The Blind Can See During an NDE

How can the blind see during an NDE?

I mention in my latest book talk, the case of a man who was on the operating table and had an NDE. "Floated around the room" and was privy to conversations that he shouldn't have been able to access. 

When he came back to consciousness, he teased the doctor about the color of his tennis shoes.  That really shocked the doctor, because his patient had been blind from birth.

Cue the organ music.

How is this possible?

Well, first let's examine consciousness. 

Shall we?

Jammin Shamin commented on the MartiniProds youtube page: "Great talk but I wonder how this NDEr blind from birth would know what color orange was... how does he know names of colors he's never seen before? lol"

My reply:

"First we need to define "before."  Then we need to define "color."  

What most people don't realize is that the eye itself does not see color. Just like the ear does not "hear" sound.  It receives a wave - of energy - and then the brain "translates" that wave into sound or into picture.  

No eye. No ear. So think on that for a second. Bees can see ultra violet light. Why is that? Because their teeny tiny little brains are translating those vibrational wavelengths into information. (If you want to see some great science on this topic, research "blind people seeing with their tongue" as it's a new technique, where people "see" with vibrations on their tongue attached to a camera.)

Now, let's go a step further.  

This isn't the first time you've been on the planet.  It isn't the first time most of us have been here.  You've seen the color orange before. And you've seen, tasted, experienced a myriad of energies while you're here.  We can't "remember" or seem to access those memories unless we our "outside of consciousness" (which is silly really - we are never "unconscious" it's just the parts of our brain that allow us to communicate are not functioning properly.)  

So think about this the next time you hear about someone in a coma.  Their brain is not working. Does that mean they can't "see" "hear" or anything else? I met a woman from Australia on a flight - her brother had been in a coma for years. Considered "brain dead."  Then one day she asked a friend who is a masseuse to go in and give him a massage. During the massage the friend said "I didn't tell you this before, but sometime when doing my work I can sense or "hear" something about the client. In this case, your brother seemed to be asking for "yellow goggles."  

The shocked sister realized her brother was requesting his sunglasses - the kind he used to wear while working out.  So she got his "yellow goggle sunglasses" and put them on him - because the light from the window was blasting into his room.  

Problem solved. Yet, another problem encountered. If he's aware of what's going on and communicate while his body cannot - what does that say about consciousness? Here are some more insights into NDEs from a Salon article by Neuroscientist (interviewed in "Its a Wonderful Afterlife") Mario Beauregard: http://www.salon.com/2012/04/21/near_death_explained/

I must add - not all blind can see during an NDE - some can, but that appears to depend upon the person experiencing the NDE.

From Richard Davidson's work at U of Wisconsin re: meditation

Here's a more indepth article on non-sighted people having sight:

In Near-Death Experiences, Blind People See for First Time By Tara MacIsaac, Epoch Times

"People who were blind from birth have had brushes with death in which they felt themselves leave their bodies and experience vision for the first time. For some, it seemed natural; for others, it was a confusing and shocking experience.

Many people experience this sensation of leaving the body during a near-death experience (NDE). A 1982 Gallup poll found that 15 percent of all Americans who had almost died (under widely varying circumstances) reported NDEs. About 9 percent reported the “classic out-of-body experience,” 11 percent said they entered another realm, and 8 percent said they encountered spiritual beings.
(Actually, the results are higher, if you ask Bruce Greyson's research at UVA - where he's done detailed research in the topic and created the chart that allows other scientists to measure results of NDEs.)

For blind NDEers, the visual perceptions add another level of mystery. Some people say NDEs are hallucinations, though many who study NDEs refute this explanation. Hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, is one often-cited cause. Another is rapid eye movement (REM) intrusion—when the REM associated with dreaming during sleep happens while one is awake.

One of the researchers who disagrees with these explanations is Robert Mays, who has studied NDEs for about 30 years. He explained during a talk at the 2014 International Association for Near-Death Studies conference that NDEs are very different from the experiences usually reported under the conditions of hypoxia and REM intrusion.  

Mays said: “NDEers almost always report that they have had a hyper-real experience that far outshines our ordinary, conscious experience—that they felt the NDE realm was their true home, permeated by unconditional love, and that they are no longer afraid to die.”

“These characteristic aspects are simply not present with hypoxia, REM intrusion, and so on,” Mays said.

Studies have shown that when blind people dream, they don’t see. Yet in NDEs, studies suggest blind people often see....

A study of blind NDEers led by Kenneth Ring at the University of Connecticut in the 1990s found that 15 out of 21 blind participants reported some kind of sight, three were not sure if they had visual perception, and the remaining three did not see anything. Half of those who were blind from birth said they saw something...

One man, blind from birth, told Ring that he found himself in a library with “thousands and millions and billions of books, as far as you could see.” Asked if he saw them visually he said, “Oh, yes!” Did he see them clearly? “No problem.” Was he surprised at being able to see thus? “Not in the least. I said, ‘Hey, you can’t see,’ and [then] I said, ‘Well, of course I can see. Look at those books. That’s ample proof that I can see.'”

