When bestselling spiritual author Melissa Yvonne’s marriage was on the rocks following an affair, she and her husband turned to therapy to see if their relationship could be saved.
This, however, wasn’t marriage counselling that they tried but past-life regression therapy – where Melissa came to experience the life of a former incarnation from the 12th century. These profound experiences taught her that Chase was, in fact, her soulmate and saved their marriage.
She has just released new book Soul Mate Sh*t, a memoir in fictionalised form, that shares her incredible story. This remarkable book will transform your perspective on life and love.
Melissa Yvonne
According to research, as many as one in four marriages are rocked by infidelity, with this often leading to divorce.
In some cases, the cheating partner will go on to enjoy a meaningful and lasting new relationship, but there is every chance that this won’t be so and, instead, that they will later come to deeply regret their actions, which have not only derailed their own life but those of their former nearest and dearest.
This, of course, is where the spark of affection that once lit their whole being is not entirely extinguished but has, perhaps, grown weak and pale as the initial thrill of a new relationship has made way for the more staid and settled nature of married life.
Often, without either partner being entirely conscious of the fact, the life pressures that emerge as the wedding anniversaries begin to stack up – increasing work demands, parental duties and so on – will dim that ardour until a couple will find themselves virtually alone and totally in the dark on how best to proceed.
It is, unfortunately, an all-too-common story and one that author Melissa Yvonne, now 44, can relate to, having entered into an affair after she and husband ‘Chase’ became more distant over time.
That was four years ago, by which time the couple, who live in New England, America, had been married for more than a decade.
In her bestselling book, Soul Mate Sh*t, a breathtakingly personal memoir in fictionalised format, she shares in astoundingly honest detail how their relationship had come to the point of near collapse:
My marriage had been exposed as a shell of a partnership. My perception of my career had shifted from the best job in the world to an endless series of emails that needed to be answered; it felt like vampires eating away at my soul and caging my dreams. My home had gone from my sanctuary to a house of trauma that had to be sold. And my perception of love had gone from what looked good externally to soulmates that fit perfectly.
As she relates, it was in this period of intense loneliness, with Chase’s career in the fire service leading him to be absent for days at a time, that she began to turn to one of his colleagues, Brayden, whom she had known – more as an acquaintance – for many years
Unlike her husband, whose career she blames for turning him into a “robot”, Brayden was there – first by text, later in person – to provide the emotional support she was sorely lacking. As she recounts in Soul Mate Sh*t:
The attention Brayden started showing me was constant and instant. He never let me wait a moment before he responded. Even in the shower. By day four, I was a mess. I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t sleeping. Instead, I was talking and typing on the phone for hours on end, deep into the night.
It is clear from these early chapters that being with Brayden revitalised the author’s life, to the extent that she soon left Chase, who had become aware of the affair, seeking personal space and time to think.
If there is one book on relationships you need, Soul Mate Sh*t is it.
Yet, as her book reveals, Chase’s determination to mend their marriage and his understanding, gave her justifiable pause for thought.
“Looking back, I was completely torn,” she says. “Chase’s dedication impressed me, but at the same time I remained frustrated by my lack of connection to him.
“Brayden, by contrast, made me feel alive in a way that I hadn’t in years. It was all so messy and conflicted.
“I almost lost everything: my husband, my sanity, and nearly my life.”
“Written from the wound, not the scar,” as Melissa puts it, Soul Mate Sh*t covers just a single four-month period and never divulges the ultimate outcome for her and Chase.
In reality, however, the couple did manage to repair their marriage, and it was all thanks to the most unexpected of means: past-life regression.
While the author was no stranger to the spiritual side of life, being raised by a reiki master who owned a metaphysical bookstore, she had no idea of how profound her work to connect with previous incarnations would be.
It was through regular past-life regression therapy that she came to connect with a 12th century Welsh princess, Abigail, whose life was laid bare to the author – every memory, thought, and sensation.
Melissa picks up the remarkable story: “It was actually my husband who recommended we start seeing a therapist to help us through the difficulties in our marriage.
“What he didn’t know at the time was that while she was licensed as a psychotherapist, she also had intuitive capabilities and used past-life regression to aid in helping her clients understand why they might be experiencing challenging circumstances, and the lessons they could be learning.
“Through guided meditation, I started to vision a life that I had lived in 12th century Cambria (Wales).
“I saw there was a dynamic that had played out once between my husband and I in these other lives, where I was Abigail and he Hayes, the captain of the guard.
“As our sessions progressed and I continued to explore my 12th century life, parallels with current-day circumstances started to reveal themselves.
