Explore the Extraordinary >>
(schedule subject to change) Workshops, Music, Art & More – use drop down menu under SPEAKERS+
For info on Anita Moorjani‘s and/ or Suzanne Giesemann‘s two-hour WORKSHOPS on Wednesday, Aug 28th CLICK HERE
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! $80 each – go to the REGISTER! tab to purchase your “ADD-ON” ticket.
Chase Skylar DeMayo >> Chase, a U.S. Air Force veteran and Orlando, Florida native, underwent a profound spiritual transformation after a near-death experience in 2008. His NDE led him to embrace a life philosophy of ‘Chasing the Light,’ focusing on personal and community betterment. For 12 years following his NDE, DeMayo kept his experience private, but eventually he used it to guide his work in community service and holistic healing, particularly in helping veterans and addressing mental health. As a speaker, he shares his insights to inspire others, embodying a spirit of service and commitment that defines his spiritual journey. Chase has recently completed a bachelor’s degree in alternative medicine and another bachelor’s in ministry, and he will soon be completing a doctorate in holistic counseling.
Suzanne Giesemann >> Suzanne is a metaphysical teacher, author, and Messenger of Hope, recognized on the Watkins’ list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. She is a former U.S. Navy Commander who served as a commanding officer and as aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today, she guides people to the awareness of a greater reality. She has published 14 books, 6 Hemi-Sync recordings, and YouTube videos with over nine million views. She produces the Awakened Way app and hosts the popular Messages of Hope podcast. Her gift of multidimensional communication has been verified by noted afterlife researchers, and her messages bring not only hope but also healing and love that go straight to the heart.
Anita Moorjani >> Anita is a renowned author and spiritual speaker known for her transformative journey beyond the brink of death. While living in Hong Kong, Anita battled end-stage cancer before experiencing a remarkable near-death experience (NDE) that shifted her perspective on life. Her bestselling memoir Dying to Be Me chronicles her profound journey and miraculous healing. Its popularity established her as a premier NDE expert. A beacon of inspiration, Anita travels the world sharing her insights on self-love, consciousness, and the interconnectedness of all things. Her teachings empower others to embody the highest version of themselves and live vibrant, authentic lives. Anita continues to be a guiding light in the realm of spiritual exploration.
Vincent “Vinney” Tolman >> Vinney was born in Arlington, Texas and raised in California and Utah. Growing up, Vinney would feel the most comfortable in the mountains by his home. He had his first brush with death as a newborn, then again at age 14 with an embolism after being hit by a truck. An active Rugby player in high school and college, Vinney has lived in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam and maintains a conversational fluency in Vietnamese. A home builder for most of his life, and having worked in television and film production, his favorite job is being a teacher and light-worker, someone who helps others discover and find their own light and divine path. He is a spirit coach, licensed reverend, teacher, master energy practitioner, healer, and trauma specialist who helps people access the roots of their own healing. He is the author of The Light After Death: My Journey To Heaven and Back.
Aaron Sabori >> Aaron Sabori is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. His parents were the late Manuel and Marjorie Sabori. He was raised in the Village of Komatke in District Six. Aaron is an artist, who utilizes his Akimel O’Odham culture to design jewelry, paintings, sculptures, and murals. He is best known for creating art pieces from the Saguaro Cactus rib. Aaron has worked for the Gila River Indian Community as a paralegal both at the Office of Water Rights and the Defense Service Office. Aaron credits his Grandfather, Francis Peters, and various elders in Komatke and Santa Cruz village for teaching him about the Akimel O’odham culture. He has shared his knowledge to encourage cultural immersion throughout the community by demonstrating his artwork and providing technical consultation to Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) entities.
Scott Taylor >> Scott is president of the Expanded Awareness Institute (EAI). EAI helps people curious about near-death experiences (NDEs) and shared death experiences (SDEs) explore what those experiences mean to them and to our human culture. His YouTube podcast The Afterlife Files, is rated in the top 20% worldwide. On the faculty of The Shift Network, Scott teaches NDE meditation for his course The Bi-Location Phenomenon.
Debbie James >> After completing her master’s thesis on disclosure of near-death experiences (NDEs), Debbie James was appointed to the board of directors of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). In 2009, Debbie co-authored and edited the first compilation of research on NDEs, The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Inspired by her belief in the art and science of nursing practice and education, Debbie has focused her career on the advancement of safe, evidence-based patient-centered care.
Chase Skylar DeMayo >> Chase, a U.S. Air Force veteran and Orlando, Florida native, underwent a profound spiritual transformation after a near-death experience in 2008. His NDE led him to embrace a life philosophy of ‘Chasing the Light,’ focusing on personal and community betterment. For 12 years following his NDE, DeMayo kept his experience private, but eventually he used it to guide his work in community service and holistic healing, particularly in helping veterans and addressing mental health. As a speaker, he shares his insights to inspire others, embodying a spirit of service and commitment that defines his spiritual journey. Chase has recently completed a bachelor’s degree in alternative medicine and another bachelor’s in ministry, and he will soon be completing a doctorate in holistic counseling.
Jeff Olsen is a #1 international best-selling author who inspires audiences globally with his intriguing story of perseverance and inner strength. After a horrific automobile accident that took the lives of his wife and youngest son, Jeff sustained multiple life-threatening injuries. He found the courage to survive over 18 surgeries and eventually healed both physically and emotionally. At the time of his accident, Jeff had incredible near-death and out-of-body experiences, bringing him insights uncommon in today’s world. He has integrated these experiences into everyday life, inspiring others to embrace the beauty around them and choose joy in all they do. Jeff’s latest book Where Are You? is a collaboration with his oldest son, Spencer, who also survived the accident at age seven. This heartfelt book for all ages is perfect for anybody who misses someone. Jeff is powerfully connected to nature and is most fulfilled by simply being a trusted friend.
Bhaskar Banerji >> Bhaskar likes to think of himself as an ambassador from the dream world. As a child growing up in countries on three different continents — the US, India, and England — life was a journey full of perils. His dreams assisted him in numerous ways to navigate this obstacle course. Thus, early on in life he gained an appreciation for the power of dreaming and learned to listen to this valuable source of guidance. These events inspired him later in life to pursue dream studies in a more formal academic capacity, at both the master’s and PhD levels. He had the privilege of studying with many modern day luminaries in the dream science community, deepening his understanding of topics such as dreams and the body, dream interpretation, lucid dreaming, cross-cultural dreaming, as well as dream content analysis.
Kimberly R. Mascaro >> Kimberly is a California licensed holistic psychotherapist, centering the spiritual, ecological, and somatic. She is also a two-time nonfiction author, visual artist, meditation facilitator, and university faculty member with over 20 years of professional experience in the field of mental-behavioral health. Kim is passionate about wellness and self-care, holding certifications in Hypnotherapy, Yoga Nidra, and Integrative Mental Health. She is the author of Dream Medicine: The Intersection of Wellness and Consciousness (2021) and Extraordinary Dreams: Visions, Announcements and Premonitions Across Time and Place (2018) published by McFarland. Having been a student of both Western and Eastern Mystery Traditions for almost half of her life, Kim’s presentations and workshops are rooted in consciousness, dreamwork, meditation, and self-care. Her research on dreams has been presented and published in the USA, Europe, and South America.
Donna Rebadow >> Donna is a near-death experiencer, sports medicine acupuncturist, host of the Exploring Consciousness Podcast, and author of Wednesdays with Sadie, the Miracle Dog. In 1998, Donna had an NDE that changed how she viewed herself, the world, and other dimensions. After this experience, Donna began exploring consciousness by attending workshops with the Monroe Institute, Dr. Dispenza, and Tom Campbell. She has taken classes in CRV, Tarot with Richard Knight, and evidential mediumship with Suzanne Giesemann and has been interviewed several times for the media, including on the “Coming Home” YouTube channel (819K views). Donna taught at the community college level in Arizona in the areas of health, psychology, and alternative medicine. She is a jeweler and musician, and in Spring 2019 she entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with her Wayland Baptist College teammates.
PMH Atwater >> PMH began her research of the near-death phenomenon in 1978, after having had three such experiences in three months in 1977. To date, her work covers nearly 5,000 adult and child experiencers. Some of her findings have been verified in clinical studies, among them the prospective study done in Holland and published in the peer-reviewed general medical journal, The Lancet. She created and incorporated Inner Forum, Idaho’s first metaphysical non-profit organization, and over 3,000 people have participated in its programs. She is the author of 20 books, including Edge Walker, and is currently working on a book about her research study on aliens and the near-death experience.
Martin Tanner is on the Board of Directors of IANDS and also serves as its Vice President. In 1990 he was a co-founder of IANDS of Utah, Inc., and has been its Chair ever since. He earned a BA in Finance from the University of Utah and a Juris Doctor from J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Martin has personally interviewed over 600 individuals who have had a near-death experience, and he routinely speaks to groups, on radio, and on TV about NDEs. Since 1990, Martin has been a radio talk show host on KSL Radio. He has published articles and scholarly papers on a variety of subjects.
Melinda Peterson >> Melinda is an Intuitive health practitioner, registered nurse, motivational speaker, energy healer, yoga teacher, loss mama, adoptive mama, near-death experiencer (NDEr), and entrepreneur. One of the most profound changes that arose from her NDE was being called from her previous career as an environmental scientist to a career in nursing. Melinda has expanded her nursing practice by using a vision from her NDE to create the Scarlit Center, a global movement helping people connect to their bodies’ inner wisdom through workshops, movement, and nourishment to enable them to lead luminous lives. Melinda lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her daughter, son in spirit, husband, and poodle. She prefers tea over coffee, always takes an opportunity to pet a dog, and enjoys a nearby unfrozen lake via paddle board and frozen lake via ice skates.
