Two clients came to me in the same week with almost the same question.
The first had been reading about the Akashic Records and wanted to know whether she should book a reading. The second had heard about past life regression on a podcast and wondered if it was the same thing. Both of them were trying to understand something their soul had been whispering about for years — and both of them were genuinely stuck on which path to choose.
If you’re in the same place, this article is for you.
I’ve spent years working with people in both modalities as a hypnotist trained through the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and as a certified past life regressionist through Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment. I’m also finishing my Doctorate in Metaphysical Hypnosis, which means I spend a lot of time sitting at the intersection of clinical science and soul-level work. What I’ve noticed is that most of what’s written about the Akashic Records versus past life regression is written by people who practice one, not both, and the comparisons tend to favor whichever practice the author happens to offer.
I want to give you something different: an honest, grounded comparison from someone who has witnessed both practices heal people, and who has seen where each one truly shines.
Let’s start with what each practice actually is.
What Are the Akashic Records?
The word Akasha comes from Sanskrit and means “ether” or “space”, which is the subtle element that underlies everything. The concept of an energetic record of all experience appears in Hindu and Buddhist thought thousands of years before it entered Western vocabulary.
The phrase “Akashic Records” itself is much more recent. It was coined by the English Theosophist C.W. Leadbeater in his 1899 book Clairvoyance, and later expanded on by Rudolf Steiner and Alice Bailey. But the person most responsible for bringing the Akashic Records into mainstream awareness (and the reason I mention them with real reverence) is Edgar Cayce, the American mystic often called the “sleeping prophet.”
Cayce gave more than 14,000 readings during his lifetime, many of them while in a self-induced trance state. When asked where his information came from, he pointed to two sources: the subconscious mind of the person he was reading for, and the Akashic Records themselves, which he described as “God’s Book of Remembrance.” Cayce founded the Association for Research and Enlightenment in 1931, and the A.R.E. is still, in my view, one of the most credible organizations in this field. My own past life regression certification comes from their program, and I’m grateful for the rigor they brought to my training.
So what are the Akashic Records, in practical terms?
Think of them as an energetic archive or a vibrational record of every thought, choice, feeling, and experience a soul has ever had, across every lifetime. When someone receives an Akashic Records reading, a trained practitioner enters a meditative or prayerful state, attunes to your soul’s unique frequency, and relays the information that surfaces. The reader is the one doing the work. You sit, you listen, you ask questions, and you receive.
The experience tends to feel reflective and gentle like being read a wise letter from the deepest part of yourself.
What Is Past Life Regression?
Past life regression, or PLR, is a very different animal. It uses hypnosis to guide you (not a reader) into a relaxed, focused state where your subconscious mind can bring forward memories, images, and impressions from what appear to be previous lifetimes.
This is where I need to correct something I see repeated constantly in articles on this topic. Hypnosis is not sleep, it is not mind control, and the hypnotist is not “putting you under.” Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention that every human being drifts into several times a day when you’re absorbed in a book, driving a familiar route on autopilot, or lost in a daydream. A trained hypnotist simply helps you enter that state intentionally and use it for a specific purpose.
Past life regression was brought into modern clinical awareness by Dr. Brian Weiss, a Yale-trained psychiatrist and former chairman of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. His 1988 book Many Lives, Many Masters documented his discovery (entirely by accident) that a patient under hypnosis spontaneously recalled what appeared to be past lives, and that working through those memories resolved symptoms that years of conventional therapy hadn’t touched. Dr. Michael Newton built on this work with his research into the “life between lives” state, and Dolores Cannon developed her own Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique over decades of practice. These are the shoulders the field stands on.
In a PLR session, you stay aware the entire time. You’re not unconscious, you can speak, and you can stop whenever you want. Your subconscious brings forward what it believes you’re ready to see, and a trained past life regressionist guides you through the experience, helps you process whatever surfaces, and supports you in integrating the insight afterward.
The experience tends to feel immersive and first-person. It’s like stepping inside a memory rather than being told about one.
Akashic Records vs. Past Life Regression: Side by Side
Here’s how the two practices actually compare when you lay them next to each other.
| Akashic Records Reading | Past Life Regression | |
|---|---|---|
| Who accesses the information | The reader, on your behalf | You, directly |
| State of mind | You stay fully conscious | You enter a hypnotic (focused, relaxed) state |
| Method | Meditation, prayer, attunement | Clinical hypnosis with guided induction |
| What it feels like | Receiving messages or downloads | Reliving a vivid memory |
| Emotional intensity | Generally gentle and observational | Can be deeply cathartic and somatic |
| What it reveals | Broad soul-level themes, patterns, guidance | Specific lifetimes, events, and relationships |
| Best for | Big-picture clarity and direction | Targeted healing of fears, patterns, wounds |
| Typical session length | 30–60 minutes | 90–120 minutes |
| Sessions often needed | Often just one | One to three, depending on the issue |
| What you take home | Notes or a recording of the messages | A first-person memory and a body-level shift |
Both practices assume the continuity of the soul. Both work with the idea that the experiences of past lifetimes influence the present one. Both can surface karmic patterns, soul contracts, and deep patterns of relationship. But the way they do it and the way it feels to receive the work is strikingly different.
