Debi's Experience
Home Page Share Experience New Experiences

Experience description:

At the time of the experience, I worked afternoons and evenings, sometimes into early morning hours. It was well after midnight the night when I returned home to my husband and two children. Our son, Mark (who has recently sent a dream/vision experience similar to NDE to share with you), was at that time, about 2 years old and our daughter was still less than 1 year old. When I lay down beside my husband, I was having some difficulty relaxing to fall asleep...feeling "antsy": physically tired but mentally active and sleepless. My husband was sleeping soundly. I don't think I had checked on the children. I knew I couldn't go to sleep unless I did, so right after I'd gotten into bed, I decided to look in on them.

I got back up, and went into to their rooms, which were right next to ours, to make sure they were comfortable and covered with their blankets. It felt as if my steps were gliding on air. The rooms were dim, but my eyes were adjusted to the dark. Our windows were always open at night to the fresh ocean breezes and moonlight. Satisfied, I went back into our bedroom. Getting ready to climb back into bed, I sat gently down on my side. I looked over at my husband to make sure I'd not disturbed his sleep, when I saw someone sleeping next to him. I didn't have on my eye-glasses (I am near-sighted), but I could very clearly see it was a woman, and immediately recognized her as myself. I was very startled and thought, "Omigosh! I must have died!" Feeling panicky, I lay down into my body as quickly and hard as I could and pulled up the covers.

After I lay still for a few minutes, trying to settle myself down, I shut my eyes really tight, got back up, ran to the doorway to flip on the light switch, turned on the ceiling lamp, then ran back and jumped into bed, waking my husband. He was irritated with the ceiling light shining into his eyes, but I refused to turn it off until I regained my composure. I explained what I had just experienced, although I believe he thought I was dreaming, and he wasn't too sympathetic since his sleep had been interrupted.

Any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?     No

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words? No

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          No

What was your level of consciousness and alertness during the experience?           My memory of the experience is that I was wide-awake, feeling a bit "buzzy" or "antsy" with the nervous energy that sometimes doesn't settle right away when one returns from a busy time at work. I felt fully conscious and alert during the whole experience. I had no memory or feelings of having fallen asleep, being asleep, nor of dreaming.

            Was the experience dream like in any way?   No.

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     Yes

That was how it felt -- a lightness of weight, and gliding, but I didn't look at my appearance or form apart from my body. I believe I experienced a separation of my consciousness from my body.

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            Emotions were noticeable during the time I got up and checked on my children, except the normal motherly concern for my sleeping children who I'd not seen since earlier that day before work. I did sense a passing curiosity about the feeling of gliding on air instead of walking. I felt only fear when I saw my physical body lying on the bed.

Did you hear any unusual sounds or noises?           No.

LOCATION DESCRIPTION:  Did you recognize any familiar locations or any locations from familiar religious teachings or encounter any locations inhabited by incredible or amazing creatures?    No

No, I saw the interior of my bedroom and the children's bedrooms, their furniture, my sleeping husband, children and my own physical body just as they exist in daily/nightly life.

Did you notice how your 5 senses were working, and if so, how were they different?          Yes

There was no differences except for a weightless, gliding feeling when moving from room-to-room.

Were you involved in or aware of a decision regarding your return to the body?       Yes

I was frightened and literally slammed myself: my "conscious self" or "separated self" into my reclining physical body, unsure if I was dead, alive or if I could even get back in. My panic and attempt to return to my body was more survival instinct than decided choice (unlike NDE's).

How has the experience affected your relationships? Daily life? Religious practices? Career choices?       No changes or after-affects.

Have you shared this experience with others?         Yes

Yes. My husband seemed to think I dreamt it all. My mother, siblings have had "paranormal" experiences which we compare or talk about at times, and found it somewhat interesting, I think. My children, now adult, and I have talked about it, and they found it interesting. My son mostly finds it thought-provoking, since we both share like-interests, and he has recently had a profound NDE-like experience in a dream/vision.

What emotions did you experience following your experience?  After the fear subsided and I felt that I understood what had probably just happened (OOBE), I turned off the light and went to sleep.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?      Best: lightly gliding on air

Worst: sudden panic

Is there anything else you would like to add concerning the experience?        After the panic subsided, I realized I probably had an out-of-body experience. I'd attempted, by myself, several times to have one, a few years before, without success. I tried several times since that time to purposely experience going out-of-body, again without success.

 Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?         No

Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?               Yes

Yes, however more question could be "have you or any of your family members had similar experiences?" or if such experiences are known to be common in the family. In my case it would be yes, on both counts. My maternal grandmother (Southern Baptist) had described an NDE during an operation as well as visitations at time of death from loved ones. My mother had something of an OOBE experience (feeling of walking on air and hearing a group of unseen men who talked with lilting, conversational voices pass by) as she walked on a Cisternian Abby grounds in England, and also had a visitation of an praying entity on the death of a young nephew in the States, both in the early 1950's -- among many other experiences. My grandmother was a devoted Christian, as is my mother. When I was a little girl of about 6 years of age living in England, after arising one morning, I had the sensation of floating down the stairs as I went down for breakfast. Surprised, I looked down to see where my feet were. I became startled, and it seemed like I was dropped from mid-air onto the mid-stair landing, tumbling down the rest of the way to the first floor. I remember telling my mother I was floating, and she remembers the morning as well, although she was not in the room until after I fell. I may have been having a lucid dream, or perhaps was slightly out-of-body. When I was about 19 years old, I had the experience of seeing through my closed eyes and through the bed-covers on awakening one morning. I could see very clearly and without my glasses and watched as a guest walked by to use the only bathroom which was accessed through the bedroom in the small apartment. As mentioned, my son has had a NDE-like experience. The women in my mother's family, my siblings and my children have had various unusual or "paranormal" experiences and synchronicities, as well as deep experiences within the realms of religious faith. (#23)

 Please offer any suggestions you may have to improve this questionnaire.    It may be that such experiences are common within many families. It would be interesting to include a question (as mentioned in #29) concerning family members with stated permissions from those persons other than the author to quote the experiences if surnames are presented.