How Near-Death Experiences Can Transform You (Even If You've Never Had One)

This week's Sunday solo starts with something that caught Sarah's attention in the news — the Artemis moon mission and the astronauts who came back changed. Looking at Earth from space, small enough to disappear behind a thumb, they returned with more interest in connection and meaning. Researchers have a name for it: the overview effect. And it got Sarah wondering — what else can crack us open like that without requiring us to leave the atmosphere? That question leads her into a deep dive on near-death experiences: what they are, what the research actually shows, who's done that research (hello, Dr. Bruce Greyson and his 50 years at UVA), and why NDEs have been quietly moving from the fringe into legitimate scientific conversation. She covers what experiencers commonly report — the altered time, the life review, the overwhelming and unconditional love — and the striking aftereffects that tend to follow people home: less fear of death, more compassion, deeper purpose, heightened intuition, and a sense of mission that doesn't fade. And then she makes her case for mediumship, because here's the thing: the love that pours through in a reading? It sounds a lot like what NDEers describe on the other side. NDEs tear the veil open in one dramatic, involuntary moment. Mediumship, and any serious spiritual practice, does the same thing more slowly, more deliberately, and as a practice you can return to. And here's the part that might surprise you: you don't even have to have an NDE to be changed by one. Studying them does it too. Which means this episode already counts. Key Takeaways The overview effect is real and it's been documented. Astronauts who see Earth from space come back fundamentally changed — less focused on division, more oriented toward connection and meaning. NDEs produce the same shift. You don't have to go to space or to the edge of death to access it, but it helps to know it's possible.Near-death experiences are not hallucinations. Thanks largely to 50 years of research by Dr. Bruce Greyson at the University of Virginia, NDEs are now a legitimate scientific field. The Greyson NDE scale has been translated into 20 languages and used in hundreds of studies. This is not fringe territory anymore.What NDEers come back knowing reads like a blueprint for a spiritually evolved life. Loss of fear of death, heightened compassion, less attachment to status or material gain, deeper intuition, a sense of purpose — these are the aftereffects. And they tend to deepen over time, not fade.You don't have to die to be transformed by an NDE. Researcher Kenneth Ring found that students who simply studied NDEs were changed in the same ways as experiencers. Dr. Penny Sartori found the same thing after 17 years as an ICU nurse. Learning about them does something. This episode counts.Mediumship is doing deliberately what an NDE does accidentally. The overwhelming unconditional love that NDEers describe on the other side is the same energy that moves through a reading. It's the same landscape, accessed differently — slower, more intentional, and available as a daily practice. Links NYT piece — "What I Saw When I Peeked Over the Edge of Consciousness" https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/opinion/near-death-conference-grief-chicago.html HuffPost NDE article (woman who choked on steak) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/choking-near-death-experience-nde-life-review_n_69a3753de4b0213c067615cf Dr. Bruce Greyson's book After on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/After-Doctor-Explores-Near-Death-Experiences/dp/1250263034 IANDS https://iands.org Kenneth Ring's book "Lessons from the Light" (2000)https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Light-Learn-Near-Death-Experience/dp/1930491115 Near-death.com overview of Ring's research: https://near-death.com/kenneth-ring/ Previous episode with Mary Beth Pemberton (playwright and NDEer) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/downloading-the-muse-writer-mary-beth-pemberton-on/id1726468626?i=1000730728932 Website: https://www.mediumcurious.comExplore the Intuition & Mediumship Course: https://www.mediumcurious.comBook a reading with Jane Morgan https://www.janemorganmedium.com/Book a reading with Sarah Rathke https://www.sarahrathke.com/Jane's Substack: https://janemorgan.substack.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mediumcuriouspod/