meet the 2019 speakers

(alphabetical by last name)

 

Eben Alexander MD

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Humankind

General Session | Saturday | Plenary Presentation

Scientific research is finally catching up with what many know with certainty from firsthand personal experience. Acknowledging the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 (the first time in recorded history that humans had ever stepped on another heavenly body), Dr. Alexander will discuss the parallels in our current era. Just as Armstrong’s first step represented a monumental step forward for all of humanity, likewise, near-death experiences are the tip of the spear in shifting the entire world’s view of itself. In 2008, Dr. Eben Alexander’s brain was severely damaged by a devastating case of bacterial meningitis, and he lapsed into a week-long coma. It was almost certainly a death sentence, but Dr. Alexander miraculously survived – and brought back with him an astounding story (told in his best-seller Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife). During seven days in a coma, he was plunged into the deepest realms of consciousness and came to understand profound truths about the universe we inhabit. What he learned completely violated everything he ever knew about brain, mind, and consciousness, and drove him to question some of the most fundamental assumptions of conventional science, leading to a complete flip from his former worldview.

Visit his website

 

Eben Alexander, Bruce Greyson, Suzanne Giesemann

Premiere Panel: Comparing Spiritual Notes

General Session | Friday | Plenary Panel

Imagine being a fly on the wall when three of today’s most notable spiritual leaders compare notes! Learn how each began their journeys from completely different starting points, yet arrived at the same summit. Learn what surprises each about the others’ journeys, and how similar (or different!) their views of God, Heaven and Hell, and humanity’s future. Who knows what insights will emerge from this facilitated discussion! ~ Q&A as time permits.

Eben Alexander’s Website Bruce Greyson’s Website Suzanne Giesemann’s Website

 

Linju Alias

A Case study on spiritual transformation and a dance form observed by tribal group following NDE

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Poster Presentation

A case study on spiritual transformation after near death experience (NDE): The experiencer had a heavenly experience and out-of-body experience. She had strong faith in Jesus and believes that she was chosen by God to spread Love to others. She has a drastic transformation and experience peace and harmony. When this NDE is shared with others there is social stigma associated with it. A specific dance form of ritual performed by a tribal population KAKKAPATTU for the salvation of soul. They dance to a particular rhythm made by music instruments that are hand made called THUDI and Cheenam.

Visit her website

 

Mark Anthony

Rulers, Royals, Psychics and Spirits: The Revolutionary Influence of Interdimensional Communication throughout the Ages

General Session | Sunday | Speaker

During a Near Death Experience (NDE) a person’s consciousness leaves not only their body but also the material world dimension and aligns with the dimension of a higher frequency referred to as The Other Side. People capable of Interdimensional Communication have been highly valued for their mystical insights. They’ve also been feared and throughout the ages most NDErs and psychics have been forced to conceal their gifts lest they be ostracized, persecuted or worse—put to death. There is no place to bring NDErs and psychics out of the shadows of fear and into the Light of understanding than in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States of America. From Ancient Egypt to the modern America, political leaders including one-third of U.S. Presidents, have publicly denied contact with the spirit world when secretly they’ve sought the advice and counsel of psychically gifted people. Some of these leaders even had Near Death Experiences and astonishing supernatural experiences, which were not always well received by the press and public.

Visit his web site Visit his YouTube channel

 

P.M.H. Atwater

The Forever Angels: The Impact of Near-Death Experiences on the Newly Born, Babies, Toddlers, and Little Kids. . . Lifelong!

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

The Forever Angels is an investigation of near-death experiences around birth, as a babe, toddler, and up to age five, plus womb memories – with 120 people who are now older adults yet could verify having had such an experience. The question asked them: Did your early NDE make a difference in your life? If so, explain. Results are compared with research done in the ‘90s with 277 people (detailed in The New Children and Near-Death Experiences), that covered the same span of ages but with those who were small children at the time, teens, and young adults. The younger group looked forward. The more mature group looked backward. By examining both forward and backward views, ground-breaking results emerged – of aftereffects far more impactful than previously thought – with unusually high intelligence rates, being bullied in school, suicidal tendencies, bonding with spirit beings instead of parents, confused by the social scene – even as a married adult. We missed it! We were all so enamored with “out-of-the-mouth-of-babes” stories, little heed was ever paid to what came next for the child. With the tiniest experiencers, the amazement was never “life after death;” rather, the ongoing life continuum as the only truth of anyone’s existence.

Visit PMH’s website

 

Paul Aurand, MHt, Atilio Costa Vitali, M.D., & Pedro Zuzarte, M.D.

Hypnotic Recall of Near Death Experiences: Impact on Quality of Life (A Pilot Study)

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Friday | Plenary Presentation

New York Master Hypnotherapist, Paul Aurand, M.S., Canadian Cardiologist, Atilio Costa Vitali, M.D. and Lisbon Psychiatrist, Pedro Zuzarte, M.D. will present the findings from our pilot study of hypnotic regressions for twenty, resuscitated sudden cardiac arrest (RSCA) patients who reported having NDE. Our presentation will include discussion of our findings as well as video of hypnotic NDE regression and pre and post regression interviews. This is the first time these findings will be presented anywhere. It has been reported that some individuals were able to remember their NDEs only under hypnosis. Hypnosis has been successfully used in clinical practice, as reported in the literature, to evoke memories of previous experiences or to evoke memories of NDE’s. We believe that hypnotic recall of these events may bring very positive and transformative emotions to some of these subjects. A quarter of cardiac arrest survivors (CAS) suffer long-term psychological problems such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. A substantial number of people recall subjectively real experiences of some sort of alternate reality associated with positive emotions and transformative power from near death experiences (NDE). We will show how hypnotic regression can be used to access and integrate NDE memories.

Visit his website

 

Sarina Baptista, Marianne Brown, B.A. & Dave Stoutenberg

Loss of Child and STE Panel – Moderated by Sandra Champlain

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

Loss of Child and STE: Moderator: Sandra Champlain conducts an internet radio show, lectures, and has authored a #1 International Best Seller, “We Don’t Die – A Skeptics Discovery of Life After Death”, and documentary “We Don’t Die”. She js co-host of “Diamond in their Own Backyard” radio show.

Sarina Baptista discovered she was a Medium 6 months after the passing of her 7 yr old son. She and her son now work together to help others find purpose and connection, making the bridges for conversation with loved ones who have passed.
Visit Sabrina’s website

Marianne Brown, B.A. “Had it not been for IANDS, I would not have survived the death of my son. I now know he is alive in spirit.”
Visit Marianne’s blog

Dave Stoutenberg will describe a shared death experience with his 2 yr old Grandson, who died of Leukemia. This was the basis for his STE.
Visit Dave’s website

 

Chris Batts, Ingrid Honkala, Ph.D., Jim Owen

Wisdom of Higher Beings During NDEs Panel – Moderated by Tricia Barker, M.F.A.

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

Wisdom of Higher Beings During NDE’s: Moderator: Tricia Barker, M.F.A. Tricia experienced a profound NDE during her senior year of college. She writes about it in her memoir, “Angels in the OR – What Dying Taught Me About Healing, Survival, and Transformation”. Tricia will facilitate panelists to talk about the specific lessons they learned from these higher beings during their NDEs and how they continue to translate that energy from the infinite realm to their own lives.

