Gia P's NDE

Hi, my name is Gia. I was almost 16 then, home for Christmas, 1981, Cedar Falls, Iowa. I was visiting a girlfriend at her stepmother's trailer home and planned to spend the night. There were four of us girls: her stepmother - a nurse, her stepsister - about age 5, my friend - Debbie, and myself. We were drinking pop, eating pizza and watching the Superman movie with Christopher Reeves where he loses his powers (Superman II or III?) I'd never seen it before. At one point in the movie Superman is in a restaurant and he turns his back to a man who attacks him from behind. I think the man either punched or kicked him in the back and he experienced amazing pain (and became paralyzed?) I don't recall now, but at any rate, the cruelty of the act, along with the sheer pain he felt, struck me like I'd been hit. It was odd, because I'd never felt a particular affinity for Superman (and it was just a movie). Why should I over-identify with his pain? And yet I did, so here's what happened when I took on Superman's pain... 

I looked up and noticed something like a curtain coming down. Slowly and evenly it descended, giving me time to observe its quality and texture. Since I have never seen anything like it in real life I can only describe it as textured air; translucent woven air. It lowered like a stage curtain, eventually enveloping us three-dimensionally, but I was the only one who noticed. I felt very uncomfortable with the experience and asked where the bathroom was. The mother asked her young daughter to show me the way and I got up to follow her. I felt like pushing her aside as I couldn't get there quick enough; disoriented and trying not to panic.   

Once inside I decided to do something normal and hoped the strange feeling and air would go away. I sat on the toilet and looked in the large mirror across from it. The weird stuff wasn't going anywhere. I went through the motions of elimination, hoping the routine act would bring me back to a state of normalcy. Then I heard a loud sound. I was sitting next to the toilet on the floor contemplating the sound when my friend Debbie knocked on the door. She asked me if I was all right and did I fall off the toilet and started laughing hysterically. I called for her to enter. When she came in I tried to explain to her, as calmly as I could, what was happening to me. It was hard to speak as the air felt thick and it took effort to get my mouth to explain it. I must have fallen off when I stood up from the toilet, but I had no recollection of doing so and wasn't sure I believed it.  

Debbie kept laughing and so did I, nervously. She thought it was the funniest thing in the world that I should do such a thing. It didn't seem funny to me though as I thought maybe I was going crazy or would die or something since I wasn't the type to faint or fall off toilets. I tried to get her to take me seriously and gravely explained the air and its dense quality. As I talked I tried to wash my hands. It seemed as if I were doing all the things you do when you wash your hands, but it felt very unusual. Our voices were starting to sound muffled. I reached for the towel and it seemed like an eternity to reach it and dry my hands. The air was so dense then that I could barely move through it. I turned back to Debbie and said I was scared and didn't know what was happening to me. I wanted to cry. 

The next thing I knew I saw myself lean forward onto her shoulder. What happened? I suddenly felt like the me that was Gia was now someone else watching Gia pass out on Debbie's shoulder! I was concerned for Gia, but I felt fine. I was afraid she'd be embarrassed for losing control over Superman; how would she explain herself? Debbie called out to her stepmother that I'd passed out and the mother and her daughter rushed in. I watched them talk about what was happening and what they were going to do with me. I wasn't worried about Gia really as I felt she was safe with a nurse in the house, but I was very concerned for her pride for some reason.  

I don't remember if I looked in the mirror at that point as I was so transfixed on Gia as separate from myself and their discussion about her. Debbie had her head and her stepmother her feet while the little girl watched them carry her out of the bathroom, down the hall and around the corner to the living room where they laid her on the couch. I stood at the corner, about 20 feet away. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure how long Gia would be OK without me. I felt responsible for her. I felt she was vulnerable without me. Still, I didn't see any white light or dead relatives; the thought didn't even occur to me. I just stood there for awhile watching her lie there and the nurse take her vital signs. They said that she was breathing and was OK, but that she'd passed out and weren't sure what to do next.  

I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to help her. I didn't know how, but I decided I'd try to get over to her and hoped that maybe I could pop back in somehow. Since I didn't know how I got out I didn't have a clue how to get back in, but what did I have to lose in trying? So I drifted, or willed myself, or whatever thataway and "sat" on the couch. Which I guess would be like sitting on yourself...but the next thing I knew I was lying down looking through Gia's eyes. We were us and one again. I sat her up. It took awhile as we were very lethargic and slow. I sat there awhile. The air was still thick and gauzy. They asked me if I was OK, but it took me awhile to be able to speak. Then the weirdest thing happened. The veil of air lifted just as it had earlier lowered; slowly and like a stage curtain going up to the ceiling and then gone. The air was clear again.  

