Michael Newton's research changed the landscape of regression therapy. When his first book, Journey of Souls, was published in 1994, it gave a name to something that a small number of therapists had been encountering in sessions for years: clients who, under deep hypnosis, described experiences that did not belong to any earthly lifetime. They spoke of a space between incarnations — a place of review, reunion, and preparation. Newton documented these accounts with the rigour of a researcher and the patience of a clinician, and the consistency of what his clients reported was striking. The same structures, the same stages, appearing again and again across thousands of sessions with people who had no knowledge of one another's experiences.

What the "space between" refers to

Life Between Lives — LBL — is the term used for the state of existence that clients describe experiencing between one incarnation and the next. It is not a place in the geographical sense. Clients describe it more as a state of being: expansive, luminous, profoundly calm. The details vary from person to person, but the broad architecture is remarkably consistent. There is a departure from the body at the end of a previous life. There is a transition — often described as movement through light, or a sense of rising. And then there is arrival in a space that feels, to the person experiencing it, like home.

What happens in that space is where the work becomes genuinely extraordinary. Clients report meeting beings they recognise as guides — presences that feel familiar, wise, and deeply compassionate. They describe encounters with what Newton called "soul groups": clusters of souls who incarnate together across lifetimes, appearing in different roles and relationships but maintaining a continuity of connection that the conscious mind does not remember. And many clients describe a life review — a panoramic assessment of the lifetime just completed, observed without judgement but with complete clarity.

How LBL differs from past life regression

Past life regression and Life Between Lives work are related but distinct. A past life regression takes you into a specific incarnation — you experience scenes, relationships, events from a particular lifetime, and the insights emerge from that material. It is powerful work, and it can be profoundly clarifying. But it operates within the frame of a single life story.

The moment when the frame widens and the individual story is held within something much larger.

LBL goes further. It moves through a past life and then beyond it — into the interlife space where the soul exists outside of any particular incarnation. The perspective shifts. You are no longer looking at your experience from within a life; you are looking at it from a vantage point that encompasses multiple lives, patterns that recur across centuries, and a sense of purpose that extends well beyond any single storyline. Clients frequently describe this as the most significant shift of the session: the moment when the frame widens and the individual story is held within something much larger.

Common experiences during an LBL session

No two sessions are identical, but certain elements appear with remarkable frequency. Meeting a guide is one of the most common — and often one of the most emotionally affecting. Clients describe a presence that knows them completely, without judgement, and that communicates not through words but through a kind of direct understanding. The encounter is often accompanied by a wave of emotion that clients struggle to articulate: love, recognition, relief, a sense of being truly known.

Soul group encounters carry a different quality. Clients recognise the energy of people from their current life — a spouse, a parent, a close friend — and understand the relationship from a different angle. The roles shift: someone who is your child in this life may have been your teacher in another. These recognitions can be startling and deeply moving, and they often reframe current relationships in ways that bring both understanding and compassion.

The life review, when it occurs, is not a judgement. It is more like watching your own life from a position of complete honesty and kindness simultaneously. Clients describe seeing where they acted from fear, where they chose courage, and what they were trying to learn. The tone is never punitive — it is educational, in the deepest sense of that word.

Why this work requires more preparation

An LBL session is not something I recommend for a first visit. The depth of trance required is considerable — this is not light relaxation but a profoundly deep hypnotic state, and reaching it reliably takes practice and trust. Most clients benefit from at least one past life regression session before attempting LBL work. The earlier session serves multiple purposes: it familiarises you with the process, it establishes the working relationship between us, and it builds the neural and psychological pathways that allow you to access deeper states more readily.

The sessions themselves are longer, too. An LBL journey typically runs three to four hours, sometimes more. It is not the kind of work you squeeze between meetings. Clients who travel to Puerto Escondido for LBL work often plan several days around the session, allowing time for rest, reflection, and the slow process of integration that this material genuinely requires.

Integration afterwards

What surfaces during an LBL session does not always make sense immediately. Some clients leave with a clear, coherent understanding of what they experienced. Others carry fragments — images, feelings, a name, a sense of purpose that has not yet found words. Both responses are normal, and both deepen over time.

I encourage clients to be gentle with themselves in the days following a session. The material continues to work beneath the surface, often revealing its significance gradually — in dreams, in moments of quiet recognition, in a shift of feeling toward a relationship or a life situation that had previously felt stuck. The experience does not end when you open your eyes. In many ways, that is when it begins.

Newton opened a door. Those of us who trained in his methodology continue to walk through it, session by session, client by client. And the territory on the other side remains, after all these years, quietly astonishing.