(For Flipside fans - does a "library in the afterlife" sound familiar? I talk about these libraries - no two descriptions are the same - in most of my books.  The question to ask someone who is "seeing a library" is "pick up a book and tell me what's in it.")

Vicki Umipeg, whom Ring interviewed and who has also spoken of her experience in various media interviews, had an overall pleasant NDE, but did describe being suddenly able to see as “frightening.”
(During her NDE) She felt that she had left her body and floated up toward the ceiling in Harborview Hospital. She heard a doctor talking about the possibility that damage to her eardrum could make her deaf as well. She could see a doctor leaning over what she realized must be her body below. She had never seen her own body.

Pulled through a tunnel, she emerged in a place with grass and people of light, she said. In an interview for the BBC Documentary “The Day I Died,” Umipeg said, “I felt overwhelmed by that experience, because I couldn’t really imagine what light was like.”

Umipeg was born prematurely and became blind as a result of too much oxygen in the incubator. She said that, during her NDE, “It was wonderful to be out there and be free, to not worry about bumping into anything.” If she wanted to know something, the knowledge would come to her. When she returned to her body, she said, “It was excruciatingly painful and very heavy.”... (from this article)


So. there you have it.  Some people, while having an NDE, who are "blind from birth" can see.

The point is - what were they prior to birth?  Able to see? Or what are they during the NDE? Sighted? 

If you examine what consciousness is - which appears to be more of a function than an object - i.e., if we think of "back home" as the ocean, and while we're alive, "an experience in a vessel of some sort" - then it makes sense that once we "evaporate" and "go home" we return to that ocean. And while we're in that ocean we've got all kinds of information at our disposal - or fingertips if you will, to mix another metaphor.  So think of water as the medium - as consciousness is the medium.

And while we're little droplets of water in our bodies - we still have access to the big old ocean "back home" - we may not be able to access it completely, but some of us do, either during an NDE, a coma, or perhaps while in a deep meditation, or while under deep hypnosis.  It's as if the blinders are taken off and we can "see again!"

You see?

If you don't, here's some links to my research, where I argue these points and cite the various people who've repeated these observations over and over and over again.

Science and the research behind proving there is a Flipside

Here's an hour video worth watching.  These are the scientists I met with at UVA to discuss the results of the research behind Flipside.  Dr. Greyson was behind the creation of the International Association for Near Death Studies (iands).  These are scientists talking about the science of the afterlife (or as I prefer to call it; the flipside.)




An hour of your life. Enjoy!

For futher reading: (click the links)

Dr. Bruce Greyson
Dr. Jim Tucker
Ed Kelly PhD
Kim Penberthy PhD

The Story of God, Flipside and Near Death Adventures

The Story of God with Morgan Freeman on April 3rd, opens with the story of David Bennett's near death experience.

Here's a five minute clip which begins with David's story:





Now, the question is - does David say that he "saw God?"

He doesn't really.  I mean in the show, they may ask him that question point blank "Did you think you saw God?" and he answers it.  But I don't know. I'll have to tune in. But in my interview with him, he just spoke of seeing a "white ball of light."

As mentioned previously, I had the opportunity to interview David for my book "It's a Wonderful Afterlife."  I was in upstate New York at the upstate New York Iands.org conference room, and David was my host.  The night before my talk, I looked him up online and found his book, which I downloaded from kindle and read that evening.  And then the next day I got a chance to ask him some questions about his experience - and asked if he minded if I recorded our conversation.

So here is our conversation.




I have to apologize, as we were in a noisy coffee shop - I didn't intend to broadcast or put this online, but I did want a record of our conversation so that I could transcribe it and include it in my book "It's a Wonderful Afterlife Volume One."

You should take a look at David's amazing book, as it details more than could be said in the time we spent together.  You can find that here. 

It's interesting to note that David's experience, while it's featured in the "God" episode from National Geographic TV, and it's on the website version - it's not in the print version of the magazine article.  In that article, the mention of the research from Dr. Sam Parnia's "Aware" project is mentioned, and the discussion is led into an aread of "preserving human tissue" so that we might be brought back to life from some cryogenic state, like the Revenant.  Left for dead, but then returned at a later date.

Then there's a mention of a scientist who refutes "near death experiences" (or as Dr. Parnia calls them "death experiences") who claims that people are merely experiencing "Hypoxia" - that their brain is not dead, but "active" and creating the hallucination of the afterlife.

Kevin Nelson, a neurologist at the University of Kentucky, was on Neal’s panel, and he was skeptical—not of her memory, which he acknowledged was intense and valid, but of its explanation. “These are not return-from-death experiences,” he said, also contradicting Parnia’s view of what had happened. “During these experiences the brain is very much alive and very much active.” He said that what Neal went through could have been a phenomenon called REM intrusion, when the same brain activity that characterizes dreaming somehow gets turned on during other, nonsleep events, such as a sudden loss of oxygen. To him, near-death and out-of-body experiences are the result not of dying but of hypoxia—a loss of consciousness, not of life itself.  From Nat Geo

As my old Oxford/Harvard trained professor Julian Baird used to say "I'd agree with you but then we'd both be wrong."

