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. Past life regression is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience,
or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation, though religious traditions that
incorporate reincarnation generally do not include the idea of repressed memories of past lives.

The technique used during past life regression involves the subject answering a series of questions while hypnotized to reveal identity
and events of alleged past lives, a method similar to that used in recovered memory therapy and one that similarly misrepresents
memory as a faithful recording of previous events rather than a constructed set of recollections. The use of hypnosis and
suggestive questions makes the subject particularly likely to hold distorted or false memories.The source of the memories is
more likely cryptomnesia and confabulations that combine experiences, knowledge, imagination and suggestion or guidance from
the hypnotist than recall of a previous existence. Once created, the memories are indistinguishable from memories based on events
that occurred during the subject's life.Memories reported during past life regression have been investigated, and revealed
historical inaccuracies that are easily explained through a basic knowledge of history, elements of popular culture or books that
discuss historical events. Experiments with subjects undergoing past life regression indicate that a belief in reincarnation and suggestions
by the hypnotist are the two most important factors regarding the contents of memories reported