Divine Encounters Episode 082 | Near-Death Experience Story
Jan Christenson was a community nurse who slipped on ice on the job and, she says, came down headfirst and was knocked out for a good ten minutes. In this Divine Encounters episode she tells Alex Ferrari what she says she experienced in that short stretch of time: a dark place where she could see without eyes, a sense of expanding into everything, a love that needed nothing else, and one gentle thought about her daughters that brought her back.
Key Takeaways
- Jan says she was a community nurse who slipped on ice, landed headfirst and was unconscious for at least ten minutes.
- She describes being in a dark place where she “could see without my eyes, and I could hear without my ears.”
- Jan says she expanded into pure consciousness and felt “complete and total oneness with everything.”
- She says the only message she took away was “we are pure love at our core.”
- She says a thought arrived, “what about your daughters?” and she returned without any sense of argument.
- Jan describes a long recovery, the loss of her nursing career and a slow reshaping of her life over about ten years.
- She says a thought does not require an emotion or an action, and that finding “what makes your soul sing” is part of our purpose.
| Guest | Jan Christenson |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 082 |
| Work at the time | Community nurse |
| What Jan says happened | She slipped on ice, came down headfirst and was knocked out |
| Time away | At least ten minutes unconscious, though it seemed very quick |
| Where she says she went | A dark place, then a flowing, expanding state of pure consciousness |
| Who she met | No beings; she describes becoming one with everything |
| The message | “We are pure love at our core.” |
Who Is Jan Christenson?
Jan was a community nurse. She describes the life she was living then as a hamster wheel, one that was far too stressful. She says that if she had stayed on it, she does not believe she would be here today. She had a husband and daughters who still needed her.
She also says that she is not religious but is “very spiritual.” That distinction matters in her story, because the God she describes is not a figure in the sky, but something she sees as consciousness, energy and wisdom.
A Simple Slip on Ice
Jan was at work when she slipped on ice. She says it can be a very simple thing. But she shot up in the air and came down headfirst, and she was knocked out immediately. She was unconscious, she estimates, for a good ten minutes at least.
What happened next, she says, seemed very quick. Yet it left her with a complete change in her life. It was very profound even though it was short, and she says she probably did not see everything there was to see over there, but she saw enough to change things.
Seeing Without Eyes
Jan says she suddenly became aware of being in a fairly dark place. She could “see without my eyes, and I could hear without my ears.” She looked around and wondered where she was, and then came a knowing: oh, I am here. After that there were no thoughts at all.
Then she felt something like air coming out of a balloon. She was out of her body, no longer contained. It was a complete feeling of expansion.
Pure Consciousness, Flowing
She experienced herself as pure consciousness, flowing gently, knowing that all was well. As she was in this flow, she says she felt everything expand in every direction. It was like becoming a part of everything around her. There was no end to it. It went on and on.
She remembers having this thought: “I thought I could just stay here forever,” and that she would not need anything else. As a human, she says, that is hard to imagine, to feel in a way that you need nothing else.
Immediately she knew it was an overwhelming feeling of love. It was intense and everywhere, and it was her. For a plain-language overview of this experience of unity, see our glossary entry on oneness.
What About Your Daughters?
While Jan stayed in that state, perfectly content, a thought came to her: “what about your daughters?” She says it was not a scolding. The thought was simply there, and her reply was, yes, they still need me.
She is clear that there was no argument and no begging to stay. It was a perfect feeling of, okay, I will go back. She felt herself springing back into her body, and the density returned, a feeling of complete enclosure. There was no discomfort until the darkness turned light, like sunlight coming through her eyelids. Then she opened her eyes, in what she calls pretty much distress.
No Loved Ones, Only Love
Jan notes that many people see loved ones or all kinds of scenes. She did not. “I just experienced complete and total oneness with everything,” she says. She became everything. It was pure love, so intense and so perfect that she needed nothing else, ever again.
The one message she took away fully, completely and totally was that “we are pure love at our core,” and that this pure love is our spirit. She describes spirit as “a cup of the universe that gets dumped into our body.” The cup joins with our human form, and everything is dulled down. But the essence of who she feels here, she says, is the same as who she felt out there, just not as intense.
Still on the Ice
Back in her body, Jan says she was still on the ice. She could not form words and could not move at first. Her feet were stuck up over her shoulder, held there by her purse, which had lodged under her. All she could do was scream the thought in her head: feet go down. She was not getting much oxygen, because her chest was squished. Eventually she managed to get her feet down.
A Long, Hard Recovery
Jan says the road to recovery was long. A head injury can be difficult, and she was told that she would be disabled from then on and would just have to accept that. She lost her nursing career. Her life changed tremendously, and she was off work for quite a while.