There are numerous medical cases where blood does not go to the brain for a long period of time - the brain is not functioning and can be measured as not functioning - and those cases, also have the same "afterlife" experience that David Bennett did, as well as many of the thousands of cases listed in Dr. Bruce Greyson's cites ("Irreducible Mind") and Dr. Sam Parnia's cases.  There's no evidence or data to support his conclusion "during these experiences the brain is very much alive."  Because A. Kevin wasn't there. B. He didn't measure the brain of the person having the experience. C. He's assuming the brains must have been active because it's counter-intuitive to everything he (thinks) he knows.

There is evidence, data of many cases outlined in Mario Beauregard PhD's books, including "Brain Wars."  He's a neuro-scientist as well, and he's been able to verify that there is no so called "God spot" on the brain, and he cites a number of cases where people's brains had no blood for an extended period of time, no oxygen to the brain, ie were dead - and yet reported seeing/sensing/hearing a number of things they could not have sensed or heard.  (My favorite is the man born blind and yet while outside of his body, saw that the doctor was wearing orange tennis shoes and told him so. "New information" that could NOT be from his brain.)

It's a bit like the idea of having 99 scientists who talk about climate change being man made, and yet they always refer to the one scientist who doesn't believe it to be the case.  In this instance, there's no evidence that it's Hypoxia - that's just an assumption, and therefore should be treated as one.

As I've pointed out in my books, when you have thousands of people saying relatively the same things about the afterlife - no matter who is asking the questions - then it behooves us to examine what really might be going on, instead of fretting over how the conclusions might appear to our colleagues. Or if they fit neatly into a materialist reality.  

Quantum physics has proven repeatedly that the material world as we know it is some form of an illusion - and there shouldn't be any surprise that our adventures in consciousness defining might have the same conclusion. Since there is no scientific defintion of consciousness - and since there are numerous cases that point to consciousness not being confined to the brain - then we have to conclude that consciousness is NOT NECESSARILY confined to the brain. 

If you want medical cases cited - I refer the reader to Bruce Greyson's youtube talk "Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain" (also reproduced in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife Vol One") where he cites a number of cases where brains were not functioning (due to Alzheimers or another medical condition) should not have been able to function, and yet people were able to suddenly regain their memories as if the memories themselves were not confined to the brain.

Here is that talk. It's worth 90 minutes of your time. (If you actually care to know the science behind these conclusions.)



But beyond that - one sure way to prove that it's not hypoxia is to examine the information that is gleaned from the experience.

For example, if a person is traveling in a train their entire life, and they've never known anything but the world passing by them in motion, if they stepped outside the train and stopped for a moment, then got back on the train and explained what they've experienced, we can't conclude that they're "hallucinating" or "delusional" or inaccurate.  We can only assume they've had an experience that is different than our own.  And once we compare these reports of "train stoppage" we can get a clearer picture of what the world might look like when the train is stopped.

That in itself doesn't make it accurate either - because like blind scientists examining an elephant, each will come back with a different description.  "There's a hell over there with flames and pitchforks" or "there's bug eyed aliens over there" or "there are angels flying around with lutes" - might all be descriptions that people have had during some kind of consciousness altered event - but that doesn't make them accurate or true either.

And when you actually take the time to examine the reports of people who've had a near death experience, and compare them to reports coming from people who under hypnosis can recount their near death experience, or who under hypnosis can recount the last time they died and went "back home" (as I have done in my books) then you have a better shot at coming to some conclusions about the architecture of the afterlife.

Once we introduce words into the conversation, instead of imagery, senses, or feeling - then by the very nature of language we limit that experience, or we reduce the experience into some form of syntax that others can understand.  It's what we've been doing for as long as we've been on the planet - using one word to describe "water" when the bushmen have dozens, using one word to describe "snow" when the indigenous tribes of the north have many, using one word to describe "love" or "home" or "heaven" or "God" applies in the same way.

Depends who you ask.

In David's case, as you'll hear in the interview, he saw a "ball of light." But it was later, as he approached the light - that a few shards split off from the light and came toward him.  During his near death experience he only saw them as shards of light, but later, while under deep hypnosis with a Michael Newton trained therapist in upstate New York, he was able to identify who these shards of light were -- their names and their connection to him.

During his hypnosis session he was able to reaccess the event in a way that allowed him to see a number of things in a different light.  Not that they were different, or inaccurate, but in a different way, the way we might see a painting after years and realize that there's more to it than we thought at first glance.

And finally - David was able to bring back "new information" from his near death experience.

That's information that he didn't know at the time of the near death experience, could not have known, could not have been "cryptomnesia" or "hypoxia" - because these events had not yet occurred on the planet.

In his near death experience, David saw into the future.  He saw a doctor, one whom he didn't know yet, come into an office and tell him he had only a few months to live from a cancer diagnosis.  And in David's near death experience he saw that he survived that diagnosis, survived the cancer.

