Podcast Summary: "Spontaneous Memories of Past Lives with Kelvin Chin"

New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast
Host: Jeffrey Mishlove
Guest: Kelvin Chin
Date: December 12, 2025
(Episode focusing on spontaneous past life memories, their reliability, and their impact on present-day life.)

Overview

In this wide-ranging and personal discussion, Jeffrey Mishlove interviews meditation teacher, executive, and author Kelvin Chin on his long history of spontaneous past life memories. The episode delves into the origins, substance, and usefulness of these experiences, how they relate to meditation and stress reduction, the challenge of verifying their validity, and their impact on living more fully in the present. Throughout, Chin emphasizes a pragmatic, open approach, focusing on the personal benefits of such memories while acknowledging uncertainties and alternate interpretations.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Kelvin Chin’s Background and Introduction to Meditation

• Summary:
  • Chin shares his early experiences with meditation, starting as a stressed teenager, not motivated by spiritual interests.
  • He participated deeply in the TM movement, studied with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, taught worldwide, and later developed a secular meditation method (“Turning Within”) for people of all backgrounds.
• Highlights:
  • “I just help everybody. So, I’m in 71 countries now. But I give Maharishi credit for being the guy who finally came out of India and said meditation can and should be easy.” (04:29)
  • Chin emphasizes stripping away cultural trappings, making meditation accessible and practical.

Timestamps:

• 03:23–06:18 – Chin’s introduction to meditation and TM movement
• 06:37–07:13 – Teaching meditation worldwide, including in unique settings (West Point, DMZ Korea)

2. Origins and Nature of Spontaneous Past Life Memories

• Summary:
  • Chin’s past life memories began to surface spontaneously during meditation, without prior belief in reincarnation or the afterlife.
  • Experiences came as powerful dreams or during energetic meditative states (e.g., TM Siddhi program), often involving strong emotions and physical sensations.
  • He later recognized these as possible past life experiences when corroborated by others or by details he later researched.
• Highlights:
  • “They just bubbled up out of, obviously, my deep subconscious or something. But in my mind, I was like, where did this come? ... I didn’t know initially that they had anything to do with past lives until other jigsaw puzzle pieces started coming together.” (07:35)
  • Chin recounts a striking episode where a friend, George, finished describing a vivid nightmare Chin had, claiming to have shared that past life. (15:15)

Timestamps:

• 07:13–09:51 – Emergence of spontaneous memories during meditation
• 13:37–20:35 – Detailed recounting of first past life memory and corroboration by a friend

3. Skepticism, Evidence, and Interpretation

• Summary:
  • Chin approaches these memories as subjective experiences open to interpretation and suggests degrees of reliability, both for current-life and past-life memories.
  • He discourages students from seeking absolute proof, focusing instead on practical value and supporting evidence.
• Highlights:
  • “First of all, don’t waste your time trying to prove that your experience or your past life memory is absolutely correct because it’s a subjective experience. And all subjective experiences are open to interpretation.” (09:57)
  • Open to alternative explanations, such as tapping into Akashic records or collective consciousness (13:05).

Timestamps:

• 09:51–13:05 – Discussion of subjective nature of memory, reliability
• 13:05–13:37 – Consideration of alternate explanations (e.g., Akashic records)

4. Specific Past Life Recollections

• The Carthaginian Slave (Punic Wars):
  • Chin shares a detailed account assembled over years: chained on a warship, sensory details, later escapes, and eventual rescue.
  • Gathers historical details (e.g., the Roman “corvus” boarding device) later confirmed through research.
  • "What do you take from it that helps you today... that you can use." (22:23)
  • “I remembered the smells. I remembered the smell of being below decks... And the peacefulness, the stillness of the night sky—not in battle, just in a calm Mediterranean.” (28:46)
• Other Lifetimes:
  • Recalls a Native American lifetime in the Southwest ~8,000 years ago, Sumerian businessman ~6,000 years ago (with the word “Asha” found to mean “cosmic order” in Sumerian), medieval Crusades as a knight, and non-human lifetimes (eagle, alien being).
  • Past lives include both male and female, human and non-human, and on other planets.

