1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,440 I had intense fear and panic because we were obviously crashing. Out of my heart came the 2 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:11,960 thought, oh god help, I'm going to die. 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:16,360 From the time that they pronounced me dead was a good 45 minutes. 4 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,280 It's determined that I was not breathing for 20 minutes. 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:24,440 They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart, my heart had stopped. And I could 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:29,680 see people screaming and crying, but I didn't realise that was actually my physical body 7 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,680 because I was somewhere else. 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:37,160 By which you went to the past far, in the afternoon, by half past seven I was dead, clinically 9 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:38,160 dead, four minutes. 10 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:43,640 And they were crying because I was dead and I was trying to tell them no, I'm not dead, 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:45,520 I'm just fine, I'm okay. 12 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,480 I was greeted by people I'd known in the past. 13 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:54,840 I started to feel like I was surrounded by all this warm, loving, beautiful, soothing, 14 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:55,840 loving energy. 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:01:01,240 I'm back with God again. I just felt this all in my two breath of these, like, wow, 16 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:02,240 I'm back. 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:03,720 I'm back home again. 18 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,480 Incredibly safe and felt at home. I'd come back home. It was a very strong feeling that 19 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,040 I've come back home. 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:16,120 The only thing that I could feel, if you could imagine, absolute love and peace, there wasn't 21 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,240 anything else to be felt. 22 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:23,400 And light is literally emitting from him. And I could feel that that tremendous amount 23 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,480 of love was coming through him as well. 24 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:34,640 They were brighter than everybody else. And I just knew who they were. 25 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:39,160 Welcome to Roundtrip Death, everybody. And I'd like to welcome to the show today a very 26 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,800 special guest because we don't get celebrities very often. 27 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:51,040 Jason Rittington from Buckinghamshire in England. Oh, I hope I said that close. 28 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:57,160 Absolutely fine. Yeah, it's like Buckingham without the palace and then Shaw. Yeah, I'm 29 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:58,360 looking at Shaw. 30 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,200 Okay. Believe me, you're allowed to correct my American accent. It is. 31 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,720 No, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it. I wouldn't dream of it. 32 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:13,440 No offense here. For those that don't know Jason, I'm going to just read a couple of 33 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:18,640 things from his resume. It is long, long, long, long. He has been doing all kinds of 34 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:26,200 acting for years. You may have seen him in films like Death of an Author, Once Upon 35 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:36,480 a Time in London, Lucid, Motherhood, Weathering Heights, King Lear on TV, and things like 36 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:45,600 Doctors, EastEnders, Luther on stage, etc., etc. Jason, wow, it's an honor. 37 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,080 It's an honor to meet you. It really is. Thank you for having me on your show. 38 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:54,880 Now, of those things that I mentioned, do you happen to have any favorites? 39 00:02:54,880 --> 00:03:02,400 I guess, yeah, Wuthering Heights would be probably my favorite for a few reasons. The 40 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:11,240 first is that was my first ever kind of gig. I was acting with Ray Fiennes and Juliet Benoche. 41 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:19,840 Juliet Benoche was really established even back then. I was kind of like, oh my goodness 42 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:29,160 me. I was kind of just given a real consumer lesson in film acting from Juliet Benoche. 43 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:38,600 It was also the time that I learned to ride. Riding is a really big part of my life. I 44 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:45,840 actually have a horse in common with Kevin Costner because I rode this white stallion 45 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:54,600 called Chico in Wuthering Heights. I was told to ride on Chico in Wuthering Heights by the 46 00:03:54,600 --> 00:04:02,120 stunt coordinator, the riding stunt coordinator, Steve Dent. Steve had just finished filming 47 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:08,740 Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner. If you know the bit where my friend Brian 48 00:04:08,740 --> 00:04:13,760 blesses in that movie with him as well, which is weird, but anyway, there's a bit where 49 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:19,480 he jumps on the back of this white horse, wax it with his sword, and then gallops off. 50 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,360 Well, that's Chico. I'm like, yay. 51 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:31,400 Wow. I like that. Do you want to tell us anything about who Jason really is, where you came 52 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:36,000 from, what you do when you're not acting? 53 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:43,720 You know, that's a hard question in a way because since my brain injury, that's a tough 54 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:55,240 one to really answer. I mean, I don't know about me and an acting now. I guess that's 55 00:04:55,240 --> 00:05:04,360 why I've kind of gone full bell into the writing side of things because it's a creative outlet 56 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:13,800 and it allows me to have that kind of self-expression. But I struggled with so many things since 57 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,200 my brain injury. 58 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,920 All right. We're going to dive deeper into that in just a minute as a lead up to your 59 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:28,320 NDE. But let me tease your book right now. It's called Life, Death, Tai Chi, and Me. 60 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,880 And I think we're going to find out why in the next few minutes. 61 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:32,880 Yeah. 62 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:39,360 Okay. So tell us a little bit about what happened leading up to your near-death experience. 