Josh W NDE

Experience Description

I have been snowboarding since I was 12 and have always enjoyed the extreme jumps on the mountains. Completing a landing, I had too much speed and missed the transition to absorb my momentum. I landed on the flat of the run. The energy of my speed sent a whiplash effect up through my legs to my neck. Upon landing, my goggles and beanie bounced off. I stopped and hopped up to grab my beanie and goggles then noticed my nose was gushing out blood. My best friend came over the jump and asked me what happened as I held my beanie to my nose and if I was ok? I remember telling him I don't know and that I needed to go to the ski lodge for ski patrol. (The funny thing is that I worked during this time as a firefighter emergency medical technician and my first instinct was first aid). My friend said I seemed coherent and said he would be back when I stopped the bleeding. He said I then went down the hill and jumped off two more little jumps and slid a rail. By the time I got to ski patrol lodge, I was repetitively questioned and didn't know who I was. I had to look in my wallet to figure out who and where I was. After about five minutes, I blacked out and collapsed in the lodge. After fifteen to twenty minutes they were loading me into an ambulance. This is where my out of body experience occurred.

I recall, in some of the most vivid detail, that I was floating above the main ski lodge. It was like being in a helicopter about fifty to seventy feet above the ground. I was just hovering. There was either no noise or total silence. I remember I could feel the warmth of the sun, but it wasn't the sun it was much brighter and hurt to look directly at. The warmth that it emitted was a 'right' feeling. The feeling I had was that everything was calm, relaxed and perfect. I could look and move around the ski resort freely and it felt just as I could float anywhere. I recall going to the top of the mountain and watching different people on the mountain for a few minutes. Then I decided to float back down to the lodge to look around. As I was looking at people around the lunch area I could feel myself being lifted higher and higher up. The only analogy I can make, is if someone was swimming at the bottom of a pool trying to grab something on the bottom without moving their legs to stay under. Then having their body's buoyancy that them to the surface. That pulling is the feeling I felt.

At this time, I was probably about two hundred yards up in the air and I remember the light was emitting thick rays around me. The warmth of the raise grew. Everything felt right and calm. But then, I could hear my best friend Sky and girlfriend Jessica calling my name. It seemed like it was in stereo and muffled under water, but their voices were the only thing that I could hear. Once I was associating their voices with who they were, it seemed like a force pulled me back down. Once I could see down on an ambulance, I felt myself turn around to go back up and I couldn't. I kept moving faster and faster down towards the ambulance. Once I was about two stories above the ambulance, things around me blurred. I remember being sucked backwards into my body on top of the gurney.

Once I was back in my body, I felt this rush of energy and acuteness and looked around. I knew but didn't know Sky and Jessica.

Talking to them later, they said that I had been unconscious but responsive to a sternum rub. When they were watching them load me into the ambulance the emergency medical technician and paramedic stopped and were rubbing my chest checking me out almost like something was wrong. That's when Jessica and Sky were saying my name Josh. Within a minute or so is when I popped my head up looked around with wide-open eyes at them. At that point, they said they would follow behind me to the hospital then I blacked out and was unconscious for about another two hours. Waking up in and out of consciousness for the next few days, I had amnesia. It was like someone put my mind on rewind to two years prior. I didn't recall anything that had happened for two years, and as the swelling in my brain went down my memory slowly came back. Each time the swelling decreased, I would black out and wake up at a specific time in the past during some emotional state good, bad, just intense. Eventually most of my memory came back; I only lost about a month or so of memory.

Prior to the event, I was always pretty intense and extreme into sports and being very competitive. After the experience, my entire attitude became calm and relaxed. It was almost like a switch that turned my thought process. Prior I had always been positive, but after everything that I do is based off of positive mental reinforcement and I'm very calm, relaxed and reserved now.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: January 2000

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes AccidentDirect head injury severe whiplash with a swelling brain 'Illness, trauma or other condition not considered life threatening' The frontal region of my brain was swelling.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Wonderful

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I clearly left my body and existed outside it

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 As above.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? During my floating experience I felt the most aware of my surroundings, however once I reentered my body I had a rush of energy but it didn't feel like a higher level of consciousness, it actually felt confined being in my body.

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

Were your senses more vivid than usual? Incredibly more vivid

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. It seemed more real than real.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. I couldn't hear anything it was just total quiet silence.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? Yes, and the facts have been checked out

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Uncertain I felt like I was floating higher into a bright light source, however I can't say that it was a tunnel or not.

Did you see any beings in your experience? I actually saw them

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

The experience included: Light

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was brighter than the sun and was warm, but wasn't the sun. There was something different about it but I don't know how to explain it, it was almost like it was a bright area of nothing but light.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm I would say the uniqueness of it was that I could float anywhere I wanted to.

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt calm, relaxed, happy, warm, and one of the best ways I can describe it is just 'right.'

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? incredible joy

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

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe

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

Did scenes from the future come to you? Scenes from the world's future

The experience included: Boundary

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a barrier that I was not permitted to cross; or was sent back against my will

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Conservative/fundamentalist Non-denominational Christian

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Uncertain Growing up a Christian I have always followed my morals of our non-denominational church. After the incident, I grew more interested to find out why? Why, for everything. It was more or less a hunger to learn about any religions that I can, and any ancient history. Prior I just had a focus on my future goals, competing in the Olympics and pursuing a military career. But afterwards my goals and outlook changed.

What is your religion now? Moderate 'After completing a Humanities degree and studying several religions, and origins of religions I find myself with a broadened view finding the commonality of many backgrounds. Believing in and understanding evolution and the fossil record but still believe in a higher power aka God in its origination. Also after studying the origination of the New Testament and its terms of context I have taken it as serious as other religions.'

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Uncertain Growing up a Christian I have always followed my morals of our non-denominational church. After the incident, I grew more interested to find out why? Why, for everything. It was more or less a hunger to learn about any religions that I can, and any ancient history. Prior I just had a focus on my future goals, competing in the Olympics and pursuing a military career. But afterwards my goals and outlook changed.

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

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? I actually saw them

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Uncertain I just knew the feeling felt like the right place to be.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes Although I have been very relaxed and calm after the event, I have had precognitive dreaming on almost a monthly basis. Where I will have a dream and soon after the event in the dream comes true. When it happens in life outside of my dream, I feel like this weird shaky vision with my eyes as if I'm zooming away from an object. Once I watch the things occur, I feel totally exhausted and either can take a nap or will have a throbbing headache. I got in touch with a lady from 'Coast to Coast AM' about precognitive dreaming and my experiences, after she was just asking my questions about myself she stopped and said we both know you're a very old soul and have been here before and that I needed to contact someone else and left it at that.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The experience made me feel that everything no matter what is 'ok' and will not be bad.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I shared it with one of my Humanities mentors Jason File a study of Bart Ehrman for the first time about a year ago. He told me that that's a classic outer body experience and I should look into a few books on it. However I didn't share the precognitive dreaming with him just because it seems radical, only the guest from 'Coast to Coast AM'.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real I was confused at first because I was convinced that I was life-flighted out but then it didn't make sense because I went back to the ambulance. Once I got my full memory back everything clicked and I figured my soul was floating around.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real I'm open to all new possibilities, Einstein said it best, we don't know one tenth of one, one thousandth of one percent about anything. Anything is possible and we just have to be open to understand it. An example, our visible spectrum is just a small portion of the actual spectrum, how do we know different dimensions don't exist, who's to say there is or isn't a God, what God is right or wrong? All religions are always interrupted for the moral good of the culture, but where does that thought come from?

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