Timestamps:

• 22:04–31:13 – Carthaginian slave lifetime, learning from sensory/first-person memories
• 31:24–38:02 – Recollections from different cultures, times, and even as non-humans

5. Corroboration and Repeating Relationships

• Summary:
  • Experiences sometimes involve people known in his present life, leading to unusual synchronicities (e.g., both Chin and his daughter confusing their relationship as siblings).
  • Sometimes individuals spontaneously recognize past-life connections with him prior to meeting.
• Highlights:
  • “That’s when something started rising up in me, because I knew it. I had a connection with her from a couple of lifetimes." (47:52)

Timestamps:

• 44:10–49:47 – Examples of recurring relationships and corroboration

6. Experiences Between Lives and The Nature of "Heaven"

• Summary:
  • Chin describes "interval" memories between incarnations as resembling vacations, emphasizing mental creation and strategic choices about reincarnation.
  • Suggests heaven is physical in an energetic/light sense, not just abstract “cosmic soup.”
• Highlights:
  • “Heaven is like here in a lot of ways, but it’s more, it’s mental. Our minds are experiencing, are in creating whatever we want to create on the other side.” (50:57)
  • “The mind is physical in the sense that I just described. It’s energetic, it’s light, it can be measurable.” (63:36)
• Advice:
  • Be strategic about choosing when and how to return; control what you can, let go of what you cannot. (51:41)

Timestamps:

• 50:57–57:58 – Between life experiences, strategic reincarnation
• 60:05–66:14 – Physical nature of mind and heaven, metaphysical implications

7. Pragmatism Over Proof: The Value of Past Life Memories

• Summary:
  • Ultimately, for Chin, the real value is pragmatic: how these memories help him and others cope, reduce fear of death, and enhance life now.
  • Personality traits persist through lifetimes, but every life is a chance to apply past lessons in new ways.
• Highlights:
  • “To me, everything else is just cocktail party talk. Who cares who Kelvin Chin claims that he may have been in some other lifetime? ... What matters is how is it helping me today to live my life in 21st-century Earth? I’m a pragmatist.” (58:11)

Timestamps:

• 57:58–59:48 – Application of past life knowledge, pragmatic approach

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On subjective experiences:

  “Don’t waste your time trying to prove that your experience or your past life memory is absolutely correct... All subjective experiences are open to interpretation.”
  – Kelvin Chin (09:57)

• On corroborated experiences:

  “I said, ‘How did you know that?’ ... He said, ‘Well, I saw you there’ ...‘I was there with you 2,000 years ago, and I’m the person who found you that next morning.’”
  – Kelvin Chin describing friend George’s corroboration (15:15)

• On the physicality of mind and afterlife:

  “I think it’s a crucial point to identify light as physical. And heaven is physical in that [sense].”
  – Kelvin Chin (66:14)

• On the core purpose of exploring past lives:

  “What matters is how is it helping me today to live my life in the 21st-century Earth? I’m a pragmatist.”
  – Kelvin Chin (58:11)

Additional Insights

• Diversity of Past Life Types:
  Most memories are of unknown individuals; a minority are of famous figures (which Chin acknowledges can arouse skepticism).
• Sensorial Detail as Reliability:
  Chin places value on “I-ness,” sensory vividness, and practical aftermath as a sign of a deeper experience.
• Non-religious, Inclusive Approach:
  Chin is adamant that his teachings and experiences aren’t tied to any religion:

  “I help people from all religions or no religion, I mean, people who are not religious, it doesn’t really matter to me. ... The continuation of the mind to me is a normal experience. It’s not a religious thing.” (60:05)

Recommended Segment Timestamps

• 03:23–04:40 – Chin’s introduction to meditation
• 07:13–13:37 – First spontaneous memories/beginning of recall
• 22:23–28:46 – Carthaginian lifetime, practical use of memories
• 31:24–38:02 – Ancient memories, including Sumerian, Southwest North America
• 44:27–49:47 – Repeating relationships across lives
• 50:57–57:58 – Descriptions of between-lives/Bardo state
• 57:58–59:48 – Pragmatist application of past-life insights

Conclusion & Call to Pragmatism

Throughout, Chin encourages listeners to be open-minded, to seek meaning over proof, and to recognize the potential for growth and healing in exploring the continuity of consciousness. He asserts that even if these memories are "just imagination," their beneficial impact is undeniable. Host Jeffrey Mishlove thanks Chin for demystifying a topic often shrouded in mysticism, encouraging listeners to check out Chin’s latest book and continue exploring the intersection of consciousness and afterlife studies.

Resources:

• Kelvin Chin’s book: After the Afterlife
• New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast: www.newthinkingallowed.com
• California Institute for Human Science: cihs.edu