Bernadette O’Brien Thompson >> Bernadette is the owner of Tell Me Our Story Genealogy & Ancestral Healing. She is a genealogist who trained in psychology, trauma, and grief and who focuses on ancestral healing. Through the University of Vermont Professional End of Life Doula program, Bernadette is certified to help those going through the grieving process to understand the mind, body, and spirit connection of grief. She began her career as a genealogist over 15 years ago, yet it was through the trauma and grief of losing her husband to alcoholism that Bernadette felt the very deep personal connection she has with her ancestors. Her ancestral healing began as she opened up to spiritually transformative experiences with her ancestors and other spiritual beings. It is her deep desire to continue to help others open to their spiritually transformational experiences of ancestral healing.
Rebecca Kastl >> Rebecca is an energy healer, angel interpreter, and pediatric speech-language pathologist who underwent a life-altering spiritually transformative experience between the ages of 26 to 28. During this experience, she saw a beautiful light that spoke to her, saw light within everyone, started feeling surrounded by angels, saw alternate timelines of her life, and began having psychic dreams. She uses her experiences and training to give healings and angel readings and to help others learn to connect with their own guides and angels. Outside of this work, she helps children communicate as a speech-language pathologist. She lives in Denver, CO.
Chase Skylar DeMayo >> Chase, a US Air Force Veteran and Orlando, Florida native, underwent a profound spiritual transformation after a near-death experience in 2008. His NDE led him to embrace a life philosophy of ‘Chasing the Light,’ focusing on personal and community betterment. DeMayo kept his experience private for 12 years but eventually used it to guide his work in community service and holistic healing, particularly in helping veterans and addressing mental health. As a speaker, he shares his insights to inspire others, embodying a spirit of service and commitment that defines his spiritual journey. Chase has recently competed a bachelors degree in Alternative Medicine, a separate bachelors in ministry as well as a soon to complete doctorate in Holistic Counseling.
Genny Krackau >> Genny is author of Beyond the Explosion, Stories of The Light, a compilation of combat near-death and spiritual experience stories. Genny is a life resident of San Antonio, Texas–military city, USA. After she retired from the U.S. Army Medical Department, she worked numerous military and civilian contract jobs. Of special interest are clinical research studies involving wounded warriors, hearing conservation for military service members, and supporting a clinical trial for military and civilian head injury patients. Genny personally relates to near-death experiencers because she also has had spiritual experiences and understands the difficulty in discussing such personal phenomena.
Chuck Swedrock >> Chuck was a USMC draftee in 1970-1971. His computer skills merited a stateside assignment at Camp Lejeune, NC, where he had 21 contiguous months on site with married housing assigned after infantry training there. The health after-effects of the water contamination at Camp Lejeune culminated in a near-death experience in 2003. He flatlined in the back of an ambulance called after he experienced a 1.5 cm tear inside his weakened esophagus. His fully conscious experience occurred in the ambulance at eye-level with the paramedic resuscitating him after announcing there was no pulse, and the medic was initially unable to start an intravenous injection. The resulting internal bleeding necessitated a transfusion of 4.5 units of plasma and 4-days recouperation in the intensive care unit.
David Campbell >> David is a disabled army veteran from the Gulf War. He was born in Fort Hood, TX in the early 1970s, and grew up in Southern California, moving and starting over at a new school nearly every year. David came from a military family going back to the Revolutionary War! He signed up at age 17 as a Combat Engineer. In the Gulf War, he had an near-death experience (NDE) when he died for five minutes as a result of a combat explosion. David suffered 25 years with PTSD. David shares, “God then pulled me out of Hell and showed me the light by giving me a mission to guide veterans to healing!” David is the co-founder of the Mesa Veteran’s Resource Center, Veterans 5-9, and the current V P for Pleasant Valley Veteran’s Retreat Center. David has received many awards for his lengthy volunteer career.
Jeff Janssen >> After becoming a rare survivor of a widowmaker heart attack at age 42, Jeff sought answers to life’s biggest questions, such as: Who am I, why are we here, and what happens to us when we die? He studied over 5,000 NDEs and synthesized their highlights into the book 10 Life-Changing Lessons from Heaven. Because he was particularly impacted by NDE life reviews, he wrote Your Life’s Ripple Effect. Jeff has also written a book for those grieving the loss of loved ones, Comforting Truths from Heaven, and one for children who have lost a loved one, What You’ll Learn in Heaven. Jeff has shared his work with bereaved parents through Helping Parents Heal, formerly incarcerated women through A New Way of Life, at Duke’s Rhine Research Center, and with IANDS groups across the country. Jeff also served 30 years in the sports world helping college teams win championships.
Liz Entin >> Liz, a skeptic and atheist, following the passing of her father in 2015, began to examine evidence of an afterlife and anything psi related. The evidence blew her away and transformed her life. She is author of WTF Just Happened?!: A sciencey-skeptic explores grief, healing, and evidence of an afterlife and host of a podcast, WTF Just Happened?!: All about the afterlife. No woo. She continues to study evidence and research on the survival of consciousness after physical death and remains amazed and overjoyed that there is more than this material world.
Amber Kasic >> Amber is an evidential medium, author, speaker, former classroom teacher, and US Department of Education Fulbright participant. After a shared death experience with her father in 2020, she began a journey of discovery and connection with our greater reality, guided by her dad in spirit. She shares her journey and transformational stories of love and guidance from spirit with audiences worldwide and is co-author of the book Life Reimagined: Women’s Stories of Hope, Resilience, & Transformation. She now inspires others to explore just what is possible in our lives, as love is limitless and we are so much more than just human. It’s Nature’s Way.
LaVonne Wells >> LaVonne is an award-winning global speaker and love activist. She assists people in processing the passing of a loved one. Her work has emerged because of the despair she experienced through the passing of her daughter Kiva. She provides a listening ear, open heart, and support in remembering…where there is LOVE, there is life! LaVonne shares that there is no death but, rather, a continual journey that takes on a new form. She brings awareness that there is more to human existence than the physical life we are experiencing. LaVonne offers life and grief support through her group sessions, one-on-one sessions, and annual retreats.
Melissa Mullen >> Melissa is a Reiki Master Healer and Teacher and Soul Poeticist at Integral Reiki Center for Healing (INRCH) in Frederick, Maryland, USA. Since a life-altering event in 1962 at the age of 7, she has experienced a profound calling to sacred service. During the past 23 years, she continuously encountered Reiki, and in 2016 at the age of 55, her teacher appeared, just as her children were emptying the nest and she began to envision the completion of her federal government career. Over the past 8 years, Melissa’s immersion in the healing practice of Reiki and sacred pilgrimages to Europe and the Middle East have unveiled her sacred lineage, purpose, and path. Currently, Melissa serves as a healer and teacher, bringing forward the remembrance of past lives to inform the current age and support the healing process of humanity as divine emanations of the Creator.
Silvia Rabadi >> Sylvia earned her PhD in Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Mind, delving into a profound exploration of near-death experiences. A fellow of the International Society for Quality in Health Care and a USAID senior consultant, she holds numerous certifications including Senior Consultant in Speech-Language Pathology, Senior Surveyor and Accreditation Preparation Consultant by Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC), and Quality Management Assessor and Healthcare Quality Management Professional by the European Foundation for Quality Management. Her vast expertise extends to healthcare quality improvement, specializing in accreditation preparation and quality enhancement. Silvia’s background in nursing and speech pathology has propelled transformative initiatives globally. Her commitment to continuous learning is evident through numerous certifications, workshops, and educational programs. Beyond professional accomplishments, Silvia actively engages in humanitarian causes, embodying a holistic healthcare approach. Her dynamic career showcases a profound dedication to continuous learning and a relentless pursuit of improving global healthcare systems.
Lotte Valentin >> Lotte has had two near-death experiences. She is an NMD, author, evidential psychic medium, medical medium, ancestral healer, and international keynote speaker. Lotte wrote Med School after Menopause, The Journey of my Soul, an inspirational story about transformation, healing, and spirituality which, in a literary competition, won 1st place in the category of Spiritual Leadership. Lotte is creator of the audio Ancestral Healing Series which she produced in collaboration with Hemi-Sync. She regularly leads workshops on ancestral healing for The Theosophical Society as well as other organizations and is a regular guest on The Shift Network. She is also the host of her own podcast Dr. Lotte: Science with Soul, which, out of 3 million podcasts globally, is currently ranked in the top 5%.
Philip Hasheider >> Philip is author of over 30 books on farming, local history, and family stories. His sudden cardiac death and associated NDE may have been sensed by the family’s herd of beef cows an hour before these events occurred. His time in eternity is still present with him, just “in the background,” as he moves through each day. He now speaks about his NDE aftermath, both personal and regarding his relationship with his wife, Mary.
Mary Hasheider >> Mary, after nearly seven years as an executive in a national advertising agency and 12 years in corporate management positions, returned to farm with husband Philip and to raise their young son and daughter on the Little Prairie settled by Philip’s ancestors before Wisconsin was a state. Her STEs led to hands-on healing with animals and work with nature spirits to enhance the health of the farmland and food grown upon it. Mary shares how, in the face of all the emotional, physical, psychological, and financial challenges following Philip’s cardiac arrest and NDE, they were able to “renegotiate” their contract to stay together as a couple.
Karen Michelle >> Karen is a near-death experiencer and psychic medium who has a unique understanding and compassion for her clients. She has spoken at events and conferences in regards to near-death experiences. Karen began working over eighteen years ago in the mental health care field focusing on PTSD, trauma recovery, and dynamics of abusive relationships. Wanting to honor the messages she received during her NDEs, Karen Michelle shifted her career to reflect a holistic and spiritual path. Her specialties include Resonant Kinesiology with harp and guided imagery to facilitate therapeutic music and sound interventions for stress management and relaxation. Dr. Karen Michelle’s educational background includes a doctorate in clinical psychology, Resonant Kinesiology Instructor certification, grief and loss training, and certificate training in working with survivors of sexual assault.