63 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,160 Did you have any indication before the actual day of? 64 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:51,960 Well, yes, I did, but I didn't think I had. I had basically, I'd been out cycling and 65 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:58,720 I've done lots of cycling in my life and I'd done lots of cycling up big mountains in 66 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:08,440 France. And I'd kind of had altitude sickness before from doing that kind of training. So 67 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:15,640 I was like, I thought that when I did this bit of cycling at home and I got this really 68 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:20,080 terrible headache and I was sick and all the rest of it, I thought, it's altitude sickness. 69 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:26,000 I'm fine. So if anybody's listening and that happens to you, oh, too, you are. Straight 70 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:34,440 away. It might be that it's altitude sickness, but equally, those are the telltale signs 71 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:44,240 of a brain hemorrhage that has ruptured. So there were signs, but unbeknown to me. 72 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:49,800 I cycle up a few mountains myself. I live in the mountains here in Utah. And I always feel 73 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:55,960 lousy at the top of a mountain. It's hard work. So what's the difference? 74 00:06:55,960 --> 00:07:01,920 Tell me about it. Look, I went up this hill that we've got here called White Lip, right? 75 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:07,120 Now, if you've cycled up mountains or you follow the tour or whatever, I used to have 76 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:12,960 an apartment on the Colder Beesk. So I used to do the Colder Beesk, the Colder Salaw, 77 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:22,920 the Colder Maribelon, Colder Port-A-Lay, all in one hit. So for me, going up a big climb 78 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:31,160 in inverted commas in Buckinghamshire is kind of like nothing for someone who's done that 79 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,240 kind of cycling. Right. It's a little hill. How much vertical 80 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:42,720 is it? I couldn't say. It's nothing like the kind of ramp up that you get. Well, no, it 81 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:48,600 is. It's as steep as that, but it's just short, really, really short in comparison to a big 82 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,560 climb like the obese called the Port-A-Lay or something like that. 83 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,360 And knowing it's short, I'm guessing you push real hard. 84 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,400 Listen, I used to go up and down it five, 10 times just for training. 85 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,360 Yeah, you don't have to pace yourself. So just push and next thing you know, you've got a 86 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,200 great high intensity workout under your belt. 87 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:15,680 Absolutely. And that was what I was going to go and do. I kind of hit the gradient and 88 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:21,520 then I was, and this sounds sexist and it isn't sexist at all, but I was overtaken by a lady 89 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,880 rider who asked me what happens. I hate when that happens. 90 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:29,720 She asked me if I was okay and I was like, yeah, yeah, no, I'm fine. You know what I 91 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:35,680 mean? I was like, just going for this. I was thinking, what is, what's going on? What's 92 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:43,960 the matter? And I kind of felt okay. And then when I got to the top, I just, I really obviously 93 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:51,080 didn't look okay because people were saying, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, I'm fine. 94 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:56,680 I think, you know, my, my ego got the better. You know, I was like, yeah, no, no, I'm fine, 95 00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:03,560 fine. So I took off down the slope, got to the bottom of it. And that's when I started, 96 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:10,360 did this horrendous headache and started throwing up. And I was like, okay, is, you know, I'm 97 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,880 just, I'm just not very well. That's why I couldn't do the climb very well. I'm just 98 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:20,120 not very well. My wife's a show jumper. So we've got horses, you know, so I was like, 99 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:27,280 I need to go and sort the boys out. So I went to the stables and I kind of fed the horses. 100 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:34,480 And again, I was, you know, it was, I felt ill, but I wasn't kind of like stopped in 101 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:41,160 my tracks ill. And I thought, okay, well, it's flat. I'll just, I'll just cycle back home 102 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:47,440 gently. And then, you know, take myself off to bed and try and try and get better. So 103 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:55,120 I did that. And I kind of felt a bit better. And then the rest is kind of murky phase, 104 00:09:55,120 --> 00:10:03,160 the one that really knows the time scales of things. Apparently I, I, I took Phoebe 105 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:12,920 to school and drove back. And this isn't because I was, I was not in the right state to drive. 106 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:18,520 This is because I can't remember things clearly after the brain. 107 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,560 And it's okay to fill in with what Faye told you happened. 108 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:29,760 Well, she told me so I drove, so I drove Phoebe, Phoebe back, I came home, got out the car 109 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:35,920 and I, and I seemed completely fine. And then the next thing she heard was like a thud. 110 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:43,800 And then apparently I'd kind of collapsed on the floor. I'd hit my lip on the, on the 111 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:51,320 radiator. And I was out called she did CPR. Bless her the second time in her life that 112 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:57,280 she's had to do this. She did that. She had a partner who she had to do this with and 113 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:05,480 he didn't make it, you know. So she did CPR called the emergency services. And apparently 114 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:15,600 everybody arrived like air ambulance, everyone gave me an adrenaline shot, put me into some 115 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:23,440 kind of recovery. And then I was on my way to the hospital. And they put me in an induced 116 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:32,520 coma to wait for, I think it was at the weekend. So they wanted to make sure they had their 117 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,400 surgeons. They obviously stabilized me and everything. So they wanted to make sure that 118 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:42,920 they had their surgeons to deal with what they knew was a burst aneurysm. And, and you 119 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:49,080 know, I have no memory of it. That's all. It's, it's kind of insane really. 120 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:55,160 But you do have some memory, I believe of what happened in, was it in surgery or after where 121 00:11:55,160 --> 00:12:00,160 you felt like you left your body? I didn't feel like I left my body and I have no idea 122 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:08,000 when it, whether it was in surgery or after, you know, I have no idea of what was actually 123 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:18,560 happening to me at the time. I just know that the experience that, that I had was, was very 124 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:25,960 visceral was like being in a, in a, in a place for an indeterminate kind of amount of time. 125 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:33,800 And there was no sensation of leaving my body or of, or of, or of being different to me. 126 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,280 So did this feel like just a regular dream or somehow different? 