Woman who ‘died' and came back says there's no word for what she saw
Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
3 days ago
- Metro
Woman who ‘died' and came back says there's no word for what she saw
Hiyah Zaidi Published August 18, 2025 3:25pm Updated August 18, 2025 3:26pm Link is copied Comments There's a very select group of people who have been considered clinically dead before being brought back to life. One of those is Canadian nurse Julia Evans, who says she experienced a near death experience (NDE) just as she was due to start a shift. Studies reveal that for many people, when they have a NDE, they have out of body experiences, or see visions and hallucinations. However, for Julia, something else happened too. So, what did she see? (Picture: JeffMara Podcast) NDEs are defined as someone having been considered clinically dead before coming back to life, or the experiences of someone thought to be near death. Speaking to podcaster Jeff Mara, Julia recounted the day which changed her life. In 2018, her morning started as usual, where she said goodbye to her children and went to the gym to run on the treadmill before going to work as a nurse. But as she started her shift, she felt scratching in her throat and realised that there were lilies at the nurses' station – and she is allergic (Picture: @thelilynurse) Usually she would leave the area when she sees lilies, however, this time she said: 'For whatever reason, I felt a push, or pull, to go towards the lilies.' She was struggling to breathe and motioned to her co-workers to get rid of the lilies as people rushed to get medication and call her family. But at that point she was starting to become hypoxic – when the airway closes. She says when physicians came to administer some medication, they gave her the wrong drug. She said: 'In that instant, everything in my world vanished, except from me and the physician, and we both locked eyes with each other, we both realised it was the wrong drug' (Picture: @thelilynurse) Julia was given the wrong epinephrine, which should be put into the muscle instead of the vein, where it was administered. 'Once he gave me that, I felt it was completely my last breath,' she says: 'There was this flash. And there was this play on being in this existence and being somewhere else. And I remember opening my mouth, and being a nurse I knew they were going to intubate me' (Picture: JeffMara Podcast) Her team thought she was having a heart attack but Julia says: 'My heart, I know to this day, needed to explode – and that's what it did.' Then she says she started feeling symptoms of how her loved ones died, including her step mother who died of a heart attack and her biological mother who died of a brain aneurysm. 'Then that's when they lost me. I went into something called pulseless VTAC, so I had no pulse. I hit such a frequency in my heart…when I say my heart exploded, I don't mean like a grenade but there was so much medication that it just stopped. I went from blue to pale to grey, the colour of death and I was flaccid on the bed' (Picture: @thelilynurse) Julia says she went somewhere else: 'It was blacker than black and it wasn't hell. I describe it as blank consciousness. It's a void, nothing exists but you know you're somewhere else.' She said she felt like crying but had no eyes so felt it in her heart instead. Then she claims she heard her mother who died in 1983 say: '"It's okay, honey. Mommy's here, don't cry."' Julia continued: 'I heard her like actually hearing her as if she was standing right beside me, I heard 'clear' and was back into this world, but I wasn't fully back into this world.' Then she had an out of body experience, where she was hovering around 2ft from herself, as people around her were screaming for her to come back. Then she heard: 'We lost her again' (Picture: JeffMara Podcast) Then, Julia says, she was immersed in a bright light: 'It had so much colour and so much of everything. But there is no human word to describe it fully, the only way I know how to describe it was there was so much love within that moment that I was gifted the greatest gift and that's that self-love.' She said the light was so peaceful and felt like home 'and I could sense every single person that had passed and who passed away before me standing there… I could see their essence…and I was with everyone, like my mum and my best friends, and my dog and my aunts and all the people who have passed.' Then she says she was jolted back into her body again, where she saw a tunnel with a figure which was something like Jesus with long hair – who she says could have been the nurse who was working on her, aware that she was struggling to make sense of it all (Picture: @thelilynurse) She said she asked herself: 'Is that Jesus? Do I follow him? Is he going to save me? Do I instinctively go that way to salvation? Another part of me was like is that Buddha? Who is this, do I get to decide? Have I reached Nirvana?' She says that when she looked down, she noticed she