Christina Tourin >> Founder and Director of the International Harp Therapy Program, Christina leads training centers in multiple countries with Therapeutic Harp Practitioners serving on five continents. As an internationally award-winning artist, she trained at the Mozarteum in Austria and McGill in Montreal. She was harpist for the Vermont Symphony and for 17 years for the Sound of Music Maria von Trapp family. Returning to IANDS, she is remembered for her workshops on Music of the Spheres. Christina truly lives a life ‘As above, So below’ sharing her performances of sacred and transcendent moments. Bringing her harp to magical life, she shares with the world the deepest, most profound truths of the Universe, which rightfully and intuitively credits as the source of all she creates.
Lee Ann Heltzel>> Lee Ann is an explorer of human potential, a death doula, and a multi-dimensional artist and marketing innovator. Trained as an artist and gifted in esoteric practices, Lee Ann pioneered a new visual art genre, MetaArt. Each MetaArt piece energetically transforms its space to a specific frequency, serving as an active portal to higher states of consciousness via engagement with the pineal gland. Lee Ann’s work integrates creativity, imagination, and spirituality, making her a bridge to multi-dimensional realms and pure potential. She founded Creative One, a multi-dimensional marketing firm that taps into the highest potential for conscious creatives and leading-edge thinkers through her Signature MetaInsight(TM ) process.
Peter Alessandria >> Peter is an award-winning photographer, filmmaker, author, TEDx Speaker, and former entertainment attorney based in the New York City area. As Managing Director of Mindful Entertainment LLC, Peter is producing several spiritually-based film projects devoted to the topic of life after death. His most recent film, slated for release in late 2024, is a documentary entitled What Every Soul Knows: The Joy of Remembering Who We Really Are. In it, he interviewed more than 40 thought-leaders in the areas of near-death experiences, mediumship, channeling, and other psychic phenomena to uncover the path to remembering our true nature as eternal spiritual beings. Find out more about Peter and his work on his websites: www.itstimetoremember.org, www.whateverysoulknows.com, and www.mindfulentertainment.us.
Other Panelists:
Tammi Spring >> Tammi has had multiple STEs, including an NDE during cancer treatments in which she made a choice to return to this life. For more than 12 years, she has been practicing meditation. Having trained with Dharma Ocean in Colorado, and with two years of intuitive, shamanic, and psychic training in Washington, DC, with “Bridge Between Two Worlds,” her practice is primarily somatic meditation in which she blends mindfulness, loving-kindness, and visualizations that channel an energetic connection to source, spirit, and human self. With more than four years of experience leading private meditation groups in Boulder, CO, Tammi has a private practice of intuitive meditations and channeling for clients.
Ellen Wier (formerly Whealton) >> Ellen is a light worker, transpersonal and music therapist, healer, workshop presenter, and educator who uses numerous modalities in her work, including music, crystal singing bowls, chanting, visualization, and meditation. Kicked in the head by a horse at age 12, Ellen experienced an NDE in which she vowed to come back to heal people with music and then experienced tremendously impactful spiritual downloads before being drawn back to her body by music. This spiritual event gave Ellen first-hand knowledge of the immense web of love, wisdom, and support that is available to everyone at all times. Ellen has a master’s degree in Transpersonal Counseling with an emphasis in Music Therapy from Naropa University. Trained in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music, Holotropic Breathwork, Reiki, and Aroma-Release, Ellen is an online course instructor who provides continuing education for music therapists and counseling psychologists around the globe.
Scott Taylor >> Scott is president of the Expanded Awareness Institute (EAI). EAI helps people curious about near-death experiences (NDEs) and shared death experiences (SDEs) explore what those experiences mean to them and to our human culture. His YouTube podcast The Afterlife Files, is rated in the top 20% worldwide. On the faculty of The Shift Network, Scott teaches NDE meditation for his course The Bi-Location Phenomenon.
Debbie James >> After completing her master’s thesis on disclosure of near-death experiences (NDEs), Debbie James was appointed to the board of directors of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). In 2009, Debbie co-authored and edited the first compilation of research on NDEs, The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Inspired by her belief in the art and science of nursing practice and education, Debbie has focused her career on the advancement of safe, evidence-based patient-centered care.
Suzanne Giesemann >> Suzanne is a metaphysical teacher, author, and Messenger of Hope, recognized on the Watkins’ list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People. She is a former U.S. Navy Commander who served as a commanding officer and as aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today, she guides people to the awareness of a greater reality. She has published 14 books, 6 Hemi-Sync recordings, and YouTube videos with over nine million views. She produces the Awakened Way app and hosts the popular Messages of Hope podcast. Her gift of multidimensional communication has been verified by noted afterlife researchers, and her messages bring not only hope but also healing and love that go straight to the heart.
Nancy Rynes is a geoscientist, archaeologist, artist, and explorer of all things weird and wonderful. As a near-death experiencer, remote viewer, QHHT regressionist, and energy worker, Nancy seeks to combine her innate curiosity about the nature of reality with a sense of discernment and groundedness learned as a geoscientist. She strives to make both scientific and “paranormal” topics easier to understand for everyone, Nancy has been featured on NBC TV’s The TODAY Show, PBS Television, and the Netflix series Surviving Death. She is a popular keynote speaker and workshop leader and has appeared on many podcasts and radio shows.
Marjorie Woollacott >> Marjorie is Research Director for IANDS, President of the Academy for the Advancement of Post-Materialist Sciences (AAPS), member of the Science Committee of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), and Co-Director of the Galileo Commission. She is a member of the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon and has received funding for her research in rehabilitation medicine, meditation, spiritual awakening, and end-of-life experiences. She has published over 200 scientific articles and written or edited nine books, including Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind, her eight-award-winning book about her own spiritual awakening and its transformation of her research on consciousness, as well as Spiritual Awakenings: Scientists and Academics Describe Their Experiences.
Natasha Tassell-Matamua >> Natasha is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Indigenous Psychologies in the School of Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her teaching is in the area of Indigenous psychologies and, in particular, the utilization of Indigenous knowledges to effect meaningful change across a range of contexts. Her research typically focuses on the interplay between spirituality, well-being, and the wider ecosystem. Natasha has also spent the last 15 years researching the phenomenology, aftereffects, and cultural specificity of near-death experiences and other exceptional experiences of consciousness; she has published extensively and presented both nationally and internationally on these topics.
Katie Darling >> Katie has been a transformational guide/seminar leader for more than 50 years. Despite having British physicist atheist parents, at age 18 she had a stunning (drug-free) STE that revealed infinite Love—a Who, not a “what”—behind everything. Feeling like a “walk-in,” Katie became a monk for 12 years, thinking Source was “up there,” until realizing we must “descend to ascend!” A popular therapeutic coach and inspirational speaker, in 1995 she founded iWAVE Institute (formerly Motherwave), initiating more than 5,000 students into direct, integrated, embodied awakening.
Gregory Andrews >> Gregory was a Captain in the Air Force (computer department), then a businessman, before losing his sight from an earlier training accident. Faced with a death urge, he instead dove deep into Oneness, becoming a beloved teacher of A Course in Miracles and other mystical practices, which manifested as meeting and marrying Katie during the COVID lockdown.
Elke Macartney >> Elke is a shaman, counselor, healer, and wisdom keeper in practice for 40 years. As an aura seer and spirit walker, her daily life is a continual spiritually transformative experience. She also enjoys dancing every day, walking in the forest, and facilitating online IANDS sharing groups.
Two time bestselling author, consultant, and speaker Jonathan Ellerby brings a rare and essential perspective to the fields of consciousness studies, integrative wellness, and human transformation. With over 30 years of experience in research and applied work, Jonathan’s background includes advanced academic degrees combined with decades of practical leadership and applied experience in settings as diverse as hospitals, rural communities, Fortune 500 boardrooms, international settings, and premier retreat, spa, and resort facilities. Jonathan has traveled the world to explore countless cultural approaches to healing and spiritual growth. He regularly returns to Southern Africa to maintain some of his core work drawing on wildlife and Indigenous Medicine. Author of five books and a regular collaborator with leading physicians and psychologists, Jonathan also draws on his training as a cross-cultural chaplain, a multi-faith minister, and a practitioner of energy medicine and traditional earth-based ceremonial healing.
Noelle St. Germain-Sehr >> Noelle is a Clinical Associate Professor and Counseling Fieldwork Coordinator at William & Mary. With over 30 years of clinical experience, she is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor in Texas, a National Certified Counselor, and an ACISTE Certified Mental Health Professional trained to assist individuals with integrating spiritually transformative experiences. Noelle has advanced training in transpersonal counseling, including Induced After-Death Communication (IADC); is the Executive Director of The Center for Grief and Traumatic Loss and The International IADC Board; and is an IADC Trainer. She holds membership in 16 professional organizations, has served on three editorial boards, and is the Secretary for the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. Her research focuses on improving mental health providers’ effectiveness in addressing transpersonal issues and includes multiple publications and over 65 professional presentations.
Jennifer “Kim” Penberthy >> Kim is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Kim is a board-certified clinical psychologist and conducts research, teaches, and provides clinical care at UVA in psychiatry and the cancer center. She obtained her undergraduate and masters degree in psychology from Wake Forest University, her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her Fellowship in Medical Psychology at the University of Virginia. In addition to her expertise in persistent depressive disorders, she studies the mind-body relationship, exploring human consciousness as well as extraordinary human experiences, including the impact of such on human abilities and wellness. Kim has held numerous professional leadership positions and has published and presented extensively on psychotherapy and mindfulness, including her most recent book, co-authored with her daughter, Morgan: Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide.