127 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:43,960 No, it was completely different because the first thing that was different was at the 128 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:48,240 start of it. Have you, have you ever had the, the falling dream? 129 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:49,240 Yes. 130 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:54,200 Okay. So you know, in the falling dream, you wake up and you've got that feeling in the 131 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:56,520 pit of your stomach. Yeah. 132 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:03,280 So I had the falling dream four times in rapid succession. And then I had this feeling in 133 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:10,960 the pit of my stomach. So the main sensation that I had was that feeling, the feeling of, 134 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:20,080 of, I've, I've just fallen. But unlike the dream, I was there. Next to me was to begin 135 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:28,600 with it was black all around me. Then it was kind of an, aic sort of white. And then I 136 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:40,160 somehow was looking to my side, but also above at the same time. And don't ask me how, but 137 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:47,000 that's kind of what the, what the visual image was. I wasn't seeing myself. I was literally 138 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:53,760 seeing through my eyes. It was happening to me. So I wasn't witnessing anything other 139 00:13:53,760 --> 00:14:02,840 than I was, I was experiencing it. And then the person entity that was next to me was, 140 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:11,800 was kind of almost sort of cheerfully comic in the most surreal and bizarre way. Because 141 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:17,600 he had on this kind of, it's like, if you, if you were going to go to a fantasy dress 142 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,840 costume and you thought, well, I'm going to dress like a crow. And I'm going to look 143 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:27,120 like Robert Smith from the cure underneath this crow's outfit. That's kind of what you'd 144 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:34,920 look like, which sounds ridiculous. But there he was lying there. And I could see all the 145 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:41,760 details of like the little feathers on the, on the beak, because the beak had kind of 146 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,840 feathers to it. It wasn't a different color. It was black, had little feathers that wafted 147 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:54,640 in the wind. And then all of these big feathers, I couldn't really see it clearly. Couldn't 148 00:14:54,640 --> 00:15:00,080 see the whole figure or the whole of the, the costume for one of a better word, but 149 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:06,400 it wasn't because it was, it was him. It's just the only way that I can describe it. 150 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:12,280 And he was kind of lying there with this, this countenance of like just a sort of semi 151 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:17,440 smile. So he was lying. He wasn't upright next to you. 152 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:23,200 Oh, he was lying horizontal, just lying there, floating. 153 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:28,880 This is interesting. So unusual for a near death experience. Keep going. 154 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:34,080 Tell me about it. I've Googled it. I've done everything possible. I can't figure it out. 155 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:42,040 So there he is, horizontally lying there, just kind of like with this expression of 156 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:52,040 fineness beneath this, this beak. And so I could only really see kind of his, his jaw 157 00:15:52,040 --> 00:16:02,120 line and the, and the lips. So what happened then is, is all stuff to do with me. So I 158 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:10,720 kind of straightened myself up and he was still lying there. And I became aware of my 159 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:18,160 granddaughter, Layla, who was yet to be born. So the first time this happened was the 29th 160 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:28,400 of June, 2021. And Layla was born on 12th of July. So I became aware of, of, of Emily 161 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:35,280 and her. And I just said, no, I want to meet her. I didn't shout. I didn't scream. There 162 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:42,440 was no, there was no sense of conflict. There was no sense of panic or worry. But I heard 163 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:44,080 myself say it. 164 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:50,560 And you did say the word no. Does that mean, does that mean you were not going to come 165 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:57,240 back, but through this communication, whatever we want to call it, maybe you were allowed 166 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:58,240 to? 167 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:06,520 I genuinely don't know. I mean, I literally, I'm just saying verbatim what, what happened. 168 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:14,680 My interpretation of it, I don't know because I genuinely would be kind of, I guess, making 169 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:21,480 assertions that it meant this or it meant that or it meant the other. I don't know what it 170 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:31,680 meant. I equally don't know why in that, in that situation I started to then do the simplest 171 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:42,360 of Tai Chi, Chi Gong moves with him lying there. And now I'm kind of upright, floating, 172 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:47,120 doing this and I can see him sort of, I see my hands in front of me and then I can see 173 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:53,720 him in the background. I do this maybe four or five times, this simple Tai Chi move and 174 00:17:53,720 --> 00:18:02,600 then boom, I'm back and Mr. Pujaro, who was one of the three brain surgeons I had. So 175 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:09,880 we, we nearly lost you. I guess what, I guess what I would say, I suppose one of the reasons 176 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:16,320 that I don't have a kind of interpretation of it is because it's so different to anything 177 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:24,600 that I'd kind of heard of before or thought of before that I'm just, I just kind of, I 178 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:31,160 let it, I let it sit where it is really. If someone had, you know, at that point, I guess 179 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:38,400 I would have been totally cool and fine and would have forgotten about it. I'd have put 180 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:45,040 it down to the medication, I'd have put it down to, you know, the surgery, I'd have put 181 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:51,560 it down to all of the, all of the stuff that was, that was going on except that what happened 182 00:18:51,560 --> 00:19:01,560 with me is I had a, I had a raft of complications and I had a seizure and then on the 10th of 183 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:13,200 July, I experienced it again, identical down to the last millisecond, the exact same thing. 