“Abigail had fallen for a blacksmith, Alexander, whom I came to understand was, in this lifetime, Brayden. Hayes, meanwhile, had loved her from afar, and more than she would ever know.
“This experience made me appreciate the sheer depth of my husband’s love and recognise that what I had experienced with Brayden was simply not comparable.”
In short, what Melissa had uncovered in Chase was her soulmate, not just in this life but across all their lives.
Bestselling spiritual author Melissa Yvonne with her husband and soulmate, Chase.
“Through past-life regression, I learned about the concept of the ‘soul circle’,” she continues.
“That is, those people who follow you round from one incarnation to the next, to provide friendship and support.
“Brayden is part of my soul circle and our affair, though painful, served a higher purpose in leading me to discover my true soulmate, Chase.”
While Melissa initially embarked upon Soul Mate Sh*t as a form of catharsis, she has come to appreciate that her experiences hold important lessons that others can learn from – not least the importance of honest communication and daily effort in keeping a marriage healthy.
The names of those involved in her story have, understandably, been changed but all other elements reflect the truth, and with aim of helping others going through relationship issues.
She added: “More than anything else, I want to encourage my readers to create the life they desire – one with real meaning and purpose.
“Past-life regression is one means of discovering new insights into yourself and those around you.
“As I found out through the lives of Abigail and Hayes, the lessons you have learned in the past can be applied to challenging situations being faced in the present.
“While it can be traumatic, you will find deeper happiness by experiencing and growing from the pain.
“And, you never know, you may just come to identify your soulmate in life … and do so before it’s too late.”
Soul Mate Sh*t by Melissa Yvonne (Onion River Press) is available on Amazon, priced £13.99 in paperback, £3.20 as an eBook and £7.99 as an audiobook. For more information, visit the author’s website, www.melissayvonne.com or follow her on Instagram.
Q&A INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR MELISSA YVONNE
We speak to Soul Mate Sh*t author Melissa Yvonne to find out more about the fascinating subject of past-life regression and how she came to understand that her affair was an ‘activator’ that actually saved her marriage to husband Chase.
Q: Having experienced what you have, would you recommend past-life regression to others?
A. I recommend exploring any medium that helps with your soul expansion. Past-life regression requires you to enter a hypnotic state that is not for everyone. It is not a unilateral guaranteed experience.
Q: How do you know that you once existed as Abigail rather than imagining it?
A. The concept of living as a young royal in the 12th century was built in tandem with an intuitive expert. Together we aligned the puzzle pieces of what we individually experienced into seeing the world through Abigail’s eyes.
Q: Have you ever tried searching for Abigail and Hayes in the historical record?
A. Abigail’s royal status was not part of the traditional monarchy, but an independent kingdom that contributed to it and held its own individual rule. During months of historical research, I narrowed the castle location to two potential sets of ruins in Wales. The records of the people who ran those castles had, unfortunately, been lost or destroyed over the centuries.
Q: What advice would you give to anyone tempted by an affair?
A. You always get caught.
Q: You view your affair as an ‘activator’. What do you mean by this?
A. This book is a story about an affair in one sense, but that was just the vehicle by which this lesson travelled. Without the activation of the affair, I would have never gone down the path of therapy and regression that led me to understand the soulmate connection Chase and I have, and how to truly send and receive love.
Q: You say that many lessons you learned through past-life regression can be rolled up under the one umbrella. Can you share some of those?
A. Don’t allow complacency to breed fear of the power of your voice, and listen with an open heart, knowing you are here to help the soul communicating with you to learn their lessons, too.
Q: Do you have any lessons that you would particularly like your readers to take away from this book?
A. Be vigilant of your soul circle and recognise the safety you have to be completely raw and honest. Trust your soul’s needs, even during the hardest of times. Fighting or pushing the hard away will only prevent you from expanding your soul. Overall, live your authentic life.
Q: What was the most challenging part of writing the book?
A. Constantly reliving the most emotional part of my life through 17 drafts and 2.5 years.
Q: What feedback about Soul Mate Sh*t are you proudest of?
A. The book gave women a raw baseline to share their challenges with love and relationships. I have humanised the marriage experience and have given women courage to speak when, before, they stayed silent in fear of judgment or failure.
Q: What should readers expect from you next?
A. Fans asked for a continuation of the first book, so you’ll get that with Melissa’s life, though not with Abigail’s which was told in Soul Mate Sh*t. Also, a series of short stories that build out many of the existing characters, but which also start new soul circle storylines.