Jump From Bridge Led to NDE (Near Death Experience)

0:03 From the time that they pronounced me that was a good 45 minutes They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart my heart stopped and I could see people screaming and crying But I didn't realize that was actually my physical body because I was somewhere else The only thing that I could feel if you can imagine Absolute love and peace there wasn't anything else to be felt. I was greeted by people I'd known in the past I'm back home again. Incredibly safe and felt at home. Welcome, welcome to Round Trip Death, everybody. We're happy to have our special guest today, Cedar Branches. Good morning. How are you, Cedar?

0:48 Morning, Eric. I'm okay. How are you doing? Good. It's good to see you. We had a great talk yesterday. And I feel like I need to give sort of a Intro disclaimer, whatever we want to call it before we get started today to let our audience know While this is going to be full of positive energy and thoughts. This is a very unusual near -death type of experience that some people are going to Maybe have a harder time dealing with and that's okay. We're also going to be discussing some sensitive topics like suicide and so if that's something that you know maybe you're not ready for it this time that's okay just wanted to give you a little heads up on that and remind everybody if you're ever in any kind of a crisis there's the 988 crisis line you can always reach out to and have somebody to talk to but let's jump in on a more positive note cedar take just a minute and tell us a little bit about you I'm 51 years old, turning 52 tomorrow. And I previously lived a corporate life, living the American dream.

2:05 And I left my career in 2011 and dedicated myself to a path of devotional spiritual service. After that period, the journey has been really wild, which I'm sure we're going to talk a little bit more about today, including a few near depth like experiences. You know, I'm going to be sharing what I share today. And this is a little bit of my disclaimer as literal because my rendering of my experience is very literal to me. Hope that anything that I can offer today is, is a value to anyone. Well, I appreciate you being here. I know it's not easy to be as vulnerable as the things that we're going to be talking about today. And hey, let me be the first one to say happy birthday tomorrow. Oh, thank you.

2:56 I will spare you the singing, but happy birthday and congratulations. And what does it mean to, I forget how you worded it, something about how you left regular life and started on a spiritual journey about 15 years ago. What does that mean? How did things change? Well, I found myself living a corporate life. I actually worked at Microsoft Corporation as an analyst. I had worked really hard over the years to gain that position. And I had what a lot of people might really believe is the American dream. You know, I had a beautiful family and I drove a Cadillac and I had a good paying job, a condo in the suburbs of Seattle. And I still didn't have happiness. And I, you know, I really felt like on a daily basis that I was sort of serving the beast for lack of a better metaphor on that, poisoning my soul. My health was in decline and I just truly wasn't happy at a soul level. And so in 2010, I really reached a rock bottom point where every day I was waking up with a very difficult question.

4:04 That question was, should I get up and go to work today or should I die? And while my mind basically told me on a daily basis that I would choose that, I didn't. And I made the right choice. And I continued persevering through until early 2011, where in early 2011, my marriage came to a gentle and loving end and my career also came to an end. As of June 2011, through some shamanic classes I was taking, I really realized my soul calling was not about money or materiality or following the rules, but was really to try and find ways to be in service of something greater and higher than myself. That really became my path. And what that looked like to me was every morning I would wake up. And time was on my side, even though I didn't really have any finances to support me. And I would listen to my heart on what I believe Spirit was telling me to go do or where to go. And I would follow that, would think. And it led me a lot of places for a lot of years. I'll bet there's some other people listening right now that are feeling somewhat the same way. But that is a scary leap to just jump. Any advice? I wouldn't recommend it for most people. I really think that there's other

5:34 easier ways. I really have gone through in my life and I've made a lot of arguably foolish decisions that were necessary for me to learn. I think other people could mediate that a little better, learn how to value a little more what is in your life, and find ways to become more authentic with yourself. without necessarily casting everything aside. All right. Well, let's get into the NDE stuff. Let's go back. You had three different experiences back in the early 2010s, 2010 to 2014. Give us an idea of what was going on and what led up to the first and second ones, which were a little minor compared to the third one that we're going to get to in a few minutes. What was going on? Well, in 2010, like I said, I had reached my rock bottom. And in very early 2011, I had one of the final arguments with my ex -wife, now ex -wife. Our marriage had really been based on attachment as well as a form of love. But it was very much based on attachment and fear of loss. When I had that argument, I set out onto the roads in the night and my one of my faster cars. And I know I was out there being reckless and that the whole night was kind of a bore. I have faint glimpses of, you know, maybe having an accident, maybe not.