Chris Batts has been interviewed on Tricia’s YouTube Channel. He will talk about meeting with higher beings/light beings during his NDE, after a suicide attempt.
Visit Chris’s website

lngrid Honkala, Ph.D had an NDE at age 2, which began her 40 years of countless STEs. Her Spirit Guides have shown her how to bring spirituality into her daily life. “Beings of Light” gave her invaluable insights and assistance as she found her profession in Oceanography.
Visit Ingrid’s website

Jim Owen has also interviewed on Tricia’s YouTube channel. Jim will talk about meeting with higher beings/light beings during his NDE.
Visit Jim’s website

 

Dave Bennett

The Journey of Integration: Coaching to Overcome the Challenges of an NDE

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

After briefly sharing my journey of coming to terms with my NDEs and working with my aftereffects, I’ll speak about my coaching practice, where I work with a variety of individuals who are trying to connect their transformative experiences to their physical and spiritual self. I’ll describe how to listen very closely as a counselor to help them explore their pure essence and the desire for expansion of physical and spiritual understanding. I‘ll reveal practices that expand the experiencer’s comfort zone to include love and creativity, which are foundations for connection to our true nature.
There is a need to slowly develop a new worldview after an experience, I’ll demonstrate the models I use in coaching to actualize and generate new ways of being. These models help to rise above the circumstances of the moment and become the observer resulting in a clear path or choice forward. I’ll describe acting as a thinking partner who sees everyone as whole and connected to his or her True Nature. Many times experiencers get stuck in the circumstances and lose track of their self-empowerment and natural state of being. My clients strengthen their capacity to resource their own authentic being so they may live an unrestrained, and unfiltered expression of their true self.

Visit Dave’s website

 

Alma Blazquez

The Significance that Grace Manifested as Self Love and Care Can Revolutionize Our Way of Knowing and Truly Experiencing Love for All

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

All Emotion has physical effects. My consciousness continued during my stages of death and these effects continue: During the Gift of my 2012 profound Near Death Experience, I merged with a state of Complete, Infinite and Eternal Love from an Orb of the Glisten of the Eye of God and the Golden Light of Jesus. Healing Light, Peace, and Grace were One. During my Life Review and in other areas of my NDE, I was shown and taught what Grace looks like, feels like, and IS: It is God’s continual Source of a Heavenly pouring of unconditional Love to each and every one of us, and in many forms that can go unrecognized, thus causing a spiritual seeker to question their spiritual authenticity. Grace is tangible, experienced in every social setting, when in contemplation, meditation, prayer, conversation, thought, and in all living moments. Grace has become my healer, teacher, friend, nurse, and is a human manifestation that never leaves us due to God’s unending Love for our return to Heaven to Live as One, with The One Creator of Love.

 

Jim Bruton, B.A.

The In Between

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

My life is one of realizing all my childhood dreams- I watched wildlife films and now I have an Emmy from National Geographic; I read Popular Mechanics and loved science-fiction and figured out how to shrink a TV truck into a backpack, transmitting live video from all 7 continents, Antarctica, the Titanic and Mt. Everest; I loved to travel and became a war journalist for NBC News; I fell in love with old airplanes and one day decided to build one- 8 years later I had a faithfully-reproduced WW1 fighter. It was the 2nd plane I built that was responsible for my NDE. On its 2nd flight, the engine quit and I crashed into a forest- breaking all my ribs, rupturing both lungs, damaging my lower spinal nerves and so on. I was flown to the trauma center and placed into a week-long coma, and for those 7 days I left my body and went to the In Between. Understood as well from a quantum physics perspective as a spiritual one, I was presented with an opportunity to change my future of choices- to remove the ones bad for my spiritual growth (based on choices from the past); it was painful to be in this purgatorial looking place, but it was a merciful and loving gift. I have so much more to share about the experience and how it has unpacked. I’ve given this to a local IANDS group in CT.

Visit his website

 

Nancy Evans Bush, M.A.

Integrating a Revolution: Recovery from a Difficult NDE

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

Coming back from a distressing NDE is hard work. But what if we have been looking at these NDEs through too limited a filter? New research and my own decades-long search for information point to insights and metaphors which can open our understanding of some reality-shattering revolutionary experiences.

Visit her website

 

Maggie Callanan, RN

Quick Dying…Slow Dying Messages of Hope

General Session | Thursday | Plenary Presentation

People in a sudden state of clinical compromise, marked by disruption of all signs of life, often report a remarkable experience known as NDE or Near Death Experience. These experiences are only shared after medical intervention or CPR brings the experiencer back to life. These are the messages of those who have died quickly and have returned to teach us what it is like. When people dying slowly of a terminal illness are approaching death, they too often have remarkable experiences, as well as an expanded awareness. This is called NDA or Nearing Death Awareness. These are the messages from those who are dying slowly. They teach us while they are dying because they can’t come back. Although the NDE and the NDA have many similar characteristics, there are profound differences. Understanding the differences and learning how to interact with the dying can help us identify and participate in the NDA while it is actually happening. This information is of vital importance for all critical care clinicians and for all – professional or lay persons who care for, or are close to, someone who has had an NDE or to a dying person experiencing an NDA . Whether the dying is fast or slow, these are remarkable messages of peace, comfort, and hope that can change our lives.

Visit her website

 

Sandra Champlain

From Grief to Glory – An Afterlife Explorer Receives Her Greatest Gift

General Session | Thursday | Plenary Presentation

The journey each human being faces is not an easy one and Sandra Champlain does not think it is meant to be. Fear of death, grief, and experiences like NDEs, or one of many other signs of the reality of the afterlife have the ability to transform our lives. The seeds of the lodgepole pine trees can only open and grow when they are exposed to tremendous heat of forest fires. Like the seeds of those pine trees, our revolutionary and often painful experiences can allow us to start our spiritual journey and ultimately provide us our greatest love and joy. Join author and radio show host Sandra Champlain as she shares how her own deep grief led her on a journey from skeptic to believer in the afterlife. With now over 300 hours of interviews of We Don’t Die Radio, hear stories of some of the most remarkable people – how their incredible journeys begin from their toughest experiences. This presentation will not only give you many more reasons to believe in the reality of the afterlife, but could reignite your Soul’s plan for you having extraordinary life.

Visit her website

 

Curtis Childs

How a Spiritual Experience Changes the World: From Private Revelation to Universal Revolution

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

How can we get the amazing messages in spiritual experiences to spread and impact more of the world? In a fascinating twist, the answer to that question may be linked to the reason we have handicapped parking spaces, the layout of the city of Chicago, and the nature of modern philanthropy and conservation. All of the above were influenced by the recorded spiritual experiences of scientist and inventor Emanuel Swedenborg. Despite his experiences being written down in the mid 1700s, they led Dr. Raymond Moody to write in his groundbreaking book Life After Life “The correlation between what Swedenborg writes of some of his spiritual experiences and what those who have come back from close calls with death report is amazing,” and IANDS founder Dr. Kenneth Ring to that Swedenborg “could and did provide a comprehensive picture of the world the NDE only foreshadows.” And what can we learn when the message of Swedenborg’s, and all spiritual experiences, collide with the nearly 2 billion people searching YouTube in a month? The public is interested, and in many cases open to hearing the messages of spiritually transformative experiences–but what makes the difference between passing interest and the message taking root, changing people, and changing the world?

View Curtis’ Bio

 

Kelvin Chin, J.D.

Overcoming the Fear of Death: Integrating Meditation into Your Daily Life — How It Helps with NDEs & More

General Session | Thursday | Special Feature Presentation FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC

Learn about the medical health benefits of the unique, effortless, easy-to-learn technique Kelvin Chin has taught worldwide to bring about balance in thousands of people for 40 years, including active and retired military — at West Point Military Academy and in the U.S. Army in Korea and the DMZ. Learn how it helps to Overcome the Fear of Death and to help with the assimilation of NDEs. He will discuss this nonreligious, non-focusing, impactful technique that turns on the “Opposite of the Fight or Flight” switch, and dispels fear and anxiety. What happens in your neurophysiology when that switch gets turned on? Kelvin was a test subject in the first medical studies on meditation done in the U.S. in 1971. Kelvin teaches on videoconference and in-person — to 28 countries so far. BONUS: He will also teach you some other simple techniques in this talk that you can practice immediately and even teach others back at your hospitals, offices and educational institutions. He will explain why and how they work. And why all techniques are not equally effective. Kelvin Chin has been meditating for 49 years, teaching it for 46 years, and has had many experiences “piercing the veil.” His clients are diverse, from age 4-94, the healthy to the emotionally or mentally challenged, and the full-of-life to end-of-life. He teaches a meditation technique called “Turning Within.” His clients report relief from panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety, better health, faster healing, and balanced spiritual and psychic abilities. Kelvin is the author of the best-selling “Overcoming the Fear of Death: Through Each of the 4 Main Belief Systems” — a non-religious approach to the 4 Beliefs that underlie all religious and cultural beliefs. He uses these principles to help people reduce and eliminate their fears of death. He has taught in healthcare and universities, is a graduate of Dartmouth, Yale, and Boston College Law School, has lived in 8 countries and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the Executive Director and Founder of the Overcoming the Fear of Death Foundation and the “Turning Within” Meditation Foundation.

