EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION:
I have been snowboarding since I was 12 and have always enjoyed the
extreme jumps on the mountains. Completing a landing I had to much speed and
missed the transition to absorb my momentum and landed on the flat of the run.
The energy of my speed sent a whiplash effect up through my legs to my neck.
Upon landing my goggles and beanie bounced off of. I stopped and hopped up to
grab my beanie and goggles then noticed my nose was gushing out blood. My best
friend came over the jump and asked me what happened as I held my beanie to my
nose and if I was ok? I remember telling him I don't know and that I needed to
go to the ski lodge for ski patrol. (The funny thing is that I worked during
this time as a firefighter EMT and my first instinct was first aid). My friend
Sky said I seemed coherent and said I would be back when I stopped the
bleeding. He said I then went down the hill and jumped off of two more little
jumps and slid a rail. By the time I got to ski patrol lodge I was repetitive
questioning and didn't know who I was. I had to look in my wallet to figure out
who and where I was. After about 5 minutes I blacked out and collapsed in the
lodge. Apparently after 15-20mins they were loading me into an ambulance. This
is where my outer body experience occurred.
I recall in some of the
most vivid detail that I was floating above the main ski lodge. It seemed like
I was in a helicopter about 50-70 feet above the ground just hovering. There
was either no noise or total silence. But I remember I could feel the warmth of
the sun, but it wasn't the sun it was much brighter and hurt to look directly
at. The warmth that it emitted was simply put a "right" feeling, the feeling I
had was that everything was calm, relaxed and perfect. I could look and move
around the ski resort freely and it felt just as I could float anywhere. I
recall going to the top of the mountain and watching different people on the
mountain for a few minutes. Then I decided to float back down to the lodge to
look around and as I was looking at people around the lunch area I could feel
myself being lifted higher and higher up. The only analogy I can make is if
someone was swimming at the bottom of a pool trying to grab something on the
bottom without moving there legs to stay under and having their bodies buoyancy
pull them to the surface. That pulling is the feeling I felt. At this time I
was probably about 200 yards up in the air and I remember the light was emitting
these thick rays around me and the warmth grew. Everything felt right and calm
but then I could hear my best friend Sky and girlfriend Jessica calling my
name. It seemed like it was in stereo and muffled under water, but there voices
were the only thing that I could hear. Once I was associating there voices with
who they were it seemed like a force pulled me back down. Once I could see down
on an ambulance I felt myself turn around to go back up and I couldn't, I kept
moving faster and faster down towards the ambulance and once I was about two
stories above the ambulance things around me blurred and I remember being sucked
backwards into my body on top of the gurney. Once I was back in my body I felt
this rush of energy and acuteness and looked around. I knew but didn't know Sky
and Jessica.
Talking to them later
they said that I had been unconscious but responsive to a sternum rub. When
they were watching them load me into the ambulance the EMT and Paramedic stopped
and were rubbing my chest checking me out almost like something was wrong,
that's when Jessica and Sky were saying my name Josh. Within a minute or so is
when I popped my head up looked around with wide open eyes at them. At that
point they said they would follow behind me to the hospital then I blacked out
and was unconscious for about another 2 hours. Waking up in and out of
consciousness for the next few days I had amnesia. It was like someone put my
mind on rewind to 2 years prior. I didn't recall anything that had happened for
two years, and as the swelling in my brain went down my memory slowly came
back. Each time the swelling decreased I would black out and wake up at a
specific time in the past during some emotional state good, bad, just intense.
Eventually most of my memory came back, I only lost about a month or so of
memory.
Prior to the event I was always pretty intense and extreme into sports and being
very competitive. After the experience my entire attitude became calm and
relaxed. It was almost like a switch that turned my thought process. Prior I
had always been positive, but after everything that I do is based off of
positive mental reinforcement and I'm very calm, relaxed and reserved now.
Was
the kind of experience difficult to express in words?
No
At
the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event?
Yes The frontal region of my brain was swelling.
At
what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness
and alertness?
During my floating experience I felt the most aware of my surroundings, however
once I reentered my body I had a rush of energy but it didn't feel like a higher
level of consciousness, it actually felt confined being in my body.
How
did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience
compare to your normal every day consciousness and alertness?