184 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:22,800 So it's because of that that I'm like, whoa, this, this is like, this is different. This 185 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:29,640 is, this is something that I can't put down to the chemicals or the, you know, this is, 186 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:34,600 this was like a massive, massive mammoth thing. 187 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:40,960 Yeah. These weren't dreams. These were real experiences. And Jason, it's only been two 188 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:41,960 years. 189 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,520 It's not even that. It was July. Yeah. 190 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:46,520 I mean, 21. Yeah. 191 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:52,480 It's been just under two years and you've had a lot of healing to do over that time. 192 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:53,480 Yeah. 193 00:19:53,480 --> 00:20:00,640 With your, your brain and everything. You might find over the next few years that it comes 194 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:05,280 a little bit more clearly into view. In other words, you may be able to interpret it a little 195 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:11,680 bit or maybe not. You know, I don't know. And this show isn't about, you know, interpreting 196 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:17,520 these things for you, but just to find out what happened to you. But I have a feeling 197 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:22,960 you're going to understand it better as time goes on. Have you had a chance to talk to 198 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:26,800 other people that have had near death experiences? 199 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:34,680 Not really. No. The thing that I found is that people, people are quite reticent about 200 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:41,160 mortality. So no, it's not been something that I've kind of broached with people. 201 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,720 Yeah. Well, and times are changing. And I don't know how it is in England. I know how 202 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:51,240 it is here in the States. And that is that, you know, if you had an experience like this 203 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:57,720 30, 40, 50 years ago, people just thought you were crazy. But it's being much, much more 204 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:04,280 accepted now, not only by the general population, but also by the medical field. 205 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:05,280 Yeah. 206 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:10,800 They're realizing there is something happening because we're hearing this often. And these 207 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:15,720 people are not crazy. These people are completely lucid. They know what's going on. 208 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:22,520 Exactly. And I guess it's kind of like when people have asked me to explain it to them. 209 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:29,320 So imagine that, imagine there is a metro, right? And there's all these different stations, 210 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:36,480 say in New York or in London, right? And I don't know whether you've been to Piccadilly 211 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,760 Circus, let's say, or you've been to... 212 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:39,760 Yes, I have. 213 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:40,760 You have. 214 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:42,640 And I'm familiar with your underground. 215 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:51,480 All right. So supposing you've been to Piccadilly Circus. So you can picture Piccadilly Circus. 216 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:57,280 You can visualize Piccadilly Circus. So all of the things that you're thinking at the 217 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:06,840 moment, all of the thoughts that you're having, everything is framed within your physical 218 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:14,560 experience of having been to Piccadilly Circus. Now, my physical experience of this near-death 219 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:22,880 experience is the equivalent of you've never, let's say you've never been to Manchin House, 220 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:32,080 right? But you imagine now in your mind the Tube Station Manchin House and you're basing 221 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:39,280 it on Piccadilly Circus. But what if Manchin House was completely different outside of 222 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:48,080 what you have experienced? If it was an entirely different concept, you would still infer Piccadilly 223 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:58,280 Circus upon Manchin House, even if it's totally, totally, totally, completely and utterly outside 224 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:05,640 of that realm. And I guess one of the reasons I haven't really talked about it is because 225 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:11,480 it's very, very difficult to find words to express if going to Manchin House meant going 226 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:19,320 to a different realm of space and time and trusting me and believing me that that's what 227 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:27,120 would happen to you if you got out of Manchin House. It's a really difficult subject to 228 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:34,880 be able to speak about when you've actually experienced it because you would not accept 229 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:40,680 having been to Piccadilly Circus. You'd be, wait a second, Manchin House is not going 230 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:47,040 to differ that much from Piccadilly Circus. This guy is a lunatic. This guy is being ridiculous. 231 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:52,840 He's telling me that Manchin House is like, is this entirely different world? And I'm 232 00:23:52,840 --> 00:24:02,920 saying, yes, Piccadilly Circus is dreams. Manchin House is a near-death experience. 233 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:14,400 They're completely miles apart in terms of what they are from my human experience. And 234 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:20,600 maybe that's why I've been reticent about talking about it until speaking to you, which 235 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:28,200 is a relief. It's so nice to be asked to talk about something that is so profound and so 236 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:39,480 life-changing to actually be encouraged and wanted to speak about it is in many ways a 237 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:40,480 relief. 