7:02 And really when I sort of came out of my boat that I was in at the moment, I found myself parked at a gas station. And I was really certainly from that experience, even though I can't describe a lot of details from it. I was a different man when I came to in that moment. And it was the next morning that I went to my ex -wife with love and we decided to separate and that was out of love for each other. It wasn't in a fight. It was more about allowing the other to find their own happiness on their own path. And so that one taught me a lot. I'm gonna throw out another term that's used often and I don't know if you've heard this before. It's called a spiritually transformative experience or STE. versus NDE.

7:53 Do you feel like the thing that you just described was more of that? Very likely, yeah. Now in my rendering, since I don't have a lot of detail, I can't really say as much as with the other experiences, the literalness of how I experience. But in that case, I would definitely agree. And that led to a whole change in your life. Absolutely. Definitely transformative. Okay. So you keep going down this path, you get to a point later where you're doing all kinds of meditation and fasting and that leads up to the next experience.

8:34 So go ahead and go through all of that. I really heavily depended during that time you're talking about on community support and being in community to make sure I got fed. But one of the things that happens in the Pacific Northwest in the winter is community sort of disappears while people go inside to hibernate, I suppose, for the winter. I actually ended up going to my stepbrothers' home in Granite Falls and I brought a small amount of food with me. It was supposed to drag me through the winter and it really wasn't enough. And so I was already just due to my health issues and basically a starvation mode. And after three months, I had run out of food. I had run out of sweetener for the tea that I was drinking on tea fasting. And I really went through a starvation experience. That was a slow process, you know, weeks and weeks and weeks of meditation and releasing through every layer of attachment, you know, attachment to ideas, to material materiality, to relationships, to my own beliefs, and even to wipe itself. And as the starvation sort of turned to where it looked like I was really at risk, which was sort of a shift in aim into euphoria, which I recognized as a symptom, as I faded off to sleep that night, I sort of, the writing was on the wall that it was likely that my organs would shut down while I slept. And as I was sort

10:06 of resolving through that, I found I still had one regret that was still with me. And that was the thought of a soulmate who I didn't know, who was out in the world waiting for me. And that, you know, I might have some sort of a soul contract to go meet them. And that I regretted that I wouldn't be able to fulfill that in my life. I moved on from that as well. And the move on was kind of in the form of asking spirit. There's something left for me to complete. Please eat me here. But if there's not, I'm ready to go home. And the next morning I woke up and a friend of mine was on the doorstep with food.

10:48 I guess it was my choice to return to life to fulfill that. And just on a positive note about that experience, it has since been fulfilled. Absolutely. I like how you just said something about going home. Like that was a possibility that you might be going home. That's a term that we hear a lot. from people who have visited the other side. I know nothing about your religious or zero religious background. Why did you come up with that term home? It's related to partially to belief probably because I believe we all come from one source and we all return to that source not even in a religious way. even a physics way, I suppose. It's additionally related to what I found every time I stared at that veil and that edge, and that it's as if there's a sea of just infinite peace and love, and it's a very welcoming place, and it has that feeling of home, you know? That's really where it resonates to me. Every time I stood at that edge, it looks like home. It's very inviting. There's nothing wrong there. Very peaceful place. And it just feels like home. How else would you explain that?

12:11 Besides the words peaceful and home, any other adjectives to... Welcoming is really dead. And it's much like a sea of infinite love and an unconditional love at that. And, you know, it's pretty amazing for me every time I've sort of been at that place because in life, I have a lot of struggle that goes on in my head and I... I find things very important in life, whether that's something I think, what my beliefs are, or I'd see it in other people, what politics are, and all of this. And really, when you're in that other place, there's none of that. And being on the other side of it, it just feels like we make so much more meaning about this life than is actually necessary. The other side has such a perfection and such an unconditional love. that you can look back and you can say, well, there was nothing wrong the whole time, and I made it mean all of this. And then it's clear on the other side. Okay. Thank you for all that. Let's move forward to 2014. Life gets even tougher. Tell us what's going on now. Well, I had continued going along with my devotional service. I was trying to teach a lot of things that I was learning at the time in my developing wisdom. Still very not matured at that point.