wasn't wearing any clothes, 'like a brand new baby, and that's when I took a breath.' She then felt like she was back, but all she could see was 'a beautiful purity being.' She says felt her mother's touch through the nurse, who had the same name, and realised she was back in the ICU. In the moments after she awoke, Julia says she could see the 'lineage' of the nurses and doctors around her and everything that 'connected to them'. She called them 'rays' of light. She said: 'I felt like I had this light, not just within me but surrounding me, and these beams of light was this awareness of all these other levels and all these other worlds, all these other things outside this conscious world we live. And I saw these rays...I could see the physical person in this realm, but I could also see their lineage, I could see what is connected to them' (Picture: @thelilynurse) Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- The Guardian
The power of pulses: 15 easy, delicious ways to eat more life-changing legumes
Worried about rising food prices, your diet's carbon footprint or whether you're eating healthily enough? Believe it or not, there could be a magic bullet: pulses. According to a study by the University of Reading, published in the European Journal of Nutrition in March, adults who eat more pulses – dried beans, peas and lentils – have a higher intake of nutrients including fibre, folate and vitamins C and E; minerals such as iron, zinc and magnesium; and a lower intake of saturated fat and sugar. Similar results have been found in American, Australian and Canadian research. The UK study also found that eating pulses was associated with a more sustainable diet. In her book, Pulse: Modern Recipes with Beans, Peas & Lentils, Eleanor Maidment explains that growing pulses has a positive effect on the environment. 'Many are 'nitrogen fixers', meaning they have the ability to convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that can be used in the soil, making it more fertile for other crops,' she writes. Justine Butler, the head of research at Viva!, says: 'The lowest-impact beef still creates six times the greenhouse gases and uses 36 times more land per gram of protein than peas.' Pulses are filling and good value but, say the Reading researchers, the typical British adult eats only about 15g a day, with the average household spending just £1.68 on pulses a week. UK guidelines state that 80g of pulses (about a third of a tin) counts as one of your five a day. The University of Reading study is part of the Raising the Pulse project, which aims to increase pulse consumption to improve public and planetary health. One of its strategies is adding fava bean (dried broad bean) flour to white bread – similar to a successful programme in Denmark using rye flour to increase wholegrain consumption. Prof Julie Lovegrove, the director of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition at the University of Reading, says: 'These foods are not only nutritious but also incredibly versatile, affordable and sustainable.' If you want to start eating more pulses, here are 15 things you need to know. You don't have to cook pulses for hours. 'Don't be put off by the idea that you have to soak dried pulses in advance,' says Maidment. 'I am rarely organised enough to do so, but thankfully there's a huge range of jarred and canned varieties that require no prep and are hugely convenient. If you can afford to spend a bit more, then jarred varieties have the edge over canned in terms of flavour and texture. Brands such as Bold Bean Co, Brindisa or Belazu are consistently excellent.' But batch-cooking dried pulses is the best value. Jenny Chandler, the author of Super Pulses and Pulse, soaks and cooks a big pot of pulses once a week. 'You will finish up with well over double their volume – it's a really economical way to have a ready supply. They will keep in their cooking water for five days in the fridge and you can freeze any leftovers. Use them in salads, soups, purees, curries, stews and even puddings – they will become the bedrock of your cooking.' Pulses are for everyone. 'You do not have to be vegetarian or vegan to enjoy pulses – far from it,' says Maidment. 'We should all be eating more pulses. For instance, in a traybake, I'll use one chicken thigh per person instead of two, and add a can of chickpeas or butter beans. I often add a can of lentils to bolognese. You're still getting filling protein, but with the added benefits of gut-friendly fibre and numerous other minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.' They make meals go much further. 'Most pulses are relatively cheap and quite mild in taste, making them ideal for bulking out soups, stews and curries without affecting the original flavour,' says Maidment. 'You can often use different varieties interchangeably, depending on what you have to hand.' Chandler adds a handful of cooked pulses to all sorts of dishes. 