Once I could speak I started to tell my tale, but I would have walked 10 miles for a cup of orange juice! I asked for it and they said they had none, but that they did have a bag of oranges. I craved them intensely. They peeled and fed me like 6 or 8 oranges until I felt restored. After awhile they drove me home to my mom's house and I woke her up to tell her what had just happened to me. I'm 40 now (and relatively sane) and nothing like it has ever happened again to me. Could it be that I just needed some citric acid that bad?!

Go Figure!

Any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience? No      I was drinking soda pop and eating pizza.

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words?          Yes    Yes, especially explaining the quality of the atmosphere, its texture and density.

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?          Uncertain     A couple of days earlier we drove home for Christmas to see our parents from Vancouver, Washington to Cedar Falls, Iowa in 1 3/4 days! During that "express trip" there were 4 hours of travel through the Continental Divide during a treacherous winter storm where we had to drive about 5 MPH with no chains, against every advice, in the most dangerous conditions. We could have died as we saw so many semi-trucks jackknifed and no other vehicles on the road the whole time; it was very creepy driving so slow, swerving on the icy road in the strong wind, trying not to look down the deep, snowy cliffs. I remember being very scared with some haunting Cheap Trick song playing on our tape deck.

What was your level of consciousness and alertness during the experience?            With the exception of falling off the toilet and passing out on my friend's shoulder I'd say I was hyper-aware. My mind was active and sight excellent.

            Was the experience dream like in any way?  Yes, or a play? Life is but a stage and we merely players?

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?          Yes    I don't know what I looked like. I don't remember looking in the big mirror just across from me. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Gia looked like Gia and my mind was as it had been. Yet I knew without a doubt that I was the "brains" and that Gia was the "body". My feeling is that I was the "soul" and that I could go on without her, but that Gia might not be able to sustain without me indefinitely. I felt responsible for her. But I was a soul without a clue as to why we were suddenly apart, what it meant, or what I should do about it.

What emotions did you feel during the experience?          Before: anxiety, fear, panic, innocence

During: concern, responsibility, compassion, knowing

After: lethargy, craving, relief, incredulity

Did you hear any unusual sounds or noises?          A loud sound when I fell off the toilet (briefly passed out), but I couldn't comprehend it.

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     

Did you see a light?         No     

Did you meet or see any other beings?         No     

Did you experiment while out of the body or in another, altered state? Yes   

Yes, the body of Gia when coming back in.

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?         No      Just the three people there and my mom I told right after they took me home.

Did you notice how your 5 senses were working, and if so, how were they different?     Yes    Eyes - saw textured air and my body apart from my mind

Nose - don't recall smells

Mouth - could speak, but with effort

Hands - could feel, but air felt thick to move through; water, soap and towels felt foreign

Ears - Sounds were muffled as if cotton were stuffed in my drums or as if I was far removed from their source

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?  Yes    It seemed as if everything took a very long time.


Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?     Yes    I wish there were some gems of enlightenment. Other than absolutely knowing that I am more than just flesh, I came away with the reassuring feeling that life endures beyond physicality. It was a comfort, regardless of actual existence of "life" beyond "death".

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?           No     

Did you become aware of future events?      No     

Were you involved in or aware of a decision regarding your return to the body?          Yes    I willed it to happen, but I have no idea how I did it - I wished it so!

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?           No      It'd be cool, but no. I'm just very attuned through dreams and intuitions.

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?          Yes    Before, I strongly believed that we created God and religion to comfort ourselves. I had a very independent, rebellious, scientific picture of the world. Since this experience I've been open to the idea that there is more to heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our reality. God I may never know, but I do know there is more that I don't know than I do. I now believe that we are amazing beings with attributes well beyond our wildest imaginings! The reasons for this are far too numerous to expound upon here or to attribute simply to this one episode, but for sure the experience planted a seed in my conception.

How has the experience affected your relationships? Daily life? Religious practices? Career choices?       You just can't explain it to some people. Some have told me it was simply a normal experience resulting from some deficiency and not to attribute too much to it. Still, I feel like it was a special and unique experience that I wouldn't trade for ignorance of it. It opened my mind up to the possibility that my life can be almost anything I want it to be. I feel like less of a victim and more responsible for the quality of my experience. I suppose I'm stronger because I have a certain confidence that I am resilient. Can Superman fly without his powers? Isn't power about perception? You're only strong or smart or healthy as you believe you are?

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?       Yes          Yes, but then whose life doesn't change significantly after age 15?

Have you shared this experience with others?        Yes    Many times. It's hard to know what they really think beyond their outward reactions. I have a friend who believes he was abducted by aliens  - and who am I to say they didn't? You just don't know until it happens to you. Too many people have these experiences, and many others, for there not to be more going on!

What emotions did you experience following your experience?  Relief and wonder.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?    Worst - before it happened, fearing the worst

Weird - during the "scene"