Divine Encounters Episode 043 | Near-Death Experience Story
Tricia Barker was 21, a few weeks from graduating and in the best shape of her life, when a head-on collision in Austin left her with a broken back and a long wait for surgery. In this Divine Encounters episode she tells Alex Ferrari what she says happened on the operating table: eight-foot light beings, a grandfather who looked young again, the sound of everyone’s prayers, and a message to remind people to stay in the light.
Key Takeaways
- Tricia says a head-on collision on a Sunday morning in Austin broke her back in three places, and she waited 17 or 18 hours for surgery.
- Before surgery she offered a half-hearted prayer: “if there’s a God, please help me.” Then, she says, her near-death experience happened during the operation.
- She describes rising out of her body with 360 degree vision and watching eight-foot light beings send healing light through the surgeons’ hands.
- She says she saw her stepdad get a candy bar in the hallway, a detail her parents later confirmed, at the moment they were certain she had died.
- She describes a life review in which she saw how judgmental she had been toward people who were not in college, and learned to look at the heart.
- She says the message she was given was that there is just fear and love, and she was asked to remind people to stay in the light.
| Guest | Tricia Barker |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 043 |
| Age at the time | 21, a few weeks before graduation |
| What Tricia says happened | A head-on collision broke her back in three places; her near-death experience happened during surgery |
| Where she says she went | Out of her body above the operating room, then to a realm of rolling green hills and perfect nature |
| Who she met | Eight-foot light beings, her grandfather, and a presence she understood to be God |
| Waiting for surgery | 17 to 18 hours |
| The message | Remind people to stay in the light and let go of fear |
A Runner a Few Weeks From Graduation
Tricia was 21, in her senior year at college in Austin, and a few weeks from graduating. The morning of her accident was the Austin 10K, and she had been training hard for it and having some fun with it. She was in great physical shape, which she believes probably saved her on some level.
The Collision at Lamar and Guadalupe
She had a head-on collision, and she says she will never know whose fault it was. She thinks the other driver rolled through the intersection fast, on a curve, and they hit almost head on. He was in a Suburban and was not badly hurt. She was in a small, older Honda Civic that crunched up. Later, she says, she read death reports for crashes at 60 miles an hour and faster, and most said instant death.
She had internal injuries and a back broken in three places. She was slumped to one side, screaming out the window at the intersection of Lamar and Guadalupe, if you know Austin. Three cars passed without stopping. It was Sunday morning, and she knows one of them was going to church. Then a nurse stopped, and her boyfriend called an ambulance. The nurse stayed with her and told her not to move.
Seventeen Hours of Waiting
She waited 17 to 18 hours before going into surgery. There was a shortage of neurosurgeons, she says, and she did not have health insurance, so she was waiting for someone to take her case. She says she had little time to think or cry. She had lost feeling in one leg.
Before she went into the operating room she offered what she calls a half-hearted prayer: “if there’s a God, please help me.” She told God she had to walk. She did not want to live this way. Then she went into surgery. This is when, she says, her life changed dramatically.
Outside the Body, Wide Awake
It was nothing like a dream, Tricia says. “The minute I was outside of my body, I was so at peace.” She knew that the consciousness she was experiencing was far greater than what she experienced in her body. She felt more awake and more alert. She had “this 360 degree vision,” and could see the whole operating room, looking down at her body.
She felt no real connection to the body, only that it was where she had been. She says it was no longer her, just something bleeding out on the table. What continued on was her soul, her spirit, who she is.
Eight-Foot Light Beings
When she looked up at the surgeons, she saw light beings standing behind them. That is why she called her book what she did, she says, though it is not really a religious book. People who are highly religious are sometimes turned off by it, she says, because it is a near-death experience followed by the story of the awakening and the changes that it ushered in.
The beings were enormous, about eight feet tall. They sent healing light energy through the doctors, through their hands, into her body. She felt at peace, because they knew what they were doing. They were higher beings, highly intelligent, and they communicated with her by telepathy. She understood this realm because of their energetic help.
Then the monitor flatlined. Tricia remembers thinking that the angels had just told her she would walk and run, so she was coming back to this body, which meant they had to revive it. She did not want to see what was happening. So she went out into the hall.