Tess McCormick >> Tess is a 2023 graduate of the University of Virginia’s undergraduate psychology department. She is currently preparing to apply to graduate school to earn her PhD in Clinical Psychology, with her ultimate goal being to become a psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist. She currently conducts research with UVA’s Department of Perceptual Studies, studying after-death communication, and she works in Charlottesville, VA, as a care coordinator at Addiction Allies, a substance abuse treatment facility. Tess enjoys helping others to better themselves; loves to spend time with her friends, family, and cat, Roo; and finds meaning in weekend time on a local farm where she works with mini donkeys and horses.
Gwen Grams >> Gwen has a PhD in quantitative experimental psychology from DePaul University in Chicago. Her dissertation was titled Self Deception in the Perception of Personal Appearance. Following her recent retirement from a career in behavioral health data administration, she joined Dr. Kim Penberthy as a Research Lecturer in the Faculty Support Track at the University of Virginia Medical School Division of Perceptual Studies, where her work focuses on after-death communication.
Pooja Chilukuri >> Pooja is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and published author of several faith-based books with over a decade of experience in research and engineering and technology development for global communications. Pooja is also the host of The Afterlife Podcast, a platform for fostering spiritual exploration, growth, and healing. In her memoir, And Then There Was Jesus, Pooja shared her personal religious quest spanning both Hinduism and Christianity, recounted her transformative mystical experiences, voiced her struggles of grappling with the weight of harmful religious teachings, and described her process of breaking free to live authentically in alignment with her true self.
Daniel Endy >> Daniel has been a spiritual student, seeker, and experiencer since, at the age of 14, he found the book Seth Speaks. He has a balance of left and right brain interests ranging from engineering and physics to spirituality, philosophy, and metaphysics. He researched and studied these topics extensively, and in 2010, had an awakening. Since then he has led monthly classes to share what he learned to help others live better lives. He is very active with IANDS serving as a Board member and as a host/facilitator of many IANDS Sharing Groups. Daniel is a hypnotherapist and does past life regressions as well as personal coaching. Daniel also has researched UFOs and ETs for several decades. He looks forward to the day when the existence of ETs is acknowledged.
M.K. (Kathy) McDaniel >> Kathy’s distressing near-death experience (dNDE) in early 2000 caused her to rethink her religious beliefs and her concept of God. With the help of multiple synchronicities, she joined IANDS 10 years later and told her story for the first time at a Seattle IANDS meeting. Since then, Kathy has been an advocate for that approximately 12% of souls who have suffered dNDEs. She and Daniel Endy co-host a growing IANDS monthly dNDE Sharing Group. Kathy has shared her dNDE story as a podcast guest on over 100 programs and has garnered over 1.5 million views to date. Kathy authored the memoir, Misfit in Hell to Heaven Expat, published in 2021, which is now selling worldwide.
Brianna Lafferty >> After a 22-year journey grappling with an “incurable” neurological movement disorder, Brianna Lafferty had a profound near-death experience in 2017 that ignited her major life transformation. This pivotal moment sparked a remarkable metamorphosis, unlocking her innate divine healing power to conquer the once “incurable” affliction. She is now an award-winning author, international speaker, and passionate Death & Spiritual Doula. Guiding others on transformative journeys, she empowers individuals to birth into their authentic selves and helps others liberates themselves from chronic illness. With unwavering passion, Bri also lends compassionate support in navigating end-of-life transitions and challenges, weaving a tapestry of resilience and inspiration.
Bryan Jackson >> Bryan had a life-changing spiritual experience in March 1993. The story of his dark-to-light NDE has been a useful tool in helping others to change their perspective about life. For those who have lost hope, Bryan’s experience teaches that life can be filled with meaning and purpose. Bryan is married and lives with his wife in Florida.
Jeff O’Driscoll >>During his 25 years as an academically oriented emergency physician, Jeff O’Driscoll experienced phenomena that science couldn’t explain, such as seeing souls leave their bodies at death and communicating with them. His experiences began in childhood following his brother’s death in a farm accident. After stepping away from clinical medicine, Jeff published his award-winning memoir, Not Yet: Near-Life Experiences and Lessons Learned, and recently his novel Zen’s Garden based on his own experiences. Now, as an international speaker and intuitive mentor, he helps souls refine their gifts and receive their own answers so they can connect to their highest self and their most authentic life path.
Felice DiMartino is an international speaker, educational consultant, spiritual mentor, and soul-full guide committed to collaboratively creating experiences of self-empowerment and personal transformation. Eight years ago, after a series of traumatic events that threw her into Resiliency Bootcamp, Felice was hit by a truck. In addition to sustaining multiple injuries, she had a near-death experience during which she was shown the nature of life, death, and the spaces between. Returning with activated extrasensory awareness and continued connection with higher realms of light, Felice combines her personal journey of resiliency; 30 years as a Montessori educator; in-depth study with spiritual teachers and indigenous elders; certifications in several healing modalities including yoga, meditation, and mindfulness; neuroscience technologies; and insights gleaned in her NDE to assist adults of all ages in cultivating a deeper connection with their spiritual self and an alignment of body, mind, and soul.
Kevin Jeffers >> Kevin is an artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Art Education from the Chicago School of the Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kevin’s artwork focusing on sculpture was exhibited in many galleries. His work in design and advertising culminated with many awards and certificates in graphic design. Kevin also opened a business in international trading and for the next 35 years extensively traveled globally with Los Angeles and Shanghai, China as a home base. Currently, Kevin is engaged in construction, finance, and writing about more than 50 years of incredible and wonderful experiences in Spirit. His first book The Pattern: An Exploration of Consciousness was published in 2022 and he is releasing a second book on soul retrieval.
Margaret Clausen >> Margaret is a clinical psychologist, energy healer, and health intuitive. She is a survivor of multiple traumatic deaths, a near-death experiencer, and a spiritually transformative experiencer. Like many people with this background, she possesses various psychic abilities which she cultivates through practices of meditation, binaural sound, and remote viewing. Her private practice focuses on the integration of STE, NDE/OBE, traumatic experiences, and empowerment through the expansion of consciousness. Dr. Clausen is writing a book focusing on how STEs can bring our world closer together.
Susie Herrick >> Susie is a psychotherapist, teacher, and author whose focus is on promoting relational intelligence and wisdom with individuals, couples, and groups. She has experienced transformative after-death-communication (ADC), which she described in her memoir Aphrodite Emerges. She has also co-authored with Elle Luna Your Story is Your Power. Both books offer ways to transform difficult relational issues into powerful voices from within. She has taught thousands of graduate students counseling psychology, including transpersonal psychology, the Enneagram, as well as mediation and conflict resolution, and she is a former academic chair at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology/Sofia University. She has traveled extensively to the Himalayan Region, is married, and with her husband has a semi-wild black cat named Batman.
Kathy Winings >> Kathy has spent over 30 years as an educator and senior administrator in a graduate seminary. Having trained initially to be a concert pianist and French horn player, she found her real calling as a teacher and educator. Her other deeply held investment has been directing the work of an international development agency focused on disaster response, sustainable development, and restorative justice, which involved partnering with numerous religions and cultures around the world. After her near-death experience, her teaching and ministry skills have enabled her to speak to diverse communities and audiences about her experience and its ongoing transformative aftereffects. She spends her time writing, serving as an educational and social justice consultant, teaching piano, and spending time with family and friends, while pursuing hobbies that include reading, solving puzzles, and swimming.
Eric Taylor >> Eric is an intuitive astrologer whose life and practice transformed in 2021 following a 40-day coma and NDE. Eric engaged in astral travel, encountering life-altering decisions that reshaped his existence. This event heightened his psychic and astrological abilities and deepened his connection to his divine purpose. Eric now offers expanded services, leveraging his enhanced skills to guide clients through self-discovery, healing, and personal growth. His non-judgmental insights encourage clients to break free from past constraints, fostering progress towards their highest selves. Beyond his professional achievements, Eric is a devoted husband and father to four, drawing on his experiences as an educator for disabled children and his own vision loss to cultivate compassion and spiritual insight. Eric’s rebirth has lead him to live with a deeper focus and commitment to serve humanity.
Cathy A. Mortimer >> When Cathy was 6 years old, she fell out of a tree and experienced an NDE. In it, she was stopped from proceeding by two robed beings who telepathically told her to go back. She refused, saying she could not breathe so she couldn’t go back, but the beings said they would help her. Afterwards, telepathic ability stayed with her but took 30 years for her to integrate. Because of her mother with schizophrenia in a single parent household of six people, Cathy’s childhood was full of trauma and strife. In spite of the struggle, she went on to become a nurse where her innate understanding of the other side helped her with dying patients. Her telepathic abilities helped her communicate with those who cannot speak.
Brooke Grove >> Brooke is a trauma survivor, near-death experiencer, and multidisciplinary healer in co-creation with Spirit. A former psychotherapist, Brooke has advanced degrees in Clinical Psychology, Marital and Family Therapy, and Clinical Art Therapy, enhanced by numerous post-graduate certifications, including but not limited to Shamanic Energy Medicine, Quantum Fieldwork, and Transpersonal Neuroscience. Brooke’s own perilous healing journey informs her Being, and she is a fierce advocate for trauma survivors. Within the global NDE community, Brooke is a highly sought out aftereffects guide who has alchemized her own pain into medicine. Brooke has been featured on many podcasts, YouTube, and documentaries. She is currently writing her memoir. Brooke maintains a private, international healing practice, offering remote services, wherein her goal is to explore, transmute, and empower the evolution in human consciousness through gratitude, service, and Light.
