In December 1998, I was in Sydney Australia for my junior lawyer apprenticeship on my path to becoming a German attorney. I was wanting to travel to a family friend by train and on the way to the train station, as a pedestrian, I was hit by a drunk driver who hit me while I was standing on the sidewalk waiting for the traffic light to turn green. (I have no recollection about this; this is from the witness statements.).

Now to what I experienced:  I remember looking at myself from the beautiful blue sky and saw me walking down the road that led to the train station. I, as me, felt so good, better than ever before, perfect wellbeing (no pain) and I was so happy seeing the sun shining down illuminating my long blonde hair. I looked more beautiful than I ever have. I saw rays of light shining through my hair like the lights that shine through tree branches in the forest or shutters that reflect in the light the particles of dust. And I know now this is death.

Then I saw myself in a different scene, floating without a body over darkness and eventually towards a bright round light.  And as I was wanting to flow more towards the light, all of a sudden in my thoughts came the words of a Clash song, "Should I stay or should I go?" And then it was no longer my choice, and I was quickly turned around and went back into darkness. And I know that darkness is life on earth. The shining light is somewhere else we go when we die.

Then I woke up (in an ambulance), thinking I am watching one of these bad ambulance chaser movies. It was to my surprise that it was in fact me laying injured in the ambulance. At this time, I was back in my body.

That is the experience that never let me go. I was all alone, isolated. There were no loved ones, literally nobody, but I did not care. I felt perfect and good, a feeling I have never had before or after. For many years after, I wondered why I had to return. It was not my choice. If I had it my way I would have gone towards the light as it magically drew me towards it.

It took almost 20 years to learn what I needed to do. I needed to be more spiritual, accepting that something exists outside this realm. Today, I know being present in the now is the highest good, the most valuable gift I can give to myself and others. And by becoming a yoga teacher, I would like to convey that we can be peaceful and one with nature and the world, in harmony by practicing being in the present moment. And I know things without knowing how. 

It is clear to me that peace starts in us. I am trying to cultivate and share this peaceful feeling with others that I had in my out of body experience. On the negative side, I am sad that I cannot seem to talk to people any more and find them either totally misguided, fake or plain stupid. It is very hard for me to relate to anyone, even to my own family. But I relate very much with animals, especially my dogs and I have had dogs ever since. I have this feeling of wellbeing around them. So all I have at this point is getting better at the practice of being present with other people, which is my greatest challenge.