Episode 218: Holidays, NDEs & Connecting to Our Loved Ones!

will first air around Christmas time. Now I realize you may be listening to it another time of the year, so it's not technically a Christmas episode, but you will hear some advice from mediums in being in contact with your own loved ones no matter what time of the year or what occasion. Also, i'll read to you two special near death experiences that come from our friends at IANS. If you love reading near death experiences, just go to

IANS dot org. That's the International Association for Near Death Studies and they have a huge database of stories. And then, in our final segment together, I'd like to take you on a little guided imageryence. I'll ask that you have your eyes closed for this part. Of course, you can always listen and replay the experience another time. Our first near death experience comes from a woman who can still clearly remember what happened to her when she was three

years old. We lived in Toronto, Ontario, and on this summer day, I went to the local swimming pool near our townhouse with my father and my sister. I was three and my sister was six. We were playing in the pool for a while when my father said we needed to get out for fifteen minutes for an adult

only swim. I wasn't very happy about that because I wanted to stay in the water and I didn't understand why the adults couldn't swim with us still in there, So my sister went and sat on our towels by the deep end while my dad went for a swim with his friends. I stood looking into the water near or my sister was sitting and thought about jumping in, and that I could sink to the bottom and when my feet touched I could push myself straight back up and pull myself out and no one would even notice.

I wasn't sure if that would work or not, but before I gave it much thought, I just jumped into the water. The second I hit the water, I heard my sister start yelling for my dad, which was a good thing because things didn't go as planned. I started spinning and spinning and couldn't touch anything but water. I noticed that I was running out of air, and I thought for a second, uh oh. Then when I was on the bottom of the pool, I started to feel wonderful.

I was so relieved that the spinning had stopped. I got up and kicked something off of my feet, and I seemed to be able to swim. Now, I figured I'd better go to the top and pull myself out, since that was my original plan. I could see my sister standing by the side of the pool looking at something on the ground, and my dad and others were there looking down too. No one was looking at me, so I figured they must have seen that I could swim now and was okay in the water, and they

were busy watching something else. I guessed it must be fine for me to stay in the water, so I started to swim around again, but I remembered the look on my sister's face. She looked scared. I was curious about what they were all looking at and decided to swim back up and see. While I was on my way up there, I saw a swirl of colors in the water that turned into people. It seemed very odd, but I was watching this and never ended up going back up to see what my sister was looking at.

The people I saw all looked familiar. I had seen them before in nativity scenes at Christmas, except now they were alive and life sized. It was dark around them, even though it was a nice sunny summer day, but not pitch black dark. It was dark like when the lights are off in your house in the middle of the day. I focused mainly on Mary who was wearing a dark blue robe and a lighter veil, but also noticed a man, Joseph, I assume, in a brown robe

holding a staff. There was a manger, but I didn't notice if there was a baby in it, and I don't know if there were more people or animals there. Mary and Joseph were staring straight down and I just looked at them, and I was totally confused about what they were doing under the water in the pool. Then it got very bright around them all and they looked up. Mary smiled at me, and she was so beautiful. What happened next all seemed to take place in one second.

It's as if Mary's face moved and I could see behind her eyes was a very bright light, and I read recognize that light, and in my head I said, ah, it's you. I knew her and was so happy to see her again. I felt so much love and remembered that I was so important. I just wanted to go to her, and I did start moving towards her, but then suddenly I was pulled out of the water and was sitting on the side of the pool. I felt so disappointed. I wanted nothing more than to go to her.

I didn't know who pulled me out of the water. There was no one behind me, and my dad was standing by the fence and was very angry and yelling, which was so out of character for him. My sister was staring at me angrily with her hands on her hips, while my dad was telling me how selfish I was. Everything looked so hazy compared to the crisp, bright people I had been looking at under the water. It looked like my dad had big tears in his eyes, but I thought maybe it was just being in the water.