The Candy Bar in the Hallway
In the hall, she says, she saw her stepdad get a candy bar. That later became a verifiable detail, which researchers love to talk about. To Tricia it mattered because her mom and dad confirmed it afterward: he had come in with a candy bar, and they were certain she had died. She feels there is a biological and spiritual connection between families, and that they understood in that moment that she had left her body. They were on the floor praying and crying, asking that she live.
That was the very moment she was dying and going out into the stars. She felt a oneness with everyone she had ever met in Austin, every barista, every person who had handed her a bagel, her professors, everyone she passed on the drag. She remembers thinking, I love you, have a great life, I’m going on. The further she got from her body, the less she wanted to come back.
Downloads of Light and a Life Review
She began to feel what we now call downloads. As she describes it, light came toward her and filtered into her consciousness, and she heard actual words. “Love is all that matters. It’s all that you take with you when you leave.” And: “Remind them to go to nature, remind them to be kind to one another.”
Then came a moment where she was shown a place in her life where she could have done better. She saw life reviews. Better meant being more connected to others and less judgmental. She had considered herself an intellectual, she says, and looked down on people who were not in college or doing what she was doing. She saw how silly that was. There were great people, and she had been looking at outward things and not at the heart. She realized you have to look at the heart and soul of people to know who they are. Our glossary has a page on the life review if you would like more context.
Rolling Green Hills and a Grandfather
Next she moved into a realm most people imagine heaven to be, with rolling green hills and beautiful skies, where, she says, “there was no death.” Everything was alive and perfect. In nature as we know it, she says, sometimes the grass is dead or part of a tree is falling off. Not there. It was all full of light.
Her grandfather was there. He looked about 35, and she hardly recognized him, because he had died of leukemia and had been very thin and frail at the end. Now he looked strong and beautiful. She felt that everyone wants to be their strong, beautiful self, like the nature she saw. She felt very peaceful with him. Our glossary entry on heaven collects how people describe it.
The Wind of Prayers
After they spent some time together, her grandfather turned and asked, “Do you want to go on?” She knew that meant going closer to God. She said yes, and her soul leapt forward through what felt like wind, a wind made of prayers. She began to hear everyone’s prayers.
She hopes this gives people comfort. Even if someone dies, she says, they hear and feel your prayers and your love for them as they leave. If you did not get to say I love you before someone transitioned, she believes they felt your thoughts and your energy.
Closer to God, and the Wounds That Were Not Her
As she got closer to God, Tricia says she felt all the wounds of childhood, any abuse, any verbal abuse, anything that had dimmed her light and her self-esteem over the years, and understood: “it wasn’t me, it wasn’t me.” They were not her. She was loved, cherished, a child of God. She remembered hearing earlier to be like a little child, and knew it meant to “be open to wonder,” to forgive easily, to let go and be in the moment of joy.
She understood that love is all that matters, and she finally felt okay. She did not want to come back. Then a loud, booming voice vibrated through her and said, look down. Somehow she could look down through the clouds. She saw a river with people walking along it. The light said, “some people will be full of fear, and some will be in the light of spirit.” She was told, “you remind everyone to stay in the light,” and to remind those with fear to let it go. It was more complicated than that, she says, but that was the gist: there is only fear and love.
You Are Going to Be a Teacher
She asked how she was supposed to do that. The answer: she would be a teacher. Tricia remembers that as the one moment she remembered who she was, and she objected. She was shy, she hated public speaking, and she wanted to make a lot of money. She wanted to do anything non-traditional, but not that. It was as if God laughed at her. She felt her whole soul crunched up like a softball and thrown back into her body.
Back in a Body That Did Not Feel Like Hers
Being back in the body was horrible, she says. Some near-death experiencers submerge it for a time and then remember. Tricia knew exactly what had happened. After the surgery, in which part of her spine was repaired and rods and metal were put in, nurses asked her name. She says she filled up the entire room and felt part of everyone, still in a we mentality. She had to recall the individuality of this person. Yes, her name is Tricia, and now she had to come back and be her. She did not feel like herself at first and still felt outside her body. Lots of after-effects followed, even in the hospital.
