Life, Death, Near Death and Beyond: An Exploration

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Bodhi Be  
Death 101: A Primer For Approaching Death and Showing Up at the Bedside of the Dying
We will explore the beliefs and stories we tell ourselves, and we’ll wonder about:  Do we die, or simply “pass on”? ~ Is this body “you”? ~ When do we begin to die? ~ Who’s supposed to die? ~ What’s the difference between knowing you will one day die, and finding out you are dying? ~ What are we grieving, both collectively and individually? How do we “lose” people when they die? ~ How is our relationship to death and dying formed by culture, religion, psychology and medicine?

Bodhi Be is a minister, teacher and guide in a Sufi Lineage; an independent funeral director; the executive director of Doorway Into Light, a non-profit in the field of death and dying; and the founder of The Death Store, Hawaii’s first certified green funeral home. He is a long-time hospice volunteer and leads workshops and trainings in the fields of end-of-life, and after-death care, and in conscious living and dying. Learn more at www.doorwayintolight.org

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Venerable Reverend Patrick McCollum
Walking the Sacred Path

In 1965, Patrick had the experience of dying, a result of a brutal motorcycle accident when he was hit by a drunk driver. He ceased breathing and his heart stopped beating for more than 6 minutes. A doctor onsite pronounced him dead.
He floated through a tunnel of light.  At the end of the tunnel, he came face-to-face with a luminous woman. “There was a deep sense of understanding, of knowledge hidden below the surface of her glance . . . there was a feeling in my heart that she knew my every thought, my every joy, my every pain.”
“Are you ready to come with me?” she asked. “Who are you?” I questioned.  “I am God,” she replied.
This is only the third time that Patrick will be presenting the story of his experience of consciousness after death and the amazing ways that it has impacted his life’s work.

Ven. Rev. Patrick McCollum is an internationally recognized spiritual leader whose work toward human rights, social justice, and equality for all religions and spiritual traditions, transcends cultural, religious, and political barriers. He is the 2010 recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Religious Pluralism. He was also named as a World Inner Peace Ambassador by Thai Buddhists and was given the title Venerable. For more information, visit www.PatrickMccollum.org

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Kimberly Clark Sharp

Angels in the Afterlife: Children, Animals and Loved Ones in the Near-Death Experience

After almost 40 years of face-to-face interviews with countless near-death experiencers, Kimberly will be sharing NDE’s in her three areas of clinically researched, published work – the NDE’s of children, suicide attempters and hellish NDE’s.

Children’s NDE’s are considered the purest because youngsters are simply not exposed to any source that would inform them of what it is like to have a near-death experience. And yet their experiences mirror the consistency of adult NDE’s, with the exception of more frequent reunions with pets and angels and the mysterious recurring presence of a loving entity called “Elizabeth.”

 Conventional wisdom would have it that people who commit suicide or have hellish NDE’s would not have angelic encounters or reunions with loved ones, but, in fact, love abounds in the afterlife, even in the darkest corners of despair.

The ultimate point of these stories is to give attendees hope, inspiration and heightened awareness of the spiritual beings – deceased loved ones and angels alike – who guide us and love us, on the other side of life and right here, right now.

Kimberly, an MSW, LCSW, is known for her wit and warmth, is a near-death experiencer and author of After the Light. Named one of the “40 most influential people under the age of 40” in the Pacific Northwest in 1987 for her work in the field of death and dying, Kimberly pioneered the field of critical care social work, founded the department of social work at the world’s first bone marrow transplant center and founded Seattle International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS), the world’s oldest and largest support group for NDEr’s. She also taught death and dying at the University of Washington School of Medicine and is a retired clinical assistant professor. Learn more about IANDS at iands.org.
Learn more about Kimberly at www.near-death.com/sharp.html.

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Ellie Schamber
The Meaning and Purpose of Our Lives: What I Learned When I Died

Ellie was an atheist who believed that a person’s consciousness dies with the body.  At U.C. Berkeley during the 1960s, she was involved in political revolutionary activities and taught her students that “religion is the opiate of the people.”
In 1969, she was involved in a horrific car accident that took several lives — including hers. “Looking down at my body, I was dumbfounded! I realized that everything I had believed and taught about consciousness had been wrong.”
In the Light, Ellie was given amazing knowledge about the meaning and purpose of life. She saw that she had forgotten the purpose of her life, so she made the decision to return and try again.
It took many years for her to come to grips with the experiences she had when she died. Her experience of death and her spiritual experiences were in profound conflict with her beliefs, and she found it difficult to reconcile them.
When she told people about her experiences, she saw that it seemed to help. “This made me more open to talking about when I was on the other side and the spiritual experiences I have had since. I want to let people know what the Truth is, why we are here, and what the implications are for our lives.”