But he didn't understand it when it happened to him that first time.  In fact when he shared it with a loved one, she doubted him so completely as to think he was insane.  It was over a decade later that David shared his experience with anyone, and only after re-experiencing the event during a meditation session.  And it was years after that he revisited it completely with the help of hypnosis - to see some of the events in a different light.

He told me the story of how when he was in the doctor's office to get the results of his xrays, that a NEW DOCTOR entered the office. Someone that he'd never met, but because his doctor was unavailable, had been given the task to tell David he had weeks to live.  And David RECOGNIZED the Doctor from his near death experience decades earlier.  He knew what the Doctor was going to tell him "You won't survive this, get your life in order" - and he also knew that he would survive it.

Of course the Doctor told him "you're in denial."  But it was the Doctor who was in denial, as David knew he would survive the ordeal and the cancer (with medical and holistic treatment, he followed the course required but also allowed for other therapies as well).

The point is that there are many NDEs where people experience new information - something they could not know, but later learn to be true - proving beyond a shadow of doubt that these events could not by "cryptomnesia" (having been heard or experienced at an earlier date subconsciously) or "hypoxia" (lack of oxygen brain altering event.)

So what are we to make of this?  Does it mean we should all start wearing pyramid hats?

But let's start with that these events can be categorized, they can be studied, and they can offer information about the flipside, or the afterlife.  And that what they say on the flipside is consistent, and its repeated with case after case after case.  There's a reason they aren't studied on the university level, and its because if you can't sell it as a pill, it's just not examined by modern research science. Who would fund such a study? 

A philanthropist?  Problem with philanthropy is simple - if it doesn't benefit the person putting up the money, why put it up?  If they can't find a way to sell it into the future, why bother?

The answer is: if you are a philanthropist, and you care about the future of the planet, then start by helping humans realize that we do reincarnate. We do come back here if we choose to do so - and that it makes sense to leave behind a planet with fresh air, fresh water, fresh food - not only for our children, but for ourselves.  If and when we choose to return to the planet.

That's a pretty profound rethinking of the problem, wouldn't you say?  

It's not just about finding God - but about finding why we're here on the planet in the first place.

I had an older cousin ask me this question today: 

"Richard, I do not mean this negatively at all, but why are you so obsessed with death and "the after life"? Are you not happy in this life and appreciate all the beautiful things and people here? Just curious."

To which I replied:

Not obsessed my dear. I'm an author and filmmaker. But then you'd know that if you'd read Flipside. There's a film and three best selling books. Will send you a link. 

Your mom (my aunt) told me how your father came to visit her the night he died. She said "he appeared at the end of my bed, young and healthy (which is what people report) and he said "I'm fine and i love you." Then the phone rang, the hospital called to say he died. 

Your brother saw our grandfather after he died. Your brother was downstairs in your basement, in his darkroom working on photos, came out and saw our grandfather in his favorite chair. Startled, your brother stepped back in the darkroom - but he said when he opened the door again, our grandfather was still sitting in the chair, smiling. Your brother ran upstairs. 

My father came to visit me the night he died, put his hand on my shoulder asked "why didn't you tell me your brother had a son?" I told him I felt it wasn't my place to reveal that information, as I'd only heard a rumor that was the case. (It later turned out to be true, so when my brother announced it, I already "knew" it. An example of "new information.") 

Then he told me he was in a "beautiful" place. Called it "indescribably beautiful." That he was with mama and papa, his brother, then named friends who died in WWII that I'd never heard of. "Harry, etc," all confirmed by my mother the next day. Names that I did not know but that both he and she did. 

When I told this to your sister she said "bullshit!" - but its not BS. I'm just reporting what eyewitnesses say about the afterlife. And they say it consistently. 

Is it valuable to know we don't die, that our loved ones wait for us? Its not for everyone. 

But I've had at least one grieving mom who read my book say "thank you for saving my life." Not the kind of review i could ever get in my career in film. But worth aiming for.

Visions of the Flipside

Bosch

Heres a "Tunnel of white light" as heard in a high percentage of NDEs. I've heard variations, ball of light, moving through light, towards and into light. Feelings of unconditional love, infinite wisdom and reconnecting with loved ones. 

Dr Bruce Greyson UVA created the NDE scale, appears in "Its a Wonderful Afterlife." Mario Beauregard Phd, using fmri has proven these events, memories aren't confined to any particular place in the brain, or "god spot." 

He's in the book as well. Science shows these religious experiences arent religious at all, although they do inspire people to realize life isnt confined to this realm. In my research i find no two nde's are identical, yet they all point to the same conclusion. Like the word "home" - no one can define it outside their own experience, yet we can all agree it exists within our own journey. Not based on belief or philosophy but the data. 

Bosch's depiction of hell, on the other hand, is not in the data. 

Great to see in his paintings, but the few accounts I've examined, dissolve under analysis. "So why are you experiencing this?" Or "why did you choose to be here?" allows a person to see choice or free will is involved. This tunnel, on the other hand, is the way "home" according to the 25 I've filmed and thousands of cases I've examined. 