I felt so confused. Why was my dad mad at me for being in the water when a minute ago he didn't seem to care while he was busy with his friends. When he was done scolding me, he walked away. I looked at my sister, who was still angry, but then her face softened and she said, were you scared? I looked around to make sure my dad wasn't near, and I shook my head and said, no, it was fun. Then she yelled at me and said I'd better not

do it ever again. I got down on my knees near the pool and looked for the people in the water. I had no idea where they went. I didn't understand what had just happened. My dad came back and got upset that I was so close to the water again and said it was time for us to go home. While we walked home, he seemed to be back to his normal, fun dad self again, and I was so relieved. But when we walked in the house, he went straight to my mom and said that he thought he had

lost me. He sounded so upset again. I really felt like he was making a much bigger deal out of it than it really was. Later, my mom told me that I really upset him and I better not do anything like that again. A few days later, we went to my uncle's for dinner and my aunt started asking me questions. She showed me pictures and statues of Jesus and she asked me if I saw him that day, and I said no. She asked me to point at who I saw, so I pointed at a nativity scene

and she said, oh, baby Jesus. You saw Baby Jesus. Then she looked at my mom and dad and said she died under that water. I didn't understand why seeing baby Jesus meant that I died as far as I know, I was very much alive the whole time. No one ever questioned me about it again. Over the years, I would think about civic parts of it that baffled me. What was under the water that I had to kick my feet off of? I eventually told myself it must have been a towel that fell into the water. That's

the only thing that made sense. Why did my dad leave me in the water for a while then get mad at me for being there? None of it made sense. My dad hardly ever got upset, and this was the worst I had ever seen him. I didn't understand that part until years later. Why did I see people under the water? And why did it feel so good? As I got older, I thought I must have hallucinated it, and maybe the lack of oxygen is what made me

feel good. I didn't understand why I would hallucinate a Christmas Nativity scene, though, in the middle of summer I decided that some of it probably would never make sense. In two thousand and four, my dad had surgery to remove a tumor from the side of his face. The operation was supposed to take about three hours, but the tumor was more difficult to remove than they thought, and it took hours longer. His heart stopped for a while during the surgery, but they were able to get it

going again. When we went to see him afterwards, he said that during the surgery he was on the ceiling watching the doctors operate on him, and he saw his face be cut open by them. I told him that maybe it was a dream, but after that knew he may have had an experience like I did. Also, my dad saw all of this from above, but he had gone blind a few years prior to that. My dad unfortunately passed away a month later and never came home

from the hospital. In the summer of twenty twenty one, my sister and I were talking about that day at the pool and I said that I must have been really groggy when I got pulled out of the water. He was shocked by me, saying that she said, you weren't breathing at all. You needed to be resuscitated. That

made no sense to me. Months later, when I was fifty six years old, I stumbled across near death experiences on YouTube, and it wasn't until I watched quite a few of them that I realized what actually happened.

having a great time while my body was beingusitated. It took fifty three years before it all made sense, including realizing that my dad really was on the ceiling watching his own surgery. In my mind, now death is not scary because we really don't die. In fact, it's going to be amazing. Reading this story today reminded me of a man I sat next to on an airplane told me the story of when his little boy drowned and

was resuscitated. He said he wasn't scared at all because the big face in the sun was there and told him he still had a lot of life to live. The kid grew up and went on making a difference with young people, making his father very proud. Let's head off to the break and when we come back, you'll hear another near death experience from a man who never believed in any of this stuff. We'll be right back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio

and Coast to Coast AM Pirinormal Podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and here's our next near death experience. Diagnosed terminal with cancer and in and out of consciousness for several weeks, I had been told there was no help. I was thirty nine days into a thirty day life expectancy. I found myself in an open expanse of darkness. Oddly, it surrounded me, and even odder was I could seemingly see three hundred

and sixty degrees without turning myne head. I just knew it was endless. There was a noise, or maybe best stated, a vibration or humming sound. The noise didn't scare me, In fact, it seemingly calmed me. Down in the distance, there was a soft and peaceful, reddish glow. It grew larger and larger. It seemed red, but as I got closer it appeared peach colored and pink and even maybe orange.

To this date, describing the colors is difficult for me because I have never experienced colors so vivid and brilliant, almost like the phases of a cloud cluttered sunriser sunset, the way the colors evolve with the sun slipping in and out and reflecting onto the clouds. I didn't move, but I could certainly feel the glow getting larger and larger, as if I were rushing to it without any effort. There was no tunnel, as some report. The glow of red now seemed pinkish and orange and was clearly not

a volcano. But as I peered over my toes, there was no end below. There was no heat or lava, just a harmonic hum and a specific odor that I didn't recognize. I remember thinking, I don't ever recall smelling anything in a dream. The smell I could actually taste like after a thunderstorm, that crisp but refreshed smell. I

wasn't at all frightened. I wasn't confused either. In fact, I was at the greatest piece I've ever known, without any hesitation, A bright light shaped ball or mass appeared before me, like a giant ball of light swirling into itself, rotating in nearly every direction, highlighted by blue streaks. It wasn't perfectly round. It almost appeared jagged and occasionally squeezed into almost a thick, doughnut shaped structure of pure energy.

