I had a client who was fighting alcoholism. His older brother and father were both deceased. When we began by going back into his tormented childhood, he recounted his father sodomizing him and then teaching his brother how to sodomize him. At the beach, he brought in his father and not only told him off but also cut the cords. His father begged him to accept his apology, stating his own father did it to him — a fact my client never knew. We are all victims of victims.
In a past lifetime, my client was a rich and powerful ruler. He had many children at his disposal and, not surprisingly, one of those children he was abusing was his father in this lifetime. Now he was the one who had to apologize to his father. Seeing this from another perspective gave a lot of relief to my client.
If "pain" came from a past life, once the client sees where it came from, they can release it or cut the cords to that event. I have had many of these types of situations, and you will too. You just have to go deep enough into being a detective to find the true initial event.
Once the significant event is dealt with and the client is finished with that lifetime, have them cut the cords to that lifetime and send everyone into the light to heal. Then go back to the lounge chair and ask if the darkness is ready to leave. Let it go.
Practice
Write down a current relationship in your life that feels charged for no obvious reason. Ask yourself, in stillness, what the soul-level contract between you might be.