Visit his website

 

Ana Christina, C.G.A., Ann Marie Karl, J.D. Esq. & Pep Torres, B.A.

NDEs Can Resolve Emotional Suffering Panel – Moderated by Rebecca Valla, M.D.

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

NDE’s Can Resolve Emotional Suffering: Moderator: Rebecca Valla, M.D. is active on the IANDS Board, and has written and spoken at conferences about inner-child healing and self-love. She is a practicing Psychiatrist and works to integrate the medical model of illness, with the holistic and energetic models of healing and transformation.

Ana Christina, C.G.A. was murdered by suffocation after being poisoned and raped. In spite of the horror of her death, she experienced amazing comfort and peace and was not alone. She reunited with her parents and her sister, who had suicided. She felt transformed into a compassionate, forgiving person.

Ann Marie Karl, J.D. compares the transformative power of love to the discovery of fire. She sees after-effects of NDEs and STEs as love and altruism creating a revolution.
View Ann Marie’s Professional Profile

Pep Torres, B.A. is filled with the rediscovery of his divine plan. More than 20 years ago, he was involved in a catastrophic auto accident in which his heart stopped. He weaves his own near-death journey with his personal afterlife attainments that incorporate Mesoamerican culture.

 

Tony Cicoria, MD, Yvonne Kason, MD, Bettina Peyton, MD, & Jessica Schmit, MD

Changes in a Physician’s Practice after an NDE Panel – Moderated by Jan Holden, EdD

Health-Educ-Research-Science | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

Changes in a Physician’s Practice after an NDE Panel

Anthony Cicoria, MD: A 42-year-old orthopedic surgeon who was struck by lightning and experienced both an NDE. As a result of that, he developed musicophilia, and began to compose and perform the music he heard.

Yvonne Kason, MD: Yvonne Kason MD, MEd, CCFP, FCFP is a Family Physician and MD Psychotherapist (retired) who was previously on the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is the person who first coined the phrase “Spiritually Transformative Experiences” or STEs, in 1994. Dr. Kason has 40 years experience researching and counselling persons with NDEs and other STEs. She was a co-founder of the Kundalini Research Network, past Canadian coordinator of the Spiritual Emergence Network, and is presently a board member of IANDS. Dr. Kason has had 5 near-Death Experiences and multiple STEs herself. She shares her many personal and professional insights in her new book “Exploring Spiritually Transformative Experiences” 2019.
View Yvonne’s Professional Profile

Bettina Peyton, MD: When Dr. Bettina Peyton almost died, she had a powerful spiritual awakening. It was a pivotal experience that would prove to have a profound and enduring impact on her life. Dr. Peyton subsequently switched the focus her medical career to caring exclusively for patients in the final phase of life. One of the first physicians in the country to be board-certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Peyton helped establish and direct New Hampshire’s first free-standing inpatient hospice. Now retired, she is writing a memoir.

Jessica Schmit, MD: Dr. Jessica Schmit is an Oncologist practicing at the University of Florida and Veterans Affairs Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. She graduated from University of Miami Medical School in 2010. She then completed residency in Internal Medicine, followed by fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the University of Florida, finishing her training in 2016. Her areas of interest include end-of-life care and spirituality.
View Jessica’s link

 

Christine Clawley, M.A., Dan Cohen, Ph.D. & Emily Blefeld, LICSW

NDE’s/STE’s and Psychotherapy Panel – Moderated by Jan Holden, Ed.D

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

NDE’s/STE’s and Psychotherapy: Moderator: Jan Holden, Ed.D., long-time NDE and STE researcher, Journal of Near-Death Studies Editor, Professor and Director of Counseling at Univ of N. Texas, will lead this panel on Psychotherapeutic Applications for NDErs.

Christine Clawley, M.A. had her NDE/STE When she narrowly escaped a flesh-eating bacteria in her throat and chest. She will discuss the experience of the timeless/eternal and ways to bring this consciousness into day-to-day life.
Visit Christine’s website

Dan Cohen, Ph.D,and Emily Blefeld, LICSW will speak of their work applying ancestral and spirit consciousness in Psychotherapeutic practice. “Seeing with Your Heart” is a version of Family Constellation work that traces the root of a present day obstacle through early childhood family dysfunction and ancestral trauma.
Visit Dan Cohen and Emily Blefeld’s website

 

Jacob Cooper, LMSW, CH, RMT

Life after Death

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

Jacob is a renowned presenter on all things related to expanded levels of consciousness and continuity of life after death gained from his Near-Death Experience. Jacob will share his profound Near-Death Experience in the initial stages of his talk. Participants in his talk and will look at life on the other side of the veil with a whole new outlook from Jacob’s NDE. He will provide a brief history of the Near-Death Experience phenomenon and it’s significance in elevating levels of collective consciousness. Jacob will lead you through a brief, yet powerful meditation, to match the energy fields in the space, and everyone present, with the vibrational frequency of the information and knowledge being imparted. You will be informed on finding lessons and deeper awakenings from higher dimensional realities gained from his Near-Death Experience. Jacob will share his enlightening Out-of-Body Experience that came well after his NDE and lessons to integrate in your own lives and practices. The floor will be open for any questions audience members may have on the NDE, OBE, Shared Death Experience, Spiritual Transformative, Past Life phenomenons, as well as any questions about Jacob’s Near-Death Experience. It is his hope that others will look at Death, nature of consciousness with a whole new light and deeper integration to transform the mundane into a sacred life. The goal is to empower participants to take an ownership and empowered stance towards the implementation of any spiritual transformative experience that can happen at any given moment in time with an open mind and heart.

Visit his website

 

Christophor Coppes

IANDS CONFERENCE EMCEE

HEALTHCARE-EDUC-RESEARCH-SCIENCE & GENERAL SESSIONS

IANDS Conference Emcee, Christophor (Bob) Coppes: After many international publications and his Ph.D., Bob moved to Amsterdam to work with the Dutch Central Bank. Now Bob dedicates himself more to NDEs, lectures in The Netherlands (www.bde-verrijking.com) promotes the essence of NDEs in the world (www.nde-unconditionallove.com), and works with refugees and children. Author of: Michaël’s Circle, Beyond the Yellow Bridge, The Essence of Religions and translating into English the war diary of my uncle who moved to the USA.

Visit his website

 

Diane Corcoran, (Ret) Army COL, R.N., Ph.D., & Roberta Moore, M.B.A.

Understanding Veterans’ Near-Death Experiences Video with Q & A

General Session | Thursday | Presentation

This presentation and video: Understanding Veterans’ Near-Death Experiences reports on the gap in care for Military Service Members and Veterans’ Near-Death Experiences (NDEs). Experiencers often endure physical and psychological changes after the event. Although large numbers of Veterans have had NDEs in the line of duty, most veterans’ care providers know very little about NDEs because professional training in this area is lacking. In addition, Veterans often hide their NDEs fearing that they will be misunderstood, misdiagnosed or ridiculed. NDEs may also be confused with Post Traumatic Stress or mental illness. Veterans who feel they must suppress their NDEs may experience depression, alcoholism, relationship problems, and other psychological issues. Validation of the NDE, support groups, and counseling may help. This poster provides a definition for NDE, characteristics of NDEs, similarities and differences of PTS and NDE, and similarities and differences of NDEs and hallucination, as well as a brief protocol for care providers dealing with service members and/or Veterans or service members who have had NDEs. Presented by Diane Corcoran, (Ret) Army COL, R.N., Ph.D., & film producer, Roberta Moore, M.B.A.

