How My Near-Death Experience Guided my Journey of Human Awakening

[View in browser]( | [Unsubscribe]( [Rodale Wellness]( FROM THE DESK OF Eben Alexander Author of Living in a Mindful Universe Dear wellness seeker, Can human beings truly demonstrate the power of mind over matter, where sheer force of will is enough to determine an emergent reality in the physical world? When viewed from the proper perspective, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" There is a rapidly growing realization in the fields of the neuroscience of consciousness and philosophy of mind that our conventional view of the brain and consciousness is fatally and irrevocably flawed. Our world is on the verge of an unprecedented shift in understanding, and the implications will affect each of us on a directly personal level. The picture emerging from the most advanced reaches of scientific investigation is quite contrary to our conventional viewpoint. This discussion is fascinating, one to which the whole world should be privy — yet most people have no inkling of the profound shifts in understanding coming to the scientific community. Our conventional western approach to medicine is focused on healing the physical body. As physicians (a word derived from our focus on the physical, especially the body), we are taught that disease and imbalances are due to molecular interactions and physical biological relationships inherent in the specific treatment we advise. But what if something more, something deeper, is going on? As a practicing neurosurgeon, I was exposed daily to the mind-brain relationship due to the fact that my patients would often have alterations in their level of consciousness. While this phenomenon was interesting, my focus was pragmatic. I was trained to evaluate those alterations in consciousness in order to diagnose and treat various tumors, injuries, infections, or strokes affecting the brain. My complacency with that arrangement of casual "understanding" came crashing to a halt on November 10, 2008 when I collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep coma due to meningitis, as I wrote about in my first book, [Proof of Heaven](. While in coma, I experienced things that, in the weeks after awakening, baffled me and cried out for an explanation within the bounds of science as I knew it. As tempting as it was to simply accept my extraordinary healing and current well-being as an inexplicable miracle, I couldn't do that. Instead, I was driven to find an explanation for the journey I took during the coma — a sensory experience that completely defied our conventional neuro-scientific concepts of the role of the neocortex in detailed conscious awareness. As a wellness seeker, you clearly don't have to wait for the world's scientific community to awaken to all of this — you can start taking advantage of this revolutionary shift in understanding in your own personal journey towards wellness. A tremendous amount of healing — of becoming whole, of achieving physical, mental and emotional health — comes from recognizing this fundamental process of mind over matter. This is a complete reversal from the conventional view of science taught in medical school. Our new book, [Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Heart of Consciousness]( (co-authored with my partner, Karen Newell), explains this world-changing shift and outlines numerous ways in which the individual seeker can take their journey to a higher level, by fully applying the power of our free will to manifest the world of our dreams. We take the reader through a quest to answer some of the deepest questions humans can ask. Do our loved ones hear our prayers? Can I really communicate with my departed grandmother? Are our souls eternal? Why are we here? What is our purpose? Does mind over matter really work, and how? And, the most straightforward application is achieving wellness, of the body, mind, spirit — and soul. Such wellness is very much "wholeness" — becoming who we were meant to be, finding the creativity, refreshing perspective and broadened awareness of the interrelationships in our existence, allowing us to live our lives as richly as necessary to grow to our highest potential. Join us on this journey of human awakening — no soul left behind! With love, and gratitude, Eben Alexander MD Making Sense of It All Adapted from [Living in a Mindful Universe]( [man-looking-clouds-1000.jpg] Morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences are the medical community's way of sharing the stories of hapless patients who end up maimed or dead from various illnesses and injuries. It is not, perhaps, the happiest of topics, but they are held in an effort to learn and teach so as to protect future patients from suffering the same fate. It is vanishingly rare for such a patient to be present at their own M&M conference, but that is exactly the situation I encountered a few months after my coma. The physicians who had cared for me were astounded by the high level of my ongoing recovery, and they took advantage of that apparent miracle to invite me to participate in a discussion of my unexpected escape from death. My recovery defied any explanation in medical science. On the morning that I appeared at the conference, several colleagues shared