More consciousness and alertness than normal
If
your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience was
different from your normal every day consciousness and alertness, please
explain:
During my floating experience I felt the most aware of my surroundings, however
once I reentered my body I had a rush of energy but it didn't feel like a higher
level of consciousness, it actually felt confined being in my body.
Did
your vision differ in any way from your normal, everyday vision (in any aspect,
such as clarity, field of vision, colors, brightness, depth perception degree of
solidness/transparency of objects, etc.)?
Yes It seemed more real than real.
Did
your hearing differ in any way from your normal, everyday hearing (in any
aspect, such as clarity, ability to recognize source of sound, pitch, loudness,
etc.)?
Yes I couldn't hear anything it was just total quite silence.
Did
you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?
Yes
What emotions did you feel during the experience?
I felt calm, relaxed, happy, warm, and one of the best ways I can
describe it is just "right."
Did
you pass into or through a tunnel or enclosure?
Uncertain I felt like I was floating higher into a bright light source,
however I can't say that it was a tunnel or not.
Did
you see a light?
Yes It was brighter then the sun and was warm, but wasn't the sun. There
was something different about it but I don't know how to explain it, it was
almost like it was a bright area of nothing but light.
Did
you meet or see any other beings?
No
Did
you experience a review of past events in your life?
No
Did
you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience
that could be verified later?
Uncertain When I was being pulled back into my body, my friends Jessica and
Sky said that the paramedics stopped putting me into the ambulance to check
something on me. After they called my name I popped up looking directly at them
before I passed out.
Did
you see or visit any beautiful or otherwise distinctive locations, levels or
dimensions?
Yes I would say the uniqueness of it was that I could float anywhere I
wanted to.
Did
you have any sense of altered space or time?
No
Did
you have a sense of knowing special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?
Uncertain I just knew the feeling felt like the right place to be.
Did
you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?
No
Did
you become aware of future events?
No
Did
you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience
you did not have prior to the experience?
Yes Although I have been very relaxed and calm after the event, I have had
precognitive dreaming on almost a monthly basis. Where I will have a dream and
soon after the event in the dream comes true. When it happens in life outside
of my dream, I feel like this weird shaky vision with my eyes like I'm zooming
away from an object. Once I watch the things occur, I feel totally exhausted
and either can take a nap or will have a throbbing headache. I got in touch
with a lady from coast to coast about precognitive dreaming and my experiences,
after she was just asking my questions about myself she stopped and said we both
know your a very old soul and have been here before and that I needed to contact
someone else and left it at that.
Have you shared this experience with others?
Yes I shared it with one of my Humanities mentors Jason File a study of Bart
Ehrman for the first time about a year ago. He told me that that's a classic
outer body experience and I should look into a few books on it. However I
didn't share the precognitive dreaming with him just because it seems radical,
only the guest from coast to coast.
Did
you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience?
No
How
did you view the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it
happened:
Experience was definitely real I was confused at first because I was
convinced that I was life-flighted out but then it didn't make sense because i
went back to the ambulance. Once I got my full memory back everything clicked
and I figured my soul was floating around.
Were there one or several parts of the experience especially meaningful or
significant to you?
The
experience made me feel that everything no matter what is "ok" and will not be
bad.
How
do you currently view the reality of your experience:
Experience was definitely real I'm open to all new possibilities, Einstein
said it best, we don't know 1 tenth of 1 one thousandth of one percent about
anything. Anything is possible and we just have to be open to hopefully
understand it. An example, our visible spectrum is just a small portion of the
actual spectrum, how do we know different dimensions don't exist, who's to say
there is or isn't a god, what god it right or wrong? All religions are always
interrupted for the moral good of the culture, but where does that thought come
from?
Have your relationships changed specifically as a result of your
experience?
No
Have your religious beliefs/practices changed specifically as a result of your
experience?
Uncertain
Growing up a Christian I have always followed my morals of our
non-denominational church. After the incident I grew more interested to find
out why? Why, for everything. It was more a less a hunger to learn about any
religions that I can, and any ancient history. Prior I just had a focus on my
future goals, competing in the Olympics and pursuing a Military career. But
afterwards my goals and outlook changed.
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 so far accurately and
comprehensively describe your experience?
Yes The questions helped to bring up other areas that I didn't think would
be connected as much.
