Episode 198

What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond

With Dr. Bruce Greyson

We often think the mind is a creation of the brain, or that the mind and the brain are one and the same. But when the brain is offline for a number of reasons, like illness or injury, the mind can sometimes still be very active.

Today on The Broken Brain Podcast, I talk to Dr. Bruce Greyson about this phenomenon in the context of near-death experiences or NDEs. We have to remember that even just 20 years ago new scientific ideas were emerging that people thought were crazy. People are always skeptical of things they haven’t been taught. Now, the study of near-death experiences is pushing the boundaries of modern research. 

Dr. Greyson’s interest in near-death experiences began just a few months after graduating from medical school, when he treated an unconscious patient in the emergency room who stunned him the next morning with an account of leaving her body. That event challenged his beliefs about the mind and the brain, and ultimately led him on a journey to study near-death experiences scientifically, leading to more than a hundred publications in medical journals. 

In this episode, Dr. Greyson shares some of the most dramatic first-person accounts of near-death experiences from his book After. Dr. Greyson and I discuss how NDEs reveal a lot about dying and what might come after, but they also reveal just as much about life and living, about the value of compassion and our interconnectedness with one another, and about what makes a life meaningful and fulfilling. We also talk about how NDEs can help to transform the fear of dying that pervades our culture—into a healthy view of it as one more milestone in the course of our lives. 

For more on Dr. Greyson you can follow him on Instagram @BruceGreysonMD, on Facebook @BruceGreysonMD, on Twitter @BruceGreyson, and through his website https://www.brucegreyson.com. Get his book, After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond at https://www.brucegreyson.com/after-a-doctor-explores-what-near-death-experiences-reveal-about-life-and-beyond/.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 

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I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.
Wishing you health and happiness.
Dhru Purohit

In this Episode, you will learn

  1. Dr. Greyson’s first experience with a patient who had a near-death experience
    (4:32)
  2. A near-death experience story from Dr. Greyson’s book
    (15:51)
  3. What near-death experiences tell us about the mind-body connection
    (19:37)
  4. The parallels between psychedelic experiences and near-death experiences
    (29:06)
  5. The misconceptions around near-death experiences
    (34:58)
  6. How near-death experiences reduce the fear of death
    (39:08)
  7. How to get the benefits of a near-death experience without actually having one
    (41:54)
  8. The history of near-death experiences 
    (46:51)
  9. Reincarnation beliefs among near-death experiencers
    (49:22)
  10. How near-death experiences change people’s lives  
    (1:01:45)

Guest

 
Dhru Purohit

Dhru is the host of the Dhru Purohit Podcast, a top 30 health podcast with over 30 million downloads. His interviews focus on the inner workings of the brain and the body and feature the brightest minds in wellness, medicine, and mindset.

Dhru Purohit is also a serial entrepreneur and investor in the health and wellness industry.

 
Dr. Bruce Greyson

Dr. Bruce Greyson is a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the UVA School of Medicine. He served on the medical school faculty at the Universities of Michigan, Connecticut, and Virginia. He was a co-founder and President of the International Association for Near-Death Studies, and Editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. His award-winning research led him to become a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and to be invited by the Dalai Lama to participate in a dialogue between Western scientists and Buddhist monks in India. His book, AFTER, is the culmination of almost half a century of scientific research.

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