238 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:46,640 Well, I'm glad. I want you to know that I believe you what you're telling me. And our 239 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:53,840 audience in our show is completely non-judgmental. We're not in this to say, oh, you're making 240 00:24:53,840 --> 00:25:00,200 this up or something. I do a little bit of that before I put people on the show and they 241 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:07,440 don't get on if it doesn't seem real to me. But maybe that's not fair. But anyway, that's 242 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:14,560 besides the point. It's interesting what you were just saying. I think one of the things 243 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:21,160 that I have found in interviewing so many people that have had these experiences and 244 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:26,760 the fact that they are all different, one of the questions that constantly comes to 245 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:34,920 my mind, are they different because people are different? Are they different because 246 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:41,840 their spiritual experience just was different? Do we interpret it different? Are we presented 247 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:48,880 with something different? One of the conclusions I've come to is that people are put in a situation 248 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:56,120 that they're comfortable with. For example, some people that you would say are very religious 249 00:25:56,120 --> 00:26:03,360 and pray a lot and all those kinds of things have experiences where they feel like they 250 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:09,060 were very close to God, not all of them, some of them. Some feel like they've even seen 251 00:26:09,060 --> 00:26:15,640 and talked to Him. Others, it's more of a blur. It's more of a just a wonderful, loving 252 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:20,760 feeling and I saw lights and things like that. I don't know if it's because some people 253 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:28,960 are prepared for this and some people prepared for the other. And I have no idea at all why 254 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:36,880 you saw someone in a black crow kind of costume. That's very unusual and that doesn't mean 255 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:43,960 it's not real. And I don't know what it means. I think you'll figure that out someday because 256 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,360 why would you have been given this gift of this experience if it was never going to mean 257 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:51,680 anything to you? What's the point of that? 258 00:26:51,680 --> 00:27:01,400 I certainly think that that figure has kind of had meaning to me since. At first, he was 259 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:07,760 a figure of terror. When I came home from the hospital and the security of the hospital, 260 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:18,280 just my wife and I trying to deal with this guy who's just barely able to kind of move. 261 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:28,400 I couldn't see, I couldn't hear very well. I had this kind of terror that what I'd experienced 262 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:35,320 was that when I said no, that I should have said yes, that he was there to kind of get 263 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:43,680 me. And so I had this whole thing where I thought to myself, he's going to come and 264 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,800 he's going to come and get me and everything is going to go wrong. So I got paranoid about 265 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:55,040 every single thing. Then I had this, I had this idea that, well, I'm going to have to 266 00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:06,400 get used to this somehow. And I'm going to have to deal with this somehow. So I did this, 267 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:14,680 I did this, you do a lot of meditation in Tai Chi. And I thought, okay, I'm going to 268 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:24,560 meditate myself with him all night long. So I'm going to see myself do the whole of Tai 269 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:33,080 Chi to go all the way through with him. If he comes and he gets me and I don't survive, 270 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:42,960 then I don't survive. But if I do survive, then it's okay. He's not there to kind of 271 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:50,720 take me away. Now, the first thing is I had no idea whether that would, whether I'd be 272 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:59,000 able to do that, to kind of see myself with him. And I was pretty scared of doing it. 273 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:07,160 I was terrified of doing it. But I did. And I guess I was able to really kind of find a 274 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,560 way for us to sort of be friends in a weird kind of way. 275 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,320 Sort of like facing fear in other times in life. 276 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:15,320 Yeah, I guess. 277 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:19,640 You know, sometimes when we face it head on and go, okay, I'm afraid of this and I'm going 278 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:24,200 to do this anyway, then we gain all kinds of power from it. 279 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:31,200 Did you have an, would you say an unusual, unusually high fear of death before this experience 280 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:32,200 happened? 281 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:33,200 No. 282 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:34,880 Do you have less or more fear of death now? 283 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,360 I have zero fear of death now. 284 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:43,000 If I had a shilling for every time that someone has told me that on this show. 285 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,000 Really? 286 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,200 Yeah, I hear that every day. 287 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:48,200 Really? 288 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:54,480 Yeah. Yeah, the fear of death usually nearly always completely goes away after an experience 289 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:55,480 like this. 290 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:56,480 Totally gone. 291 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:57,480 Yeah. 292 00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:58,480 Completely gone. 293 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:03,760 And that doesn't mean you want to die today. No, there's great things to live for. But when 294 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:08,480 it's my time, that's okay. I don't need to be afraid of it. 295 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:09,480 Yeah. 296 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:16,000 I did want to point out one thing. It seems like you came back for your granddaughter. 297 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:21,560 You really wanted to meet your soon to be born granddaughter, right? 298 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:34,480 Yes. And yes, I think so. But it wasn't like a massive, emotive thing. That's the bizarre 299 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:39,480 thing about it. It didn't contain, because people have said to me, oh, you fought for 300 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:44,400 your life. Like, who was I going to fight against? I did Tai Chi. 301 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,240 Yeah, fight is definitely the wrong word. 302 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:48,680 You know what I mean? 303 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:49,680 Yeah. 304 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:56,960 And in terms of like all of the emotions that I was feeling, of course I wanted to meet 305 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:08,000 Layla. But I equally wanted to be there with everyone all kind of at the same time. I think 306 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,360 it's just, I just said it. 307 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:18,680 Yeah. Some people that have near death experiences are given a chance, their opportunity. Do you 308 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:23,440 want to stay there? Do you want to go back to your body? Some people are not given a 309 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:29,960 chance to make