Grief 2 Growth

This week, we lost one of the true pioneers of near-death research. PMH Atwater passed away, and as a tribute to her, I'm re-releasing the very first interview I ever recorded with her back in 2019 — before she knew who I was, before I knew what I was doing, and before I understood what a gift those three conversations would turn out to be.
If you've ever wondered what death actually feels like, whether thoughts are things, or how a person survives dying not once but three times in a single year — this episode is for you.
PMH interviewed nearly 5,000 near-death experiencers over more than four decades. In this conversation, she doesn't just tell you what she found in other people's stories. She tells you her own.
In this episode, you'll hear:
✨ How PMH's three near-death experiences in 1977 — January 2nd, January 4th, and March 29th — nearly destroyed her body while completely rebuilding her understanding of reality
✨ The "litany against fear" she adapted from Dune and chanted by the hour to survive her recovery — and why she's sharing it with you
✨ Her encounter with Elizabeth Kübler-Ross at O'Hare Airport that launched her research career — with no university, no funding, no roadmap
✨ What she means when she says "thoughts are things," and how she came to that conclusion while dying
✨ The voice that told her, "You are to do the research. One book for each death" — and what that meant for the rest of her life
✨ Why she made the film As You Die, and why the Catholic Church stepped in to help distribute it
A few lines that will stay with you:
"Fear is the mind killer. It is the little death. I will pass through my fear. It will go around me and through me. And when it is gone, I will remain.""When you die, you don't become someone else than you were. You are.""Any death in a way is an opening to something else... And if we embrace that, then it can be joyful."About PMH Atwater
PMH Atwater began researching near-death experiences in 1978, becoming one of the founding figures in the field alongside Raymond Moody. Over more than 40 years, she interviewed close to 5,000 adult and child experiencers and authored nearly 20 books, including Coming Back to Life, Future Memory, Beyond the Light, and I Died Three Times in 1977 — The Complete Story. She lectured at the United Nations, appeared on Larry King Live and Geraldo, and remained a leading voice in near-death studies until her passing.
Learn more about her work at pmhatwater.com.
What resonated with you in this one? I'd love to hear which part of PMH's story stayed with you. Drop a comment below or reach out — I read every one.
If this episode moved you, please share it. PMH spent her life making sure these stories didn't get lost. The least we can do is keep passing them on.
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

What if the word "coach" isn't big enough for what grief actually needs?
In this conversation, Dina Bell-Laroche walks me through the journey that took her from a devastated 29-year-old — grieving her younger sister Tracy, who passed from a rare cancer while pregnant with her first child — to becoming one of the clearest voices in grief and loss literacy today. We talk about why she moved away from calling herself a "grief coach," what a grief doula actually does, and how a disconnected rotary phone in a garden in Japan became the inspiration for a project she's now bringing to a hospice near Ottawa.
This one will change the way you think about "getting over" a loss — and about ranking your grief against anyone else's.
About Dina Bell-Laroche
Dina Bell-Laroche is a Certified Thanatologist, grief doula, death educator, keynote speaker, and the author of Grief Unleashed: Moving from the Hole in Our Hearts to Whole-Hearted. Since her sister Tracy's passing in 2001, Dina has built classrooms in Nicaragua and Northern Ontario in Tracy's name, hosted dozens of Grief Cafés, and helped launch Ottawa's first Wind Phone. She writes The Grieving Place on Substack and works with individuals, families, and organizations — including elite athletes and executives — navigating grief and life-altering loss.
Connect with Dina:
Website: https://www.griefunleashed.ca/
Substack — The Grieving Place: https://dinabelllaroche.substack.com/
Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn: @griefunleashed
Book: Grief Unleashed: Moving from the Hole in Our Hearts to Whole-Hearted
In this episode, we cover:
The difference between chronos time and kairos time — and what STUGS (sudden temporary upsurges in grief) really are
Why Dina moved from "grief coach" to "grief doula," and what that shift means
Disenfranchised grief, and why sibling loss so often goes unacknowledged
Why our culture ranks losses against each other — and why that hierarchy needs to go
Talking to children honestly about death
The story behind the Wind Phone, and Dina's new Wind Phone project at a hospice in Ottawa
What the Grief Companion Program actually looks like
What resonated with you? Have you ever felt like your grief wasn't "bad enough" to talk about? Drop a comment and let's talk about it.
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