Kellan Fluckiger >>Kellan is a catalyst for personal transformation. With 19 books, 88 songs, and clients across the globe, his mission in 2024 is to help 250 million people see who they really are so they can create from that infinite possibility. Kellan had a 30-year corporate career in the US and Canada. Externally successful, he dealt privately with personal demons of depression, addiction, and attempted suicide. In 2007 a divine intervention invited him to start again. Eleven years later in 2018, Kellan contracted a fatal illness and flatlined in the ICO of the University of Alberta Hospital. During three conversations with the Divine at the door between life and eternity, Kellan chose to stay. Today, his only work is to help people live their fullest and most impactful lives and create prosperity and joy.
John Mathis >> John is a mental health nurse with degrees in music performance (opera), secondary education (English), and nursing. Rather than joining a country music boy band, on a dare during Y2K, John applied for a clinical data position — and spent the next 20 years rummaging through the closet of clinical data science. While at IBM Watson Health, John pioneered electronic medical records and learned AI. A member of the Education Committee of the Society for Clinical Data Management, John pursues hobbies that include studying herbalism, energetic medicine, and soul fragment retrieval, and starting an organic skin cream company. He is a divorced doggy daddy and Transpersonal Nurse Coach (Meat Suit Drivers, LLC) helping clients prepare for a death or learn how to handle the aftereffects of an NDE / STE.
Jan Holden >>
Janice Miner Holden grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, USA. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with honors from the University of Illinois, she taught high school psychology for 11 years and was a high school counselor for one year while she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in counselor education at Northern Illinois University. Since completing her EdD in 1988, she served 31 years on the University of North Texas (UNT) Counseling Program faculty—12 of those years as chair of the Department of Counseling & Higher Education. In 2019 she retired as professor emerita of Counseling. Beginning with her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Holden’s primary research focus has been counseling implications of near-death experiences, after-death communication, and other transpersonal experiences—those that transcend the usual personal limits of space, time, identity, and influence. In this research area she has over 50 refereed journal publications and over 100 national and international presentations; served as lead editor of the 2009 Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation, and co-edited the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling’s (ASERVIC’s) 2017 Connecting Soul, Spirit, Mind, and Body: A Collection of Spiritual and Religious Perspectives and Practices in Counseling. Since 2008 she has served as editor-in-chief of the International Association for Near-Death Studies’s (IANDS’s) scholarly Journal of Near-Death Studies. She is a Texas Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor and an American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative Experiences (ACISTE [pronounced “assist”]) Certified Mental Health Professional. For her career-long research on and advocacy for people who have had transpersonal experiences, Jan was awarded ASERVIC’s 2013 Research Award and the American Counseling Association’s 2015 Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person. For her outstanding and sustained contributions to scholarly-creative activity, teaching, and service, Jan received the UNT Foundation’s 2019 Eminent Faculty Award, one of the highest faculty achievements whose recipient serves as an inspiration for the entire UNT community. In early 2020, Jan served for 10 days as an International Visiting Scholar at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Since 2020 she has served as IANDS’s president.
Chase Skylar DeMayo >> Chase, a U.S. Air Force veteran and Orlando, Florida native, underwent a profound spiritual transformation after a near-death experience in 2008. His NDE led him to embrace a life philosophy of ‘Chasing the Light,’ focusing on personal and community betterment. For 12 years following his NDE, DeMayo kept his experience private, but eventually he used it to guide his work in community service and holistic healing, particularly in helping veterans and addressing mental health. As a speaker, he shares his insights to inspire others, embodying a spirit of service and commitment that defines his spiritual journey. Chase has recently completed a bachelor’s degree in alternative medicine and another bachelor’s in ministry, and he will soon be completing a doctorate in holistic counseling.
Deborah Connor >> Deborah has been an IANDS member for six years, and a board member for one year. She is an NDEr, and has had many other spiritual experiences. In addition to spiritual exploration, coaching, volunteering, and reading, Deborah spends time with family, enjoying the lake she lives on and the bountiful natural wonders of Nova Scotia, Canada. Deborah has decades of experience building inclusive leadership teams as a board member, as Executive Director, and Director of Development for not-for-profit organizations. As a certified coach, Deborah supports groups and individuals who are seeking to integrate their spiritual awakening, and is also a Reiki and Laser Light Therapy practitioner.
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Karen Michelle >> Karen is a near-death experiencer and psychic medium who has a unique understanding and compassion for her clients. She has spoken at events and conferences in regards to near-death experiences. Karen began working over eighteen years ago in the mental health care field focusing on PTSD, trauma recovery, and dynamics of abusive relationships. Wanting to honor the messages she received during her NDEs, Karen Michelle shifted her career to reflect a holistic and spiritual path. Her specialties include Resonant Kinesiology with harp and guided imagery to facilitate therapeutic music and sound interventions for stress management and relaxation. Dr. Karen Michelle’s educational background includes a doctorate in clinical psychology, Resonant Kinesiology Instructor certification, grief and loss training, and certificate training in working with survivors of sexual assault.
Christina Tourin >> Founder and Director of the International Harp Therapy Program, Christina leads training centers in multiple countries with Therapeutic Harp Practitioners serving on five continents. As an internationally award-winning artist, she trained at the Mozarteum in Austria and McGill in Montreal. She was harpist for the Vermont Symphony and for 17 years for the Sound of Music Maria von Trapp family. Returning to IANDS, she is remembered for her workshops on Music of the Spheres. Christina truly lives a life ‘As above, So below’ sharing her performances of sacred and transcendent moments. Bringing her harp to magical life, she shares with the world the deepest, most profound truths of the Universe, which rightfully and intuitively credits as the source of all she creates.
Mary Lydia Ryan >> Mary Lydia, critically acclaimed vocalist, pianist, composer, and creator of Spa Opera® utilizes her musical, mystical, and spiritual gifts to call forth, support, uplift, and encourage each individual’s unique magnificence. As seen and heard on Seattle and worldwide stages, including TEDx, Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, and One World Music Radio, as well as through group and individual sound transmission sessions, Mary’s offerings are designed to bring greater light and consciousness evolution to the world.
Georgia Wild >> Georgia has been actively practicing authentic expression for years. She first pursued many forms of dance and theater, working through layers of pain to finally find release through vocal expression. She studied opera and graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater, only to find that world did not support the spiritual nature connection she yearned for. Following her dreamtime guidance, she moved to Hawaii to enable her Soul’s roots to meet again with our Earth Mother Gaia. From this deep dive into the truth of her being, Georgia now shares her song. Holding space, she uses sound to vibrate open locked places within so that each person can greet and alchemize aspects of themselves that are ready to be given back into the ultimate source intelligence frequency of creator God that is/has always and in all ways been transcribed into our DNA from the beginning of time.
Chenée Fournier >> Chenée is an evidential medium, energy healer, and spiritual mentor. Since childhood, she has been able to sense and interact with Spirit. For more than four years, as a Reiki Master, she volunteered her services with hospice, providing Reiki to patients and sitting vigil with people as they began their transition beyond the veil. As she pursued a clinical pastoral education program, she worked as an interfaith chaplain in a hospital. Chenée believes that mediumship, when done with integrity, can lead to profound spiritually transformative experiences and is an ultimate form of energy healing.
Scott Taylor >> Scott is president of the Expanded Awareness Institute (EAI). EAI helps people curious about near-death experiences (NDEs) and shared death experiences (SDEs) explore what those experiences mean to them and to our human culture. His YouTube podcast The Afterlife Files, is rated in the top 20% worldwide. On the faculty of The Shift Network, Scott teaches NDE meditation for his course The Bi-Location Phenomenon.
Debbie James >> After completing her master’s thesis on disclosure of near-death experiences (NDEs), Debbie James was appointed to the board of directors of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). In 2009, Debbie co-authored and edited the first compilation of research on NDEs, The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Inspired by her belief in the art and science of nursing practice and education, Debbie has focused her career on the advancement of safe, evidence-based patient-centered care.
Anita Moorjani >> Anita is a renowned author and spiritual speaker known for her transformative journey beyond the brink of death. While living in Hong Kong, Anita battled end-stage cancer before experiencing a remarkable near-death experience (NDE) that shifted her perspective on life. Her bestselling memoir Dying to Be Me chronicles her profound journey and miraculous healing. Its popularity established her as a premier NDE expert. A beacon of inspiration, Anita travels the world sharing her insights on self-love, consciousness, and the interconnectedness of all things. Her teachings empower others to embody the highest version of themselves and live vibrant, authentic lives. Anita continues to be a guiding light in the realm of spiritual exploration.
William Peters >> William is a psychotherapist and the founder of the Shared Crossing Project whose mission is to positively transform relationships to death and dying through education and raising awareness about extraordinary end-of-life experiences (shared crossings) and their healing benefits. William is a global leader in shared death studies and end-of-life phenomena. He teaches methods to facilitate the shared death experience and to assist experiencers in meaningfully integrating their experiences. His work is informed by his two NDEs and a variety of shared crossings. William’s book At Heaven’s Door: What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better is published by Simon & Schuster. William is currently working with an Oscar-nominated filmmaker to produce the first feature-length documentary on the shared death experience.
Dashmesh Khalsa>> Dashmesh is a musician, producer, and philosopher who has worked with internationally renowned artists such as Bill Laswell, Byron Metcalf, Steve Roach, Toshinori Kondo, and Ken Koshio. He has played all around Arizona at venues such as the Music Instrument Museum, Scottsdale Center for The Performing Arts, Tempe Center for The Arts, and the Berger Performing Arts Center as well as yoga studios and other intimate venues across the Valley. He has studied music traditions from around the world such as Indian Tabla, Australian Didgeridoo, Japanese Taiko drumming, and West African Djembe. He has blended styles of music including tribal, electronica, ambient, hip-hop, and jazz, thus defying traditional notions of genres and styles. Dash‘s music is informed by the need to create a healthy relationship between technology and nature, unite the ancient with the modern and bridge the difference between cultures to create more harmony where it may not have existed otherwise.