MEANWHILE FROM THE DAILY MAIL ON FEB 25TH, 2016:

The following is a news story about a woman who died for an hour, saw her husband during an NDE and came back. I'm posting it as "further data" - and by data I mean:

I'm referring to the thousands of cases Dr Greyson has examined at UVA, the data from the Aware project (2000 cases over 10 years) even your own brothers experience during an NDE. at some point thousands of cases, examined by scientists becomes "data." And this case is no different than those. Sorry. Its just science. But you'd know that if you read Dr Greyson's chapter in "its a wonderful afterlife." Not belief. Or philosophy. Or a story in the paper. Based on thousands of medical cases.

This story is just like all the other stories. Identical. Dr. Greyson is the person who created the NDE scale back in the 80's. Indeed, the medical establishment considers NDE research science and his articles have been peer reviewed and published. He's considered the "godfather of NDE research." 

His book "Irreducible Mind" is a textbook for many psychiatrists (as he is the head psychiatrist at UVA.) Interviewed him for the book (It's a Wonderful Afterlife). There are other scientists who have studied NDE - the Aware project, where a doctor studied NDEs under clinical conditions (hospitals, ORs, etc). 

As Harvard's Gary Schwartz PhD mentions in the foreword to Flipside - "at some point you have to stop pretending" that these cases are not data. Each and every case has been examined thoroughly that Greyson cites - I recommend his youtube talk "Is consciousness produced by the brain" for further cites.

Just because a person in the UK has the identical experience that other NDE people have - that my own brother had after dying in Fort Benning Georgia - which is also reported in the book - these cases all saying relatively the same thing. And that's how Dr. Greyson was able to make a scale of events for near death experiences. 

I've stayed at Greyson's home, and he's given me a tour of his facilities at UVA. I had a conference meeting with his associates at the Dept of Perceptual Studies - including Drs Jim Tucker, Ed Kelley (PhD from Harvard) when you have thousands of people saying the same things about their experience - the same way people collect data on headaches or acne, at some point subjective reports become "evidence" and "data." 

(I refer also to Mario Beauregard's "Brain Wars" for further cites and medical cases) 

I've documented these cases on film for the past 8 years. so I'm not offering that it's data lightly - but at some point, one has to step back from the insistence that its not data to ask - "why wouldn't we consider it data? At what point or degree would you consider it data, if scientists have gone on record saying that it is data?" 

Some folks will never see these reports as anytime but conjecture (for whatever reason). That's their path. But it's not mine. I've examined thousands of these cases, documented 25 on film and dozens in print - so to me - at the end of the day, since they all say relatively the same thing "I knew it was my wife/son/daughter/best friend because I know what their touch feels like, they answered questions before I could ask them" etc... these reports become what science requires: that they be consistent and replicable.

While this woman may have invented this incident, she didnt invent dying for an hour. The report she gives of seeing her husband is consistent with many NDEs. And as I've done, taking people who've had an NDE and filming them under hypnosis allows them to replicate the event. And as noted in "Its a Wonderful Afterlife" what they report is the same event yet with more clarity. They could dispute the memory of the event, but they do not. 

Doesnt matter what religion they are, what gender or background. They consistently say the same things.

HERE'S THE ARTICLE AS REPORTED FROM THE UK:

'Sonia, it's not your time... just go back to the kids': Bingo worker who 'died' for 56 minutes says she was saved by the spirit of her late husband who told her not to die

• Sonia Burton, 50, suffered a heart attack and had no pulse for 56 minutes
• Paramedics refused to give up on her and continued to carry out CPR
• Mum-of-four said her late husband visited her and said 'it's not your time'
• Sonia thanked medics who saved her when they were reunited on Tuesday

By JENNY STANTON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 16:54 EST, 26 January 2016 | UPDATED: 06:22 EST, 27 January 2016

 
 
 
 
 

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A bingo worker who had no pulse for almost an hour after suffering a massive heart attack says her late husband visited her and said 'it's not your time'.

Sonia Burton was 'dead' for 56 minutes following her heart attack at the bingo hall in Ashington, Northumberland, but paramedics refused to give up on her.

The mum-of-four said: 'The only thing I remember is my late husband coming to me and saying "it's not your time, Sonia, go back to the children". Then I woke up in hospital.' 

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Saved: Sonia, who had no pulse for almost an hour, pictured with her daughters, granddaughter and brother

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Message: Sonia Burton with her late husband John. Sonia said she got a message from John, who died in 2004 following a heart attack aged just 37, while she was being resuscitated 

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On Tuesday, Sonia described herself as a 'living miracle' as she was reunited with the paramedics who brought her back to life.

'Every day I think how incredible it is that I'm still here,' she said. 'I don't take anything for granted.'

On the day of her heart attack, Sonia had gone about her daily tasks with daughter Rebecca, 30.

She had been due to start work at Gala Bingo Hall in Ashington at 5.30pm but went in early at 4.45pm to talk to colleagues and have a coffee.

The 50-year-old said: 'I mainly work in the dining area and had been heading out of there when I remember getting a pain in my chest and then collapsing.'

Out cold, Sonia's frantic boss Karen Arkle began trying to resuscitate her as an ambulance was called. 