She describes how it felt. She could stand in the kitchen, and her daughter would ask her to put toast in the toaster. She would turn and take two steps and forget where she was going and why. In the middle of a conversation she would find a blank screen come down, and the conversation was gone. It was rough, she says, really rough.
She also says she did not get much confidence from the medical field that it would be okay. But she knew it would be. She says she was able to access her spiritual self, her soul, in ways that were pure wisdom, and she could be as normal as can be with that spiritual self. It was her physical self that was damaged.
Consciousness, Energy and the God in Us
From this, Jan says, she gained a tremendous insight into what she calls the three principles. Consciousness, she says, is everything. We have a personal consciousness, and there is also a universal one. Everything about us is energy, she says, from head to toe, in the form and the formless, in the body and in the soul that lives within us.
Our human brain gives us a consciousness to go through life with. The universal or soul consciousness, she says, is much bigger. It is wisdom and divinity, and it is what many people think of as God. She does not see God as a little man in the sky. She says it is inside every one of us. If this sparks your curiosity, see our entry on consciousness.
Religion, she says, can frighten people. They have to believe certain things and behave in certain ways. The God she describes is so magnificent, she says, that most people do not realize their own capabilities until they learn to feel their spirit.
A Thought Is Not an Instruction
Jan says she spent most of her life believing every thought meant something. Most of the thoughts our human brain or ego throws at us, she says, do not need our attention. This is a big eye opener for many people. We have a thought, immediately attach an emotion to it, and then assume an action is required. “Just because you have a thought, you don’t need to allow an emotion to attach,” she says, and no behavior has to follow.
How Her Family Responded
Her husband and daughters did not buy into it at first. They found it interesting but could not quite get their heads around it. Her daughters are now appreciative, she says, because it changed their lives, too, including the understanding that they no longer have to believe in a war inside.
Her brothers and sisters, who are university professors and very intellectual, did not think it made much sense. To this day, she says, one sister kind of likes it and one does not. Her brother fell in love with her book and told her he had learned more from it about life than from anyone.
The Slow Unfolding
Jan says it took a good ten years before she got some of the benefits of what had happened. She now understands the spiritual side of who we are very deeply, and she is probably clearer on that than on the human side. She enjoys her spiritual self more than her human self. Her struggle, she says, is to bring the two into better alignment, so that she can live a rounded life with both feeling good.
Joy, Harmony and Love
Jan says living a good life means living your own happiness, which is very hard to do. We often think we need to be happy when people around us are. Instead, she says, dig inside yourself and find “what makes your soul sing.”
Her soul told her for years that she created peace for people. “Now my purpose is to create harmony.” She adds, “I think we are here to evolve our soul.” If we are, we have to find what brings us joy, because when you are in joy, she says, the energy flows the way it wants to flow. Her last word: “Just live in the feeling of love.”
Jan’s Account Beside Other Near-Death Experiences
Leaving the body, expanding into unity, feeling profound love and returning because of a loved one are all themes that appear in near-death accounts. Jan’s is notable for its simplicity. There was no tunnel, no figure and no life review that she describes. There was love, and a gentle thought that brought her home. We share her account as her experience, with no medical claims.
For more background, read our complete guide to near-death experiences and the glossary entry for near-death experience.
A Moment of Choice
The next time a worried thought arrives, pause before you attach a feeling to it. Breathe once. Ask yourself whether it needs an action at all. Jan’s suggestion is that most of the time, it does not.
Questions to Sit With
- Jan says most of our thoughts do not need our attention. Which recurring thought could you let pass this week?
- What brings you joy in a way that makes your soul sing?
- Jan came back for her daughters. Who or what are you here for right now?
Notice one thought today that arrives with a feeling attached, and let it pass without acting on it.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Jan says we are pure love at our core.
- She describes spirit as a cup of the universe poured into a body.
- She says consciousness is everything, and that there is both a personal and a universal kind.
- She says a thought does not require an emotion or an action.
- She says we are here to evolve our soul, and joy points the way.
Please enjoy my conversation with Jan Christenson.
Guest Links: Connect With Jan Christenson
Listen to the Episode
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jan Christenson?
Jan Christenson is a former community nurse and near-death experiencer. She tells her story on Divine Encounters with host Alex Ferrari.
What happened to Jan Christenson?
Jan says she slipped on ice at work, came down headfirst and was knocked out for at least ten minutes. She says that during that time she had a short but profound experience.
What did Jan experience while unconscious?
She describes being in a dark place where she could see without eyes, then feeling herself expand into pure consciousness and merge with everything in a flow of love.
Did Jan meet any loved ones or beings?
No. She says many people see loved ones, but she experienced complete oneness with everything and pure love.
Why did Jan return?
She says a thought came to her asking about her daughters. She says she agreed without any argument and felt herself springing back into her body.
