Dept of Perceptual Studies at UVA proving that life goes on...

DOPS UVA, where consciousness is studied by scientists. Great to see my pal Gary Schwartz PhD included; data is data after all. Not a fan of the B roll choices, but worth watching. 

Insisting life ends in death or consciousness ends when the brain does just isn't reflected in the research. Happy Halloween.

Perceptual Studies

The UVA Division of Perceptual Studies have been researching consciousness for several years.

https://www.cbs19news.com/video?vid=564128612&fbclid=IwAR0YMgOs_s-X5fPQD1jsiaYzfqusXKBajfCxfXdTY-9gHcmMgm0g7WxL0vU

Carl Sagan, a visit to Coast to Coast and "Children's Past Lives"

A question asked on Quora the other day....

Hacking the Afterlife - link to the 
book "Hacking the Afterlife"

Why are Richard Martini's books labeled under New Age, not science in Amazon?

Richard Martini, Film Director Writer at Internet Movie Database (1985-present)

Answered Wed

My reply: 

"Ha! That’s an easy one. Because I label them, Amazon does not.

If I could label them under “science” I would get a lot of people arguing about the research. So why bother with arguing? As I’ve heard consistently in this research from folks on the Flipside: “Tell people to believe in the possibility of an afterlife, then they won’t waste any more of their time arguing about it.” 

Harry Dean and a furry friend

(That's a quote from Harry Dean Stanton from  "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer")

But let’s consider what you’re asking for a moment. Have I been able to present my research to scientists? Yes, I have. It happened after I finished “Flipside.” I was invited to the University of Virginia’s Dept of Perceptual Studies to speak about what I’d learned by filming people under deep hypnosis about the afterlife.

In the room were some of the top scientists in the world with regard to consciousness studies, including Dr. Bruce Greyson (NDE), Dr. Jim Tucker (reincarnation) Ed Kelly PhD (Psi) and others. They had all read the book, and began our conversation with telling me that “hypnosis is not considered a valid scientific tool.” (And Ian Stevenson, the founder of DOPS had written about why that’s the case.)

(A good place to take a look at near death experiences is IANDS.ORG - The website for DOPS is here: (see article below)

Fortunately, I was aware of Ian’s prejudice against the practice, and agreed wholeheartedly that “hypnosis as it was practiced by Freud” is not a valid tool. Too many factors can influence the process, including the desire of the patient to be cured, the doctor wanted to effect a cure, as well as the time element - “in the next hour please tell me why you’ve got a phobia.”

I pointed out that in Michael Newton’s case (before I was aware of Dr. Helen Wambach’s identical research a decade earlier) the time element was gone - as the sessions took from four to six hours. The questions by design were neutral; “What do you see if anything? Where are we now? Is it day or night? Are you a man or a woman?” But most importantly, and this was my point of pursuing this line of research, it didn’t matter who the person was asking the questions, it didn’t matter who the person was answering the questions, they all said relatively the same things about the journey; having a guide or guides, seeing their friends or loved ones in a “soul group,” all visited a “council” where they saw their life review, etc.

I argued that the fact that thousands of people across the globe said the same basic things during their session created a database of research. I gave them a challenge; to take any person off the street, or anyone that they chose, a skeptic, didn’t matter, and have them do a session; if they got contrary results, then fine the experiment was over; end of discussion. 

But if they got the same results that Michael Newton did, or that I was claiming anyone could, then it was up to them as scientists to prove why that is the case.

Because I am not a scientist. I’m a filmmaker. All I was doing was filming these people (which no one had done before) and transcribing exactly what they said, and comparing what they said - different hypnotherapists, different people from across the globe. Everyone said relatively the same thing.

Ultimately, I’ve learned second hand that indeed they have done that - that someone who is in the film “Flipside” has done sessions with scientists and had the same results. As I said at the time “It’s not up to me to prove why that’s the case, I’m just a filmmaker. If you guys are scientists, then it’s up to you why that is the case.”

They pointed out that it was nearly impossible to mount a university based study on what I was proposing. It would cost money, and the people who sponsor these kinds of studies are by and large pharmacological entities who want the results of the tests to help them market and sell their products. That’s not a pejorative - it’s just stating the facts. Very hard to mount a study about something if someone isn’t financing it. (I’m glad to see that DOPS has just published results of a study about reincarnation in children.) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/...

Now that study is science. (I don’t need to be a scientist to stand outside the school and point in the right direction.)

This topic came up the other day when I was filming an interview with a medium who was answering questions I was posing to people on the flipside. (Jennifer Shaffer - “Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer”) At some point, I was asking questions directly to Carl Sagan. (Yes, that Carl Sagan.) I asked “Carl” if he had any advice for his fans.

Jennifer: “He says tell them to stop wasting time doing what he did.”

Rich: “Arguing about the afterlife?”

J: It’s so pointless.

R: Well how can we help them?

J: It’s paradise over here.

R: But how can we help them?

J: We can’t.

R: So these books are not helping. Is that what you’re saying, these books are a waste of time Carl, “Mr. Blue Dot?” (I have a tendency to tease whomever I’m talking to).

