NDE researcher Bruce Greyson was recently invited to speak with the Dalai Lama at a dialogue between Western neuroscientists and Buddhist monks, as part of His Holiness's long-term effort to build a bridge between science and Buddhism. Greyson presented the Dalai Lama with a copy of The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences, which summarizes the first thirty years of research on NDEs; it is edited by Janice Holden, Greyson, and Debbie James. The Director of the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, which preserves and publishes modern editions of ancient Tibetan texts, asked for permission to translate the Handbook into Tibetan, so they could use it in the monastic curriculum for their monks.

In a recent YouTube video interview, Steven Greer, MD, known for his role as founder of The Disclosure Project, describes a profound near-death experience (NDE) at age 17 including an out-of-body experience with cosmic consciousness. Dr. Greer shares a fascinating description of non-verbal communication with two light beings during his experience and the discussion of whether he should return to his body.

Later in life, while hiking on a mountain he has a UFO encounter and meets extraterrestrial biological life forms (ETs). He then enters a state of cosmic consciousness similar to that of his NDE and goes on to teach the ETs what it's like to enter this state of consciousness from a human perspective.

YouTube URL:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scmfPpWwQbA

Alex Tsakiris of Skeptiko.com interviews neurosurgeon Eben Alexander about the nature of the mind and brain based on Dr. Alexander's near-death experience.

Dr. Alexander states, "[Before my NDE] it was very clear in [neuroscience] that the brain gives you consciousness and everything else, and when the brain dies there goes consciousness, soul, mind—it’s all gone. And it was clear.

"Now, having been through my coma, I can tell you that’s exactly wrong and that in fact the mind and consciousness are independent of the brain. It’s very hard to explain that, certainly if you’re limiting yourself to that reductive materialist view." (emphasis added)

Listen to the full interview here.

    "[Corcoran] met a young man in the [surgery] recovery area whose arm had been blown off. Drawn to speak to the young soldier, she asked him how he was doing. 'You'll never believe me,' he replied. Urged on, he said that he when he was hit, he felt himself being lifted into the air. He looked down and could see bodies strewn about and he just knew which ones would make it and which ones were going to die. He then felt himself 'going to another place.' With tears rolling down his cheeks, he described this place as 'beautiful' and 'wonderful.' But, he was told, he would have to go back, at which point he woke up in his body. 'It was real, it wasn't a dream, it happened to me,' he insisted."

Read the full article here.

Videos from the recent Dr. Oz program on the topic of near-death experiences are available online. The links to each of the five separate segments are listed below. Especially appealing is segment number five featuring physician Dr. Mary Neal telling the riveting narrative of her NDE from drowning and how the subsequent aftereffects changed her views on life and her practice of medicine.  The program also features an interview with Dr. Sam Parnia (Part 4) and his work with the AWARE project.

Dr. Oz Investigates NDEs - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Dr. Oz Interviews Dr. Mary Neal (Part 5).

The recent IANDS Conference held in Durham, NC has been featured in a front-page article in The Epoch Times. Reporter Stephanie Lam highlights the conference through the words of the three keynote speakers, Bruce Greyson, Eben Alexander and Raymond Moody. In recounting his NDE in 2008, Dr. Alexander asked "How does a dying brain end up getting far, far more powerful and able to handle these tremendous loads of information instantaneously and put it altogether?" Dr. Greyson believes that researchers have just scratched the surface of the NDE but in the future we will learn more about the causes of NDE. According to Dr. Moody, with evidence from shared death experiences "there has now been a genuine—and I would underline 'genuine'—solid step toward rational comprehension of the afterlife." Part 2: NDE aftereffects. Part 3: Are NDEs hallucinations? Part 4: A theory of consciousness based on NDEs. Part 5: A neurosurgeon's perspective.

In a recent video interview, pioneer cardiac surgeon Dr. Lloyd Rudy tells the story of a patient who came back to life after being declared dead, and what he told him. After emergency heart surgery, the patient could not be resuscitated and the doctors turned off the bypass equipment. For at least 20 minutes the patient had no heart beat or blood pressure. However, the patient's heart slowly started up on its own and the patient was revived. He reported an NDE with remarkable veridical (real and verified) perceptions of the persons present and unusual details of the operating room, during the time he had no heart beat or blood pressure. Several NDE researchers are looking into this case.

Dr. Rudy recounts a second story of a patient whose bleeding during surgery miraculously stopped when a "presence" was felt in the room.

ABC's “Primetime Nightline: Beyond Belief” covered the topic of near-death experiences on August 3. ABC’s Bob Woodruff shares his own NDE, as well as the experience of others: what people see, feel and hear when they describe crossing over from this world to the next before returning back. Woodruff talks candidly about what he remembers in the minutes after a vehicle he was traveling in while in Iraq during 2006 hit an improvised explosive device. Woodruff saw his body floating beneath him. In the program, he speaks with others who report the same type of out of body experience, as well as theologians, preachers, researchers and physicians who try to explain it. The stories include those of Don Piper, Mary Jo Rapini and Jake Finkbonner. Includes commentaries by researchers Jeffrey Long, Andrew Newberg, Caroline Myss and Sam Parnia. The full episode is now available here.