'Throwing a few chickpeas or cannellini beans into a simple tomato sauce with pasta not only ups the nutritional profile, but also keeps you feeling full for much longer,' she says. Baked beans are just the beginning. 'By far the most eaten pulse in the UK is the haricot bean due to its starring role in tinned baked beans,' says Maidment. 'Butter beans, cannellini beans, black beans and kidney beans are also popular, but there is a huge variety of beans to try. For instance, flageolet beans are delicate, pale-green beans popular in French cooking – try them in a slow-braised lamb stew with garlic, thyme and white wine.' Chandler loves yin yang beans, AKA calypso or orca beans. 'These black and white beans are utterly beautiful and taste wonderful in chilli,' she says. But beans on toast still rules. 'My favourite pulse-based dish is garlicky beans and bitter greens on toast, topped with chilli oil,' says Joe Yonan, the author of Cool Beans. You can make (almost) anything with chickpeas. 'The chickpea is my favourite pulse, for its versatility,' says Yonan. 'It is the basis of hummus, the best dip on the planet. It's great in a coronation chickpea sandwich, and it holds its shape in salads and stews.' For a snack, Yonan mixes cooked chickpeas with olive oil and spices (such as za'atar, Chinese five spice, chaat masala or smoked paprika) and roasts them in the oven for an hour at 150C/300F. 'I then turn off the oven but leave them in there to completely cool – it dries them out and makes them really satisfyingly crunchy.' He also uses chickpea (AKA gram) flour to make farinata or socca, a savoury pancake; panisse (chickpea fries); and bhajis and pakoras. 'Sometimes I use it as a base for a sort of non-traditional, don't-tell-the-Italians pizza.' Lentils cook more quickly than most pulses. Red split lentils are especially quick, cooking in about 15 minutes. Lentils don't need soaking, but it does reduce the cooking time. Maidment likes to experiment with different dals. 'Regional Indian dals can be made with a range of lentils – yellow moong, black urad, chana dal – each bringing a slightly different flavour and texture,' says Maidment. But she also has a soft spot for tinned lentils. 'I often roast drained, tinned lentils with olive oil and crushed garlic to boost their flavour and add crispness before throwing them into a salad – perhaps ricotta and prosciutto, or chopped fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.' Pulses make delicious dips. 'Hummus is the classic, but you can blend most pulses into dips,' says Maidment. 'Fava, a fabulous Greek split yellow pea dip, is absolutely worth making.' Blend cooked split yellow peas with caramelised onions and garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and a little of the beans' cooking liquor or water to make. Pulse liquid has many uses. 'Jarred and canned pulses are usually stored in a liquid known as aquafaba,' says Maidment. 'It can be great for adding creaminess to savoury dishes or used as an egg alternative in baking.' She advises checking the salt levels and ingredients list before using – some pulses have added preserving and firming agents. Black beans make the best veggie burgers, says Yonan. The Guardian's Meera Sodha agrees. She mashes a drained tin of black beans with breadcrumbs, garlic and onion powders, chipotle paste, dijon mustard, tomato ketchup and a splash of aquafaba, shapes them into patties, then fries them in olive oil until crispy. British pulses are having a revival. Maidment and Chandler both recommend carlin peas, pleasingly also known as black badgers, which are a heritage British pulse. They are available dried and cooked from companies such as Hodmedod's. 'They're small, nutty brown peas, and make a great alternative to chickpeas, with a similarly impressive nutrient profile,' says Maidment. She roasts cooked carlin peas until crispy, then adds them to salads such as quinoa, broccoli and halloumi. Chandler uses them in dips and curries, and to make a version of refried beans. 'They're much more versatile than yellow or green dried peas as they don't have such a pronounced 'pea' flavour,' she says. In the US, Yonan suggests the lady pea, a spherical white bean that is popular in southern cuisine. Pulses make great protein shakes. 'A handful of cooked pulses added into a smoothie will give it a great creamy texture and make it more nourishing,' says Chandler. She adds black beans or borlotti beans to dark berry smoothies, and chickpeas, cannellini beans or butter beans to green smoothies. Pulse-based pasta is worth a try. There is an increasing range of high-fibre pasta made from pulse flour: peas, lentils, chickpeas, black beans, mung beans … Chandler enjoys this alternative pasta, but says she doesn't use it in classical Italian dishes: 'I may use it in a pasta salad, say, or team it with a blue cheese and walnut sauce.' Yonan agrees that pulse pasta is best paired with 'pungent flavours – super-garlicky or spicy'. Pulses aren't just for savoury dishes. Yonan makes a chocolate and chickpea tart, and adds adzuki beans to brownies. 'Adzuki beans are used in a lot of Asian desserts, such as mochi and ice-cream,' he says. Maidment prefers to use kidney beans in her brownies, while Chandler has a recipe for a simple chocolate and cannellini bean mousse. Drain and retain the liquid from a tin of cannellini beans. Blitz the beans with 150g of melted dark chocolate and an optional tablespoon of cocoa powder. Whisk the liquid for five to 10 minutes, until frothy. Fold into the melted chocolate and bean mix, and sweeten with a couple of tablespoons of maple or date syrup. Chill the mix before eating, perhaps topped with some chopped stem ginger in syrup, or served with fresh raspberries. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Metro