 

Diane Corcoran

Military Discussion Group

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

This discussion group is open to all. It is intended to provide a safe environment where others can share their stories. Veterans expected to attend are Dr. Diane Corcoran, Rev. Bill McDonald, and Tony Woody. There will also be advocates and co-facilitators to include Sue Pighini, Raymond O’Brien, Roberta Moore, Dr. Ingrid Honkala, Genny Krackau, Kelvin Chin and Christine Duminiak.

More about Diane Corcoran

 

Liz Dale, Ph.D.

Power of Love and Consciousness in LGBT and Non-Gay NDEs

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Poster Presentation

Crossing Over and Coming Home (2000 and reprinted on Amazon 2018) covered LGBT NDEs with issue of Love and Consciousness as subjects that showed profound lessons in this group of NDEs. In this presentation, we will show future research of LGBT and Non-Gay experiences covering a new group of experiencers examples from the book and non-published examples will be given.

 

Ellyn Dye

The Transformational Journey Into Love: NDE/STE Helpful, But No Longer Required!

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

What is this thing called Love that we hear about from Near Death Experiences (NDEs) and Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs)? And how can it transform our lives? Or the world? That much-touted “Unconditional Love of Home” that NDErs speak of seems totally out of reach on planet earth, especially for those who haven’t had one of these major life-altering experiences. But is that true? As humanity moves through these current amazing, transformative, pivotal times—and as the collective vibration of the planet rises and the “veil” continues to thin—more and more people are experiencing NDEs, STEs, as well as and other, much more subtle forms of awakening. And, while NDEs may provide the blueprint and lead the way, the cumulative effect of all these individual experiences and transformations are forming the foundation for humanity’s Great Return to Love. But what does that look like? What does that feel like? And how can we—with or without having a major NDE or STE—consciously integrate and anchor the Love, transform ourselves, and assist the evolution of humanity and the planet?

Visit her website

 

Norma Edwards

NDE- Life Beyond the Experience

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

A shared in-depth examination of life beyond the Near-Death Experience through the eyes of a NDE Experiencer forty years later. NDE – a paradigm shift resulting in a massive leap in consciousness. Mapping elements of change and transformation. The learning trajectories around life in the fast lane of heightened states of consciousness. Moving beyond mediocre through to discipline, focus, empathy, ethical and purposeful living. Emergence of new talents, and healing streams; acknowledging the pressing need for research leading to integrative medicine. NDE survivors and their potential to share and participate in the evolution of a new model for life in the twenty-first century.

Visit her website

 

Art Funkhouser

The Effects of NDEs on Dreaming

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

Although dreams are occasionally mentioned in books about near-death experiences, it seems no one has investigated the effects such experiences have on subsequent dreaming. An anonymous 10 question survey has been collecting data online since November, 2018. The results of this pilot project will be presented.

View Art’s Professional Profile

 

Suzanne Giesemann

Magnificent You!

General Session | Friday | Keynote Presentation

Come along with Suzanne Giesemann and a multi-dimensional cast of characters for a mind-expanding examination of what is possible when you step outside the box. You’ll want to buckle your seat belt as Suzanne weaves a wondrous web of “No Other Explanation” stories, revealing the true nature of reality and how you fit into the Big Picture. Are you living up to your full potential? Learn the keys to finding peace, love, and happiness, departing this powerful presentation with your full Magnificence shining!

Visit her website

 

Randall Gilbert, Chris Kito, B.S., & BJ Patterson

Near-Death Experiencer Panel – Randall Gilbert, Chris Kito, B.S., & BJ Patterson – Moderated by Sophia Trionfo

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

NDE Experiencers, 2 From Lehigh Valley, PA: Moderator: Sophia Trionfo has been a long-time enthusiast of NDES/STEs and organized this panel.

Randall Gilbert is Reverend and co-Pastor of St. John Church of Faith in Allentown, PA. Since his NDE in 2000, he has had gifts in healing arts and has the ability to hear and see spirit, and receives messages from loved ones who have passed.

Chris Kito, B.S. experienced an NDE at the age of 24 due to an allergic reaction to a food allergy. He will speak of changes he found necessary in order to integrate his NDE.

BJ Patterson is also from PA, and found that when he was on the other side in his NDE, he had a job to do – he met Spirits as they left their bodies, and welcomed them and escorted them, as they made their journeys “home”.

 

Arnulfo “Chico” Gonzalez

God’s Ecosystem Updated

General Session | Poster Presentation

I would like to share my two NDEs. 1st NDE, I fell and hit my head on a timber. I should have died on impact. My TBI was critical and given last rights. This distressing NDE was eviler than my Vietnam combat tour. In my journey was I was being attacked by spirits from an evil dominion. Evil will deceive us by using our human traits against us. I had to make a choice, evil’s temptations or God’s love. I chose God’s love. I saw the entry into heaven and stood before God. I was immersed in his love and peace. I never had had felt such feelings of radiance in my life, I can’t wait to go back. I was given first message take care of your family.2nd NDE, I underwent surgery due to sleep apnea. I suffered a negative pressure pulmonary edema and an acute respiratory distress. I was given a second message: God is ageless. He is the Supreme God of all creation. His absolute love for all his creation is eternal. Our spirituality, consciousness and free will are his gifts to us. Evil continues to grow. Our human reality exposes us to evil and inequalities worldwide.While at NASA, viewed Space Station video showing UFOs. MUFON is the scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity.The relationship between IANDS and Alliance for Global Consciousness reveals unselfish values as does MUFON. These communities are expanding our and the public’s understanding of different realities. It is good to be aware of like-minded organizations and beings trying to guide us toward a planet in balance. Mr. Gonzalez was a cost engineering consultant. Career highlights: NASA Headquarters / Orion Spacecraft, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, BP Oil, Intel, DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

 

Bruce Greyson MD

Expanding the Science of Consciousness by Expanding the Consciousness of Scientists

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Thursday | Keynote Presentation

There is a rich literature on the neuroscience of consciousness that focuses on biological mechanisms of wakefulness and awareness of the physical environment. However, that literature totally ignores and in fact, rejects the existence of a higher consciousness. Some scientists argue that, even if a spiritual realm existed, it could not be addressed by science. But the past century has seen a gradual recognition that science and spirituality are compatible and that only a marriage of the two can provide an accurate description of reality. I argue that the science of consciousness can be elevated only when the consciousness of the scientists themselves has been elevated.

Visit his website

 

Brooke Grove, MA, MFT, ATR & Allison Snowden, DACM, LAc, RYT

Embodying Light Consciousness to Heal Experiencers’ Trauma

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

Brooke Grove, M.A., M.F.T., A.T.R. is a near-death experiencer, multi-modality psychotherapist, intuitive and writer in co-creation with Spirit.
Dr. Allison Snowden, D.A.C.M., L.Ac, R.Y.T. is the leading expert in mind-body-spirit medicine focused on transforming trauma and integrating higher consciousness in. A near-death experiencer, energy medicine healer, a lifelong student, and a teacher of holistic healing; she is a leader in the next wave of doctors who are working to bridge Eastern and Western medicine in the modern world. Dr. Snowden is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (TCM), Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist (L.Ac.) in the state of California, and is a certified Diplomat of Oriental Medicine (Dipl. O.M.) through the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).

