{"id":74290,"date":"2022-03-09T21:36:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T21:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=74290"},"modified":"2022-03-09T21:36:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T21:36:55","slug":"5-have-had-a-near-death-experience-and-they-say-it-made-life-worth-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/5-have-had-a-near-death-experience-and-they-say-it-made-life-worth-living\/","title":{"rendered":"5% have had a near-death experience \u2013 and they say it made life worth living"},"content":{"rendered":"

About fifty years ago, Dr. Bruce Greyson, a psychiatrist, was eating pasta in the hospital cafeteria when his beeper went off. Startled, he dropped his fork and left a drop of spaghetti sauce on his tie. Greyson was urgently needed in the ER to treat a college student who had overdosed. With no time to change his dirty tie, he grabbed a white lab coat and buttoned it up to hide the stain. In the ER, he found the student unconscious on a gurney, her breathing slow but regular. He called her name \u2013 \u201cHolly<\/em>\u201d \u2013 and pursued to rouse her. But she didn\u2019t stir.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Greyson left Holly and met her roommate, Susan, at the end of the hall in the lounge. Unbuttoning his coat, he sat down and asked Susan to recount everything that had occurred. The next morning, Greyson returned to work at the hospital. Though Holly was awake, she was also groggy, her eyes closed.<\/p>\n

Greyson leaned in. \u201cHolly, I\u2019m Dr. Greyson<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Holly stirred. \u201cI remember you from last night<\/em>,\u201d she mumbled.<\/p>\n

Greyson was confused. \u201cI didn\u2019t know you could see me<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in my room,<\/em>\u201d Holly muttered. \u201cI saw you talking with Susan, sitting on the couch<\/em>.\u201d Suddenly Holly opened her eyes, looked Greyson in the face and added, \u201cYou were wearing a striped tie that had a red stain on it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Greyson was shocked. \u201cWhat?<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Holly went on to recount Greyson\u2019s conversation with her roommate and nailed every detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy immediate reaction was almost terror: This can\u2019t be occurring<\/em>,\u201d Greyson told The Post<\/em>. \u201cAfter a few days, I thought this couldn\u2019t have occurred. It needs to be some trick that people played on me<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The encounter, however, continued to gnaw at him. Greyson began studying these so-called out of body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs) from a scientific standpoint, collecting hundreds of stories from those who\u2019ve had them. He discovered that Holly\u2019s experience was not unique and that many people who survive the jaws of death report strange out-of-body experiences.<\/p>\n

Since meeting Holly, Greyson had published hundreds of academic papers and co-founded the International Association for Near-Death Studies. His search for answers is chronicled in his new book \u201cAfter: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond<\/em>\u201d (St. Martin\u2019s Essentials), out on March 2, 2021.<\/p>\n

According to Greyson\u2019s research, near-death experiences are fairly common. Some 10 percent to 20 percent of people who come close to death report them \u2013 about 5 percent of the population at large. \u201cBack in the \u201980s when someone had this experience they thought they were the only person who had it<\/em>,\u201d says Greyson, now a psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. \u201cIt\u2019s increasingly common for people to feel comfortable talking about them.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

No two NDEs are exactly alike, but Greyson has cataloged a few common elements. One, cited by some 80 percent of people who\u2019ve had an NDE, is leaving your body.<\/p>\n

Al Sullivan was a Connecticut truck driver who one day in 1988 found himself in the hospital with chest pains. He was rushed to the operating room for bypass surgery. He told Greyson that when he came to, he was looking down as his surgery was being performed. One puzzling aspect of the scene was that his surgeon seemed to be flapping his arms like a bird. The imagery sounded nonsensical. Greyson suspected it might have been a dream. But then Greyson contacted Sullivan\u2019s surgeon, who told him of his unusual habit. After he \u201cscrubbed in<\/em>\u201d for surgery, he avoided accidentally touching anything by keeping his hands pinned to his chest and pointing at things for his assistants with his elbows. It was the same flapping Sullivan had described, despite being anesthetized, his chest cut open and his eyes taped shut.<\/p>\n

Another well-known feature (experienced by about one quarter of those having an NDE) is the \u201clife review<\/em>\u201d \u2013 in which a person\u2019s life flashes before their eyes.<\/p>\n

