I would never dispute the thousands of individuals who claim they have had such experiences. Regardless of what does or doesn't happen, these people truly believe they experienced some kind of unexplainable phenomenon. The interesting part is that most of these individuals "come back" with a heightened sense of awareness living each moment of their lives more fully.
Individuals upon being given a terminal diagnosis many times experience the same sense of heightened awareness. Life takes on a certain kind of immediacy. They understand if they are going to live their lives, they are going to have to do it now; now is all they have.
This is the curiosity point for me; we were all born with that wonderful sense of heightened awareness, of being alive and in the moment. Where did that go? When did it leave us? Some of us can pinpoint that moment in our lives with laser beam accuracy but for most of us it's been an accumulation of traumas, large and small, throughout our lives. We slowly and systematically closed down to the pain, physical and emotional, insulating our bodies against further hurt. Turned off to the pain in our bodies, we began to maneuver through our world turned off, tuned down, out of touch: literally sleepwalking from day to day without much input from our bodies. Unfortunately, the body does not take kindly to being ignored and begins to betray us with more and more symptoms of physical illness.
You don't think so? Ask yourself this: the last time you injured yourself, did you treat yourself gently with kind words and thoughts or did you curse and send anger into the injured part? Why do we do that? We don't want to feel! What's the problem with not wanting to feel pain? Nothing is wrong with not wanting to experience the sensations of pain but when we are so closed to our bodies for fear of pain, we can't feel the good stuff either. Little things, you know like love, compassion, fulfillment, joy, gratitude hope. We might survive for a while without these things, but we will never thrive.
Therapeutic massage is still one of the best ways to bring you out of your head and back into your body. Most individuals receiving their first massage will comment on a heightened sense of awareness and a feeling of well being that may not have been present for some time. Of course, massage has other wonderful benefits but the power of touch is unsurpassed for healing of the "walking wounded" that do not live in their bodies.
Feeling out of your body but don't have time for a massage? Try weeding the garden, taking a hot bath, put your head in a pillow and scream, walk barefoot outdoors, play with a child, GET INVOLVED! Your body is a safe place to be. Indeed you may suffer pain, hurt, loss, join the human race.
Till next time, Rebecca.