Light consciousness lovingly accepts, as is, all aspects of our humanity. Moreover, this includes the culturally-perceived “negative” shadow elements of our complex human nature. This panel strives to authentically explore the challenges that may occur post-NDE/STE for individuals with histories of trauma. Our panel of mind-body experts draws necessary attention to the specific needs of persons who, while having had a sacred and life-altering spiritual experience within the context of profound trauma, pain and/or abuse, are finding it difficult to reintegrate. Using the all-inclusive nature of unconditional Divine Love, we acknowledge the narratives that have thus far been largely overlooked: the stigmatized, the shamed, the suppressed and the hidden aspects of many traumatic NDE/STEs, which occurred in the midst of horrific violence, loss, grief, and/or intense physical, mental and/or emotional pain. There is a tremendous and immediate need for experiencers to acknowledge and validate the suffering that continues to occurs within our personal lives, in the wake of our highly transformative experiences. Suffering is a vital part of the human condition, a door through which the brightest Light often enters. Through compassionately viewing, loving and embracing pain, violence, and trauma we will transform both our selves and our world, while modeling for the collective how to evolve in this incarnation through the whole-person embodiment of Divine Love.

 

Scarlett Heinbuch, PhD, M.P.H., David E Schwartz

Shared Death Experiencers Panel – Moderated by Debbie James, MSN

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

Shared Death Experiencers Panel: Moderator Debbie James, M.S.N., Clinical Professor, Critical Care and Holistic and Palliative Care Nurse. She is a longstanding IANDS Conference organizer and former IANDS Board member.

Scarlett Heinbuch, Ph.D., M.P.H. and David E. Schwartz experienced a dramatic SDE, in which they met on the other side while David lay dying. The love they each experienced in different ways, resulted in David’s miraculous healing, and Scarlett’s spiritual transformation.
Visit Scarlett’s website

 

Mary Helen Hensley

The Loverlution

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

International best-selling author of Promised By Heaven and co-author of Bringing Death To Life, Dr. Mary Helen Hensley returns to the IANDS community to spark a Loverlution. Following a brief description of her NDE in 1991 car crash, resulting in a broken neck and host of other life-changing injuries, Mary Helen will bring the audience through the experience of bending space, time and sound to what we call ‘death’. An explanation of the importance of frequency throughout this journey will bring listeners forward into how they can use the information she obtained and returned with to start a personal Loverlution. With her trademark sense of humour and ‘truth bombs’, Mary Helen will explain to the audience how they can apply the principles of utilising specific frequencies, or the ‘Music of the Spheres’, to reshape and change the way that they project frequency into everything that they do. Mary Helen will show how it is possible to alter personal experiences of physical and emotional pain into love-based frequencies that can literally recreate individual and planetary consciousness…the Loverlution. The best part? No one has to die to do it!

Visit her website

 

Jose Hernandez

The Transformative Power of Self Acceptance

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

I. Presentation on the Four Truths:

  1. Total Surrender, which is the necessity to move on and trust in allowing oneself to be taken;
  2. The Act of Acceptance, which is the end of resistance and denial;
  3. The Truth about Letting Go, which is the realization that your original path has ended; and
  4. Union with your True Self, which is stripping ourselves of the layers we define ourselves with (mother, father, engineer, etc).

II. Group Interactive Healing Intention: We will culminate the presentation in a powerful interactive healing, inviting the audience to tap into their spiritual resources and experience the healing through their connectivity with each other. Each audience member will be healing everyone else, which brings us to the singularity where we find ourselves not as individuals but as one being; bringing to light the principles we describe above.

Visit his website

 

David Hufford

Research Results of a Study of Combat Veteran NDEs

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

This paper presents the results of a study of NDEs among combat veterans and the response of care providers, funded by the Department of Defense. The study employed a fifteen-page questionnaire (combat veterans) and an eight-page questionnaire (clinicians); 38% of the overall vet sample, and 49% of those who had almost died, described experiences meeting Greyson’s NDE Scale criteria. These rates are very high, yet the vet sample showed none of the characteristics suggested to explain NDEs; e.g., the vet sample was significantly better educated and less religious or spiritual than the general population. Clinicians, despite providing care to a population with probably the highest rate of NDEs in the U.S., indicated they had rarely or never heard such things from a client and considered them to be symptoms of mental illness that should be referred for psychiatric care–a major error according to contemporary psychiatric literature, a self-reinforcing error that produces stigma, suppressing both common discourse and formal research on the topic. Given the beneficial potential of NDEs, and the importance of accurate diagnosis, correcting this misunderstanding is a clinical, scientific, religious and ethical imperative! This study shows that the data needed for such reform is readily available.

More about David Hufford

 

Harolyn Ingraham, Ph.D., Virginia Jablonski, Terry Larkin, B.S., & Koni Scavella Ph.D.

NDEs Teach Us About Consciousness and Healing Panel – Moderator: Debbie James M.S.N.

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

NDE’s Teach Us About Consciousness and Healing: Moderator: Debbie James, M.S.N., Clinical Professor, Critical Care and Holistic and Palliative Care Nurse. She is a longstanding IANDS Conference organizer and former IANDS Board member.

Harolyn lngraham, Ph.D. is an NDEr, who has 30 years of experience in Training and Human Devp’t. She will discuss the impact of Love on the Universe, and the healing power of the mind.
Visit Harolyn’s website

Virginia Jablonski experienced an NDE in 2013 following a prescription Fentanyl overdose. Since then, she studied with and received healing from many “Masters”. She is now a healer for both humans and animals.
Visit Ginny’s website

Terry Larkin, B.S. describes the incredible white light experience of her ND€, in which she downloaded healing information that she was able to use for self-healing and the acceleration of her consciousness.
Visit Terry’s website

Koni Scavella, Ph.D. will present the 4 blocking patterns to unconditional love, and how to learn and apply the 4 solutions to your life.
Visit Koni’s website

 

Debbie James, MSN, RN

IANDS CONFERENCE EMCEE & PANEL MODERATOR

HEALTHCARE-EDUC-RESEARCH-SCIENCE & GENERAL SESSIONS

IANDS Conference Emcee and Moderator, Debbie James, M.S.N., R.N. Clinical Professor, Critical Care and Holistic and Palliative Care Nurse. Debbie is a longstanding IANDS Conference Emcee, Conference organizer, and former IANDS Board member.

Visit her link

 

 

Yvonne Kason, MD

NDEs and Kundalini Awakening: A Yogic Perspective on NDEs, other STEs, and their Shared After-Effects

General Session | Friday | Plenary Presentation

Many NDE researchers including Ken Ring Ph.D., Bruce Greyson MD, and Yvonne Kason MD have speculated about the possible relationship between Near-Death Experiences and Kundalini Awakening, as described in the yogic tradition. In this seminar, Dr. Yvonne Kason will share her conclusions from 40 years of kundalini and NDE research. She will compare the symptoms and after-effects of NDEs and kundalini awakening, and share how this leads her to the conclusion that Near-Death Experiences may sometimes awaken the spiritual energy/kundalini mechanism in experiencers. This kundalini awakening would greatly intensify the long-term after-effects of an NDE.

View her Professional Profile

 

Yvonne Kason, MD

NDEs: The Essentials -Everything You Need to Know About NDEs

General Session | Thursday

Yvonne Kason, MD, will present an introductory lecture for those people who are new to the Near-Death Experience (NDE) field. They will present the basic information on NDEs, including the incidence of NDEs, the main features of NDEs, and the typical after-effects of NDEs. Best Practices in the delivery of quality nursing care of patients touched by near-death experiences (NDEs) is impacted by increased knowledge of all aspects of the phenomenon. Medical Professionals may implement strategies to promote disclosure of a Near-Death Experience and support building and fostering relationships after an NDE. This interactive session will provide a diverse approach to and regard for the essentials. Participants will be invited to discuss personal and professional insight and approaches to caregiving.