Barbara Harris Whitfield, a Georgia therapist, had an NDE at age 32 in 1975 when she suffered respiratory complications while immobilized from back surgery. \u201cAs I left my body, I saw my 1-year-old self \u2026 facedown in my crib \u2026 crying<\/em>,\u201d Whitfield told Greyson. \u201cIn every scene of my life review I could feel again what I had felt at various times in my life. And I could feel everything everyone else felt as a consequence of my actions. Some of it felt good and some of it felt awful<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those having an NDE, their thoughts get faster and clearer. Also, in Greyson\u2019s research, about two-thirds reported \u201cextraordinarily vivid sensations \u2026 that most often involved exceptionally bright vision and unique colors, or exceptionally clear hearing and unique sounds<\/em>,\u201d the author writes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some two-thirds of those having an NDE meet another person \u2013 often a dead loved one. What\u2019s especially strange is that sometimes experiencers \u201cmeet recently deceased people who were not known to have died,<\/em>\u201d Greyson reports.<\/p>\n

A South African man named Jack Bybee nearly died from pneumonia in 1972. During his NDE, he saw one of the nurses who\u2019d been taking care of him, Anita. Anita told him that he needs to \u201cgo back<\/em>\u201d and that she was sorry she \u201cwrecked the red MGB<\/em>.\u201d When Bybee recovered, he told another nurse what he\u2019d seen. The nurse fled the room in tears. Bybee soon learned that Anita had been given a red MGB for her birthday, and while out driving, she\u2019d crashed and died. Bybee had been \u201cdead<\/em>\u201d when the accident occurred and couldn\u2019t have known her fate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the evidence overwhelmingly points to the physical body not being all that we are\u201d \u2013 Dr. Bruce Greyson<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his decades of research, Greyson has attempted to find what might be a physical explanation for NDEs. In the process, he has managed to debunk some conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

For example, some experts have suggested NDEs might be a result of the powerful drugs given to patients who are near death. Greyson found that those administered drugs actually had fewer NDEs.<\/p>\n

Other researchers have suggested that NDEs are caused by \u201celectrical activity<\/em>\u201d in the brain, similar to the kind that causes epileptic seizures. But analysis of electroencephalograms of people after life support showed that the brain\u2019s electrical activity ceases even before the heart stops beating, Greyson reported.<\/p>\n

Another common theory is that NDEs might be caused by decreased oxygen to the brain. But Greyson writes that NDEs are actually associated with increased or normal levels of oxygen to the brain.<\/p>\n

So what is going on? Greyson, who grew up in a scientific household and is not religious, says he doesn\u2019t know. \u201cBut I think the evidence overwhelmingly points to the physical body not being all that we are,<\/em>\u201d he says. \u201cThere seems to be something that is able to continue after the body dies. I don\u2019t know what to make of it<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that we assume the brain and the conscience are one. But what if they are separate, and our consciousness exists beyond our gray matter? Greyson likens the brain to a cellphone that \u201creceives thoughts and feelings and converts them into electrical and chemical signals that the body can understand and use.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

He writes that it\u2019s \u201cplausible<\/em>\u201d NDEs may be triggered by electrical and chemical changes in the brain that \u201cpermit the conscience to experience separating from the body at the moment of death<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the cause of NDEs, the vast majority of those who\u2019ve had them say the experience is positive. \u201cWhat\u2019s intriguing is here\u2019s an experience that in a few seconds can totally transform someone\u2019s attitudes and behavior for decades after<\/em>,\u201d Greyson says. \u201cI don\u2019t know of anything else so powerful.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of those who\u2019ve had an NDE say they no longer fear death<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us are terrified of death and that permeates everything we do in life<\/em>,\u201d Greyson says. \u201cWhen you lose your fear of death, you also lose your fear of life, of living to the fullest and taking chances<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2004, Roisin Fitzpatrick suffered a brain hemorrhage at 35 and landed in intensive care. She had a near-death experience in which she \u201cbecame pure energy<\/em>\u201d and realized that \u201cthere is no beginning or end \u2026 no life or death \u2026 It made absolutely no difference if I was in my body; it was not even relevant because I had become at one with this incredibly potent, highly charged field of energy<\/em>,\u201d she told Greyson.<\/p>\n

For others, an NDE can completely turn their life around. While a young doctor in 1974, Greyson met a man in his 40s named Henry who\u2019d attempted suicide after his parents passed away. He went to the cemetery where they were buried and shot himself in the head. As he lay dying, he says he was transported to \u201ca lush meadow of wildflowers. There, welcoming me with open arms, were my mama and papa \u2026 [Mama] shook her head and said, \u2018Oh, Henry, now look what you\u2019ve done!\u2019<\/em>\u201d Henry told Greyson. Greyson was concerned Henry would attempt suicide again, but the patient told him, \u201cI don\u2019t think about that at all now. I still miss Mama, but I\u2019m happy now that I know where she is<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evidence shows that near-death experiences transform not just the lives of people who have them, but those who read about them. \u201cIt is my hope<\/em>,\u201d the author writes, \u201cthat learning about near-death experiences will also give you the spark to reevaluate your life and reconnect with the aspects that fill your life with ever greater meaning and joy<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nMarch 9, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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