What message did Jan take back?
She says the message she took fully was that we are pure love at our core, and that this pure love is our spirit.
What does Jan mean by a cup of the universe?
She uses it to describe spirit as a cup of the universe that gets dumped into our body, where its feeling is dulled but its essence stays the same.
How did the experience change Jan’s life?
She says she lost her nursing career, had a long recovery and found a deeper connection to her spiritual self. She says some of the benefits took about ten years to arrive.
What does Jan say about thoughts?
She says most thoughts do not need our attention and that a thought does not need an emotion or an action to follow it.
What does Jan say about God?
She says she is not religious but very spiritual. She sees God as a magnificent consciousness and energy that is inside everyone.
Is a near-death experience medical evidence?
Next Level Soul shares near-death experiences as lived experiences in the person’s own words. Researchers continue to study and debate what they mean. Nothing here is medical advice or a medical claim.
Keep Exploring
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- What consciousness means
- What oneness means
- Anton Grosz on discovering that we are one
- Nancy Rynes on love without dogma or religion
- Ruth Rousseau Clothier on what she learned about love
- Lynn K. Russell on why we came to Earth
- Sara Jayne on what she saw after dying
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like before you died.
Jan Christenson 0:08
I was at work. I was a community nurse, and I slipped on ice, which can be a very simple thing. However, I shot up in the air and came down head first. I was knocked out immediately. I was probably unconscious, though, for a good 10 minutes at least. And what happened was it seemed very quick, but left me feeling complete change in my life. It was very profound, even though it was short lived, and I probably didn't see everything there was to see over there, but I saw enough to really change things for me. So suddenly I was aware of being in a quite a dark place, but I could see without my eyes, and I could hear without my ears. It was just the experience of being in this place where it was fairly dark and knowing. I looked around and I thought, Where am I? And then it was a knowing of, oh, I'm here. And then no thoughts, just this feeling of very similar to what you would think it would be like if the air comes out of a balloon. There was just this, then suddenly I was out of my body, no longer contained, but just it was a complete feeling of just expansion. And I experienced myself as pure consciousness flowing just this gentle flowing, and knowing that all was well as I was in this flow, suddenly I could just feel everything that was floating just expand in every direction. So it was kind of like just becoming a part of everything that was around me, just to flow. And there was no no no end to it. It just went on and on. And then the thought that I had was, Wow, the way I felt, I thought I could just stay here forever and I wouldn't need anything else. And as a human that's hard. It's really hard to imagine, how could you feel in a way that you would not need anything else. I thought I could just stay here forever, and I just continued in this gentle flow, and I felt so good, and I knew immediately that it was an overwhelming feeling of love. It was just intense and everywhere, and it was me so as I stayed in that state and just felt perfect. And kind of knew that this would be fine, just to be right there in that state forever. Suddenly, this thought came to me, what about your daughters? You know, they still need me, and the feeling of, yeah, they do. And there was no feeling of argument or feeling of, no, please. You know, I want to stay here. It was just perfect feeling of, yeah, okay, I'll just go back. And then it was a feeling of just springing back and going back into my body and feeling the density again, just feeling complete enclosure with that. I wasn't feeling any discomfort, until suddenly the darkness just became kind of light. It was like the sunlight started to come through my eyelids again, and then I opened my eyes and was back in pretty much distress at that time. It was very dark, but still with a scene. So a lot of people have the experience of seeing their loved ones and seeing all kinds of things. I just experienced complete and total oneness with everything, and I just became everything and pure love, total and complete, pure love in feeling that was so intense and so perfect. Imagine needed nothing else, ever again, nothing else. The only message that I took fully and completely and totally was that we are pure love at our core, and this pure love is our spirit. And our spirit is is kind of like a cup of the universe that gets dumped into our body, and this perfect cup then joins with our human form, and everything is dulled down in the sense of how we feel, feeling of love, but the essence of me, who I feel here, is the same as who I felt out there, just not as intense. It was still on the ice. I couldn't form words, I couldn't move at first, and my feet were stuck over my shoulder. My purse lodged under me, and it kept my feet from falling back down, so all I could do is is scream the thought in my head, feet go down. I was trying to make that happen with verbal cues, and finally, I did get my feet down, but I was not getting very much oxygen. When my feet were up, there was like I was squishing my chest, so there wasn't a lot of oxygen. And I had a long road to recovery after that the head injury can can be a pretty difficult thing to go through, and they told me that I was disabled from here, from there on, and I would be disabled, and I just needed to accept that. And so I lost my nursing career. My life changed tremendously and significantly, and I was off work for quite a while. And literally, I could stand in the kitchen and my daughter would say, Could you put some toast in the toaster for me? And I would turn and go two steps, and I would forget where I had gone. I would forget what I was going for. I would be speaking to someone, and I had what I called this blank screen come down. The conversation was just suddenly gone. Didn't know what we were