As I focused on this center, it began to distort and glow brighter, with streaks of blue that began to outline the shape of a face emerging. The mass of light increased in brightness continually, but yet it didn't make me squint or shield my eyes. It made me feel better and more peaceful. As it grew in intensity, Suddenly there was a face that was definitive and energized. It was a face of an older man, withered in appearance.

His face appeared and consumed the mass of light. His hair was longer and had gentle waves, not tight, but rolling down past what I assumed or shoulders, but unseen to me. He looked somewhat familiar, or rather felt familiar. There was a burst or vibration from him that I could feel down to the very core of my body. That was the most comfort that I have ever felt. It was like a summer breeze in your face, without

a care in the world. I no longer felt physical pain as I did in my awake state, which had been so intense. It was just peace, unlike anything I had ever experienced. Then there were words. There was no speaking, as the figure's lips never moved, nor did mine, but there were words. It was a question, are you ready? It was vague but decisive, and I felt no ambiguity in its meaning. My lips didn't move, but I was

able to reply, no, I'm not ready yet. Then more words came from him, there is something important you still need to do. And at the same time I felt these words, a smile began to form on the man's face, and more rays of light began to shoot out nearly every part of his face. I reached for his face, unafraid but exploring, just without thought, I reached for his face and placed my hands on his cheeks. I had originally thought he would have been well out of my reach,

suspended over the expanse, but he was not. I reached out slowly and deliberately. My body vibrated, and the light grew again in intensity and brightness. As his smile expanded, I felt as if I was falling but hadn't moved. Suddenly, there were valleys and mountains and streams and small specks of numerous people and animals in the expanse below me. It was brief, but a complete vision of a peaceful place, void of definable color, but a great source of peace.

The entire field of view became a white light. I felt weightless, as in God. There was a sense of speed. Somehow I felt what seemed like my body was traveling at speeds bluring my view. Within seconds, I awoke in my hospital bed. I was scared to suddenly be there, yet I still felt peaceful. I immediately assumed my encounter was a dream. But yet somehow, deep inside me, I

knew it wasn't. Within minutes of this experience, I purposely and incessantly asked to see all of my doctors and asked them to explain my options and chances of survival. I told them I had to live. I told them specifically that there was something important I was supposed to do, and that this day marked the beginning of life saving

treatment that would take nearly three years. There were several hurdles in those years, including a two month stint in hospice which I miraculously got better, which is still unexplained by my doctors. Around Christmas of twenty thirteen, close to the three year point, I neared what appeared to be the end of my battle. I received a homemade calendar, as usual at Christmas from my mother, with several photographs on it. As I scanned the calendar, I came across

a picture of a man. I was instantly weakened and literally fell back in my seat. I was stunned and left breathless. That man on that calendar was the same face in the giant mass of light that I had experienced at Death's door in my dream. That same face, but I still didn't know who it was. Once I could muster the courage to ask the question, I was

told it was my grandfather. He had died in nineteen fifty six, well before my birth, and as a result, he had never been part of my life in stories, and I had never seen any photographs.

of near death experiencers around the world. This realization happened almost three years from the actual event, exactly the timeframe recorded in research, as the time frame the majority of near death experiencers go through until they're awakening or realization of the event and acceptance of the same. Without trying, I had evolved to a higher consciousness, and I had changed.

I was not a believer in the afterlife. I am now. Obviously, you can't ignore millions of people who change spontaneously after a moment like this. It's hard for us to change anything about ourselves, let alone major shifts in personality since my awakening. I research, I read, and I learn, and I learn and I read. It's not all near death experienced stuff either, very little is. In fact, it's things like quantum physics, science, epiphanies of life's greatest questions, and

some questions I never even considered asking. Sometimes they flow with such ease that I often just burst into laughter. Most importantly, a love for others simply cannot ignore. Then there's the calling. We all experience, the same calling to better mankind in some way. In fact, it seems this is the only question I can't answer in life. Is the one thing said in my nd I am supposed to do something important. This remains the caret I chase, and I am perfectly okay with it, as long as