The Similarities Most Articles Miss
Most of what’s written on this topic spends so much time explaining the differences that the similarities get lost. I think that’s a mistake, because the places where these two practices overlap tell you something important about what they’re actually doing.
Both rest on the same fundamental assumption: that the soul persists. Whether you call what you’re accessing a memory, a record, a vibration, or a download, the underlying premise is that your awareness extends beyond a single human lifetime and can be touched when you quiet the noise of the conscious mind.
Both require a trained, trustworthy practitioner. This is non-negotiable in my view. In the Akashic Records tradition, the reader is the instrument; their clarity, their ethics, and the care they take in opening and closing a session matter enormously. In past life regression, the hypnotist is creating the container that holds you while something delicate unfolds. In either case, you want someone who takes the work seriously and has been properly trained.
Both honor your agency. Nothing surfaces in either practice that your subconscious isn’t ready to see. This is one of the most important things I want people to understand, and it’s something I’ve covered in more depth in my article on whether past life regression is dangerous. Your mind has extraordinary protective wisdom. You are not going to be ambushed.
Both are complementary to, not replacements for, mental health care. This matters. Neither practice is psychotherapy, neither is medicine, and neither should be used as a substitute for treatment you need. I come from a counseling background, and I will always tell you this: the best soul work happens on top of a stable foundation, not instead of one.
How to Decide Which One Is Right for You
This is the section I most wish the articles I read when I was learning had included, because “follow what resonates” is lovely advice and not particularly useful when you’re trying to make a real decision.
Here’s how I think about it when someone asks me.
Choose an Akashic Records reading if:
- You want a broad overview of your soul’s journey rather than one specific lifetime
- You’re standing at a crossroads and need guidance on direction, purpose, or a major decision
- You’re drawn to insight but not ready for something emotionally intense
- You prefer to receive information passively rather than experience it yourself
- You want something gentler as a first step
Choose past life regression if:
- You have a specific fear, phobia, or pattern you can’t trace to anything in this life
- You have a relationship with a partner, a child, or a parent that feels charged in a way that doesn’t match the facts of your current relationship with them
- You want a felt, body-level shift, not just information
- You’re drawn to experiencing the work directly rather than being told about it
- You’ve done other healing work and feel ready to go deeper
Consider both if:
- You want the map and the terrain. The Akashic Records can give you the big picture, and a targeted regression can let you walk into one of the specific places the records pointed to
- You’ve tried one and feel called to the other
- You’re working on something layered and want to approach it from multiple angles
There is no wrong answer. I’ve watched clients have life-changing experiences with each practice, and I’ve also watched clients try one, realize it wasn’t quite what they needed, and find exactly what they were looking for in the other. The soul is patient. It will keep pointing until you find the door that’s meant for you.
What a Session Actually Looks Like
Since very few articles actually walk you through this, let me.
An Akashic Records reading typically begins with a short conversation about what brought you, what you’re hoping for, what questions are weighing on you. The reader then centers themselves through a prayer or attunement process (the Pathway Prayer developed by Linda Howe is one of the more common modern protocols, though every reader has their own practice). Once the Records are “open,” the reader begins receiving information and relaying it to you. You ask questions. You take notes or record the session. At the end, the reader formally closes the Records and brings you back into ordinary conversation.
A past life regression session is longer and more involved. It usually starts with a detailed intake. I want to know what’s going on in your life now, what you hope to explore, and what you definitely don’t want to encounter. Then I lead you through a hypnotic induction, which is just a careful, paced guiding of your attention inward until your body is relaxed and your subconscious is available. From there, I use specific techniques to invite a past life memory to surface. You describe what you see, feel, and sense. I ask questions. We move through the lifetime; often to a significant event, sometimes to the moment of death, and occasionally into the space between lives. Afterward, we talk about what came up, what it might mean, and how to integrate the experience into your daily life.
The integration piece is something I care deeply about. A powerful session without integration is like a beautiful meal you never digest. You get the most out of this work when you take time afterward to journal, to rest, to let the insights settle.
Can You Do Both?
Yes — and I’d argue that for some people, doing both is more powerful than either one alone.
The most common pattern I see goes like this. Someone starts with an Akashic Records reading and gets a clear sense that there’s a thread running through multiple lifetimes — say, a pattern of abandonment, or a gift they’ve carried and suppressed, or a soul relationship that keeps repeating. The reading gives them the map. Then they book a past life regression and actually walk into one of those lifetimes, meet the version of themselves who lived it, and let their body release what it’s been holding.