talking about, it was rough. It was really rough. And I didn't get a lot of confidence from the medical field that it would be okay, but I knew it would be okay, and I was able to access, I was able to access my spiritual self, my soul, in ways that were just pure wisdom, and I could be as normal as can be with my spiritual self, it was just my physical self. It was damaged, and it really gave me a tremendous insight into the three principles. And consciousness is actually everything we have a personal consciousness, and there's also a universal consciousness. So people often have a little trouble fitting that into the human mind, what can be a mind or a human consciousness and a universal consciousness, and this is where my new passion lies, the energy. Because we're energy from head to toe, everything about us is energy, our in the form and the formless that we are in our body and in our soul that lives inside of us. So this consciousness is also energy, which is everywhere. With our human brain, we have a consciousness that we go through our life with. However, this universal consciousness, or our soul consciousness, our spirit, is so much bigger and so much more vast, and it's what I experienced when I was out there, this universal consciousness, it's wisdom, it's divinity, it's actually what many people think of as God. Many people think of God as someone, a little man, who sits up in the sky. For me, I don't see it as that. I'm not religious, but I'm very spiritual. So I don't follow any religious doctrine, which is a scary thing for people. Often people have to believe things that are very frightening. They have to behave in certain ways. However, this God that I see, the energy, the consciousness that is everything that is divine and wisdom, it is so magnificent, and it's inside of every one of us, this energy, this consciousness, and it gives us the ability to be much wiser than we could ever really understand until we learn to feel our spirit and understand it with this beautiful consciousness. Most humans on the earth don't know a lot about it. They don't understand how magnificent they truly are and the capabilities they have when they start to let this energy flow through them and hear the wisdom that comes from our soul here, the wisdom that comes from this divinity, the God in us. And it's something that, quite honestly, I have just learned to appreciate and to capitalize on in a very big way. So I don't feel I'm that much ahead of anybody who might understand or not understand it. I do feel that I have the tremendous blessing of being able to share with people how to understand this soul and what it can do for your life and for you as a human being. And that feels pretty special. In many ways, it's very difficult to know anything for sure, but I think came upon me to change my life. I could not go on. I don't believe I would be here today, if I was still on that hamster wheel. It was way too stressful, and my body would just not have carried on. I would I would be gone. Well, it did take me a long time to recover, so the changes did not come quite a while. I would say it was a good 10 years before I got some of the benefits of what had happened to me. I think the changes, where the changes are that I understand so deeply and intensely, the spiritual side of who we are, and I'm probably clearer on that than I am on the human side of who we are, I enjoy the spiritual side of me so much more than the human side of me. So my struggle is to try to bring those two things into a much better alignment, into living a life which is rounded with both of those things, the human and the spirit equally feeling good about both of those things. As a human we suffer so much, and that's how I spent most of my life thinking and believing the thoughts that I had meant something when most of the thoughts that we have as our human brain or our ego throws at us, most of those thoughts do not even need to have us pay attention to them, that is a big eye opener for many people, Because most people believe if they have a thought, it must mean something. However, what happens in our human ways is this, we have a thought, and then we immediately attach an emotion to it, and then we think there's an action that's required. None of that is true. Just because you have a thought, you don't need to allow an emotion to attach. It, and you don't need to have a behavior follow that. My immediate family, my daughters and my husband, they didn't buy into it at first. They did not see what I was seeing. They thought it was very interesting, but they couldn't quite get their head wrapped around it. Now, my daughters are so appreciative of it, because it's changed their life too, the understanding that they can they no longer have to believe that they have a war inside, well outside, my immediate family, my husband and children, was my brothers and sisters, and it wasn't very cool for them. They're university professors, and they're very intellectual people, so they did not think this made much sense. And to this day, one sister kind of likes it. One doesn't. My brother just fell in love with my book, and he said, You know, I've learned more from this book about life than anybody has ever been able to tell me. And it was just simple things, simple things that you and I are talking about today. And so it changed his life. Living a good life is living your own happiness, because that's very hard to do very often. We think, when the people around us are happy, that we need to live that life truly digging inside yourself and finding what your happiness is, what makes your soul sing. My soul has told me for years, I created peace for people. Now my purpose is to create harmony. I think we are here to evolve our soul. I think that's our purpose. I think that's our life purpose. So if we're here to evolve our soul, we have to find what brings us joy. As soon as we find what brings us joy, the energy that flows through us is so perfect, because when you're in joy, the energy flows the way it wants to flow, the way it can create most magnificently. Just live in the feeling of love. That's the essence of you. And more we do that, the more we'll change The world. And that's where the world is heading.
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