Within four minutes, paramedic Jason Riches and emergency care assistant Gary French were on the scene, taking over CPR from Karen. 

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Sonia pictured with the people that saved her life - trainee paramedic Rosie Priest (left), and paramedics Stephen Eke (second from left) and Jason Riches (right)

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Sonia described herself as a 'living miracle' as she was reunited with the paramedics who saved her life

They were then backed up by paramedic Stephen Eke and first year student paramedic Rosie Priest.

For the next 56 minutes the team worked to save Sonia as she was transported to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.

It was while they were trying to save her that Sonia said she got a message from late husband John, who died in 2004 following a heart attack aged just 37.

'I spoke to him and he told me that it was not my time and I should go back,' she said. 'To be honest, it felt very comforting.'

By the time they arrived at Cramlington hospital, Sonia was still unconscious but had started breathing. 

She was then transferred to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, where she underwent lifesaving surgery to have a stent fitted in her heart.

Eight days later she was back home, being cared for by brother, Mark, and her four children, Michael, 31, Megan, 22, Rebecca and 19 year old Thomas.

'It's strange to think I was technically dead for an hour,' added Sonia. 'If it wasn't for the guys being there so quickly and not giving up on me, it would have been a very different story. 

'My mind is a bit forgetful and I'm on a lot of medication but otherwise I'm doing really well - and, at the end of the day, I'm still here.'

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Sonia Burton, pictured with her granddaughter Sophie Murray, said it would have been a different story if the medics had given up on her

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 Sonia Burton, pictured with her family, was 'dead' for 56 minutes following her heart attack at the bingo hall

Sonia's brother Mark, who she lives with, had been walking the dog when he received the call to say his sister had collapsed.

He said: 'They were working on her when I got there. It was frantic, there was no life in her at all.

'I said 'please don't stop' and, they never did.

'I couldn't be more thankful for everything Stephen, Jason and Gary did for Sonia that day. To see Sonia like she was that day and to see her now is phenomenal, I can't express just what a good job they've done.'

Paramedic Stephen, 43, said: 'Jason and I have over 50 years' experience between us and neither of us have ever seen somebody come back after that length of time.

'We often get a return of a pulse, maybe one out of 10, but usually it's just the adrenaline that's making the heart work again and as soon as that wears off they go back into cardiac arrest.

'It's unbelievable to see how well Sonia's doing now.'

Paramedic Jason, 44, said: 'You go into this job to help people. It's a nice feeling knowing that we were able to make a difference and even better to see what a remarkable recovery she's made.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3418068/Bingo-worker-died-56-minutes-says-saved-late-husband-visited-said-not-time.html#ixzz41Dd8r3qL
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Luana's Birthday and Scott De Tamble talks Flipside hypnotherapy

For fans of "Flipside" today is our pal Luana Anders birthday - or day she chose to join us on the planet.

"The Essence of our Relationship"

Happy Birthday Luana! 

When I put this photo on the fridge in 1996 I said aloud "Look, Lu, the essence of our relationship." - laughs and cappuccinos from L.A. to Rome. About 3 months after she checked off the planet, Charles Grodin had the psychic James Van Praagh on his talk show, and Chuck had me secretly call in to test how accurate he might be. When I asked about "a friend named Luana" Van Praagh said "She says there's a photograph on your refrigerator that is the essence of your relationship." 

Luana's not gone. She's just not here. 

She's home.

Lu

On that note, I filmed this talk the other day at the Orange County Iands group about what it's like over there; home.

Scott De Tamble lightbetweenlives.com

In it, clinical hypnotherapist Scott De Tamble talks about between life hypnotherapy and some of the insight he's gained from his 14 years doing it, as well as the Michael Newton method of hypnotherapy.  After his 50 minute talk, there's a 20 minute open discussion, where I add my two cents about some of the cases that I've filmed with Scott.  

I've been filming between life hypnotherapy sessions for the past six years, many with Scott, and the transcripts appear in "Flipside: A Tourist's Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife" or "It's a Wonderful Afterlife: Further Adventures in the Flipside" volumes one and two.  

The film "Flipside: a Journey into the Afterlife" features some of Scott's sessions, as well as interviews with other hypnotherapists.(all available online, in audible, ebook and paperback via flipsidethebook.com.) If you're interested in booking a session with Scott, he's in Claremont, CA, his website is lightbetweenlives.com. This talk was given at the Orange County Iands group (International Association of Near Death Studies), more info can be found at IANDS.org.  

This is an organization dedicated to sharing experiences of a spiritual nature and most everyone in the room of this talk has either had a near death experience, or is familiar with the concepts Scott is speaking about (and people ask questions that he answers at the end of his talk) the form of hypnosis that is 4 to 6 hours in length, and was pioneered by psychologist Michael Newton, who taught Scott his method that he honed over 30 years with 7000 clients. 

 In the recent books, I examine the near death experiences (which science has been able to catalog and use in peer reviewed journals - see the work of Dr. Bruce Greyson at UVA) and compare them with between life sessions, where people under deep hypnosis see, experience, hear or feel some of the same hallmarks that people do during an NDE - a past life review, a visit with a guide or higher energy, moving into the light and beyond it, the experience of unconditional love, etc.  

