There are so many fascinating stories about children who remember past lives and who often begin speaking about them as soon as they are able to talk. I will write about some of the best documented cases in future issues, but for the first issue about children, I want to begin with Carol Bowman's journey.

Carol is a mother whose two children, Sarah and Chase, both told amazing stories about their past lives and deaths, which were causing them crippling fears in their current lives.

The younger, Chase, was five years old when he first exhibited an extreme fear of loud noises in response to a Fourth of July fireworks display that his family was attending near their home. All her life, nine-year-old Sarah had had a heightened fear of fire and cried so inconsolably after watching a movie about a fire while staying overnight with a friend that the friend's mother had to bring her home in the middle of the night.

Carol had been exploring past life regression therapy with a group, and a visiting psychiatrist and hypnotherapist, Dr. Norman Inge, who was presenting a workshop for the group, was spending a few days with the Bowman family. One afternoon at home, the topic of Chase's fear of loud noises came up in conversation.

With the agreement of Carol and the children, Dr. Inge spoke with Chase and then with Sarah, at her request, asking them to describe what they saw when they were so frightened. Chase's vivid description of seeing himself as an African American soldier shooting a gun in a war and Sarah's traumatic vision of dying in a house fire as a young girl, as well as further revelations over time and the children's fears subsiding, are detailed in the linked video and in Children's Past Lives.

As a result of these experiences, Carol became fascinated with the topic and found that very little had been published about past life regression of children and how to respond to their memories, other than Ian Stevenson's very scientific research in Asian countries where reincarnation is accepted in the culture. Children's Past Lives details how she eventually became the go-to authority on the topic of children's past lives and on methods of helping them understand their memories.

Carol subsequently conducted research on hundreds of cases of children whose parents contacted her about the strange things their children were saying. These cases are the basis of her books. Carol Bowman and other past life therapists contend that the process of reliving and processing the memories is therapeutic and leads to the elimination of phobias.

If you are at all interested in past lives, and especially children's spontaneous memories, this book is a "must-read!"

Besides her website, Carol Bowman created a forum where questions and stories about reincarnation can be posted and readers can interact. http://www.reincarnationforum.com
Shari