13:30 But I did find a lot of personal healing. And one day in mid April that year of 2014, I went on a medicine walk, which is something that I would regularly do. It was kind of like a spirit guided walk without direction and listening to the heart and going where you're guided. And I ended up at a bridge over a ravine. And I had a vision there of me falling to my death off the bridge. It took me back a little bit. not just because it was such a graphic vision, but also because I didn't have any fear around it. I felt it was kind of a peaceful vision, which was a little surprising to myself. And I didn't take any immediate action on it. I had other obligations to attend to, so I moved on. Well, the next day, or maybe a couple of days after, I sort of woke up out of a writing an automatic writing trance if I would do things like that at the time. And on my computer in front of me was a suicide note. I looked at it and I understood that I had a place and that I had a plan. And I realized that these were pretty big warning signs that maybe I should call for help. And so I called a friend. They didn't answer I left a kind of a superficial message, you know one of those Oh, hey, give me a call when you get a chance sort of things and then after I didn't

15:00 get a call after many hours or maybe even the next morning I Pretty much decided I was gonna walk down to that bridge But I I couldn't leave the friend that I had call With a dishonest message and feel like I had done them any service. So I called him back I was much more honest when I left the message at this point about sort of the urgency and the situation that I was in. And after they didn't call back for a while, I put on my shoes and I went to the door. And as I reached for the door, that friend called back. They came, they picked me up. They showed me just the great amount of love and compassion and understanding. They took me to a different location through a community house that was full of naturopathic physicians and dealers and you know a bunch of men kind of around my age or younger and I spent a couple weeks there in a lot of healing work, internal healing work around what I was going through as well as teaching and trying to give gifts to them while I was there. A couple weeks later toward the end of April there was a quiet moment which was rare in that house. I sat down to meditate and a spirit basically told me in those moments that this conversation That I had had since my youth about death and about dying and killing myself was gonna come to an end once and for all Which was

16:31 honestly relief to my ears And I was like, yes, please Then spirit gave me the instruction to write that suicide note by hand and to go to the bridge And I was in brawl You know, I wasn't planning on going and killing myself, but I was definitely ready to step into what spirit had in store for me. So I scribbled the note out and I walked the number of miles over to the bridge. When I got there, I paced the bridge for a while. I meditated. I burned some sage and some kapal. And then at some point I stopped near the middle of the bridge, looked over the edge and spirit. said jump and so I jumped and I fell to the trail below and my bones broke and blood spilled out about me and I died. I was taken into, we'll call it a vision. I was taken into a vision that tracked all of the people who I loved and who loved me through the lives moving forward and while I think before that occurrence I had hoped that my death might actually make a difference for someone. What I found was that it didn't. That, you know, it made people sad for a while, that they needed to process through their healing, but I really learned that other people's lessons weren't my responsibility

18:03 for them to learn. You know, everyone's got to learn their own truth in their own way. And then... something really miraculous happened. There had been a few college students who were on that bridge when I jumped and spirit resurrected my body on the trail below. And I stood up and I was complete. There was no broken bones. There was no wounds. Quick shout out here to our returning sponsor one skin I Started using their face moisturizer and eye cream a couple of months ago And I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tried it myself But this stuff it actually works the science says so and I say so Okay, it didn't make my 60 plus year old skin look 29 again but it does look healthier and what I really notice is that it feels different. It actually feels more like it did years ago. OneSkins research led to the OS1 peptide discovery. It's the first ingredient proven to switch off the damaged cells, actually slowing skin aging directly at the source. And with summer here, that matters even more. Right now you can try OneSkin's limited edition summer bundles that include SPF Essentials, the complete system to summer proof your skin. So here's their pitch. Born from over a decade of longevity research, One Skin is helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. For a limited time,

19:35 try One Skin with 15 % off using code roundtrip at oneskin .co forward slash roundtrip. That's 15 % off at oneskin .co with code roundtrip. After your purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show by telling them that we sent you. This didn't last long because then I was shown that what had happened with those college students who had witnessed the fall and who had witnessed this resurrection experience. And they went on through their life and at first they tried to tell other people about it. You know, I'm sure it sounded extraordinary to anyone they told. Ultimately they got into therapy around it. It wasn't believed. It didn't land with anyone. After time passed even the people who had witnessed such a crazy miracle Didn't even believe they had witnessed of anyone and it affected less than the death itself and so I had hoped that Prior to this I had hoped that you know the the performance or the working of miracles witnessed by others would make a difference for them and I found that it really get them and again, it sort of goes back to the the same message about that everyone's responsible for their own truth and their own lessons. Then I moved into a period that I would refer to as an experience of Nirvana, which is an infinite

