Courtni T NDE

Experience Description

During summer vacation with friends, we rented canoes in order to stroll on a river, the Dordogne. The first time everything went well. The second time, I experienced an NDE.

On board of a canoe with a couple of friends, I was positioned at the front; all went well until we approached a segment of the river that was a bit difficult.

I warn the person directing the canoe not to move to to the right, but she didn't listen and we went right. I realize we will turn upside down. The moment is coming, I'm grumbling a bit for falling, I tell myself that this is rough, but I'm not scared because I know I'm a good swimmer.

I'm under water when I suddenly see the legs of my two friends passing me at top speed. I'm asking myself why I'm not moving. I'm stuck in some branches; the water is cloudy. I try to get loose, but cannot do it, so I give up.

Then I'm living an experience. I quickly see a few things from my life. I feel the arrival of somebody behind me on the left. It is my deceased father. I communicate with him without words or any language except love. He is guiding me by making me understand that I have a choice. I can chose to live and to experience love on earth. I see the realization of the scenario of my death, the sadness of my loved ones, my friends returning to Paris without me, and the sorrow of my little sister. It's unbearable to me. I'm reconnecting with my body and the aquatic environment. With extraordinary strength I'm tearing my pants and a part of my tee-shirt , that had been entangled in a heap of branches. I'm free. Now I only have to reach the surface that seems to be so far away. I feel like being born again, like a naked newborn who is looking to get into the light. Time is getting long. I'm there and my body is hurting. I need air.

After several tens of meters swimming I reach an island and am saved. At the same time, my little sister in Paris is leaving a message for me on my answering machine asking if I am well.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 2008

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Drowning Life threatening event, but not clinical death. If I understand the question well, I almost drowned, time was running out, so the situation was dangerous.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Neither pleasant NOR distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Uncertain I lost awareness of my body

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal The capacity to see the possibilities that present themselves to you. The sight of love that surrounds and enriches us. The lucidity that I had to tear loose from the branches at the last minute, as I already had given up life.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? At the moment of danger of death, at the moment when making a choice; an act in order to live.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Incredibly fast

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning Time didn't exist anymore, even though it was running out. Past, future and present were united. The lucidity that I had to reconnect with my environment and with time saved me.

Were your senses more vivid than usual? More vivid than usual

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. At the moment when I decided to get away, I acted in an instant. My eyes immediately located the problem where I was stuck.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Under the water I don't know, it was not very quiet.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

The experience included: Presence of deceased persons

Did you see any beings in your experience? I sensed their presence

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes Father

The experience included: Unearthly light

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? An unusually bright light

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was facing me towards the left, I really didn't want to look at it, I was ignoring it for the moment.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Love, support, inner strength, desire for earthly love, a detachment, cold blood, a wish to do well.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Relief or calmness

Did you have a feeling of joy? No

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt united or one with the world

The experience included: Special knowledge or purpose

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control See experience

The experience included: Awareness of the future

Did scenes from the future come to you? Scenes from my personal future The scenario of my death, for me and my relatives.

The experience included: Boundary

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? Uncertain

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a definite conscious decision to return to life I wanted to experience love and to be with those that I love on earth, I found myself being too young.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Not important to me

What was your religion prior to your experience? Unaffiliated- Atheist je ne croyais en rien, si ce n'est au hasard. Je ne m'expliquais rien, le doute était ma religion

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Greatly important to me

What is your religion now? Do not know je ne sais toujours pas, je crois à l'éveil, à l'amour, à l'ouverture et au mouvement

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience I believed in the 'nothingness', nothing after death.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Uncertain It was part of a set of events

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin My father

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I sensed their presence

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? Uncertain les images du passé ont été très peu nombreuse je m'e souviens mal

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Uncertain Question is too complicated

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? God does not exist

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? I am uncertain if God exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are possibly meaningful and significant

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? Yes

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? An afterlife probably does not exist

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists Yes I never thought that I would disappear; I thought that my body was lost, that it would be recovered from the water, what a pity. I also felt the presence of my deceased father and the efforts on his side.

Did you fear death prior to your experience? I moderately feared death

Do you fear death after your experience? I slightly fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Greatly fearful in living my earthly life

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Slightly fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are possibly meaningful and significant

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are meaningful and significant

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Slightly compassionate toward others

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Yes Love is uniting us, enriching us, it is the whole. You can miss it a long time, and not knowing how to practice love, yet it is permanently offered to us, in order to benefit from it and share it.

Were you compassionate after your experience? Moderately compassionate toward others

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I met my first love.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Uncertain I visibly am able to talk about the experience, but the problem is to make it understandable to most skeptics. I have problems on how to translate an experience in what words didn't exist anymore.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Uncertain I just have no more confidence.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? Probably several

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes Quickly soon after, but not with everybody.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes Through TV

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was probably real

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real I had other experiences (during acupuncture), I became confident, I understood that everything I experienced did exist, and it was not my brain that was creating those parallel realities.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No