that decision. Of those that are given the opportunity to decide, quite 310 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:37,000 often the decision is based on, I just really feel like either I need to get back to someone 311 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,840 or I want so badly to get back to someone. And I just kind of feel like yours falls a 312 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:50,160 little bit into that category where, yeah, it wasn't a fight. This was a conscious, almost 313 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:56,720 discussion where it was like, I want to go meet Layla. So let's do that. 314 00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:02,200 Possibly. But it wasn't that conscious. It wasn't that narrative. I just happened to 315 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:13,640 say it. But it was probably the most profoundly peaceful experiences I've ever had. 316 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:18,600 Can you describe that more? Profoundly peaceful. What else did you feel? 317 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:25,000 I felt like there was no kind of time. The thing I felt more than anything was this, 318 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:32,920 was the falling in the pit of my stomach. I had this physical, visceral feeling still 319 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:38,000 with me while all of this other stuff was going on, which I guess is the thing that 320 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:46,880 made it so absolutely kind of like real both times was that, you know, was preceded with 321 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:56,000 this falling backwards thing four times. And they were like proper, you know, the proper 322 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:02,240 falling treatment. It wasn't just like, oh, I'm closing back. It was like proper bang, 323 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:07,000 bang, bang, bang. Got your attention. That's for sure. 324 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:18,440 Yeah. And but I have no idea of the time it took. I've no idea of any of those kind of 325 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:32,040 qualities other than those were the events that I can pinpoint within the context of 326 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:36,720 that whole kind of experience. 327 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:41,960 So let's talk a little bit about what's happened since then. How has it changed your life? 328 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:46,880 I mean, physical trauma, but what else has happened? 329 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:55,400 I have a lot of difficulty with fitting back into society with my brain injury. You know, 330 00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:02,760 people with brain injuries don't do well with background noise, fluorescent lighting. It's 331 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:04,240 over stimulation. 332 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:13,360 Yeah, everything is just all comes at once. Brain fatigue. I think it's I think it's made 333 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:21,160 me kind of quite feel I've described it as feeling like an alien being or in a foreign 334 00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:28,520 land. It's very difficult to have those points of connection with with people. Those points 335 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:37,560 of understanding. I don't know whether it's because I don't have that sort of sense of 336 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:49,080 community anymore. I think that I've become really connected with with that realm and 337 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:59,240 with that place. And in a way, it's like sometimes the world of potential death or the world 338 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:12,800 of otherness is so much easier than our world. I think I've gained a lot of foresight into 339 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:19,680 like the human condition. I think that's what this experience has given me. See, I used 340 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:31,040 to I used to think I think like most of us think in very binary terms, good, bad, right, 341 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:39,600 wrong, black, white, life, death. But I think this has taught me that my experience of like 342 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:52,640 near death experience and people facing extreme things is that none of that is actually true. 343 00:35:52,640 --> 00:36:01,840 What is really true is that we're we are, I believe we live on an astral plane, a spiritual 344 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:11,760 plane, and that everything that is contained within that astral plane, we have an indomitable 345 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:24,920 spirit to adapt and overcome. And that we therefore can create, we can build, we can 346 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:32,480 have the incredible medical science that saved my life and all of those aspects of life that 347 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:39,440 is so extraordinary and so unique to the to the to the human experience. It's also the 348 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:46,160 indomitable spirit is also the thing that makes war possible. The indomitable spirit 349 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:52,280 is the very thing that, you know, the greatest thing for us is the biggest thing against 350 00:36:52,280 --> 00:37:01,560 us in many ways, I think. It made me aware of of people under those circumstances. Because 351 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,920 I think what tends to happen is people think, you know, this sort of stuff is what happens 352 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:13,840 to other people. And it's not. It's a cosmic blink away for every single one of us. It's 353 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:23,440 a cosmic blink. Not if but when this stuff happens. You realize that I don't have to 354 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:33,880 summon up the courage to overcome my fear that there is no fear instinct. There is no 355 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:41,360 flight instinct within human beings. We have an indomitable spirit. Our instinct is to 356 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:49,000 adapt and overcome. That's what we do. And that I think is what I've become like super 357 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:58,880 aware of since this experience is the and I feel sometimes like I just want to I just 358 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:10,320 want to get the world to listen to just say, look, if you could just understand that all 359 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:20,960 of this binary stuff is just stuff that you're being fed. Wars cannot be fought by people 360 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:31,440 that are overcoming an instinct. It's an impossibility. They can only be fought by people who actually 361 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:39,920 don't have that instinct, but you're made to believe all the time in the binary world, 362 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:45,200 not in the world that is the astral plane. I'll give you an example. So let's take your 363 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:50,480 microphone, for example, that's in front of you. So that microphone is in existence. There 364 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:56,760 it is. We you and I can both see that might we can touch it. We can feel it. Now for some 365 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:06,000 of that Mike's life, it existed on the astral plane. It existed in the mind of its creator. 