Participants are welcome to ask any questions — such as about the meaning of life or why there is evil and suffering in the world. The answers sometimes seem to come from a Source that transcends Ellie’s personal ego and knowledge. If time allows, Ellie will also provide a brief overview of the history of research on NDEs.

Ellie Schamber has a Ph.D. in Intellectual History from the University of California at Berkeley.  She was on the faculty of several universities, and currently teaches Humanities at Kaplan University online. She also mentors graduate students and tutors high school students for the SAT. At Sunrise Center, Ellie hosts monthly presentations by people who have experienced consciousness after death and she talks about her own spiritual experiences at a number of other venues in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Dan Drasin
Communicating with the Departed

This workshop is a discovery/dialogue session facilitated by Dan, who produced the documentary film Calling Earth and has studied and experienced various modes of afterlife communication for over twenty years.  If you’ve experienced communication or contact with a departed loved one, or would like to, or are just curious about afterlife communication, come join us as we share our stories, experiences and collective wisdom. We’ll travel through the realms of spontaneous communication, physical manifestations, electronic voices and visuals, phone calls and computer communications from the departed, as well as mental and physical mediumship. We’ll also explore the lasting effects these kinds of contact may have on our connection with our higher selves, our sense of reality, and our daily lives.

Dan Drasin is a veteran documentary filmmaker and media producer with over a dozen international awards to his credit. He has been affiliated with New Dimensions Radio since its founding in 1973. As a child, Dan experienced numerous precognitive dreams, which jump-started his lifelong curiosity about consciousness and the nature of reality. Since 1993 he has probed various facets of afterlife research including near-death and out-of-body experiences, life between lives, reincarnation and afterlife communication. Following the 2007 passing of his partner, Jane, Dan experienced a variety of communications from her. His latest projects include a series of films about afterlife research, of which Calling Earth is the first.

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Jamie Butler
What you Believe is Your Only Truth, and Knowledge is Your Only Limit

Jamie will lead an open discussion on how your beliefs shape your understanding of the beyond. Through simple exercises Jamie will help you identify which ways you best perceive subtle energy so that you may learn how to communicate with your guides and loved ones on the other side. Jamie will also take you through a hand-designed mediation to open up your sensitivity and better connect you to your heart energy. Being aware of your emotional energy enhances intuitive sensitivity. Using your new tools and insight, Jamie will have you pair up and practice what you have learned. Be amazed at your own natural intuitive ability.

Jamie Butler has been a medium, both clairvoyant and clairaudient, since she was a young girl. She is the author of the book With Love and Light, is the founder of the With Love and Light Center in Atlanta, is a Reiki master and master hypnotherapist, and has taught people all over the world how to channel beings for themselves. She is also the featured medium in the book, My Son in the Afterlife, written by Elisa Medhus, MD, about her son Erik, who killed himself when he was 20 years-old. The channelings that Jamie did of Erik were so real to Elisa that she wrote a book about it. Some of Jamie’s channelings from Erik can be found on YouTube.

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Wendy Grace

An Experience of Your Own Passage from this World
Wendy Grace and Darin Deterra (bio further down)

Imagine being told that you have three months to live.
Imagine being told that you have one week to live.
Imagine taking your last breath.
Imagine your loved ones grieving and saying good bye…

In this workshop, you will have  an experience with passing from this world in a real, immediate and visceral way. We will use this experience to explore life. What do you wish you had done with your life? What is really important to you? What happens to you after you die?

Wendy Grace, who also experienced an NDE in her early twenties, trained for ten years in the Brazilian style of mediumship and many other forms of subtle energy work. Her mediumship trainings have assisted her in communicating with many departed souls and have helped many people come to greater peace with death and the departure of their beloveds. She has also pioneered a way through mediumship of helping people heal their relationships with immediate relatives that have passed on and even more distant relatives, their ancestors. Creating peace and harmony with one’s departed relatives and ancestors leads to greater peace and harmony in the present and enables people to live even more empowered self-loving and compassionate lives.

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Raphael
A Musical Experiential Journey of Life after Death

When people come back from a near death experience, they will tell you, “Words fail. Ah, but I remember the music!” Musically, we will explore and experience the rich and unique levels of Life after Death. We begin by preparing our own body through dance, movement and conscious relaxation. When the body and heart is honored, our ability to enter into macrocosm opens us to limitless possibilities. From that deep place we can easily and solidly enter into inter-dimensional communication. This process has a history of many miracles.