J: They’re all laughing. “No. The books are timeless, people can come or go and think what they’ll think and they’ll find them… like if I (Jennifer) had come across your book “Flipside” in my 20’s I wouldn’t have been ready for it, but coming across it when I did was the perfect time for it.” 

(Excerpt from upcoming Third Book of “Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer.” All Rights Reserved. Copyright Rich Martini 2018)

So I’m not concerned AT ALL whether people find this research annoying, promising, science or fantasy. I know what I know, and I can only report what I’ve experienced, what I’ve filmed and transcribed. I’ll leave it up to posterity to figure out whether or not any of it is accurate. But thanks for the shout out! 

Happy Thanksgiving.'

Book Two - both available on Audible.com

I'll be appearing with George Noory this coming Dec. 2nd at 10 p.m. PST.  Tune in if you'd like to hear the latest about whatever the latest thing is that's on my mind.  Always a treat to talk to George.

George and moi

Here's the article from DOPS on the scientific research regarding children remembering past lives:

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/research-area/children-who-report-memories-of-previous-lives/

"Some young children, usually between the ages of 2 and 5, speak about memories of a previous life they claim to have lived. At the same time they often show behaviors, such as phobias or preferences, that are unusual within the context of their particular family and cannot be explained by any current life events. These memories appear to be concordant with the child’s statements about a previous life.

In many cases of this type, the child’s statements have been shown to correspond accurately to facts in the life and death of a deceased person. Some of the children have birthmarks and birth defects that correspond to wounds or other marks on the deceased person whose life is being remembered by the child.  In numerous cases postmortem reports have confirmed these correspondences. Older children may retain these apparent memories, but generally they seem to fade around the age of 7 .  The young subjects of these cases have been found all over the world including Europe and North America.

For the past 16 years, Dr. Jim Tucker, now the director of the Division of Perceptual Studies, has focused mainly on cases found in the United States. His most recent book Return to Life offers accounts of  very strong American cases of young children who remember previous lives.

Types of Statements a Child Might Make:

Statements made by a child who seems to be remembering a previous life can be quite varied. The following is not an exhaustive list by any means. It is designed to give an idea of the kinds of things a parent or caregiver might hear, and in our Western culture, tend to dismiss as fantasy. It is also true that a child might say one or more of these things and not be remembering a previous life. It is probably best not to pump a child for information, nor to try and prevent him or her from saying such things.

• “You’re not my mommy/daddy.”
• “I have another mommy/daddy.”
• “When I was big, I …(used to have blue eyes/had a car, etc.).”
• “That happened before I was in mommy’s tummy.”
• “I have a wife/husband/children.”
• “I used to…(drive a truck/live in another town, etc.)”
• “I died … (in a car accident/after I fell, etc.)”
• “Remember when I …(lived in that other house/was your daddy, etc.)”

Please contact us if your child appears to be having memories of a previous life:

• We are very interested in hearing about cases of young children who are currently spontaneously speaking about memories of a previous life.  If you are a parent or a caretaker of a young child, please contact us to submit your observations and experiences of your child’s behaviors and statements about memories of a previous life.

Advice to parents of children who are reporting memories of a previous life.

• If you are a parent seeking advice about your child who seems to remember a previous life, please refer to Advice to Parents.

Books about the research being done at DOPS into memories of previous lives:

We invite you to view a list of books on reincarnation written by our faculty. The list includes books written by our director, Dr. Jim Tucker, as well as the long list of books authored by our founder, Dr. Ian Stevenson.  Among the many ground breaking books by Dr. Stevenson is his comprehensive two volume set, Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, Volumes I and II. In this 2268 page, two volume set, Dr. Stevenson wrote about his extensive research into cases of birthmarks and birth defects which appeared to strongly correlate to memories of a past life in particular subjects. Dr. Stevenson also wrote an abridged version of this research called Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect.

In 2013, Dr. Jim Tucker, appointed director of the Division of Perceptual Studies in 2014, authored his second book on the topic of cases of children who report memories of a previous life. In his most recent book Return to Life, Dr. Tucker describes the research into strong American cases being carried out at DOPS. In Tucker’s first book, Life Before Life, he reviews forty years of research into children who report memories of previous lives. This book contains some accounts of interesting American cases, as well as descriptions of Dr. Ian Stevenson’s classic cases in Asia.

(RM: I'd include Carol Bowman's work "Children's Past Lives" in this list) 

Other publications on past-life memories:

For a list of academic papers specifically on the study of past life memories written by our faculty, please see Publications on Past-life Memories.

Expanded List of Publications:

To view the expanded list of publications generated by the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies researchers, go to the Academic Publications Page.

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

Flipside in Virginia Beach

Hi, just got back from a trip to DOPS at the University of Virginia where I got the rare opportunity to speak to some great scientists about the research in "Flipside."  We had a really interesting, lively discussion about the possibility of examining this work from a more scientific point of view - I'm happy to say they were open to what I was saying - even though it's not in the scientific lexicon to use hypnosis as a form of investigation - but we discussed possible ways it might be able to be studied in the future.