366 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:14,600 It existed in the mind of the manufacturers. It existed as a design. It was then put together 367 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:24,520 and it became manifest. And that's what we do stuff that's in the astral plane. We create 368 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:37,760 we create whatever is kind of going on in that astral plane. And I think that the whole 369 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:47,280 coming back from that world, coming back from that place, coming back from wherever it was. 370 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:55,080 That made me realize that there wasn't anything special about me. You know, it wasn't that 371 00:39:55,080 --> 00:40:01,840 I'm brave, although the people of Ukraine are brave or the people in hospital there 372 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:14,120 isn't bravery about it at all. It's just part of who we are to adapt to overcome to make 373 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:23,240 to create to believe in something. You have to believe in the microphone in order for it 374 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:31,160 to become a microphone. You've got to believe in it. If you have a thesis, you've got to 375 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:38,720 believe in the potential outcome of that that that thesis. When I think about the black 376 00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:47,280 and white way of thinking that is required in order to get a kind of tribalistic reaction 377 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:59,000 in people to control people, I just get a profound sense that it's so far removed from 378 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:02,760 who we actually are and what we actually do. 379 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:09,840 And I just add something to that. And that is that who we actually are is so much more 380 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:15,200 than just what I'm seeing of you and you're seeing of me right here. Right? 381 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:16,200 Yeah. 382 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:22,720 There's more before, there's more after, there's more that we don't understand. There's 383 00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:28,360 all kinds of more going on here. Okay, let me ask you a few other questions. 384 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:29,360 Yeah. 385 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:37,680 Based on the last just under two years now, how, you know, I feel like this has changed 386 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:45,240 you. Do you have interest in picking up your acting career again if you felt physically 387 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:50,440 and mentally able to do it? Or do you want to stick with writing and other things? 388 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:56,200 That's a really, really difficult question. The problem with picking up an acting career 389 00:41:56,200 --> 00:42:05,080 is that it's like, yeah, if someone were to just hand it to me, then yeah, no problem. 390 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:14,760 But, you know, acting careers take a lot of fighting for and certainly in the moment, 391 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:16,200 I'm not recovered enough to 392 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,200 Take on that fight. 393 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,520 Yeah, or confident enough. 394 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:21,520 Right. 395 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:28,520 I mean, I would do to do that. Whereas with the writing, I mean, it's partly a good way 396 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:32,000 of dealing with insomnia, you know, but 397 00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:36,760 Well, you can also do writing more on your own and at your own speed and pace. 398 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:48,920 Yeah, exactly. I mean, for me, that would be the coolest thing. You know, if this book 399 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:55,480 were to do well, you know, and I could then, because I've written a second book called 400 00:42:55,480 --> 00:43:02,760 The Art of Letting Go. And if that could be made to work, then that would be an amazing 401 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:09,240 creative outlet. I don't think I would need the acting side of things. 402 00:43:09,240 --> 00:43:17,360 Okay. How has what happened to you changed your relationships or has it with people that 403 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,480 you love, your family, for example? 404 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:27,960 I think it's been incredibly hard on my family, especially on Fay and my wife. You know, she's 405 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:33,840 always she's always worried about me. She's always got something to worry about. I mean, 406 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:44,760 I'm not in any way kind of out of the woods as far as brain injury is concerned. And, 407 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:56,760 you know, the ill effects of that. I mean, I'm sure you can hear I struggle formulating 408 00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:04,200 words sometimes I struggle, you know, with what it is I'm trying to express. Just going 409 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:09,000 to the supermarket is like a nightmare sometimes. 410 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:11,560 Making decisions. Are they difficult? 411 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:17,480 It's just the physical thing. I literally I will just start crying and blubbering in 412 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:21,720 the middle of a supermarket and because it I'm overwhelmed. 413 00:44:21,720 --> 00:44:25,280 Yeah. Have you been able to get back on your bike? 414 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:32,160 No, I got rid of it. I got rid of it completely. I've been like a Shaolin monk in terms of 415 00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,160 Tai Chi. 416 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:41,360 Tell us about that. I see that you're teaching some how are you spreading goodness with Tai 417 00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:42,360 Chi? 418 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:56,080 Yeah, I'm I'm I'm teaching Tai Chi twice a week. And I'm teaching in a local college 419 00:44:56,080 --> 00:45:05,280 in Henley three days a week. And you know, I'm I'm I'm managing I'm managing it. And 420 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:12,640 the Tai Chi is is a lovely experience because I have these I have groups of people or I 421 00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:19,920 have individual clients who come to me. And you know, they they really want to they really 422 00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:24,160 want it. They really want to know about it. 423 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:31,240 It's great in a way because I'm just like the Tai Chi messenger. You know, it's just 424 00:45:31,240 --> 00:45:39,080 literally like, come along and and follow me and and and and here we are. And this is 425 00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:47,160 it. The difficulty I have is because my long term memory loss. You know, I don't remember 426 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:55,440 learning like I don't so much in my life. I don't remember. It's like being dropped into 427 00:45:55,440 --> 00:46:06,280 a black ocean. So everything from the hospital until now, I remember with absolute clarity. 428 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:13,600 But from before the hospital, it's not very much. No, I think it's pretty amazing to have 429 00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:19,520 written two books in less than two years since that traumatic of a brain injury. 