Bodies and Minds
Chapters 6 and 7 in AFTER by Dr. Bruce Greyson cover two topics that likely could be endlessly debated. In his research on Near Death Experiences (NDEs), 80 percent of his subjects reported having “had a sense of being outside their physical bodies”. And, many experiencers fear reporting their NDE as it may be difficult for a non-experiencer to distinguish that experience from delusion or mental illness. Even Greyson seems to continue to have skepticism about this discernment, so he sets out to try and prove that the “out of body experience” is not just fantasy or signs of a mental illness.
Greyson is continuously left with a collection of anecdotes, stories from NDEs, and many are corroborated from outside sources. But, still in need of scientific backing, he looks to some support through studies using cardiac resuscitation patients. Results show that those who experienced NDEs during their cardiac resuscitation are 92 percent completely accurate in their recounting of the resuscitation events. However, those who do not claim to have experienced an NDE, or are just asked to recall their resuscitation process, are “vague and contain many mistakes”. It is clear that NDEs and “out of body” awareness show an ability for direct perception of resuscitation events when a person should have little to no recollection at all.
But, Greyson’s scientific mind knows that even more proof is needed to convince the scientific community that NDEs are not just “fantasies that didn’t really happen outside the experiencer’s imagination” or even part of some mental illness. How do we know that the extra sensory perception of sights and sounds, voices and visions, experienced during NDEs are actual experiences and not just figments of someone’s mind? Dissociation and heightened sensitivity are experienced during all kinds of intense forms of trauma, and arguably being “near death” could be considered a traumatic experience. But, the coping mechanisms and memories from NDEs differ wildly from those who experience traumas in other realms. And, senses during NDEs are described as “realer than real”, remembered vividly and accurately, as opposed to hallucinations and memories that may be fuzzy and fade with time. On top of that, “NDEs usually lead to an enhanced sense of meaning and purpose in life”, whereas those in mental distress or illness tend to “lose their sense of meaning in life and joy in daily activities.”
For me, two of the most interesting anecdotes of these two chapters have to do with NDEs during a drug overdose and a bad LSD trip. Both are VERY clear when describing their experience within the physical body and mind in contrast to the experience of clear perception and consciousness when separated from them. This idea of a clear consciousness separated from the physical body and mind is a foundational belief of Yoga philosophy. The purusa is pure consciousness, untouched by the confines of the ever-changing physical body and mental fluctuations. The body and mind are part of Prakrti, the exterior Nature that is all but our True Self.
The good news is that within Yoga, our goal is to experience this “freedom” of pure consciousness (purusa) without having the trauma of being near death. Yoga allows us to experience spiritual and total freedom in LIFE! As we gain discriminating knowledge of what is our True Self and what is our temporary experience, we can piece by piece detach ourselves from the confines of our current “embodiment” and free our mental state of stress and worry and fear. I have been reminding all my classes that Savasana (corpse pose) is the state we might seek moments of this conscious clarity and freedom. I will say that definitely Savasana has taken on a more intense and deeper meaning these days for me while reading this book.
I will leave you with a quote from Jill Bolte Taylor who wrote of her experience with a life changing stroke in her book “Stroke of Insight”. To me it sounds familiar to descriptions given during deep meditation and yogic practices.
My perception of my physical boundaries was no longer limited to where my skin met air. I felt like a genie liberated from its bottle. The energy of my spirit seemed to flow like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria. Finer than the finest of pleasures we can experience as physical beings, this absence of physical boundary was one of glorious bliss. As my consciousness dwelled in a flow of sweet tranquility, it was obvious to me that I would never be able to squeeze the enormousness of my spirit back inside this tiny cellular matrix.
NEXT WEEK JULY 6 WE WILL READ CHAPTERS 10 and 11