Yvonne Kason MD, MEd, CCFP, FCFP is a Family Physician and MD Psychotherapist (retired) who was previously on the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is the person who first coined the phrase “Spiritually Transformative Experiences” or STEs, in 1994. Dr. Kason has 40 years experience researching and counselling persons with NDEs and other STEs. She was a co-founder of the Kundalini Research Network, past Canadian coordinator of the Spiritual Emergence Network, and is presently a board member of IANDS. Dr. Kason has had 5 near-Death Experiences and multiple STEs herself. She shares her many personal and professional insights in her new book “Exploring Spiritually Transformative Experiences” 2019.

View Yvonne Kason’s Professional Profile

 

Richard E Kelly, Ed.D., LCPC

First Responders Who Feel the Presence of the Dead & Pray for Them

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

Central to this presentation are the findings of a 1996 study of Emergency Service Workers (police, fire/EMS) who were report experience related to being present at the moment of traumatic death & felt a presence, communication of some kind, or a feeling of attachment from a deceased victim. The use of reverent acts on behalf of the deceased was developed for several cases & the spiritual beliefs & responses of ESW were also studied. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of the ESWs reported experiencing contact. Sixty-eight percent (68%) reported performing some sort of reverent act (e.g. prayer or attendance at ritual). The study design will be reviewed & several case examples will be described in depth. The study suggests that the dying or recently dead may attempt to communicate with those around them at the time of their death. It also suggests that the use of reverent acts on behalf of the victim is a useful tool for the ESW in responding to the contact.

 

Kevin Kern

Kevin Kern, Steinway Artist: Remembering the Light

General Session | Friday | Steinway Artist Performance

Kevin Kern is known world-wide for his beautiful piano solos he calls “sound paintings.” Legally blind since birth, he began playing piano at 18 months old. NDErs point to “Remembering the Light” and “And the Light is Forever” as capturing their experience through sound.
Steinway piano selected from Jacobs Music Company.
Visit Kevin’s website

 

Bill Letson, B.Sc. & Michael Quinn, M.A.

Helping Souls Cross-Over Panel – Moderator: Father Nathan Castle, M.Div.

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

Helping Souls Cross-Over: Moderator: Father Nathan Castle, M.Div. has worked for the past 20 years, with partners, to help persons who have died in sudden, violent, traumatic circumstances complete the process of leaving this plane and moving into the next phase of their ongoing life.

Bill Letson, B.Sc. is an NDEr and retired Fire Captain, and Forester of 35 years. Bill has witnessed and experienced cosmic relationships and the separation of souls from the body.

Michael Quinn, M.A. has been a Hospice Volunteer for 18 years. For the past 8 years, he’s been using Soul Release Intercession to assist with the soul’s transition.

View Michael’s website

 

 

David Maginley

NDEs and the Unfinished Love Story

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

There is a love story being written through all of us. Sadly, it one that often feels profoundly incomplete as we approach the end of life. Yet, there is a surprise. For the dying, these unfinished love stories can be brought to completion not through the efforts of our hearts as much as through being apprehended by Love itself – a peace, awareness, and envelopment beyond words. When the veil is thin, so too are our defenses against such beauty. NDEs give us a glimpse that not only prepares the dying, but imprints their loved ones with a hope which carries them for the rest of their lives. Join me at the bedside to explore the experience of those on the edge of immortality. Hear astonishing stories of forgiveness and unexpected grace. Learn of the four mystical stages of consciousness at the end of life, and how we are wired for transformation. Discover the power of NDEs to reconcile and reform wounded souls. As difficult as the road can be, all of us are guided by entities of grace and wonder, never alone as we walk each other home.

Visit his website

 

Robert & Suzanne Mays

Prophetic Visions in Near-Death Experiences: Warnings for Our Current Time

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

Near-death experiences (NDEs) frequently give indications that time during the experience is suspended, that the transcendent realm is actually “timeless” and that the events of the NDE seem to occur all at once. Two key elements in many NDEs relating to time are a life review (a panoramic presentation of the events of the NDEr’s life) and a life preview (visions of likely future events in the NDEr’s personal life or in world events). In this talk, we will focus on prophetic visions of future world events. Prophetic visions in NDEs can be viewed as admonitions or warnings. The future can be changed based on people’s free-will choices. Certain NDErs like Kenneth Leth and Howard Storm received significant visions during their NDEs that have relevance to events occurring now or in the foreseeable future. We will describe these visions, provide indications what they may mean for actual events facing the world, and suggest how people’s responses might change the outcomes. If these prophetic visions are admonitions or warnings of future events, it is crucial that people adopt a positive and accepting attitude toward the future and adjust how they relate to others to be more loving, accepting, tolerant and kind.

Visit their website

 

Rev. Bill McDonald

A Rainbow of Revolutionary Transformative Experiences

General Session | Saturday | Keynote Presentation

Rev. Bill McDonald will explore the mystical world of NDEs, Near-Death-Like Experiences, STEs, Angels, Gurus, Mystical Beings and Supernatural Experiences that cannot be explained. He will also talk about how the power of love can expand our consciousness. He will use personal stories from his own diversity of otherworldly and mystical experiences. Talking about a childhood NDE, hearing a choir of angels singing, miracles in the midst of combat in The Vietnam War, and supernatural experiences in India including an NDE after falling off a 30-foot cliff in the Himalayan Mountains. He will also talk about his Naadi Palm Reading and how that related to his Near-Death-Like experience when his heart was purposely stopped, and he was put on a heart-lung machine for heart surgery. He will also talk about the avatar, Babaji whom he met in this otherworldly experiences. He will discuss how being a combat veteran along with his NDEs and STEs have transformed his life into one of total service. He speaks from the heart and goes where he is lead in his talks. He is never fully sure of what he will say at any presentation, as it tries to allow the universe to guide and direct him and give him the words and stories that those in attendance need to hear. His talks are not tales about what others have done or quotes from books – these are his one-of-a-kind life experiences and he shares them around the world and on YouTube where he has almost a million views on his videos. Rev. Bill McDonald was a Huey helicopter crew-chief/door-gunner in Vietnam. He was awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross, The Bronze Star Medal, 14 Air Medals, The Purple Heart Medal and other medals and ribbons. He had many STEs while in combat, as well as before and after the war including NDE-like experiences which he writes about in his books. He has been associated with around a dozen films, TV shows and videos including a PBS TV special called “The Art of Healing” and on the History Channel with the documentary “In the Shadow of the Blade”. He has authored several books that deal with his 3 NDE-like events and his many STEs.

Visit his website

 

Sharon Milliman, Cassandra Ricks, PhD, & George Ruff, Jr.

Multiple Near-Death Experiencers Panel – Moderated by Yvonne Kason, MD

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

Sharon Milliman: NDE due to lightning strike in 2005. I was met by my two brothers who had died as babies and were fully grown men. I had a life review, saw and spoke with Jesus, sat and spoke with God, Also, two angels showed me future world events.

Visit Sharon’s Website

Cassandra Ricks PhD is an inspirational speaker and writer. As a transpersonal psychologist and educator, her area of expertise is working with the inner critic and limiting beliefs utilizing story as a way of knowing . A natural born spiritweaver, she acts as a bridge between the spirits and the visible to effect positive change. Her memoir A PAUSE BETWEEN BREATHS will be published summer of 2019.

Visit Cassandra’s website

George Ruff Jr. has been on a thirty year journey of spiritual transformation through multiple Near Death Experiences, guidance from deceased loved ones and other spirit guides, Divine grace, angels in human form, spiritual healing, an out-of-body vision that prevented imminent tragedy, and many intuitive synchronicities from subtle nudges to direct messages and timely opportunities that have saved the lives of himself and others. Human relationships and communities have also provided George with the support, education, validation and leadership training that have allowed him to help others through mentoring, speaking and hands-on healing.