Luana waving from home.

The premise of my latest books is that if we can study NDEs in a scientific setting and get verifiable results (that can and have been duplicated, in studies like Dr. Sam Parnia's "Aware" project) then we should be able to view these accounts of deep hypnosis between life sessions through the same lens. 

Thousands of people have had them, report the same events no matter what their religious, ethnic or gender, and Michael Newton has trained hundreds of therapists who ask roughly the same questions to their clients - and the results are remarkable for their similarities, whether the client has ever been under hypnosis, or in many cases, is a skeptic and doesn't believe in any form of afterlife whatsoever.  

So please listen to this talk in its entirety, if you have the 70 minutes, and keep an open mind. 

I've known Scott for six years now, have filmed a number of sessions with him, and consider him a virtuoso in his abilities to explore and examine what a person says while under hypnosis about their previous lifetimes, and the journey of their souls between lifetimes.  This is a pretty amazing talk, and if you're open to it, it will change your perspective about the planet.  

Enjoy. And Happy Birthday Lu. Without further adieu:

Ben Affleck and The Flipside

Rarely do we see how silly "modern science" can be.

"Ben Affleck Asked PBS Not To Reveal Ancestry"

 (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File

First off, let me say I've met Ben an a few occasions, in Cannes where I introduced him to Chantal Cerruti, who offered to outfit him in a suit. (I was wearing one, and was happy to make the introduction.) And then later in Santa Monica, where our kids shared a pre-school - his were stalked by paparazzi in trees hovering over the playground, mine were bouncing around the chicken coop - but he and his wife couldn't have been nicer people. 

Despite playing my way through Boston U via a piano-bar in Charlestown (The Warren Tavern) near his home - other than that proximity, I have no reason to comment on this story, other than... it's nonsense.

She agrees with me. Or at least I hope so.
Taken on the set of my film "My Bollywood Bride"

Forget for a moment, the illegal posting of private emails by Wikileaks (One thing to reveal criminal behavior on behalf of hidden agendas, and another to post emails of people who happen to work for or be affiliated with a company... mine included - as I worked on their film "Salt.")  That's beyond the pale, and for my two cents, its reputation just went into a pail.

But back to Mr. Affleck who is "accused" ("Je Accuse!") of asking a reality TV show to cut out the part where his ancestors owned slaves.

Here's the issue:  Harvard's Robert Gates, who hosts the show, claims Ben (or his reps) asked him to delete that part of the show that revealed Ben's relatives owned slaves:

"PBS and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, host of the show that traces the ancestry of well-known guests, said in separate statements that they didn't censor the slave-owner details. Instead, more interesting ancestors of the actor emerged and Gates chose to highlight them in October's segment featuring Affleck, they said in the statements posted on the PBS website..." 

(Professor Gates is the professor who was arrested on his porch in that tragic "arrested for being black" incident in Cambridge years ago.  Unfortunately, a victim of a centuries old amount of prejudice in the Boston area, where I went to school across the Charles River.)

And then this quote jumped out at me:

"In their email exchange, Gates asks (Sony's Michael) Lynton for advice on how to handle Affleck's request. "Here's my dilemma: confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors--the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?" Gates wrote on July 22, 2014."

Hello?

"The fact that HE OWNED SLAVES."  Now, I imagine he's not referring to Ben Affleck here, because Ben never owned slaves.

Includes an account of someone who did own slaves... in a previous life

But this sentence goes to the heart of why this research into consciousness, into the "Flipside" is so important.  For Ben, and for Gates, who is belaboring under the concept that somehow we are our ancestors (genetically or epigenetically.) 

There's no evidence that we are our ancestors.  We don't have memories of what our ancestors did.  Under hypnosis, during a near death experience, or any other event in human history.  None. (I'm sorry all those relatives of mine, Irish and Italian who celebrate that fact every year with pasta or beer. It's nice to believe we are them, but we ain't. And it shows)

However we have tons of evidence that people have memories of previous lifetimes that weren't, could not be, were in no relation to their ancestors.  Under hypnosis, during near death experiences, and sometimes during a coma, an out of body experience, during an LSD trip - even while being "cleared" during Scientology.  People have "memories" of their previous lifetimes. Memories that can be forensically looked up and proven.

How could that be?

I can tell you what scientists say.  That it's "cryptomnesia" - or somehow remembering something they saw, or heard on tv, or imagined.  Somehow they made up these details - emotions and everything else that goes along with a previous remembrance of a lifetime.

Hypnotherapists in Iowa watching "Flipside" on DVD. 
Available on Amazon, or Gaiam TV.  Nice screening room.

But where are these memories stored?  In our DNA?  Well, that doesn't make sense, because these memories are of different races - sometimes remembering a lifetime as a slave owner (as in "Flipside") or sometimes a lifetime remembered as an Asian monk (in "Flipside" and "It's a Wonderful Afterlife.")  

