negative beliefs that are holding you back? For example, I just can't get ahead financially, or Whatever I do it's not good enough.
• Do you battle with challenging relationship dynamics—repeating patterns of conflict with family, lovers, co-workers, or friends?
• Do you suffer difficult feelings such as depression, anger, guilt, or anxiety that don't have an identifiable source in the current life?
• Are you questioning what your life purpose really is or wondering if you are on the right path?
• Would you like to know where the closeness you feel with another person stems from?
• Are you on a spiritual quest, and would you like to have a deeply felt experience of the eternal nature of your existence?
• Are you simply curious and would like to explore past lives?

If any of these speak to you, you may want to look into a personalized past-life session of your own. Although there may not be a qualified past-life therapist close to you, I have found Skype sessions work just as well as in-office sessions.

To learn more about how past lives influence the present, my new book, The Past Life Perspective, includes many fascinating client stories and a number of exercises you can do on your own.