430 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:26,840 Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's it was a lot of it was was my friend Brian Blassett, who was 431 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:35,840 like, you know, you're going to write this book. It's like, okay, Brian, yeah. And and 432 00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:43,960 then I think a lot of it was a kind of therapy in a way to do with also being so heavily 433 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:52,000 involved with with with Tai Chi with with the doing of Tai Chi. You know, it's some 434 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:58,600 the doing of Tai Chi and the teaching of Tai Chi. It's become something that is like supremely 435 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:07,520 important and part of like a daily ritual almost this like this is this is who I am 436 00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:13,880 now and if I if I don't do it, I won't be all right. I do it all the time. 437 00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:17,920 Sounds like it's been very healing for you in many different ways. 438 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:26,480 I think so. You know, they I've been told by numerous kind of medics and so on, but 439 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:32,440 there's not many people that come back from the first thing that happened. And it's almost 440 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:38,920 always the second infection meningitis in my case and seizure and all of that. The virtually 441 00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:46,560 nobody kind of comes back. Nobody survives it. And I guess I feel like it's been possibly 442 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:55,280 something to do with the residual physical strength of Tai Chi, possibly the residual 443 00:47:55,280 --> 00:48:02,080 mental strength, although it doesn't feel like it often, but some but I guess the repetitive 444 00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:11,960 nature has a real healing quality to it. Perhaps it helps with the reformation of neural pathways 445 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:20,480 that have been damaged because I had a lot to repair. I was blind in one I couldn't really 446 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:28,680 see couldn't hear had some paralysis I had, you know, various things I had to kind of 447 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:35,480 overcome. I think that I think there's a there's a fair group of people that feel that that 448 00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:44,880 Tai Chi has had a very positive and influential effect upon that kind of healing. And I guess 449 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:49,800 the thing and I guess the you know, the thing about the book is that, you know, there was 450 00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:55,360 a big part of me that wasn't going to include it at all. That I was just going to I was going 451 00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:59,520 to talk about, I don't know, I mean, I wasn't going to write a book, I wasn't going to talk 452 00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:08,480 about this. But it's been so there's been so many people. And Brian blessed was the 453 00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:14,440 was the kind of biggest voice for this who said, But Jason, this is this is so helpful 454 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:21,040 to so many people. It's not just about coming back from where you've come back from. It's 455 00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:30,560 such a helpful thing for people. And it's such a positive thing. And it's such a spiritual 456 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:36,720 thing. I guess I was persuaded to to share in that sense. 457 00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:42,720 So if you could summarize the message of hope in that book into a very brief statement, 458 00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:49,080 what would you say? I want our listeners to get something from all of this today. And 459 00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:53,000 I know you have a message to share. What is it? 460 00:49:53,000 --> 00:50:02,320 I guess I would say that the message of the of the book is that there are principles contained 461 00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:11,240 within Tai Chi that I think connect with near death experience and connect with who we really 462 00:50:11,240 --> 00:50:19,280 are deep down inside the kind of energy that drives us, the kind of people that we truly 463 00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:26,400 are. My hope is that that that the book kind of unlocks that to an extent, the people will 464 00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:32,800 kind of get those connections. And we'll sort of see from the book that it's it's a kind 465 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:40,240 of there is in in in practice is practical. I guess the other thing I would say is that 466 00:50:40,240 --> 00:50:47,680 no belief is required in terms of what is Tai Chi. All you have to do is kind of just 467 00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:59,480 do it. It's a physical, visceral experience that enables people to have a kind of meditative, 468 00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:08,960 physical experience. I think there's a I think there's a big hour within that. And the potential 469 00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:21,120 is for kind of everyone to experience to experience that to taste that that sort of hour is hard 470 00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:28,920 to explain because it's connected to the near death experiences I had is connected to the 471 00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:36,080 crow man and all of that. All right, last question. Yeah, tell me about Leila. Is this 472 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:41,600 your first grandchild? Yeah. All right. When we're done, we're going to compare grandkids 473 00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:49,080 photos. Okay, we'll do that off air. How's Leila? Leila's great. Leila's doing brilliant. 474 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:56,160 Emily sent me a little video of Leila just chatting away. And yeah, she's fantastic. 475 00:51:56,160 --> 00:52:01,040 All right. Thanks a lot for being on the show today, Jason. I appreciate it. Thank you. 476 00:52:01,040 --> 00:52:08,840 And I apologize that I'm not perhaps as fast as I once would have been. You know, it seems 477 00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:17,000 like we often speak before we think in this life. We have so much that we need to get 478 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:23,600 in or somebody's going to cut us off or something that I find it refreshing to watch your brain 479 00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:31,680 go and think before you say something. I liked it. Oh, thank you. Thanks. That means a lot. 480 00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:40,120 Thank you. Thanks again for listening and remember to share this podcast to be notified 481 00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:46,400 when the next episode goes live. Follow us on your podcasting app or click over to roundtripdeath.com 482 00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:51,960 and sign up for our email newsletter. One last thing, we are continually trying to improve 483 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:57,280 this podcast and we value your feedback. If you have a comment about what you like or 484 00:52:57,280 --> 00:53:02,880 what we can do better or a near death experiencer that we should have on the show, send an email 485 00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:09,080 to Eric at roundtripdeath.com and that's Eric with a C. Until then, I wish you everything 486 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:22,800 good that you're looking for in this life and the next.