‘Two questions. Yes, I do believe there is such a thing and that we have lived before. I believe that in the same way we discard one set of clothes and put on another, the soul or spirit discards the body we have worn at the time of death and enters a new one at the time of birth. These bodies that we wear are not our true selves, we are the being inside, the being that looks through the eyes, hears through the ears, feels through the skin. The body is merely the outer clothing of our true self and, in the same way that we change clothes daily, we change our outer body from life to life.’

‘Wow. That’s deep for a Monday evening.’

Simon laughed. ‘To answer your other question, yes, I believe some people can relive parts of their past lives, though not everyone. I have witnessed it many times.’

‘How do you know that they’re not just reliving something in their imagination or memory, a movie they saw on Netflix?’

‘Because of the detail. People remember things they couldn’t possibly have known from watching a film.’

‘And why would anyone want to go back?’

‘Because sometimes trauma is very deep. A pattern has been ingrained in the unconscious mind and it is negatively influencing events in this present life. Thought patterns like – I always suffer, or things always go wrong for me, and so on. These beliefs can come from a past life of having experienced such things but have been carried forward into the present life. Although it sounds as if past life regression is looking backwards, it is really to help a subject move on in their future.’

I thought about Saranya Ji’s words again. ‘So you’re saying you could help remove a pattern that is negatively influencing this life?’

‘If I can get to the root of the cause with my subject, yes. You sound very interested. Has something been troubling you?’

‘I …’ I glanced at my watch. My time with him was up. ‘I’d like to make another appointment. I don’t think I want to do past life regression, but would maybe be interested in removing what you call a negative pattern that I have in my subconscious.’ I could hardly believe I was considering this, but I felt comfortable with Simon and if it worked, well and good, and if it didn’t, at least I’d tried.

‘We can certainly look at whatever has been troubling you.’

‘Maybe we could talk about it next time?’

‘Whenever you’re ready and, in the meantime, we can continue to work on your insomnia – that is, if it is necessary.’

‘Deal,’ I said.