It can also go the other direction. Someone has a spontaneous past life memory, or a vivid dream, or a regression experience that leaves them with more questions than answers. An Akashic Records reading afterward can provide the broader context, such as why that lifetime surfaced, what it’s connected to, what the soul was hoping you’d understand.
Neither order is right or wrong. Both paths lead to the same place, which is a deeper, kinder relationship with yourself.
How to Choose a Practitioner
Whichever path you pick, the person guiding you matters enormously. Here’s what I’d look for.
Verifiable training. For an Akashic Records reader, ask where they studied. The Linda Howe school, the Edgar Cayce A.R.E., and other reputable lineages are all reasonable answers. For a past life regressionist, ask about their hypnosis training specifically. Organizations like the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the National Guild of Hypnotists, and the Michael Newton Institute all have public directories. “Self-taught” is not disqualifying in every case, but it’s a conversation worth having.
A clear process. A good practitioner will tell you what to expect before, during, and after a session. They’ll talk about integration. They won’t promise specific outcomes, and they won’t tell you things designed to make you dependent on them.
Ethics around what they share. In both practices, you’ll occasionally encounter something difficult. A skilled practitioner holds that with you calmly. They don’t dramatize it, they don’t use it to frighten you, and they don’t leave you alone with it.
Reviews from people who’ve actually worked with them. Read them. Pay attention to whether people describe feeling safe and respected, not just amazed.
I’ve written a more detailed guide on the questions to ask before, during, and after a past life regression session if you want to go deeper on the PLR side specifically.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the main difference between the Akashic Records and past life regression? In an Akashic Records reading, a trained reader accesses information on your behalf while you stay fully conscious. In past life regression, you access the experience directly through hypnosis, guided by a trained hypnotist. One is receiving; the other is reliving.
Is past life regression the same as an Akashic Records reading? No. They share the assumption that the soul persists across lifetimes, but the methods, the state of mind, and the experience itself are different. Regression is a hypnotic, first-person experience. An Akashic reading is a meditative transmission from a reader.
Which is better for healing trauma? For specific, felt, body-level trauma that traces to a clear pattern like fear of water, an inexplicable phobia, a recurring relationship dynamic — past life regression is often more direct. For broader soul-level healing and guidance, the Akashic Records can be gentler and more contextual. Many people benefit from combining them.
Do I need to believe in reincarnation for either one to work? Not really. I’ve worked with skeptics who came in curious and left shaken in the best possible way. Both practices seem to work on the level of the subconscious and the soul, and the subconscious doesn’t particularly care whether your conscious mind has made up its mind yet. That said, you do need to be open enough to let something happen.
Is past life regression dangerous? No, when it’s done by a trained practitioner with appropriate safeguards. I’ve addressed this concern in depth in a separate article, but the short answer is that your subconscious mind has strong protective wisdom and will only surface what you’re ready to process.
Can I access my own Akashic Records? Yes. Practitioners like Linda Howe have taught thousands of students to read their own Records through meditation and specific attunement practices. It takes time and patience to develop, the way any inner skill does.
Can the Akashic Records predict the future? The traditional view, including Cayce’s, is that the Records contain probable futures based on the current trajectory of your choices not a fixed destiny. You remain the author. What you do next changes what the Records say next.
Is past life regression a sin? This is a real concern for people from certain faith traditions, and I’ve written a balanced exploration of it. The short version is that reasonable, faithful people disagree, and only you can decide what aligns with your values.
How do I prepare for either kind of session? Rest well the night before. Avoid alcohol and heavy meals on the day. Come with a few questions or intentions, but hold them loosely because sometimes what surfaces is better than what you asked for. Plan for quiet time afterward to integrate.
Are these sessions available online? Yes. Both Akashic Records readings and past life regression work extremely well over video. Hypnosis in particular translates to an online setting without losing its depth. What matters is the relationship between practitioner and client, not the physical room.
A Final Thought
The honest answer to “Akashic Records or past life regression?” is that they’re two different doors into the same house. One door opens with a key that someone else holds and turns on your behalf. The other opens from the inside, with your own hand, while someone trustworthy stands beside you.
Neither door is better. They lead to different rooms.
What matters is listening to which door your soul is standing in front of right now. If you’re drawn to the stillness and wisdom of the Records, start there. If you’re feeling called to walk into a specific place your body seems to remember, past life regression may be what your soul is asking for. And if you’re genuinely not sure, trust that the one that keeps pulling at you is probably the one to try first.
Whatever you choose, approach it with curiosity, work with someone who takes the work seriously, and give yourself time to integrate whatever comes. The real healing is rarely in the dramatic moments of a session. It’s in what you do with what you learn afterward — how you carry it into your Tuesday morning, your difficult conversations, your quiet moments of self-talk. That’s where the soul actually moves.