with me what a shock it was that I had not only survived (which they had estimated to be a 2 percent probability by the end of my week in coma), but that I had seemingly recovered all of my mental function over a few months — that aspect was truly stunning. No one would have predicted such a recovery, given the extent of my illness. My neurological examinations, CT and MRI scans, and laboratory values revealed that my meningoencephalitis was one of radical — and very lethal — severity. My initial treatment was confounded by a relatively constant state of epileptic seizures that proved difficult to stop. The neurological examination is one of the most important factors in determining the severity of coma, and can offer some of the best clues as to the prognosis. By assessing eye movements and pupillary responses to light, as well as the nature of arm and leg movements in response to painful stimuli, my doctors determined, as I would have, that my neocortex, the human part of the brain, was badly damaged even when I was first brought into the emergency room. Another crucial factor concerns the quality of verbalization, but I had none — my only vocalizations were occasional grunts and groans, or nothing at all. The only exception was when I unexpectedly called out, "God help me!" while still in the emergency room (I have no memory of this, but it was reported to me later). Having heard nothing intelligible from me for hours, close family and friends thought those words might offer a glimmer of hope — that I might be returning to this world. But they were the last words uttered before I lapsed into deep coma. On day seven of coma, my doctors held a family conference in which they reiterated that I had been assigned approximately a 10 percent chance of survival on my initial arrival in the ER, but that that probability had dwindled to a pathetic 2 percent chance of survival after a week spent in coma. Much worse than the measly 2 percent probability for survival was the harsh reality they attached to it, and that was the likelihood of my actually awakening and having some return of quality to my life. Their estimate for that possibility was a most disappointing zero — no chance of recovery to any sort of normal daily routine. A nursing home was the best-case scenario, albeit a remote possibility. Of course, my family and friends were devastated by this bleak depiction of the future. Due to my rapid descent into coma, any physician realizes the basic impossibility of a complete medical recovery, and yet that is what happened. I have discovered no cases of any other patients with my particular diagnosis who then went on to benefit from a complete recovery. Toward the end of that morning conference, I was asked if I had any thoughts to share. "All of this discussion about my case, and the rarity of my recovery, pales in comparison to what I see as a much deeper question that has plagued me ever since I opened my eyes in that ICU bed. With such well-documented decimation of my neocortex, how did I have any experience at all? Especially such a vibrant and ultrareal odyssey? How did that possibly happen?" As I scanned the faces of my colleagues that day, I saw no more than a dim reflection of my own wonderment. Some might default to the simplistic assumption that what I had experienced had been nothing more than a feverish dream or hallucination. But those who had taken care of me, and those who knew enough neuroscience to understand the impossibility that such an impaired brain could have even remotely offered up that extraordinary and detailed complexity of experience, shared that much deeper sense of mystery. I knew that, ultimately, I would be responsible for seeking any satisfactory answers. A ready explanation of my experience wasn't lining up neatly, and I felt compelled to make better sense of it all. To read more about Eben's story, and his journey to understand the true nature of consciousness, pick up a copy of [Living in a Mindful Universe](. Recommended for You: In [Living in a Mindful Universe]( the New York Times bestselling author of Proof of Heaven and The Map of Heaven shares his insights into the true nature of consciousness. Embracing his radically new worldview, Eben Alexander began a committed program of personal exploration into non-local consciousness. Along the way, he met Karen Newell, who had spent most of her lifetime living the worldview he had only just discovered was possible. Her personal knowledge came from testing various techniques and theories as part of her daily routine. With [Living in a Mindful Universe]( they share techniques that can be used to tap into our greater mind, and explore how the power of the heart can enhance healing, relationships, creativity, guidance, and more. Using various modalities related to meditation and mindfulness described herein, you too can gain the power to access that infinite source of knowing so vital to us all. [ORDER NOW]( Did a friend forward this e-mail to you? Don't miss a single newsletter. Sign up at [RodaleWellness.com/join](. [facebook]( [twitter]( [pinterest]( [Instagram]( [Unsubscribe]( [Manage Your Email Preferences]( [Privacy Policy]( Customer Care Dept., 400 South 10th Street, Emmaus, PA 18098 © 2017 Rodale Inc., all rights reserved 10918