Kimberly Braun >> Kimberly, impelled from her earliest childhood experiences and her NDE at the age of 19, spent over a decade as a Carmelite monastic nun exploring the path of Presence and then obtained her master’s degree in theology and formal ordination. Having explored the many facets of self-realization and the essence of Being, she lives to inspire others to connect to, and live from, Divine Love at their center with great freedom and joy. Kimberly is a TEDx speaker, Reiki Master, international speaker and retreat leader, and former meditation faculty at the renowned Omega Institute. She has served tens of thousands of people through her writing, speaking, retreats, online courses, and community. Her latest books are Miracles in the Naked Light and Beloved Found, Poems from the Source.
Catherine A. Weissenberg >> Catherine is an author, speaker, spiritual communication facilitator, and evidential medium. For over 30 years, she has been sharing her ability to communicate with Source, the deceased, and coma patients. Catherine credits her own near-death experience at age 18 in activating her evidential mediumship. This gift has enabled hundreds of people to communicate with their deceased loved ones. She is coauthor of the book Beyond Ever After: A Heart-to-Heart Journey Through Death and the Afterlife, the true story of how Catherine’s mediumship skills facilitated her client to have detailed conversations with her comatose husband and to continue their dialogues after his death. Catherine supports people in realizing they are inherently and eternally connected to each other by love in this reality and beyond.
Kim Cantin >> Kim is a survivor of the 2018 Montecito, California mudslides that killed 23 people, including her husband and son, and that buried her daughter alive. Kim shares her personal transformation during the more-than-three-year search for the remains of her teenage son. The messages from across the veil and synchronicities helped her heal, transform, and aid the search and miraculous find. Kim is the author of the award winning Where Yellow Flowers Bloom, A True Story of Hope through Unimaginable Loss. She has been interviewed on ELLEN TV, featured in Rob Lowe’s documentary Madness in the Hills, and featured in Reebok Founder Joe Foster’s new book How to Survive and Thrive. She is a former executive in the medical device business sector who now lives in Santa Barbara with her daughter and their two dogs.
Nathan Castle >> Fr. Nathan has helped more than 500 “stuck” and not-so-stuck souls who died suddenly and traumatically to adjust to the afterlife. Victims of fires, automobile accidents, shootings, stabbings, drownings, and suicides come to him in his dreams seeking help to resolve their Interrupted Death Experiences. Father Nathan believes that providing such help is something the Holy Spirit has given him and his prayer partners to do. In his Afterlife, Interrupted: books, Father Nathan is quick to point out that not everyone who dies suddenly gets stuck. He is the author of And Toto, Too: The Wizard of Oz as a Spiritual Adventure and Afterlife, Interrupted (Books 1 and 2): Helping Stuck Souls Cross Over. His new book is Afterlife, Interrupted Book 3: Please Let Me Explain.
Stephanie Chase Bradbury >> Stephanie has been an Episcopal priest for 28 years and has professionally counseled many people who have had NDEs and STEs. She herself has had a number of mystical experiences beginning at age 6. Stephanie is drawn to the bright overlap between matter and spirit and to the intertwining of life in this reality with the transcendent. She feels called to act as a translator to a world that is often blind to the astonishing wonder of All That Is and to help facilitate the integration of those who have been touched by the extraordinary. Stephanie has led NDE retreats and lectures at churches, spoken at IANDS conferences, been interviewed for podcasts, and writes a newsletter on the intersection between Christianity and transcendent experiences. Rev. Stephanie serves an Episcopal Church in Massachusetts.
David Maginley >> For 25 years, David Maginley has counseled those facing cancer and other life-threatening conditions at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has also survived cancer four times, which resulted in a profound near-death experience. David is a specialist with the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC), a Lutheran minister, a Therapeutic Touch teacher, and the award-winning author of Beyond Surviving: Cancer and Your Spiritual Journey. David speaks internationally on meaning in suffering, the wisdom of grief, mindfulness, death and dying, mystical phenomena, compassion fatigue, and integrative spirituality. His new book, Early Exits: Spirituality, Mortality and Meaning in an Age of Medical Assistance in Dying, will be released in 2024.
Paul Sperry >> Paul is a systems scientist and former executive director of a University of Colorado research institute of over 500 colleagues. He has been on boards of directors with the Society for Scientific Exploration, the Conference on World Affairs, and BoulderExo where he has given talks and moderated many panels. His passions include addressing societal problems through interdisciplinary approaches and recognizing our roles and opportunities in the grander reality we are co-creating together. Paul and his wife Maryann have been active in IANDS for the past four years and love living at the base of the Rockies in Longmont, CO.
PMH Atwater >> PMH, began her research of the near-death phenomenon in 1978, after having had three such experiences in three months in 1977. To date, her work covers nearly 5,000 adult and child experiencers. Some of her findings have been verified in clinical studies, among them the prospective study done in Holland and published in the peer-reviewed general medical journal, The Lancet. She created and incorporated Inner Forum, Idaho’s first metaphysical non-profit organization, and over 3,000 people have participated in its programs. She is the author of 20 books, including Edge Walker, and is currently working on a book about her research study on aliens and the near-death experience.
UNABLE TO ATTEND – Paola Harris >> Paola is an Italo-American award winning photojournalist and investigative reporter in the field of extraterrestrial related phenomena research. She is an in-demand international speaker. She is also a widely published freelance writer, especially in Europe. Her books have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. She produces the annual StarworksUSA conference in Laughlin, NV, and several other in-person and online consciousness events each year.
Catherine Chapey >> Catherine has had a lifetime of spiritually transformative experiences, including being a contactee of many various UFO’s, ETs, inter-dimensional beings, and orbs–phenomena she has documented over the past 18 years through journaling, photography, and film. She is an Ordained InterSpiritual Minister, Certified Spiritual Counselor, spiritualist medium, healer, and trance channel for “The Council of Light.” Catherine is also a Certified Hypnotist and a Level 2 Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT) Hypnotist who trained in 2014 with the late Dolores Cannon, developer of QHHT. Catherine is also a Certified Facilitator/Moderator for IANDS Sharing Groups, and a Facilitator for IANDS’s new monthly topic sharing group UFO/ET/NDE. For several years she has hosted and facilitated her own monthly sharing groups in support of spiritual experiencers, now on Zoom: “Safe Space Sharing,” “UFO ET Experiencers,” and “Spiritual Experiencers.”
Chris O’Connor >> Chris is founder and owner of the DEEMS Company, created to help humanity evolve spiritually while learning all aspects of self-healing. Chris has had formative experiences working with off world species where he learned medical technologies and has now brought some of that technology to the world. Chris has also been in close contact with his spirit guides for many years and relies on them daily, while helping others communicate with their guides as well. Chris has memories of many past lives and remembers the actual process of choosing his parents and programming his life experiences. Chris’s heart-lead mission is to assist humanity during this time of great transition and to remember the power they possess while bringing a message of love-based hope for the future of the human species on Earth.
Christian Sundberg >> As a young child, Christian remembered his existence before coming to Earth. Although that memory left him completely for his early adult life, it spontaneously returned 14 years ago as he took up a meditation practice and went through a personal awakening journey that included out-of-body experiences (OBEs). Christian has presented at over 100 public speaking events, seeking to remind others, in at least a small part, of who we really are beneath the human “play.” Professionally, Christian has worked for 16 years as a project manager for complex nuclear pump and valve manufacturing projects and also works currently for an insurance company. Christian authored the book A Walk in the Physical in which he strove to describe succinctly the larger spiritual context in which we exist and the importance of love in our human journey.
Michelle Clare >> Featured on Coast to Coast AM multiple times and on Gaia TV, Michelle Clare is a Certified Medium, angel intuitive, spiritual coach, medical intuitive, energetic healer, and three-time near-death experience (NDE) survivor. Over a span of 11 years, she had three NDEs: the first in April 2000, the second in May 2006, and a monumental, life-changing event in which Michelle suffered a traumatic brain injury on November 1, 2011. Shortly after this last event, she began receiving information for other people from their loved ones who had transitioned. All three NDEs served as a reminder of an unconditional love and connection that surpasses our Earthly life. Michelle’s journey of discovery continued with two shared death experiences. Her journey is marked by resilience and profound transformation. Today, Michelle uses her gifts to illuminate the paths of healing and self-discovery for others.
Sue Frederick >> Sue is an ordained Unity Minister, clairaudient, Soul Regression Therapist, angelic realm channel, and master numerologist. She channels messages and prayers from the angelic realm and receives wisdom from guides to help people heal grief and find purpose. She uses sacred numerology and mystical information in her books and teachings. Sue is the author of 11 books, including Through a Divine Lens: Practices to Quiet Your Ego and Align with Your Soul and The Sacred Numerology Workbook. As a student of numerology since 1980, she brings a deeply enlightened perspective to using numbers as navigational guidance tools for deciphering the soul’s journey.
David A. Williamson >> David, a native of Yanceyville, NC, had a near-death experience in 2017 that changed how he views this life and what it means to be a human being. For most of his life he had been deeply effected by several phenomena including identity confusion, racial narratives and racial trauma, general trauma, and rigid orientations towards ideology and personality. During his NDE, as his dying/dead body lay in the emergency room, he hovered above it and came to some realizations about his life that presented him with the opportunity to ground and integrate a different approach to living and being. He has shared his experience in podcast interviews and continues to ground and integrate practical approaches to life and ways for people to let go of lamenting and focus on creating their desired reality.
Neda Wassie >> Neda is a near-death experiencer who is pursuing a PhD in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Neda’s mystical experiences have informed her research interests in death, love, and other non-ordinary states of consciousness. Her NDE account is featured in Death as an Altered State of Consciousness: A Scientific Approach by Imants Barušs, and her current writing is published in The International Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. In her private practice, Neda integrates transpersonal psychology with mental wellness and helps individuals navigate their own exceptional human experiences. She also offers a simulated near-death experience (s-NDE) to facilitate after-death communication, near-death integration, and the resolution of grief and death anxiety.