What people report under deep hypnosis is that these memories are not stored in our DNA, but travel with us in the form of energetic "hard drives" - they're described in various accounts as "fractals" or some other mode of transport that retain all of our memories from previous lifetimes.  And that when we need to access them - moments of clarity, apotheosis, or in moments of fear, or nearly dying - we access them.  

Could they be part of the Jungian "pool" of consciousness, as one scientist has suggested to me?  Well that doesn't make a lick of sense either, because people who remember these past lives, remember the death scene, remember leaving the body, and when asked where they'd like to "go" they inevitably say "HOME."  As all the 26 people I've filmed under deep hypnosis say.  And then, they go "home" - where they claim they meet their loved ones, hang out with spirit guides, and generally plot their next lifetime. 

(I began "Flipside" as a documentary about Michael Newton's work as a psychologist where over 7000 people said the same things under deep hypnosis about the afterlife over 30 years prior to his publishing in 1994.  I've discovered Dr. Helen Wambach, another psychologist got the same results in her studies in the 1960's. So there's plenty of research to back up these accounts.)

I'm not hypothesizing this detail - it's not a belief or a philosophy - it's what thousands have reported.  Consistently.  Which is what science requires.

So let's start there.  

Ben Affleck should know, should be aware that he is not his ancestors.  Any more than the actress who plays Desdemona coming off stage and berating the actor who played Othello for killing her.  "It's in the play!"

(This quote, courtesy of the actress Kathy Bates, who said it at the end of last year's "American Horror Story" - which sums up perfectly what these reports of why we choose difficult lives, but there's only forgiveness in the afterlife.)

Kathy Bates in her "Freak Show" costume

So if Ben had slave owners in his memories of previous lifetimes - which like I say, occurred in someone interviewed in "Flipside" who saw and felt and experienced what it was like to beat and whip people without any feeling for them - and seeing and feeling and experiencing the horror of that experience.  

And then being told by his spirit guides that he had "transferred that anger to himself" and was still working on beating himself up over his past life behaviors, but that he's "doing better now."  (The person is a hypnotherapist, who has healed countless people in his work; Paul Aurand, former President of the Newton Institute).

Gary Schwartz PhD, author of many books 
on consciousness, "Sacred Promise" included.

Harvard's Gary Schwartz PhD wrote the introduction to "Flipside."  (He also got a PhD from Yale and ran one of their medical schools).  He's been at the forefront of studying consciousness existing outside the body, so Professor Gates might want to check into his work. 

Harvard's own Dr. Alexander wrote about his consciousness existing beyond his body.

 Or perhaps Harvard's Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who had a profound between life experience as recounted in "Proof of Heaven" (Proof also mean a scientific argument for, by the way) - who has personally experienced consciousness existing outside the brain.  Or perhaps look into the work of UVA's Dr. Bruce Greyson, whose epic work on near death experiences is distilled in the youtube video "Is Consciousness Produced by the Brain" where he demonstrates the many cases where people whose brains are not working, actually work in various cases.

The book by Dr. Greyson, Drs Kelly, interviewed in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife"

(80 mins that will convince you that consciousness is not confined to the brain. UVA's Dr. Bruce Greyson speaking in Dharamsala, reproduced in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife")




But no, you see, people focus on the idea that somehow Ben's stardom might have been affected by this revelation that someone in his genetic tree owned slaves.  And now, here we have the opportunity to prove that's nonsense - that he has no more responsibility for what his genetic forefathers did, than a fruit fly does for being angry that he lives for 24 hours. 

Just like people killing each other in Northern Ireland for the fact that their forefathers were of a particular religion.  There's no evidence they are their forefathers, but there is evidence that they've reincarnated on both sides of the fence.

Just like people killing each other in the Middle East. There's DNA evidence that shows Palestinians and Israelis are nearly identical in their DNA, much more so than those outside their group.  And there's no evidence that people had previously lifetimes in their genetic tree - unless they chose to do so.  And there's plenty of evidence of people reincarnating on "opposite sides of the fence."

Just like slaves and their slave owners.  There's no evidence that people remembered lifetimes as slaves (unless that was a choice they made in a previous lifetime) nor is there any evidence that people were slave owners.  However there is evidence that a boy in Ohio who is white, remembers a lifetime where he was a young girl who died in a fire in Chicago (who was black.)
Here's his story.




"It's in the data.  Data does not lie.  We only lie to ourselves about the data."  (said no one but me)


What the research in "Flipside" demonstrates, (and now in "It's a Wonderful Afterlife") over and over again is that we choose our parents each time out.  We choose our lifetime each time we decide to come here.  Yes, we can choose to be a slave owner, yes, we can choose to be a slave - and we have our own private, personal reasons for making that choice, and none of us can judge another for their choice - because we can't be in their shoes.  

And in this case, Ben chose to be here on the planet, and I applaud him for it.  But he should take this opportunity to look into the research - the real research about who he is, about why he chose to be on the planet.  He'll find it if he looks for it, if he's open to it.  To examine why he chose this particular life, this particular path.

Prior to some screening somewhere on the planet.

And that my friends, is my two cents for the day.