 

Roberta Moore

NDEs and Mystical Experiences: Transformed by the Light

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

In Life After Life, Raymond Moody states that during an NDE “perhaps the most incredible common element…which has the most profound effect upon the individual, is the encounter with a very bright light.” This encounter with a “Being of Light,” that emanates unconditional love and bliss, is also a central feature of many Mystical Experiences. Although the circumstances of these two types of experiences of the Light differ with NDEs caused by a traumatic event and Mystical Experiences occurring in sometimes random situations, the core features and transformational aftereffects are very similar, thus cross-validating the two types of experiences.

Visit her website

 

David Morris & Louisa Peck, M.A.

Addiction, Recovery and Healing through NDEs Panel – Moderated by Rev. Karen E. Herrick, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., C.A.D.C.

General Session | Sunday | Concurrent Presentation

Addiction, Recovery, and Healing Through NDEs: Moderated by Rev. Karen E. Herrick, Ph.D, LCSW, CADC is a scholar of C.G. Jung, who had an NDE himself in 1944. This aided his work in creating Analytical Psychology. She has lectured on dysfunctional and addictive homes, and is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor.

David Morris experienced an NDE after a 25 year of progressively worsening drug addiction resulting in an OD on Cocaine at age 45. He experienced divine intervention, and is 11+ years sober. Today he is content and peaceful.

Louisa Peck, M.A. did not achieve sobriety until 13 years after her NDE. It took a series of paranormal events for her to gradually acknowledge the voice of her guardian angel and messages from the spirit world. She fully embraced God 23 years following her NDE.

Visit Louisa’s website

 

Raymond O’Brien

Between Two Worlds: Normalizing the NDE, the Gap of Care and How to Close It

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

Raymond O’Brien is a medical intuitive, provides NDE Counseling to NDE survivors and is a member of the British Association of Counselors and Psychotherapists. He has had two NDEs and multiple STEs and has been resuscitated 10 times due to cardiac arrests. His work with clients ranges from experiences of terrorism to near-death. Raymond will discuss how NDEs impact a survivor’s daily life, their social interactions, their relationships with friends, family and the medical personnel who treat them. He will also discuss the impact of the “gap of care”, the importance of normalizing the NDE, and how to help experiencers learn to choose the correct therapist who can help them process and integrate their NDE via validation, education and support. Raymond will share who he was before his NDE, how the traumatizing gap of care exacerbated the aftereffects of his NDE leading to five years of isolation, and how this and other traumas played a major role in him wanting to provide NDE counseling services for NDE survivors. Raymond is currently putting together a working model for addressing the many PTSD symptoms associated with NDE survivors which is integral to his approach to psychological and emotional healing.

Raymond OBrien website

 

Jeff O’Driscoll, M.D. & Jeffery Olsen, B.A.

Doctor & Patient Heal One Another

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

When Jeffery Olsen had his horrific automobile accident, experiencing his own NDE, his Level One Trauma Physician also had an amazing Shared-Death Experience while overseeing Olsen’s care. Best selling author and international speaker Jeffery Olsen is now joined with Dr. Jeff O’Driscoll, MD as they share their perspectives from both the doctor and patient experiences surrounding the incredible gifts manifested out of the Near-Death, Shared-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences. Dr. O’Driscoll experienced communications from Olsen’s deceased wife, who was killed instantly at the scene of their traumatic accident, while Olsen was having a near-death experience of his own and is now willing to share publicly as well.

Visit Jeff O’Driscoll’s Website

Visit Jeffery Olsen’s website

 

Marieta Pehlivanova

Which NDE features are associated with reduced fear of death in NDErs?

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Poster Presentation

Reduced fear of death is one of the strongest and most salient aftereffects of an NDE. Most experiencers lose their anxiety and fear of death almost instantaneously after the experience and the effect persists over time. Additionally, this effect is inversely associated with NDE depth, such that deeper NDEs precipitate more dramatic reductions in the perceived threat of death. However, empirical studies have not examined whether fear of death reduction is associated with specific NDE features. Nuanced understanding of this powerful effect could have implications for clinical psychology and end-of-life care. In this study, we tested theoretical predictions by Tassell-Matamua and Lindsay (2016) about specific NDE elements that influence the loss of fear of death in NDErs. We used the Near-Death Experience Scale to quantify specific NDE elements, and the Death Attitude Profile–Revised and Death Anxiety Scale to assess death-related attitudes. Some of the NDE features that are associated with a lower fear of death or a higher acceptance of death as a gateway towards a happy afterlife include: having a life review, encountering mystical beings or the spirits of deceased relatives, or experiencing a feeling of incredible joy. Surprisingly, experiencing oneself outside of one’s body does not seem to be related to reduced fear of death after an NDE. NDEs offer a compelling model of ways to reduce people’s fear of death and to promote positive attitudes towards death. Going forward, these findings could be used to design interventions towards these goals.

 

William Peters, PhD, & Monica Williams, MD & Michael Kinsella, PhD

The Shared Crossing Spectrum: Introducing a Typology of Shared-Death Experiences and Other End-of-Life Phenomena

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

The Shared Crossing Spectrum is the product of a seven-year study conducted by the Shared Crossing Research Initiative. This plenary presentation will introduce the Spectrum, which encompasses pre-death premonitions and pre- and post-death dreams, visions, and synchronicities, as well as shared-death experiences. The Spectrum is intended to provide a map to assist laypeople, healthcare professionals, and spiritual counselors working at end of life.

William Peters: is the founder of the Shared Crossing Project and director of its research initiative. He presents nationally on the topics of extraordinary end of life experiences and conscious dying. William is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and trained at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco.

Dr Monica Williams: is a Board-Certified Emergency Physician and national speaker on the topic of transforming death, dying and advance care planning practices. She is the author of It’s OK to Die and has appeared in national media including The Doctors and the Washington Post.

Michael Kinsella: is the chief researcher for the Shared Crossing Testimonial Project. He is a lecturer of Religion at Central Michigan University, where he specializes in non-ordinary experiences and the religious dimensions of death and dying. His most recent publications have appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and in Method and Theory in the Study of Religion. Michael is currently working on his second book, which explores the socio-cultural influence of near-death experiences.

Visit Shared Crossing Research Initiative’s website

 

Bettina Peyton, MD and Marjorie Woollacott, PhD

Extraordinary Changes in the Experience of Love and Joy: A Thread Connecting NDEs and Mystical Experiences

Healthcare-Educ-Research-Science | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

There are striking commonalities in the transformational experiences across meditative awakenings, NDEs, and psilocybin experiences in terminal cancer patients related to increased spiritual awareness, expressions of loving kindness, and compassion toward other living beings. In this presentation Dr. Woollacott will discuss quantitative data from peer-reviewed articles and case studies exploring these changes in populations who have undergone meditative awakenings, NDEs and psilocybin experiences. These studies show that 1) meditation training significantly enhances compassionate responses to persons in pain by more than 5 times compared to nonmeditators; this alters the activation of the neural circuitry of emotion; 2) NDE experiences result in transformations bringing about significant increases in kindness to others and spiritual well-being, suggesting they are also a vehicle for spiritual awakening; 3) psilocybin experiences also produce increased love as well as self-compassion. One person said at the follow-up, “There is more empathy – a greater understanding of people…” Another said, ‘There is “more desire to connect with loving energy and have loving energy flow through me to others. Dr. Peyton will share her experiences of the transformative power of love in her NDE and in her subsequent meditation practice. She will describe its impact on both her personal life and her medical practice as a hospice physician, and will end with a short guided meditation on love.

Bettina Peyton, M.D.: When Dr. Bettina Peyton almost died, she had a powerful spiritual awakening. It was a pivotal experience that would prove to have a profound and enduring impact on her life. Dr. Peyton subsequently switched the focus her medical career to caring exclusively for patients in the final phase of life. One of the first physicians in the country to be board-certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Dr. Peyton helped establish and direct New Hampshire’s first free-standing inpatient hospice. Now retired, she is writing a memoir.