14-08-2025
- Metro
Man who died for 11 minutes reveals what he saw on the other side
Hiyah Zaidi Published August 12, 2025 2:30pm Link is copied Comments People who have a Near Death Experience (NDE) often report similar things. A lot of the time their experience is positive and life changing. NDEs are defined as someone having been considered clinically dead before coming back to life, or the experiences of someone thought to be near death. Studies show that people who experience them regularly report out of body sensations or seeing a tunnel of light. Some people enter meditative states and feel as though they are in a dream. And that was the case for Adam Tapp, a paramedic in Canada who was considered clinically dead for more than 11 minutes. So, what did he see? (Picture Beyond the Veil/YouTube) Speaking on the YouTube Channel Beyond the Veil, Adam claimed to recall being in a 'state of absolute tranquility' after 'dying' for 11 and a half minutes in February 2018. While he was working on a woodshop project, a wood-etching tool known as a Lichtenberg device pierced his hand and electrocuted him. His friend who was with him at the time disconnected the tool and called for Adam's wife, who is a cardiac nurse (Picture: Facebook) Adam said: 'I was moving the electrodes one-by-one and it just arcs into my hands. And it was just this snap from reality. And it was almost overwhelming. It was like this intense, intense level of absolute pain, like every single cell in my body was being pulled into pieces.' And it was then when Adam says was taken on his NDE journey and he felt like he was 'falling' before he saw himself as a single point of awareness in an inky black void he described as something like deep space (Picture: Beyond the Veil/YouTube) While he was clinically dead, Adam says he was 'perfect'. He continued: 'It was this perfect inky blackness. I wasn't Adam. I wasn't dead. I wasn't anything. I was just perfect, like absolute contentment. Then I felt sort of this frequency started washing over me, and it was, it was like this fractal patterns. And it was like gasoline on water, this rainbow effect that was iridescent to some extent and it was just this juxtaposition of thoughts and feelings and emotions' (Picture: Getty) Adam explains that he felt like he was being pulled into pieces and becoming part of everything. He said: 'It was like basically becoming [the] fabric of the universe. And it was absolutely perfect. Like there was no fear and it was nothing. This was just the natural progression of what every single one of us is going to do, which is go back to the source, go back to this infinite consciousness or infinite complexity.' But during his experience, he says he then felt like he was being electrocuted again (Picture: LinkedIn) The paramedics were trying to revive him in an attempt to bring him back to life. He said: 'At the time, I didn't understand what was happening. But in hindsight, it was me being defibrillated. I was defibrillated twice. I was in a ventricle fibrillation arrhythmia, which is basically the heart spasming.' He says this caused him to become aware of what was happening and he contemplated his place in the universe (stock image) (Picture: Getty) He said: 'Now I'm aware that I'm Adam, that I'm dead, that I just got electrocuted,' he said, adding that he was then in a 'void of being' for a 'really long time.' When he awoke from his eight-hour coma, he was surprised to find out it had only been that long. He said: 'If someone had told me it had been five years or a decade, I would have been completely on point with that' (stock image) (Picture: Getty) After leaving the hospital, Adam says he started to become hyperaware of himself, such as his natural 'pheromonal smell' and 'the texture of my skin.' Over time, he says he accepted being in his body but was left with an 'overwhelming sense that this is just the stage, it's simply an evolution of consciousness.' He added: 'This is simply transient, where we exist right now, and there wasn't any anthropomorphic figures or people in robes, it was just going back to the source of everything which is the infinite consciousness that permeates everything' (stock image) (Picture: Getty) Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