Then I was able to speak to the Virginia Beach IANDS group (International Near Death Studies group) at the Edgar Cayce institute A.R.E. about "Flipside" - a two hour chat that was videotaped and will be available asap.  In the afternoon we screened the documentary and spoke about it for quite some time.

For those of you not familiar with Virginia Beach, it's the only place I've ever been where people speak about past lives, and spiritual journeys in the same breath they speak of the weather.  It's an amazing group of really interesting people who've had some really interesting experiences - I was invited to a pot luck dinner and the conversation went from a gentleman who remembered a past life where he was murdered on a slave ship to a person who had a Near Death experience that changed her life, to a woman whose son had passed away the week before and he had appeared to her just afterwards to say "stop crying mom, I'm ok, I'm fine."

They invited me to their fellowship meeting on Sunday morning where they shared prayers and songs and wishes of good hope, and I spoke for a half an hour about practical methods to deal with helping people in spiritual need, talking about the Tibetan meditations - "the Jewel Tree of Tibet" as it was taught to me by Tenzin Robert Thurman, and "Tonglen" as it has been studied by Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin, where he's used science to prove it to be an effective antidote for depression.

If you enlarge you'll see odd "orbs" on my head that are in many
 pix from this event. I think I know what they are, I mention them in "Flipside"
but never saw any pix of myself with them floating about. (Pic: Dick Dinges) 

Here's a letter of recommendation that was forwarded along to me - in case someone would like me to come and speak about "Flipside" wherever you are....

I am the President of Virginia Beach Friends of IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies). Our group hosts speakers who have had transformational experiences, and we present them once a month to an average audience of around 50 people at Edgar Cayce's A. R. E. in Virginia Beach, VA.

I have been scheduling speakers for the last several years.This past Saturday, Sept. 1, Rich Martini of Santa Monica, CA was our speaker, and he was wonderful. His topic was perfect for us, and his delivery was exciting. One of our Board members, Jeff, told me that Rich was the best speaker we have had so far. I can't think of anyone I enjoyed more.

Rich lost a friend to death, and wanted to be in touch with her if he could. His path led him to be regressed in the manner Dr. Michael Newton taught. Rich went into his regression as a skeptic, but came away convinced that what he experienced was real and true. He saw his friend. After that he interviewed Dr. Michael Newton. He filmed many regressions and interviewed many people on their experiences. Now his passion is to tell what he has learned. This is what he feels is the purpose of his life

Rich tells his story in his book, FLIPSIDE: A TOURIST'S GUIDE ON HOW TO NAVIGATE THE AFTERLIFE, and documentary movie of the same name.

I am writing not only to recommend a speaker who has become a friend, but also to promote what I feel is the new perspective on the meaning of our lives. (I write this as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who taught from the Bible for most of my 26 years of pastoral ministry.) This is how I understand it. Our lives on Earth are dramas we create together in our soul groups in the spiritual realm. We write the parts, we put on the human costumes, and we live out the dramas. Then our physical bodies die and we return to spirit to find among other things that the villains in our dramas were really only other actors in our soul group. Then we work with our Guides and group to create a new drama for fun and growth in our capacity to love.

There is no fear in this perspective. There is no division. We are all part of the Oneness. We have unlimited opportunities to experience all the facets of life. That's what thousands of people say after having been regressed. What a message for the world! I want to help promote that message. That's why I am recommending Rich Martini .

Rich speaks spontaneously and enthusiastically. He has a hundred stories to tell and he doesn't need any notes. He speaks with humor and expressive body language. Finally, let me describe one incident that Rich reported in his talk. Rich was observing a regression. The subject asked his Guide, "What is God?" The Guide answered. "God is greater than the human mind can comprehend. But God can be experienced by opening up to everyone and every thing."

Dick Dinges, Virginia Beach

Rich Martini

SEPTEMBER 1: Saturday morning from 10:00-12:00 p.m., at Edgar Cayce's A.R.E.

From 10 – noon Mr. Martini will describe his after-death communication (ADC) with his close friend, actress Luana Anders, which started him on an exploration to understand where we go when we die. That exploration led Rich to the work of Michael Newton, to meeting Dr. Newton, and to his own profound past-life and life-between-life regression. During that session, which was filmed, Rich recognized his present family members and came to understand the role they play in his life today. Suggested donation at the door is $5.

From 2:30 – 4:30 Mr. Martini will present his documentary film, “FLIPSIDE: A TOURIST’S GUIDE ON HOW TO NAVIGATE THE AFTERLIFE,” which goes hand-in-hand with his book of the same name. Admission is $10. Refer to www.vbiands.com for complete information, and Contact Dick Dinges at (757) 575-2759.

In the film, Mr. Martini explores startling new evidence for life after death by documenting the life-between-lives experience. Based on the evidence of thousands of such regressions, we learn that after physical death we return to be with our loved ones, soul mates, and spiritual teachers, and together with them we choose how and when we will reincarnate. The movie and book present interviews with hypnotherapists trained in the method pioneered by Dr. Michael Newton, as well as actual between-life sessions, including Rich Martini’s own session.