I keep working towards bettering mankind in some way. Here's a short end. When I was shot, I recall walking through a doorway and a staircase presented itself. I immediately ascended without thought. On the third step, I hesitated looking back down, but saw a multitude of souls standing by what seemed to be a river down below. I turned and resumed. I assent to the fifth step, where I

became centered within enlightenment. My universe became clear. I could see beyond time, and there before me passed my life, the lives of my parents, the lives of my grandparents, all my accomplishments, failures, wants, needs, and desires, both past and future. It was very beautiful and a loving experience, and all thought being as one. As I reviewed the past and the future, it became clear that all was good, all was in order. I was at peace within the cosmos,

and then I regained consciousness. Here's another short story. A gown named Katie says, my grandfather died at the age of seventy three from a heart attack. He had been in his garden and asked my grandma to call nine one. The ambulance arrived and asked if he could climb up on the gurney himself or not. He said he could. Then all of a sudden, his eyes got glassy and large, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, and then he said Dad, with a huge smile on his face.

He passed away. We'll be right back with four mediums letting you know how to get in touch with your own loved one and an experiential journey. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and in this segment you're going to hear from four mediums. Now again, we're recording this around Christmas time, but I think the advice is

good any time of the year. First will be Scott Billigan, then Dominic Bogue, then Phil Dyke's, then Carrie McLeod. Here's Scott.

of that memory very very strongly. And what that does is creates a power, and that creates a change within your atmosphere around you, in your aura. And once you've held thought for a few moments, I want you to then think of the person you're missing today, someone who now lives and exists within the spirit world, and just kind of send the thoughts to them and say, Dad, Mum or whoever it may be, are you there? And can you fill me? Can you feel this love that

I'm sending? And I want you just to become bodily aware of any kind of static or tingle feeling that you may have. Ordinarily it may be around your head or around the back of you. And when you get that tingle, just go, I'm aware. And you may find that that tingle gets a bit stronger. And sometimes when it's with myself and people who are following the altered States, you may find that that tingle makes you feel a bit tired, and that tiredness starts to wash a little

bit more deeper with you. But then you can always ask whoever you're missing, and you can feel them and you recognize them. Is to say to that loved one, when you introduce me to the others that stand with me, and you may find that your helper then steps forward, and that tingle may feel different. You may start to hear your own voice within your head, and that tiredness gets a bit more deeper. And it's about learning to attune, blend,

and communicate. The ABC of life in Scott's version is ask, beg and cry, because how many times as mediums we ask the spirit world, then we beg the spirit world, and then when it doesn't work, we cry. But that's very normal, So try it. When you have a moment, think of a happy memory which attunes yourself to the power, and then invite those that you miss and allow them to blend. And when they blend with you, that's when you release those thoughts. I'm aware, and I love you still,

and I love you every moment of my life. And just on a personal note, everyone, what's talking to you tonight? Sandra, Dominic and myself all have fathers in the other world, and it's a painful moment when someone you love that goes over.

to them? You may ask. I invite you as the festive period comes close. This is just something that I've done many times on my own. Write a Christmas card to your loved one, right, a greetings card or a festive card to maybe your mom, or your son or your best friend, to maybe is no longer here in the physical and to spending Christmas in the spirit side of life. Take a few moments to go into that stillness, like Scott said, going into that silence and within your thoughts,

so within your mind where every communication begins. Get your pen and your card and write out the beautiful messages that you would like to send to them. But don't just write express the conversations, right, Maybe down the memories that you had with each other. Maybe write down the

last Christmas that you celebrated. Together. When you're writing, you are becoming aware of your loved ones naturally without even realizing, and sending that thought to them by reminiscing and almost having that heart to heart conversation brings them so close that maybe your emotions get moved. Maybe other memories will come from your loved one into your mind, maybe memories you've forgotten, maybe conversations you forgot you even had. So

take a moment, and that's all it is. Take a moment and write that Christmas card out to your loved ones, and don't forget to sign it at the end with lots of love. And maybe when the Christmas cards start to get delivered your friends and your family and maybe your neighbors, get that Christmas card out that you wrote for your loved one and put it out underly knowing that they would have received your thoughts.