Norman Klaunig >> Norman is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate in Texas. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision at the University of the Cumberlands. His interest in near-death and other transpersonal experiences started during his youth. Now, Norman identifies as a transpersonal counselor, integrating the spiritual dimension into the counseling process. He has a virtual counseling practice serving all of Texas. Norman has extensively studied and continues to study the NDE/STE literature and has contributed to the Journal of Near-Death Studies and the IANDS magazine Vital Signs.
Brianna Lafferty >> After a 22-year journey grappling with an “incurable” neurological movement disorder, Brianna Lafferty had a profound near-death experience in 2017 that ignited her major life transformation. This pivotal moment sparked a remarkable metamorphosis, unlocking her innate divine healing power to conquer the once “incurable” affliction. She is now an award-winning author, international speaker, and passionate Death & Spiritual Doula. Guiding others on transformative journeys, she empowers individuals to birth into their authentic selves and helps others liberates themselves from chronic illness. With unwavering passion, Bri also lends compassionate support in navigating end-of-life transitions and challenges, weaving a tapestry of resilience and inspiration.
Jill Lafferty >> Jill, wife of husband Ed and mother of daughters Brianna and Tara, has the experience of partnering a spouse and parenting children with transpersonal experiences, including a child with an NDE.
Tara Lafferty >> Tara holds an MS in Health Psychology. She has worked primarily in paralegal and real estate roles within her state of Colorado. Her interest in near-death and similar topics started within her own home environment while she was growing up. Working currently as a legal secretary, Tara is also working in her free time on her own spiritual revelations via her book Lessons With God, which walks the reader through her spiritually transformative experiences.
Betty Guadagno >> Betty had a near-death-like experience in March of 2019 that transformed her life 180 degrees. Betty went from a drug-addicted sex worker and self-described radical atheist to a devout believer in long term recovery, manifesting a life of meaning and purpose beyond her wildest dreams. Betty currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, and works as a recovery/life coach. During her integration process, she felt an incredible pull towards establishing spiritual community in her life. Since December, 2020, she has been connected to the IANDS community, and she now serves as webinar coordinator for IANDS Groups and Events and hosts IANDS’s podcast Explore the Extraordinary.
Alysa Rushton >> Alysa, also known as the “Divine Superpowers Activator,” is a near-death survivor and energy intuitive who is considered one of the world’s most cutting edge thought leaders on conscious life creation and ascension. She is also the founder of the internationally accredited Divine Light Energy Healers Academy where she teaches the healing tools she learned on the other side to coaches, healers, and entrepreneurs. Alysa has inspired thousands of light leaders, students, clients, and listeners from all over the globe to step into their true identity as Divine beings of light and activate their superpowers. When she’s not teaching or speaking internationally, she can usually be found swimming with the sea turtles near her home on the Big Island of Hawaii or hiking in the mountains of Arizona–her home away from home.
After Death is a gripping film that explores the afterlife based on real near-death experiences, conveyed by scientists, authors, and survivors. From the New York Times bestselling authors who brought you titles like 90 Minutes in Heaven, Imagine Heaven, and To Heaven and Back, emerges a cinematic peek into the unknown that examines the spiritual and scientific dimensions of mortality, inviting viewers to contemplate the possibility of life after death.
Christopher Rosing >> Christopher experienced so much early trauma and bullying that, at the age of 12, he set himself on fire. Surviving but being scarred forever–an outcast who felt unlovable, he first sought escape through addiction. But his search for deeper meaning and identity led to his awakening at the University of Connecticut while working as Kenneth Ring’s lead researcher on The Omega Project, which compared the transformational aftereffects of NDEs and UFO experiences. Through this work, Christopher met his wife Adrianne, who gifted him a shared death experience when she passed away in 2015. After her death, Christopher discovered Bon Buddhism, which completely transformed his life as he reconnected to the Light through Dzogchen Meditation. Dzogchen means “the great perfection” and is beyond religion or culture, as it is inherent in all sentient beings.
Kat Sanders >> Kat flatlined in 2010 from a massive brain hemorrhage. Her beautiful visit to the afterlife revealed the continuation of life and the connection between all living things. Once she pierced that veil, it would remain open to her. But returning to the physical world was a challenge. She experienced the roadblocks suffered by millions of people with similar experiences. Naysaying family members, churches, and friends made her feel uncomfortable about sharing her story. Nevertheless, over the ensuing months, Kat’s unique abilities became undeniably real. She has since evolved into a medium and medical intuitive. She authored a self-help book Unstoppable Life and was featured on an episode of the A&E TV series I Survived, Beyond And Back. She passionately shares her amazing NDE with IANDS groups and various organizations.
Mary Lydia Ryan >> Mary Lydia, critically acclaimed vocalist, pianist, composer, and creator of Spa Opera® utilizes her musical, mystical, and spiritual gifts to call forth, support, uplift, and encourage each individual’s unique magnificence. As seen and heard on Seattle and worldwide stages, including TEDx, Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, and One World Music Radio, as well as through group and individual sound transmission sessions, Mary’s offerings are designed to bring greater light and consciousness evolution to the world.
Scott Taylor >> Scott is president of the Expanded Awareness Institute (EAI). EAI helps people curious about near-death experiences (NDEs) and shared death experiences (SDEs) explore what those experiences mean to them and to our human culture. His YouTube podcast The Afterlife Files, is rated in the top 20% worldwide. On the faculty of The Shift Network, Scott teaches NDE meditation for his course The Bi-Location Phenomenon.
Debbie James >> After completing her master’s thesis on disclosure of near-death experiences (NDEs), Debbie James was appointed to the board of directors of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). In 2009, Debbie co-authored and edited the first compilation of research on NDEs, The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Inspired by her belief in the art and science of nursing practice and education, Debbie has focused her career on the advancement of safe, evidence-based patient-centered care.
Vincent “Vinney” Tolman >> Vinney was born in Arlington, Texas and raised in California and Utah. Growing up, Vinney would feel the most comfortable in the mountains by his home. He had his first brush with death as a newborn, then again at age 14 with an embolism after being hit by a truck. An active Rugby player in high school and college, Vinney has lived in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam and maintains a conversational fluency in Vietnamese. A home builder for most of his life, and having worked in television and film production, his favorite job is being a teacher and light-worker, someone who helps others discover and find their own light and divine path. He is a spirit coach, licensed reverend, teacher, master energy practitioner, healer, and trauma specialist who helps people access the roots of their own healing. He is the author of The Light After Death: My Journey To Heaven and Back.
Marina Weiler >> Marina is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, Division of Perceptual Studies, University of Virginia. She is a trained neuroscientist with a background in neuroimaging and cognitive neuroscience. Marina’s contributions to the field have earned her prestigious awards from institutions such as Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Brazil), the Brazilian Academy of Neurology, the National Institutes of Health (NIH, U.S.), the Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies. Outside the realm of academia, Dr. Weiler finds profound fulfillment in her role as a devoted mother to her lively 8-year-old child. With an adventurous spirit and a penchant for imaginative play, her child’s aspirations often veer toward the fantastical, including dreams of reincarnation as a feline and a fascination with crashing planes.
Yvonne Sneeden >> Prior to her NDEs, Yvonne’s professional career background included working in the foreign diplomatic service in Europe. Since her profound experiences, Yvonne is striving to bring the elements of the NDE into her daily life and her interaction with others. Together with Robert Neal Marshall, Yvonne is executive co-producer of Back From The Light, a documentary film focusing on near-death experience survivors and their aftereffects, now available at amazon.com. Yvonne works currently in a global IT company–a position that has enabled her to meet people from around the world with very different backgrounds. Through the course of her career, she realized that regardless of the level of social and public influence people exercise, we are all on a journey towards learning how to love, if we allow the traumas and challenges of lessons learned to bring us into a higher spiritual inner place.
Keyaunoosh Kassauei, MD >> Keyaunoosh is an international medical graduate who continued her medical education with a post-doctoral research fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Medicine in the US. Enlightened by her NDE in 2006, she founded My Conscious Coaching Group as a 501C3 coaching nonprofit in 2018 with a mission to heal and care for the Whole-Self and a vision to raise self and global awareness for a conscious mind through education and application of EQ/SQ (Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual/Deep intelligence) for humanity and citizens of Earth. Keyaunoosh is a Certified EI Coach and EICC Meta Coach (Emotional Intelligence Certified MetaCoach) from Goleman & Beyond EI, with a focus on coaching physicians and leaders in healthcare and education.
Shaun G. Lether >> Shaun is the Group Leader of Hawaiian IANDS. Shaun is a multiple near-death and spiritually transformative experiencer and a highly sensitive person (HSP), an empath with mediumship gifts. He was previously a successful marketing and real estate businessman and a Licensed California Landscape Contractor. After a profound NDE and during a spiritual emergency in 2019, Shaun started a small sharing group to support NDErs and STErs in Hawaii which has grown to become Hawaiian IANDS with over 6,000 members worldwide. Shaun has learned that as he helps others heal, so he is healed. He facilitates experiencers’ sharing groups with many spiritual organizations as well as groups for PTSD trauma survivors, and he runs Life After Death Facebook groups with a combined membership of over 850,000 followers. Shaun is a passionate student and teacher of A Course in Miracles as well as a devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda.
Leena Zafary >> Leena is a beacon of transformation, drawing from her journey as a survivor of near-death and spiritually transformative experiences. As an intuitive energy healer, author, and speaker, she offers profound insights and healing modalities to guide individuals on their paths to wholeness. Leena’s compassionate approach and extensive expertise in Reiki, BioAcoustic Research, and HeartMath facilitation empower clients to achieve balance and vitality in their lives. Beyond her professional endeavors, Leena finds joy in spending time with her family, exploring nature, and delving into spiritual practices like music, dancing, and cooking that nourish her soul.
