I recently completed Dr. Peter Levine’s Eye of the Needle course Part 2 in San Diego on the integration of near death experiences (NDE’s). NDE’s can arise following a broad range of experiences, common ones include: cardiac arrest (heart attacks), serious accidents and injuries, surgeries, use of anesthetic, suffocation, near/drowning, life threatening illness, poisoning and high fevers, fetal birth conditions of anoxia/hypoxia, coma, concussion, severe emotional distress. Many peak experiences also resemble NDE’s.
The Eye of the Needle in particular refers to a transitional state between life and death, like thanatosis, e.g. a state of shock when all voluntary activity ceases or when one’s body is feigning death.
“A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound psychological (psycho-physiological) event that may occur to a person close to death or, if not near death, in a situation of profound physical or emotional crisis. Because it includes transcendental and mystical elements, an NDE is a powerful event of consciousness; it is not (in itself) mental illness.”
The characteristics of an NDE often include: peace, tranquility, calm, and joy; a review of one’s life and other memories; an experience of being all-knowing; a sense of hyper awareness; a deep depersonalization, including a sense of complete separation from the body; detachment and loss of emotion; a sense of cosmic unity; transcendence of the physical world and/or an experience of a void, nothingness, a realm of total non-existence.
When people experience NDE’s they transition between states of freeze, extreme pain, and terror. When they dissociate, they discover the absence of this hell realm and enter into the beatific state of non-being. People are often left needing to make sense of this experience because it can leave them in a state of confusion and stuck in one or both of these polarities ~ the hell and/or the heaven realms.
If left unintegrated, these experiences and that of the polarities following, can profoundly affect people’s day to day lives. Especially as according to a new study, one in 10 people have ‘near-death’ experiences. “Near-death experiences where people report a range of spiritual and physical symptoms, including out-of-body sensations and seeing or hearing hallucinations, affect 10% of people, according to a new study analyzing participants from 35 countries.” ~ Eureka Alert/AAAS June 28, 2019.
Many people describe out of body experiences (OBE’s) that have not been integrated, of which 95 % occur in a medical setting. The trauma ~ hell realm and it’s opposite ~ the beatific, heavenly realms need to find their way to integrate together so that the whole being can recover physiological, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness.
When we can pass through the eye of the needle, and return to ourselves and our bodies here and now, life becomes much more livable, fruitful and real again. This is my wish for us all.
Sending so much wellness and blessings,