spiritual reality. Right now, I'm in what we call the normal reality, the beta frequency of the mind, where I

can talk to explain things. When we work with the spirit world, the mind, the consciousness has moved and we're working with another reality and we're living it and we're feeling those emotions, and especially this time of the year, or leading up to this time of the year, when we start to remember our loved ones and the interactions and the experiences and those moments we shared, and it's those impressions that we we call back and it helps

us remember who they were, how they inspired us. So those emotional impressions and feelings are really important because when we feel a little bit low, the spirit world or our loved ones react to that because they feel how we feel. And when we feel a little bit down, they choose to come forward through that love, and that's the greatest feeling of all. And when we've lost somebody and we're in that club that nobody wants to be part of, that we call grief, their loved ones come

around us. They uplift us. They try and inspire us through music, through memories, through TV programs, and when we feel those low states, they want to come in and not just lifter us. They understand that connection, albeit within a different consciousness. They don't have the physical limitations we have. The feelings they have are pure unconditional love. Yes, they miss us, but it's in a different context because that love that we have touches their soul still and they

want to be part of that. That's why we get the contacts we do tonight and other demonstrations is that need of love upliftment. So if we can have those feelings towards our loved ones, talk to them, joys with them, they come that little bit closer, and especially as we feel them, because just like a mother with a father, a mother with a daughter or a son, our love goes beyond those thoughts that we have and they still

reach out, they still come close to us. If we can hold that in our hearts, especially at this time, because sometimes we might be on our own, we can realize that we're never on our own. They are only a thought away.

Through time, that balloon loses some of it's inflation, so it doesn't touch all of the sides all of the time, but boy, when it does, it's just as painful as the moment it happened. Now, that's a cost, in some respects of having loved at a really, really deep level. So it stands to reason that in order to miss somebody, we also have to remember somebody I know. I do this and Phil does this when I feel grief I

also feel thanks and gratitude. It doesn't make the grief go away, but it brings more of a balance to the emotions. I expose myself to emotions of gratitude, of love, of smiles, and of happy memories. If you have both of those, it connects you, yes, through the love, but also through the memories, because if you think about it, that's what mediumship is. You meet in the same energetic memory as your loved one or friend. Imagine being able

to do that for yourself. You can you feel and think memory and your loved ones join you in that same energetic experience. So whatever day is the share or next, if you ever feel a pang of grief or the pain of grief, also remember the gratitude of love and the memories that you shared keeps us together.

So find a place to sit where you can close your eyes for about ten minutes or so, take a few deep breaths, filling your lungs slowly and then exhaling slowly. As you continue need to take those breaths, simply listen to my words on how we receive information as souls, whether we are on this side of life or the other side. We communicate best with our emotions and our imagination. Our happiest memories and even moments of laughter are like knocking on the door to talk with our loved ones. First,

we need to be in the present moment. The human mind is not easy to slow down. But as we continue to take those deep breaths, focus on each breath and how it feels breathing in and breathing out. Now, scan how it feels being in your body right now. If there is any tension or stress, send a deep breath to that area, and now just let some relaxation flow into your chest, into your lungs, down into your body.

Let that relaxation flow into your arms, into your legs, into your head and neck, through the feet to the toes, and even down into your hands and into your fingers. As we continue to take those deep breaths, feel your body being supported, whether on a chair or couch. You may feel the temperature of the air on your skin, and maybe there's some outside noise around you. Just sit

and take it all in in this present moment. Now, think of a loved one that no longer walks this earth, one that you have some favorite, happy or fun shared memories with. You can imagine them sitting right next to you and greet them however you would greet them in the past. Maybe a big smile comes to your face, perhaps a hug or holding their hands. Choose a great memory of a time together, and remember as much as you can about it and the joy that it brought

to you. Where were you, what were you both doing, Who was there? What was happening that brought so much joy? Take a moment and recall as much as you can and the wonderful emotions of joy, happiness, laughter. As there is a big smile on your face right now, your loved one is by your side. You may wish to ask them to hold your hand or put their hand on your arm, and pay attention to how you feel. Perhaps there are some words you have for your loved

one and they have for you. Take a moment and talk with your loved one and be in their presence.

That all you need to do is slow down and pay attention. Imagine yourself now on that special day, as you continue to feel your loved one's presence, they remind you that your life here on earth is important and to do your best to experience as much as you can, to be kind to yourself, to be kind to others, and know that you will be together again in a very special and magical place that will make this life here on earth seem like it was just a dream.

My friends, our loved ones are by our sides. All we need to do is slow down, be present, recall those emotions and ask them to be with us. Pay attention in your day to day life. When thoughts and memories of a past event with your loved one seem to come out of the blue, those are their little calling cards that they are right here with you. Our time together on this episode has come to an end. Please continue to know your loved one ones are very

real and always part of your life. Remember to come visit me at weedotdie dot com, join me on our free Sunday gathering with medium demonstration, or take one of our new classes to experience more of the power of your soul. I'm Sandra Champlain. Thank you so much for listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the iHeartRadio and Coast to Coast, a paranormal podcast network.