Melinda Peterson >> Melinda is an Intuitive health practitioner, registered nurse, motivational speaker, energy healer, yoga teacher, loss mama, adoptive mama, near-death experiencer (NDEr), and entrepreneur. One of the most profound changes that arose from her NDE was being called from her previous career as an environmental scientist to a career in nursing. Melinda has expanded her nursing practice by using a vision from her NDE to create the Scarlit Center, a global movement helping people connect to their bodies’ inner wisdom through workshops, movement, and nourishment to enable them to lead luminous lives. Melinda lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her daughter, son in spirit, husband, and poodle. She prefers tea over coffee, always takes an opportunity to pet a dog, and enjoys a nearby unfrozen lake via paddle board and frozen lake via ice skates.
Steven Noack >> Steve is a near-death experiencer and a quantum healer. At four years old, he was struck by a motor vehicle, and during his NDE he awoke with a being of light who showed him the quantum field and its potential for humanity. Later in his life the same being made contact again along with others to guide him in healing both himself and others. He learned how to process and discharge physical pain and has also overcome addiction and the associated roots of childhood trauma, and he now enjoys guiding others to do the same. Steve has been both speaker and healer at events such as IANDS in North Carolina and has also appeared on Coast to Coast radio. Steve shares his gifts with clients from around the world with the hope that they are able to experience their own unique potential to heal.
Robert and Suzanne Mays have studied NDE phenomena together for over 45 years, although neither has had an NDE. They are particularly interested in veridical perceptions during NDEs and apparent interactions during NDEs between the NDEr and physical reality, as well as the neurological evidence of the interaction of the nonmaterial mind with the brain during ordinary consciousness. Among other areas, they focus on the social and moral implications of NDEs and prebirth memories including NDErs’ prophetic visions of world events and the question of when human life begins.
Maria Lupita Gurule >> Maria survived death after giving birth to her second child on June 5, 2000, when she spent eight eternal minutes in heaven reconnecting with her StarPurpose. This experience awakened her dormant extrasensory abilities and helped prepare her for the reality-bending, transformative experiences that followed. Maria Lupita is a world-renowned thought leader, wisdom keeper, and intuitive soul reader (psychic medium). She has spent nearly 25 years straddling two dimensions, accessing the Sacred Living Library meant to help people around the world ignite their light, learn the language of their souls, and discover their peace and purpose. Maria Lupita is considered a second-generation Star Being, incarnate on Earth as part of the second wave of volunteers who are ushering in the Golden Age of the New Earth. She is writing her first book.
Rafael Garcia >> Rafael is a Native American Shaman from Mexico residing in San Diego, California, with his wife Linda. He has a BA in International Business and has traveled the world for 20 years, living in 11 countries. In 2004, Rafael had a spiritual transformative experience and an awakening of consciousness that led him to understand the fabric of the cosmos. Rafael is a Healer and Life Coach teaching about reincarnation, life lessons, parallel lives, the 12 dimensions and quantum jumping. He is currently working on three books with his wife Linda, titled Highlights of the Afterlife, Project Utopia 2025 and Q&A with the Cosmos. Rafael’s mission is to use his insights gained from his experiences to launch Project Utopia 2025 with his wife and help transform our current political and economical systems to serve all of humanity and achieve world peace.
Joseph Banks >> Joseph has steered a small nonprofit organization in Portland, Oregon, called Pia Domu, which is Latin for “Loving Home.” Pia Domu aims to bring the loving warmth of the eternal Loving Home into one’s life and current experience and to promote the inspiration that by living one’s life to the fullest, one learns the true meaning of “Eternal Life.”
Marieta Pehlivanova is a research faculty member at the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Her research focuses primarily on near-death experiences and children reporting past-life memories, with a deep interest in changing the clinical culture surrounding the reporting of these and similar experiences. Marieta holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from American University. Before academia, she pursued a career as a statistician in medical research.
Curtis Childs >> Curtis is the Chief Visionary Officer for the nonprofit Swedenborg Foundation. He is the creator and host of the Off The Left Eye media network which explores the profound and expansive spiritual experiences of the 18th century scientist and seer Emanuel Swedenborg. Curtis’s content works to make spiritual concepts easy to understand and apply and has been viewed over 50 million times worldwide. Curtis is an international speaker and has appeared on a wide variety of media programs.
Laurie Majka >> Laurie has become a beacon of hope and inspiration through her YouTube channel where she interviews individuals with near-death experiences (NDEs) and transformative spiritual journeys. Her channel and artwork, focusing on spiritual awakening and the power of personal connections beyond death, has touched millions worldwide. Laurie’s most profound spiritual journey began with the passing of her Soul Mate Mark, the lead guitarist for Starship, whose signs from the beyond have profoundly transformed her life. Author of Signs Surround You – Love Never Dies, Laurie shares her and Mark’s love story and the hundreds of signs she’s received, showcasing the enduring power of love. Her work, including over 150 videos and 400 inspirational paintings, aims to awaken Souls to the omnipresence of their loved ones and the eternal nature of love.
Connie Fusella >> Connie is a professional evidential psychic medium and spiritual teacher who serves a worldwide clientele. A natural born medium, she began seeing and hearing Spirit as a small child. Her second NDE in her early 20s guided her on a spiritual journey toward her current vocation. Connie’s passion and soul’s purpose are to bring love, healing, and comfort to others through highly evidential and meaningful Spirit communications, validating that our departed loved ones and pets never leave us. In April 2021, Connie became a Certified Medium with The Forever Family Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the understanding of afterlife science through research and education while providing support and healing for the bereaved. She volunteers her mediumship for grief retreats, fundraisers, Signs of Life Radio, and charities and is featured as “The Psychic Next Door” in the book She Shines, a collection of interviews and stories about unique and inspirational women.
Sarina Baptista >> Sarina is an author, international speaker, spiritual teacher, and evidential psychic medium. She has two award-winning books, Finding Love and Purpose, and My View From Heaven. She was a featured speaker for the “Life, Death, and Beyond” International Conference in Crete, Greece, and has presented at IANDS conferences. Sarina discovered her gifts through her own tragedy: the passing of her seven-year-old son in March 2007. She learned that her son did not really die. Rather, he was still very close, and he led her to her incredible gifts.
Janice Miner Holden >> Jan grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, USA. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with honors from the University of Illinois, she taught high school psychology for 11 years and was a high school counselor for one year while she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in counselor education at Northern Illinois University. Since completing her EdD in 1988, she served 31 years on the University of North Texas (UNT) Counseling Program faculty—12 of those years as chair of the Department of Counseling & Higher Education. In 2019 she retired as professor emerita of Counseling. Beginning with her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Holden’s primary research focus has been counseling implications of near-death experiences, after-death communication, and other transpersonal experiences—those that transcend the usual personal limits of space, time, identity, and influence. In this research area she has over 50 refereed journal publications and over 100 national and international presentations; served as lead editor of the 2009 Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation, and co-edited the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling’s (ASERVIC’s) 2017 Connecting Soul, Spirit, Mind, and Body: A Collection of Spiritual and Religious Perspectives and Practices in Counseling. Since 2008 she has served as editor-in-chief of the International Association for Near-Death Studies’s (IANDS’s) scholarly Journal of Near-Death Studies. She is a Texas Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor and an American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative Experiences (ACISTE [pronounced “assist”]) Certified Mental Health Professional. For her career-long research on and advocacy for people who have had transpersonal experiences, Jan was awarded ASERVIC’s 2013 Research Award and the American Counseling Association’s 2015 Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person. For her outstanding and sustained contributions to scholarly-creative activity, teaching, and service, Jan received the UNT Foundation’s 2019 Eminent Faculty Award, one of the highest faculty achievements whose recipient serves as an inspiration for the entire UNT community. In early 2020, Jan served for 10 days as an International Visiting Scholar at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Since 2020 she has served as IANDS’s president.
Aaron Sabori >> Aaron Sabori is a member of the Gila River Indian Community. His parents were the late Manuel and Marjorie Sabori. He was raised in the Village of Komatke in District Six. Aaron is an artist, who utilizes his Akimel O’Odham culture to design jewelry, paintings, sculptures, and murals. He is best known for creating art pieces from the Saguaro Cactus rib. Aaron has worked for the Gila River Indian Community as a paralegal both at the Office of Water Rights and the Defense Service Office. Aaron credits his Grandfather, Francis Peters, and various elders in Komatke and Santa Cruz village for teaching him about the Akimel O’odham culture. He has shared his knowledge to encourage cultural immersion throughout the community by demonstrating his artwork and providing technical consultation to Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) entities.
Felice DiMartino >> Felice is an international speaker, educational consultant, spiritual mentor, and soul-full guide committed to collaboratively creating experiences of self-empowerment and personal transformation. Eight years ago, after a series of traumatic events that threw her into Resiliency Bootcamp, Felice was hit by a truck. In addition to sustaining multiple injuries, she had a near-death experience during which she was shown the nature of life, death, and the spaces between. Returning with activated extrasensory awareness and continued connection with higher realms of light, Felice combines her personal journey of resiliency; 30 years as a Montessori educator; in-depth study with spiritual teachers and indigenous elders; certifications in several healing modalities including yoga, meditation, and mindfulness; neuroscience technologies; and insights gleaned in her NDE to assist adults of all ages in cultivating a deeper connection with their spiritual self and an alignment of body, mind, and soul.
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IANDS is the original organization dedicated to supporting experiencers, educating interested people, and researching the near-death and related spiritual experiences.
IANDS is the original organization dedicated to supporting experiencers, educating interested people, and researching the near-death and related spiritual experiences.