21:07 place with no contrast and no experience. It's that place of rest that I touched on and that home that I touched on in the first death experience. But it was gone as soon as I As soon as I was there, as soon as it arrived, it was gone. Then I found myself scanning back on top of the bridge, as if not a breath had passed. And I heard three messages from Spirit at that time. I'll go a little bit slow with those. The first was, it takes more courage to live than it does to die. That answered some of my questions that were in that note. The second message was even more significant. we can affect more in life than we can in death. And here I had thought moving into this whole scenario that my death would affect something in life and I was shown it doesn't.

22:02 We can affect so much in life for each other. Really the value of the gift we have here. And then the third message was I still have more works to complete and specifically another work to complete. It was really around Not so much me teaching but someone learning what I had to teach This was at the same time on the same day that I wrote the note. I just found this the other day, too I had seeded philosophy all the applied karmic magic it's 12 years later now over 12 years later and I actually just finally published that work and What it became after growing for over a decade? Okay, I'm trying to unpack all this. Let's jump into it a piece at a time. And by the way, what you wrote, it is a memoir. It is available out there if people want to read it. We'll stick a link down on the show notes later. Let's talk about a few things.

23:05 We have listeners that are religious, I'm not religious, we have atheists, we have Christians, we have Buddhists, we have you name it, okay? And I don't want to at all pigeonhole what you've been talking about into one of those kinds of boxes, but I do want you to clarify a few things. And that is, let's just start here. When you say spirit, What are you talking about exactly? Because Christians might think of the Holy Spirit and other people might think of, well, it's just the spirit world in general. What does that mean to you exactly? For me, it was my name. It was my name for God at the time. I'm a very spiritual person. I've done a lot of religious studies, but I don't subscribe to any particular religion.

23:58 I like to keep my heart open. And even from a Christian background, what I've learned is that if we have faith in Him, we'll find Him everywhere. And there's no reason for us to fear some other language. And so, spirit to me is sorts. It's a unified soul that we all share, regardless of what our culture or our religion is. Other people who are non -religious may call it the universe. I actually... Really like physics myself, you know as a different kind of language. It's like how does this experience work and What is this world that we live in and how is that rendered for us? We don't necessarily have a really good language for a lot of these things and so I'd use the word spirit I've used the word magic then one of my two one of my two new books. I use the word armor Thank you that helps now I have to interject a little of my own belief here.

24:57 And I try not to do this very often, okay? But if spirit to you is like God to me or to somebody else, I just can't wrap my mind around God telling you to jump from a bridge. Please explain how that could be a thing. Well, so I've done a lot of actually Transcendental Meditation and Buddhist practices, which involves really spilling the ego, and stealing that monkey mind, and listening, and learning to listen. That's also been nearer to the shamanic practices I've learned. It's about listening, about paying attention to the symbols that come forward, about learning what spirit's telling us. Really when it comes down to it, when I say that the spirit told me something, it's not words, I'm not hearing voices. It's not so literal like that. It's that I've got a still mind, a still way of being. I'm listening to my heart and I'm observing the symbols and visions that come forward. And then I'm putting those into words, into my own, you know. Sure.

26:08 Okay. Okay. Let's talk about, you used the term vision, which sounded quite a bit like a life review. Would you say it's similar to a life review? The first... Sorry, the second death experience, the starvation death experience, was what I would consider a life review. It was looking at my past, it was looking very much at where I had been, and it was really centered for me at the time around regrets, or missed opportunity, or regrets for things that I had done. So that really looked more like a life review. And the third experience, the bridge experience, the life review was much more forward -looking. And so I'm not sure I would call that a life review in the same way. Okay. No, I get it. Sort of a forward -looking life review. Like if this had happened, then that would be a result.

27:04 Is that kind of a thing? Sort of a cause and effect? Yeah. Okay. I like that. Another thing that some people are really going to have a hard time with. So let's talk about it. This is not me Giving cedar a hard time. Okay, we're just we're just talking through things that people are feeling right now You use the term resurrected Yes, sir for your body after jumping from the bridge and most people that believe in resurrection are gonna say No, no, no, no. No. Okay. Maybe you were healed but resurrected. That's a whole different thing So explain why you use that term.

