Dannion Brinkley wears many hats – an international and New York Times best selling author, motivational speaker, hospice volunteer, and an expert in helping patients and caregivers. A veteran of the United States Marine Corp, Dannion’s life changed dramatically in 1975 when he was struck by lightning and was dead for 28 minutes. He returned and was eventually able to put words to his experience. Fifteen years later his experience became the first best seller, Saved by the Light.
As one of the most extensive Near Death Experiences (NDE) chronicled, Dannion shared what he was shown by a group of Spiritual ‘Beings of Light’. Over the years, Dannion has faced dramatic healthcare challenges, that have resulted in additional NDE experiences, and with each experience, he has been given instruction.
A Key Player in Integrative Health Movement
As part of his own healing journey, Dannion in the years that followed, as part of his initial recovery and then his focus on coming to grips with his physical injuries and the shift in his own journey to understand both the physical and spiritual implications of his Near Death Experience (NDE), Dannion began trying various non-medical approaches. He was in so much pain, his Father took him to a chiropractor. Soon, after, Dannion, as he explored the NDE phenomenon, also studied alternative systems of healing, cultures, and complementary therapies. Never one to skim the surface in a topic, Dannion soon became a recognized expert, being one of the 100 experts invited to the famed “Chantilly” meeting that was organized to make recommendations to the government as the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine was getting off the ground. During the 1980s, taking his own father to the VA, Dannion saw a need and moved to fill it – veterans needing someone to be with them during those ‘last days’. He became a hospice volunteer at the VA and a decade later would work with colleagues to establish Compassion in Action – the Twilight Brigade (later renamed The Twilight Brigade) which would become one of the largest end of life care organizations. Through this a training protocol was developed and thousands of hospice volunteers were trained, many becoming VA volunteers. His Twilight Brigade trainers now continue training through the Transition Team Training, a program for caregivers.
When the Veterans Administration sought to create the No Vet Die Alone program, Dannion was a major contributor and continues today to help in training.
For four decades since being struck by lightning and having a near death experience, Dannion has explored the important role of integrating complementary therapies and alternative systems of healing with his often complex medical care. One of the major differences between the allopathic medical model and other systems of healing (such as Chiropractic, Ayurveda, Naturopathy,) and complementary therapies is the focus on the whole person rather than body parts. It has taken decades, but now the VA and the NIH are focusing on whole person health which includes this focus on integrative health care.
The Centers
One of the most important aspects of this 49 year journey has been the need to develop Centers through which individuals can safely and without drugs or other substances explore altered states of consciousness and even out of body experiences. Famously in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Dannion was working with Dr. Raymond Moody, the celebrity, Joan Rivers went through an early version of the Center experience and talked about it on her tv show.
Now Dannion has located a property that is exactly what he has been looking for to establish the first Center.
Your Tax Deductible Donations are needed to complete the acquisition of this property.
“You cannot drug a person back to safety.” Dannion Brinkley