Raphael had his first near death experience at the age of 6. It is no accident that his music album Music to Disappear In has been used extensively for death and dying patients. Hundreds of letters to him begin with, “The last thing my mother (brother/sister/friend) heard was your album over and over.” He was freely composing Vivaldi concertos at the age of 13 and doing musical psychic readings at 16. He and his wife Kutira are the founders of the Kahua Institute, est. 1985, and creators of Embodied Spirituality and Sustainability. Together they own Maui Eco Retreat, where your vacation becomes a transformation.  www.KahuaInstitute.com.

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Alan  Hugenot
The Science of the Afterlife

Alan was 21 years old in 1970, when he had a near-fatal motorcycle accident.  He had a serious head injury, and was unconscious for 8 hours.
“I went directly into the presence of a brilliant white Light, which radiated a feeling of warmth and unconditional love.  It was a consciousness without form.  It was like being Home –I had known this Light Being for thousands of years.  This was the best place I’ve ever been.  There was no pain, no anguish, no worries.  It was more real than life here – this life is the illusion.”
The Light told him that as a physics student, Alan was too concerned about how things work.  “The purpose of life is to understand why, not just how. Figure it out with your heart, not just your mind.”
Then the Light told Alan he had to return.  He was not finished with what he had to do on earth.  Alan did not want to come back, but had no choice.  “There are things we came here to do.  We can’t stay there until we’re finished with what we have to do here.”
Alan says he was profoundly influenced by his NDE, becoming less competitive and materialistic. He went on to earn a Doctorate of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and became a nationally recognized expert in applied physics & engineering science.

Alan Ross Hugenot, Engr.Sc.D., has spent over 40 years collating research on consciousness survival and the afterlife, including NDE’s, reincarnation, past life regression therapy, after-death communications and the supporting theories of quantum mechanics.  His research is collected in his new book, The Death Experience: What It Is Like When You Die, which “provides the lay reader with the underlying principles of physics, postulating a scientific basis for, and location of, the afterlife.”

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Lei’ohu Ryder

Lei’ohu is a spiritual leader, visionary, healer, singer/songwriter, and educator on Maui. She is an emissary of aloha and an advocate for the indigenous soul in all people, blind to the labels (race, creed, nationality, ideology, etc.) that can separate us from experiencing the true nature of our selves and others. Auntie Lei’s love and knowledge of Na Mea Hawaii, help us connect with our selves, with spirit, and be pono (balanced in right alignment). Lei’ohu offers her gifts to you in Maui and throughout the world, through blessings, music, public speaking, intensives, counseling, healing work, wedding ceremonies, and funeral services… all with aloha.

Lei’ohu’s talents and knowledge are honored and loved in her community and the world. Her work has been recognized by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Peace Corps, Sierra Club and the United Nations. Lei’ohu was awarded the Gandhi-King Peace Hero Award in 2002. She has shared her gifts all around the world including Japan, Israel, India, and most of Europe.

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Darin Deterra
Facing your Imminent Death and Mediating Between the Two Worlds

25 years ago, Darin was told that the lump on the back of his neck was cancerous and that he had a 100% chance of dying if he didn’t have surgery. He healed himself without surgery.

Dr. Darin Deterra is a licensed therapist, author, radio and TV host, songwriter, record producer, artist and illustrator. Virtually all of his life’s work came to him through dreams and through mediumship. Dr. Darin has visited Brazil more than a dozen times and lived there for more than a year. In Brazil, he developed his medium abilities. Today, he integrates somatic (body-centered) therapy with his work as a medium. He has created a holistic mental health system called 4DQ (Four-Dimensional Intelligence) and a corresponding world for kids called 4dk.

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Lewis Brown Griggs

Lewis Griggs has an equally remarkable story. Born of direct Mayflower heritage
into privileged American aristocracy, his lifestyle reflected that ethnocentric value system. During the first of his two death experiences, Lewis discovered that we are on earth to fulfill a particular Purpose, and that he had not been on the right path. He was told that he must return to earth to teach people to appreciate diversity in our common humanity.
Since then, his work has included teaching corporations that valuing diversity, relationship and Spirit maximizes organizational effectiveness. To learn more about the work Lewis was guided to do, visit his website at www.Griggs.com

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Lori Grace

Lori is responsible for the creation of this conference and will be the main facilitator. She wishes to learn more about all of the topics covered in this conference and wants to see everyone else in the conference benefit as well. Lori is the owner of Hale Akua Garden Farm on Maui and is the executive director of Sunrise Center in Corte Madera, California.
www.sunrisecenter.org