The Many Lives of Judie Hurtado

I met Andrea Grace at a Health and Wellness Professional Network meeting held at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club two months ago. I looked at her and thought she looked familiar. A few seconds later, she looked at me. Throughout the breakfast meeting, I kept on looking at her and wondering "How do I know her? Did we go to college together? Is she a Tuscan mom?"

After the presentation, I approached her. We introduced ourselves and laughed at the fact that we kept on sneaking glances at each other all morning. When I heard she was founder of Mindful Energy Work, specializing in past life regression, Reiki, ThetaHealing and meditation for kids and adults, I felt our meeting was meant to be since I love anything dealing with energy work.

I asked her for more details about past life Regression therapy. I had a vague idea of what the meant. She explained that she guides people while in a hypnotic state to help them access their past lives.

I knew I had to book a session.

I ran home and Googled "Past Life Regression." I found that "past life regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations, though others regard them as fantasies or delusions."

I also posted on Facebook that I had arranged a session with Grace. Within seconds, my Maplewood and South Orange friends posted many responses. They all wanted to learn more.

I am sure they also thought that I was crazy.

A week later, I met Grace at at her Berkeley Heights office. She explained that she breaks the session, which typically lasts three hours, into three parts. She begins by reviewing what questions the client is looking to have answered and reviews the process. The second part is the actual session. The third part consists of a post-session discussion where Grace reviews everything that happened in the session. The session is recorded and later mailed to you on a compact disc.

I had a list of about 20 questions. I wanted to know everything—from how many past lives I had to where my deceased mother was. I laid down on a futon with fresh sheets and a blanket. Grace then lead me to a hypnotic state. As she was doing this, I thought, "This isn't going to work. This isn't working. I am wasting all my money."

The remainder of this story is very bizarre (well, maybe this whole story is very bizarre). At this point, Grace asked me to look at my feet. In my mind's eye, I saw little feet. And they were white. If you look at my profile photo, you can see that I am dark skinned. I am definitely not white!

Grace continued to guide me by gently asking questions. What was I wearing?  Where was I? What was I doing? How old was I? I told her I was a boy with straight dirty blonde hair. I told her I was called Boy. I was living in Greece in a town that had the letters S, C and H. The year was 1763. 

Where was all this coming from? I have no idea. I was the one doing all talking but at the same time, it felt like I was watching a movie and describing the scenes. I saw different parts of my life, including the birth of my third child, a girl I said was named Charlotte. Grace asked who this child was in my current life. I immediately said Alessandra, my youngest daughter. It was clear to me that this child was her. I saw myself fighting some sort of battle, which I later said was to protect my family and my land.

I described myself dying as an old man of a heart attack. Charlotte was the one who helped prepare my body for burial. After I stopped talking about that life, Grace connected me with my higher self. This was my favorite part. Who or what exactly is the higher self?  Some believe it's your subconscious mind while others believe it's the universe or God. I felt it was my true self.  At this point Grace asked me the questions that I had asked her to ask.

The ironic thing, is that even though I was still in a hypnotic state, I began to feel annoyed at myself since I had created a list of endless questions. I answered a few of them until I said I was done and not answering any more questions.

After the session, which lasted about two hours, Grace and I reviewed what had happened. Grace helped me piece things together. I felt great but also a bit off kilter. What had happened!?!

A few days after the session, I turned to Google again to see if what came up during my session could be proven. I didn't come up with anything. When I saw Grace again for a Reiki session, I brought up my concerns. She said that it's not her intention to see if people's past lives are true or false. She said she uses this modality as a tool for healing. According to Grace, every past life that comes up holds a lesson for the person in their current life. My past life showed that I was very successful in protecting my land and my family. In my current life, I needed to hear that I am successful in my endeavors since, at times, I struggle with feeling unsuccessful. 

If you are interested in learning more about Past Life Regression Therapy, read Dr. Brian Weiss's many books on the subject. For more information on Andrea Grace, you can check out her website. 

Judie Hurtado is a Maplewood-based freelance writer and mother of two. She writes a health and fitness column for Maplewood Patch focusing on holistic healing and practices like yoga and reiki. Judie has written previously of her personal experience with Landmark therapy. Hurtado also writes Judiesjuice's blog.