Marjorie Hines Woollacott, PhD, has been a neuroscience professor at the U of Oregon for more than three decades and a meditator for almost four. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and she is president of the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences. Her recent book, Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind, explores scientific studies supporting the premise that consciousness functions beyond the mind. She has also coauthored a popular textbook for health professionals and written 200+ research articles, with several on meditation, the topic of her latest book.

Visit Marjorie’s website

 

Sue Pighini

Creating an Extraordinary Life After an NDE

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

Learn to live fearlessly, love is the strongest energy on our planet, how to have greater compassion, how to understand our “job” this lifetime, taking more chances for change, leaving the old story behind, learning about our responsibility to create a new story for ourselves and how that influences others. Sue is an award-winning author, leadership seminar trainer, Transformational Life Coach, motivational speaker and former New York City corporate executive. She is also a dedicated horsewoman who helps others heal with the powerful, intuitive energy of the horse. She offers business workshops and seminars that are designed to help others maximize the gifts and talents that they were born with.

Visit her website

 

Lee Thornton Riggs, B.A., Ann Frances Ellis, Ph.D., & Lisa Winston, A.A.S.

Aftereffects of a Near Death Experience and How to Help: from Healing Arts to Life Between Life (LBL) Hypnotherapy. Panel Moderator: Yvonne Sneeden

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

Aftereffects of a Near Death Experience and How to Help: from Healing Arts to Life Between Life (LBL) Hypnotherapy. Panel Moderator: Yvonne Sneeden, Executive Producer of the documentary film, Back from the Light: Aftereffects of Surviving a Near-Death Experience.

Lee Thornton Riggs, B.A. describes her NDE in her book, “Through Heaven’s Gate and Back”. She is a professional artist and singer/songwriter.
View Lee’s website

Ann Frances Ellis, Ph,D. believes NDErs show us the way to manifest our love essences more fully.(Even though we have come to Earth to experience duality, and have agreed to forget our true home and our true oneness).

Lisa Winston, A.A.S has been on a journey of self-discovery, study, and travel which began 7 years after her NDE. Her most beneficial self-therapies have been contemplative photography, writing, nature, and being of service to others.
View Lisa’s website

 

Emily Rodavich

Raise Spiritual Awareness by Revolutionizing the Perspective of Coincidence through the Application of New Language

General Session | Thursday | Concurrent Presentation

Raise spiritual awareness by revolutionizing the perspective of coincidence through the application of new language and by creating opportunities for others to think, talk and write about them.
As a near-death experiencer, I have enjoyed many meaningful coincidences. These phenomena, to me, are generally underrated in society—even though they have much in common with NDEs. Both occur spontaneously and both are unexplainable. Coincidences, like NDEs can boggle our minds, disrupt our perception of reality, and clash with our belief systems. Unfortunately, the general public is often quick to minimize them as mere coincidences and move on.
Not everybody has an NDE, nor does everyone relate to NDEs, whereas coincidences happen to everybody regardless of race, religion, culture, and location on earth. These fundamental experiences offer great potential for initiating grassroots spiritual awareness and growth. To unleash this potential, the concept of coincidence must be de-normalized and reframed in context with other more profound spiritual phenomena. Use of the term Mystical Interludes upgrades coincidences from the commonplace to the extraordinary where they belong, positioning them within the family of profound extraordinary events, making them first cousins to NDEs.

Visit Emily’s website

 

Nancy Rynes

Evolution as the Next Revolution

General Session | Sunday | Keynote Presentation

Few argue that humanity is on the cusp of great changes, just as the American Colonies were in 1776. While revolution helped to create this incredible nation, the changes it brought didn’t embrace all who dwelled here. And those revolutionary changes also came with a heavy price. In this keynote presentation, Nancy Rynes makes parallels between historic revolutions, such as the one that began here in Philadelphia, and where humanity stands at the present moment. More importantly, she details how near-death experiencers, and the wisdom they bring back from the afterlife, can usher in the next Evolution of humanity rather than a revolution. A humanity that is more expansive, compassionate, connected, light-filled, and creative than we have ever seen before.

View her website

 

Jane Seybold & Victoria Talbott, M.A.

After-Death Communication Panel – Jane Seybold & Victoria Talbott, M.A. – Moderated by Catherine Weissenberg, M.A. and Jocelyn Montanaro, J.D.

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

After-Death Communication: Moderators Catherine Weissenberg, M.A., and Jocelyn Montanaro, J.D. Catherine has been facilitating conversations with the divine, the deceased, and comatose patients for 30 years. She facilitated conversations between Jocelyn and her husband, Kevin, when he was in a coma, both immediately prior to his death, and after he had died.

Jane Seybold is a Psychic, Evidential Medium, Energy Healer, and ordained Minister.
Visit Jane’s website

Victoria Talbott, M.A. is a Medium with a lifelong interest in afterlife studies which intensified upon the passing of her 20-year-old son. She is one of the Founding Mothers of the Big Circle, a group of incarnate and disincarnate beings working together to explore the technological connection of Electronic Voice Phenomena or trans-audio communication.
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Janet Tarantino, Mary Catherine Volk, Darryl Philip

NDE/STE Leading to Psychical Ability and Mystical Experience Panel – Moderated by Jan Holden, Ed.D.

General Session | Saturday | Concurrent Presentation

NDE/STE Leading to Psychical Ability and Mystical Experience Panel – Moderated by Jan Holden, Ed.D., long-time NDE and STE researcher, Journal of Near-Death Studies Editor, Professor and Director of Counseling at U. of N. Texas. Researchers have documented clearly that in the aftermath of near-death experiences (NDEs) and other potentially spiritually transformative experiences (STEs), experiencers report either the appearance or an increase in transpersonal experiences—those that transcend the usual personal limits of space, time, and/or identity. These include psychic experiences that relate somehow to the material world—such as precognition, telepathy, clairvoyance, and/or psychokinesis—and transcendent experiences involving environments and entities not of the material world—such as physically deceased persons, spirit guides, angels, and/or deities. In this panel, three experiencers will briefly describe their NDE or STE and then focus on transpersonal aftereffects, with particular attention to experiences that occurred spontaneously; aspects of such experiences that they sought to manage, avoid, and/or cultivate; and a summary reflection on the benefits and challenges of post NDE/STE increases in transpersonal experiences and abilities. In addition, an author who has investigated STEs will share his perspective on how they answer some of life’s most perplexing questions.

Janet Tarantino experienced an allergy-induced NDE, and this led her from the corporate world to becoming an inventor, Medium, author, and caregiver.
Visit Janet’s website

Mary Catherine Volk experienced her NDE at age 6 with measles encephalitis. She discovered the power of thought and how lower vibrations can be replaced by higher vibrations that make a positive difference for 3 generations before us and 3 generations after us.
Visit Mary’s website

Darryl Phillip is the author of the book “Relax, You’re Not Going to Die – More Spiritual Insights for Your Life”.

 

William Taylor

Revelations from an NDE: Exploring Unconditional Love as Ultimate Power

General Session | Friday | Concurrent Presentation

The most common characteristic of an NDE is the experience of overwhelming unconditional love and acceptance. NDErs have experienced a revelation. They have just been introduced to the power and vast expanse of this love energy. They may suddenly have increased awareness of all aspects of our existence here in this time space dimension as well as on the other side. This awareness is on the increase and is now part of our current culture, resulting in a positive effect on humanity. We explore how this knowledge impacts a model of understanding of our relationship to the universe. Can we now answer such questions as: Where do we come from? Why are we here?

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    20/20 VISION - 2020
    Friday, Aug. 14, 2020 -
    Sunday, Aug. 16, 2020

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