27:44 I have no other term for someone who is dead being brought back to life and You know, I really don't want it I really don't want to challenge people's belief structures and I mean even when you get into to scriptures Christ wasn't the only resurrection that's noted and You know, I this is a big one. This this is a big one for me to say I think this is really important I speak about these things as literal because they were literal for me. I really have nothing to prove to anyone else. There's no benefit for me to prove these ideas to anyone else. And I just hope that they can take on this story however they take it. And I hope it had value to them.

28:28 You know, the themes are more important than the proving of something. As long as we're talking about proving, do you mind? And I'll edit this out. if you do mind. Do you mind if we talk about a medical diagnosis that you have had recently? Because to me, this shows you absolutely are, you're just trying to be honest. What's going on with you? Well, the end tale of it is called hypogonadism and cricaxia, which are two muscle wasting conditions. And they basically mean that my body is continually actively consuming the muscle, and the hypodonadism doesn't allow me to create new muscle. I'm currently in the one percentile for my age group. I've pretty much given everything that I have. And those two conditions are sourced from other chronic conditions, celiac disease, systemic bucus, COPD, a non -alcoholic fatty liver disease, and a couple of others.

29:37 That's just my life and my karma. I was sort of born with it, and it got exacerbated through all kinds of things in my life, especially the art lifestyle. I was told just over a year ago that there was a 70 % chance of me dying by April of 2026. And here we are, it's July. This year I've got an updated prognosis. It says there's an 80 85 chance of me dying before June of 2027 and The road doesn't end until it ends Keep proving them wrong my friend keep proving them and meanwhile, I'm going to complete everything that I can You know because coming to that point for me I understand that it's the worst suffering I've ever experienced in life and I've been for a fair share of what I call suffering is in the times up and having regrets and I definitely wouldn't wish that on anything. Here I am, I've written my autobiography, I've written Applied Karmic Magic which is the framework for something new and it's the real gift for others. There's a lot of other things for me to wrap up in this life still and a little more work for me to do at least. So it's a personal responsibility and it's actually in a way selfish because I know now when I go to face that day

31:08 that I'm complete, that I did everything that I could and that I don't have to move forward with regrets even if something didn't succeed. Do you have any fear of death? No. No, not at all. You know, I've been through it enough times. There's nothing to fear on the other side of death at all. I'm still not certain there is such a thing in reality. I think it might be something we walk through, but I don't know any more than anyone else. Well, I can tell you I've interviewed hundreds of people who have been through it, and I've had it described in so many different ways. A lot of people have said it's just like walking through a doorway. Yep. It is just that simple. Now, unfortunately with our physical bodies sometimes there's some pain associated with getting to that point. Nobody looks forward to that. But walking through a doorway into a better place is pretty nice thing.

32:18 And, and we're putting that off as long as we can. That's right. That's what we're here on this earth for. We're not here to jump out of it. We're here to experience everything that we're meant to experience here. So I hope all these things that you're wrapping up, that you're doing them slowly enough that you're with us as much longer as possible. Thanks. Thanks. Me too. You know, I'm grateful for every day and you know, I couldn't agree with what you said more about it. So for those that are struggling with life right now, as you have at many times, give us some kind of a message of hope. What is there to look forward to and to keep working for? Well, all the greatest gifts in my life have actually come through suffering. And it's not to make light of suffering. Suffering is not easy. But every time I have found a gift, it's been in the darkest points of my life. Every time I've received a lesson, it's been from the suffering that I've experienced. There's a reason for this suffering. It's not that suffering is good. I can't say that to people. I don't wish suffering on anyone. But when it does happen, sometimes it's necessary. And the rewards are worth more. And that kind of goes back to something people would commonly say, you know, we take the bad with the good, enjoy the miracles that this life has to offer, and just live it all whole. Well Cedar, you're an inspiration. I appreciate

33:50 all that you're doing. Any last thoughts you want to leave us with today? Love is the alchemy. Let's return to love. Love yourself. Love those all around you. Love the spirits that you believe in. Operate from love. Don't follow the fears. And that's about all I could really say. Thanks again for listening and sharing this podcast. Don't forget to hit the follow or subscribe button and sign up for our newsletter at roundtripdeath .com. If you want to share your near -death experience or if you have questions or comments about the show, send an email to eric at roundtripdeath .com. Until then, I wish you everything good that you're looking for in this life and the next.