Where Tricia’s Story Fits
Many people who report near-death experiences describe seeing their own body from above, vision that seems to take in everything, beings of light, a deceased relative, a review of life and a pull toward a boundary before being sent back. Tricia’s account includes all of them. The detail she is best known for, her stepdad and the candy bar, is the sort of observation people who have had these experiences sometimes say they made while apart from the body.
For the wider picture, start with our complete guide to near-death experiences. We share these accounts as experiences in each person’s own words, with no medical claims and no promises.
What She Did With It
Tricia became a teacher, after all. One of the most important things, she says, was to remind people to be the light of who they are: to ask what brings them authentic joy, and how to do more of it. As an instructor she believed she would be assisted. Sometimes she heard from ancestors, sometimes from an angel, and she was helped to see what would bring a student joy. It was not always academia. Sometimes it was a food truck or becoming an automotive designer.
She says many students, even from great homes, struggle with self-esteem because of advertising and comparison. Helping people feel good about themselves matters in any job. People are fragile at different moments in life, she says, and “a kind word can really help someone.”
Questions to Sit With
- Tricia saw how she had judged people by outward things. Whose heart might you have missed because of a label?
- She says what brings us authentic joy points the way. What brought you joy this month, and how could you make room for more?
- She believes those who leave us hear our prayers and love. Is there something you still want to say to someone, whether they are here or gone?
This week, offer one kind word to someone who seems to need it, and notice who in your day you might look at more with your heart than your eyes.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Tricia says love is all that matters, and it is all we take with us.
- She says there is only fear and love, and we are asked to stay in the light.
- She believes those who pass hear our prayers and feel our love.
- She says looking at the heart and soul of people is how we know who they are.
- She believes a kind word can matter more than we know.
Please enjoy my conversation with Tricia Barker.
Guest Links: Connect With Tricia Barker
Listen to the Episode
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Tricia Barker?
Tricia Barker is a near-death experiencer, author and teacher who was 21 when she says her near-death experience happened during surgery after a car accident in Austin. She tells her story in this Divine Encounters episode.
What happened to Tricia Barker?
She says she had a head-on collision on a Sunday morning in Austin, broke her back in three places and waited 17 to 18 hours for surgery. Her near-death experience, she says, happened during the operation.
What did Tricia see during surgery?
She says she rose out of her body, saw the operating room with 360 degree vision, and saw eight-foot light beings behind the surgeons sending healing light through their hands.
What was the candy bar detail?
She says she left the operating room and saw her stepdad get a candy bar in the hall. Her parents later confirmed that he had come in with a candy bar at the time they were certain she had died.
Who did Tricia meet in heaven?
She says she met her grandfather, who had died of leukemia and who now appeared about 35, strong and beautiful. He asked her whether she wanted to go on.
What were the prayers Tricia heard?
She says that as she moved toward God she passed through something like a wind made of everyone’s prayers. She believes people who are dying hear and feel the love of those who pray for them.
What did Tricia learn in her life review?
She says she saw that she had looked down on people who were not in college, and learned to look at the heart and soul of people rather than outward things.
What did the voice tell Tricia to do?
She says the light told her to remind everyone to stay in the light, and to remind people with fear to let it go. She was also told she would be a teacher, which she resisted.
How did Tricia feel when she came back?
She says it was horrible being back in her body. She felt part of everyone, filled up the room and did not feel like herself at first, and she still felt outside of her body.
What is Tricia’s message?
She says love is all that matters, there is only fear and love, and we can help others by being kind and reminding them to be the light of who they are.
Keep Exploring
- complete guide to near-death experiences
- what a life review is
- how people describe heaven
- a woman on the operating table is taken to the book of lives
- a woman dies during surgery and meets her soul group
- a former atheist describes what awaits beyond
- an atheist woman describes what she saw
- a woman gives a detailed tour of heaven
- 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.
