Reincarnation is the ancient belief that human souls do not cease to exist when bodies die. It is the idea that, like energy, they cannot be created or destroyed, rather, they are transformed and reborn into different bodies, times and places.

Though it is not as popular in the west, reincarnation has been a core tenet of eastern religious and spiritual belief for centuries. It is believed that karma (or original sin) is the result of the energy patterns you carried into this life from your last and that the people you meet and have strange or strong reactions to are actually those you have known before, but have an unresolved history with.

Many religions over time have advocated for trying to live by an enlightened way of thinking and behaving. By following a messiah of sorts, you can ascend to a higher dimension by no longer creating low-vibration energy patterns that have to be revisited and worked through continuously.

Even people who were not raised in a religion that taught about reincarnation have had experiences in which they could recall past life events. There are entire books and fields of study that have documented thousands of adults and children who have been able to accurately remember and verify information that many believe they couldn’t have otherwise known.

So how do you know who you were in your past life? As it turns out, it might not be as hard as you think to figure it out.

What is your soul, and why does it reincarnate?

Before you understand who you were and why you came back, it’s important to understand why reincarnation happens in the first place. Your soul is, in theory, an energy field. It is immortal, like any other energy is. When a body dies, the energy that was sustaining it simply moves on. Energy naturally assimilates to a new experience or lifetime by the virtue of matching vibration. If a person had a lifetime filled with love, peacefulness and kindness, that soul’s energy field would be very high, and would reincarnate into a life that reflected it. If a soul’s life was filled with malice and suffering, it would reincarnate into difficult circumstances that could help the person come into self-awareness and ultimately, heal and choose kindness again.

How do you figure out who you were in a past life?

Though there’s no single way to be able to definitively know exactly who you were or what you did, you can use your intuition as well as other tools like regression or kinesiology to help you figure out more about who you used to be.

Why can’t I remember my past lives in the first place?

When you reincarnate into a new body and life, you get what is called a “veil.” A veil = memories from your past lives are completely wiped clean. Some argue this is why we can’t recall where we were before birth, or where we go after death. We simply come into life with a completely blank slate so we can fulfill our destinies and live out our karma. If we were aware of what happened before, we would essentially still be stuck in those lives. For optimal soul development, we have to start with a completely blank slate.

Using your intuition

Many people who can recall their past lives do so simply through an intuitive “hunch.” It’s not that they can specifically remember times, dates or events, but that they feel oddly drawn to one particular place or style. Think of it like this: someone may feel very interested and captivated by the American Civil War. They have an unusual interest in this particular point in history, in a way that they don’t get a gut feeling from the Independence War, for example. Some would argue this is because they are looking at images they are familiar with.

Past life regression

This is the most common and reliable way to work through past life memories, especially if you have a hunch that you experienced something scary or traumatic. Therapists who are trained and specialize in regression will actually work you through a guided meditation in which you will use feelings in your body to trace back through memories that you had suppressed. These individuals theorize that everyone’s past life memories are actually encoded in their energy fields, they just simply aren’t aware of it. Instead, these patterns manifest in similar issues and feelings that they experienced in the former life.

Past life regression is great for people who have an inexplicable amount of pain, resistance, fear or a particularly challenging relationship in their lives. It is also great for people who have irrational fears. Often, these things are not random at all: they are leftover energy patterns from former lifetimes, in which that person potentially had a negative experience. Going through a past life regression and simply remembering where the fear or relationship came from is great for being able to take action in your current life and heal the experience once and for all.

Kinesiology

If you aren’t able to tap into your third eye deeply enough to recall past life memories, you can also utilize something called kinesiology. A trained specialist will have you hold out your arm or hand, and to keep it still. They will then “tap” it, and see how your body reacts. The premise is this: when your body says “yes,” your muscles strengthen, and when someone taps your fingers or arm, it won’t dip down. If your body is saying “no,” it cowers back a bit, and doesn’t feel as strong. Therefore, if someone taps you, your hand will fall a bit.

It’s important to only do this with a trained professional, particularly because you need to not be super aware of what questions are coming, and they need to come quickly enough that you don’t have enough time to think of the answer you want to hear and then subconsciously force your arm to do one thing or another. Kinesiology works best if the practitioner can ask a series of questions and your body can naturally respond. Remember: your body doesn’t need to think about the answer, it already knows.

Past life regression and exploration can be very useful for people who want help working through some of their more difficult issues or patterns in their current life. While it isn’t for everyone, what matters most is that you go into it with the intention of resolving the past and moving forward, and you always engage in regression work with someone who is positive, careful, and there with your best interest in mind.