Dr. Anna Stone, who previously worked for the Department of Defense, has shared her account of dying for six minutes and experiencing what she describes as the afterlife. Stone, an atheist at the time, stated that the experience fundamentally altered her understanding of consciousness and the interconnectedness of all beings.
Stone's near-death experience occurred in 2016 when she was 38 and suffered a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, leading to severe internal bleeding and her heart stopping. During the six minutes she was clinically dead, Stone reported finding herself outside her physical body, witnessing medical staff attending to her. She noted that time seemed to function differently in this realm.
"I came back with this understanding that God, or source, or whatever you want to call it, is like an ocean," Stone told the Daily Mail. She described human beings as individual droplets of this divine consciousness, destined to rejoin the universal "sea of consciousness" after death without losing their sense of self. This led her to believe that the divisions based on religion, politics, or culture are ultimately superficial.
Previously, Stone held a scientific worldview, believing that consciousness ceased upon bodily death. Her work as a histology lab technician involved research contracts with universities and government projects, including those for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of California, Los Angeles. This background reinforced her atheistic beliefs.
Her account details a painful return to her body, followed by a period of experiencing what she described as psychic phenomena. Stone reported hearing voices that warned her of impending events, such as a near-miss with a pedestrian while driving. These occurrences led to a psychiatric evaluation at the University of Southern California, where medical professionals ruled out conditions like schizophrenia. She was diagnosed with complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, stemming from childhood trauma including her father's arrest for murder and being disowned by her family.
Stone believes her near-death experience was a catalyst for personal change. Before the incident, she had struggled with alcohol addiction and opioid dependence, undergoing medical detox in 2011. She recounted an incident shortly after her hospital discharge where attempts to drink alcohol resulted in it foaming in her mouth, which she interpreted as a sign to abstain.
Following her experience, Stone pursued a PhD in spiritual psychology. She began working as a teacher at a continuation school, assisting students who had faced similar adversities. Her subsequent work and studies have focused on the connections between trauma, consciousness, and heightened sensitivity. Stone hopes her experience signifies that human existence is not finite and that individuals are part of a larger, conscious universal organism.