Tricia Barker 0:08
Yeah, I was 21 and it was my senior year. I was a few weeks away from graduation, and literally, the Austin 10k was the morning of my accident. So I was going to run, and I've been running really hard, trying to train for this and and having a little bit of fun with it. So I was in great physical shape, which I think probably saved me on some level. I had a head on collision, and I'll never know if it was my fault. I think the other guy must have jumped the gun, or at least didn't slow down and rolled through the intersection pretty fast, and it was curved, and we hit each other almost head on in a little bit of a curve. Luckily, he was in a suburban, and didn't get hurt very badly. I was in this small Honda Civic and older model, and it just crunched up. In fact, later I look back at death reports of 60 miles an hour and faster, and most said instant death. So I was in bad shape. I had a lot of internal injuries. My back was broken in three places. I was slumped over to one side, screaming out the window at this intersection, Lamar and Guadalupe, if you know, Austin, and three cars passed by without stopping, and it was Sunday morning, and I know one of them was going to church, and I was like, I hope they're calling when they get somewhere. This is terrible. And then a nurse stopped her and her boyfriend called for the ambulance, and she stayed with me and said, don't move. And then they loaded me into the ambulance. I waited 17-18, hours until I went into surgery. So there was a shortage of neurosurgeons, and I didn't have health insurance, so I was waiting for someone to take my case, and I didn't have a lot of time to think and cry, and I lost feeling in one leg. And before I went into the operating room, I gave this kind of half hearted prayer, like, Oh, God, if there's a God, please help me. I've got to walk. You know, I don't want to live this way. And I went into surgery, and then my life changed dramatically during that surgery, this is when the near death experience happened, and it was nothing like a dream. Alex, the only thing I could say is the minute I was outside of my body, I was so at peace. I just knew that the consciousness that I was experiencing was far greater than what I experienced in the body that I suddenly just understood so much more. I felt more awake, in a sense, just more alerts I could see with this 360 degree vision, and see the whole operating room looked down at my body. Didn't feel any connection, really to the body other than that's where I was. I didn't feel this the way we're in the body right now. You know, it's us, and yet, in that realm man that was no longer me. It was just this thing bleeding out on the table, and I was what continued on, my soul, my spirit, who I am. And when I looked up at the surgeons, I saw that there were these light beings behind them, and that's that's why I called my book angels and or it's not really a religious book. And I think sometimes people who are highly religious are very turned off by my book, because it's really just a near death experience and then a story of of the awakening that that ushered in and the changes that it ushered in. But these light beings were enormous, like eight feet tall, and they sent this healing light energy through the doctors, through their hands, into my body. I felt very much at peace that they knew what they were doing, that they were higher beings. So to speak, they were highly intelligent, and they communicated with telepathy with me. So this whole time, I was at peace. I knew what was going on. I understood this realm because of their energetic help. And then the monitor flatlined, and I remember thinking, Oh, well, the angels just told me, I'm gonna walk and run, so I'm coming back to this body. That means they have to revive it. I don't want to see this, what's out there. And so, you know, I went into the hall, saw my stepdad get a candy bar, which later became this verifiable detail that researchers love to talk about. But to me, it was important, because my mom and dad verified it later that he came in with this candy bar, and they were certain I died. And I feel like there's a biological connection, a spiritual connection, between families, and they just understood at that moment that I'd left my body, and they were on the floor praying, crying, you know, asking that I live. And that was the very moment I was dying and going out into the stars and feeling this oneness with everyone I'd ever met in Austin. I just felt like every barista, every person who'd hand me a bagel like they were my friend, and every person I'd seen in class, my professors, everyone I passed on the drag I was just like, I love you. All have a great life. You know, I'm going on, and the further I got away from my body, the more I didn't want to come back. So I started. Feeling these downloads, as we call them today, the way it looked to me was just light coming towards me and filtering into my consciousness, and I would hear actual words like, love is all that matters. It's all that you take with you when you leave. Remind them to go to nature, remind them to be kind to one another. Here's a moment in your life where you could have done better. And so I started seeing these life reviews. And better was being more connected to others, not being judgmental. And so I considered myself an intellectual and so I looked down on people who weren't in college or weren't doing the same things I was doing. And I saw how silly that was, that there were great people. And here I was not looking at the heart. I was looking at outward things. And I realized, Oh, you have to look at the heart and soul of people to know who they are. And I want to show my heart and soul, and I want to always look for that in people and and then I transitioned into this realm, which most people imagine heaven to be like, you know, rolling green hills and, you know, beautiful skies and there was no death. Everything was just alive. You know how you look at nature, and sometimes the grass is dead and you know, part of the tree is falling off. Everything was perfect, including my grandfather, who was over there in that realm, who looked about 35 and I hardly recognized him, because he had died of leukemia and was very thin hail toward the end and and he just looked strong and beautiful. And I was like, Well, of course, everyone wants to be their strong, beautiful self, like, like the nature that I see, no errors, nothing, nothing awry, everything full of light. And so I felt very peaceful with him. At some point, though, he where we spent some time interacting, but he turned towards me and said, Do you want to go on? And I knew on, met closer to God, and I was like, yes, and my soul just like leapt forward, and I was going through this wind, which was like a bunch of prayers. So I began to hear everyone's prayers. And I think this should give people comfort, because even if I had died, even if someone dies, they actually do hear and feel your prayers and your love for them as they're leaving. And you know, they know that you care. So if you didn't get to say, I love you to someone, and they transitioned. They felt your thoughts, you know, they really felt your energy. And so that was beautiful to me. And then I got closer to God, and I just felt all the wounds of childhood, any abuse, any verbal abuse, anything that had really dimmed my light and my my self esteem over the years, I just felt like, Oh, it wasn't me, it wasn't me. All these wounds weren't me. I'm loved, I'm cherished. I'm like a child of God, you know, like, and I heard earlier, be like a little child, and I knew that that meant be open to wonder, be be easily, to forgive and let go of things and be in that moment of joy. And then I felt like I understood that love is all that matters. And I finally felt okay, and I didn't want to come back like that was the point where I was like, Oh no, no. Don't really care about that anymore. I want to stay here. And I felt this loud, booming voice, which vibrated through me, say, look down, and somehow, magically, I was able to look down through the clouds. You know, there was just this vision of a river, and people walking along this river, and the light said, some people will be full of fear, and some will be in the light of spirit. And you remind everyone to stay in the light, and you remind everyone who has fear to let it go and to find the light and and it was, you know, more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it, that there's just fear and love, you know, which we learn from the Course in Miracles, and which is kind of a basic tenet of many teachings. But there it looks so simple. Here it looks so complicated. So there I was like, okay, that's fine. How am I going to do that? Oh, you're going to be a teacher. And I was like, No, that was the one moment I remembered who I was. And I was like, I'm shy. I hate public speaking, and I really want to make a lot of money. So this is absolutely the wrong choice for me. I mean, I want to do anything non traditional, but not that for a woman, just not that. And it was like God laughed at me somehow, and I felt my whole soul kind of hurled, almost like a softball, or something like I was crunched up into a softball and thrown back into my body. And it was horrible being back in the body. I was immediately changed. So there are some near death experiencers who, you know, it submerged for a time, and then they remember it. I knew exactly what had happened to me, and I did not feel like I was fully back in my body. Nurses were after that massive surgery where they repaired. Part of my spine, and put in rods and metal and all kind of stuff. They were asking me my name, and I felt like I was, I filled up the entire room. I felt like I was a part of everyone, and I still was in this we kind of mentality. So it's like, Oh, her name, yes, I remember the individuality of this person, and I believe her name is Trisha, and now I have to come back and be her. And they're like, You sound a little out of it. You're gonna need another blood transfusion. And I was like, my name is Trisha, if I'm okay. But there was really a disconnect, like I didn't feel like me at first. I felt still outside of my body, and so lots of after effects happen, even in the hospital. But you know, the coming years, I was very different than I was before. So one of the most important things was to remind people to be the light of who they are. So whatever that is, you know, like, what brings someone joy? What brings them, you know, authentic joy in their life. How can they do more of that? And as an instructor, I just believed that I'd be assisted. And sometimes I'd hear from their ancestors, sometimes I'd hear from an angel. You know, I did get help sometimes to help certain students really find what's going to bring them joy. And it wasn't always academia, you know, sometimes it was starting a food truck or becoming an automotive designer, you know, like there were, there were just other things that people sometimes wanted to do that didn't tie to education, but sometimes they did, and sometimes that was just such a beautiful thing to help people accomplish goals, believe In themselves. I think we forget how many students, even when they have great homes, still might have self esteem problems because of all the advertising that's out there and all the comparison and you know, just to help people feel good about themselves and their lives is is important no matter what job you're doing. And I think, you know, we forget how how fragile so many people can be at different moments in life, and how a kind word can really help someone.
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