What if the worst day of your life is also the doorway to who you were always meant to be?
In this episode, I sit down with my friend Nico Martens for one of the most personal conversations I've had on the show. Nico and I met about 11 years ago, right after my daughter Shayna passed. Our mutual friend Gini was coming to Shayna's service, and Nico told her Shayna had already visited him. That's how our friendship began, and Nico walked me through some of the darkest days of my life.
Nico was a classically trained electromechanical engineer who had no use for anything that couldn't be measured. Then his mother got cancer in Belgium and chose euthanasia so she could be fully conscious when she passed. Sitting beside her in that hospital broke his heart and his entire framework for reality at the same time.
What came next was a years-long awakening that took him from skeptic to consciousness educator. We talk about the five specific predictions his mother gave him after she passed that he could not possibly have known. We get into why your subconscious runs 90% of your daily life and why willpower alone will never change it. And we explore subtle energy, sacred sites, and the body wisdom that mainstream science still won't touch.
If you have ever felt like grief was reshaping who you are at the foundation, this conversation will give you language for what is happening to you.
What We Cover:
🌱 How Nico's mother's passing cracked open his materialist worldview
🔮 The five predictions from his passed mother that proved consciousness survives
🧠 Why your subconscious mind runs the show and how to work with it
🦆 What animals know about releasing trauma that humans have forgotten
✨ Manifesting through your vibrational signature, not just positive thinking
👁️ The unchanging awareness that has been with you since you were born
🗼 Cosmic Towers, biogeometry, and the science of subtle energy
🌳 Why nature is the ultimate teacher for navigating grief
About Nico Martens:
Nico Martens is a consciousness educator, speaker, and guide in emotional integration and inner transformation. His work bridges science, subtle energy, and grounded spiritual practice, helping people move from suppression and survival into true integration and embodied presence.
He created the Mind Body Atlas, a remarkable resource that maps the emotional root patterns behind physical symptoms. Originally trained as an electromechanical engineer, Nico now brings together the rigor of a scientific mind with decades of study in hypnosis, Taoist practice, and biogeometry to help people rebuild themselves after life's breaking points.
🔗 Website: https://www.nicomartens.com
What Resonated With You?
I would love to hear what landed for you in this conversation. Did Nico's skeptic-to-mystic journey mirror something in your own story? Have you had experiences with passed loved ones that defied explanation? Drop a comment on the article at https://grief2growth.substack.com and let's continue the conversation.
If this episode meant something to you, please share it with someone who needs it.
Continue the Conversation:
📰 Read the full article and comment: https://grief2growth.substack.com
🔗 All my links: https://pages.grief2growth.com/profile
⏰ Book a free 30-minute consult: https://grief2growth.as.me/30-minute-consult
👛 Support the show: https://www.grief2growth.com/tipjar
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

Finding the Will to Recover: Nick Prefontaine on Running Out of the Hospital After Doctors Said He Never Would
At 14, Nick Prefontaine caught the edge of his snowboard going off the biggest jump in the terrain park — and that was the last thing he remembered. He woke up in a world where doctors had already told his parents he might never walk, talk, or eat on his own again. Less than 90 days later, he ran out of the hospital.
In this conversation, Nick takes us inside the recovery the motivational posters never show you. We talk about the mother who refused to let a hopeless prognosis be spoken over her unconscious son, the inner voice that whispered you're going to run out of the hospital, and the STEP system — Support, Trust, Energy, Persistence — that he didn't learn from a textbook but built from inside his own crisis.
If you're standing at a starting line you never asked for, wondering whether you have what it takes to get back up, Nick's story is a hand reaching back to pull you forward.
About Nick Prefontaine
Nick is a three-time bestselling author and nationally recognized speaker, named one of the top motivational speakers by Yahoo Finance. He's the founder of Common Goal, where he works with people in the middle of trauma, crisis, and life-altering challenges — helping them not just get through it, but thrive on the other side. He also runs a family real estate business buying and selling homes creatively.
What we cover:
The day of the accident and the "coincidences" that saved his life
Why his parents shielded him from the doctors' prognosis — and how that shaped his recovery
The STEP system: Support, Trust, Energy, Persistence
The inner voice that became his common goal, and what Nick now believes that voice is
Losing his voice for nearly a decade, and what persistence looked like day by day
The single moment of doubt he allowed himself — and his mother's answer
Making a full recovery: marathons, snowboarding again, and what he carries forward
Connect with Nick:
🪜 Download the free STEP ebook: https://nickprefontaine.com/step 🎥 The STEP video series ($37): https://nickprefontaine.com 
Let's keep the conversation going.
What resonated with you in Nick's story? Was there a moment in your own life when someone refused to speak the worst over you — or a time you had to take the next step without being able to see the whole staircase? Leave a comment and share it. And if this episode reached someone you love, pass it along.
📰 Read the companion article and join the discussion: https://grief2growth.substack.com
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support

What if the patterns that keep you stuck aren't punishment — they're an invitation?
Liane Marie Lambert was 27 years old, living in London, when she looked the wrong way crossing the street and was struck by a double-decker bus. She walked out of the hospital three days later — and began a journey that would take her from lost and broken to ascension coach, energy alchemist, and bestselling author.
In this episode, Liane unpacks two of the most misunderstood concepts in spiritual life: karma and dharma. She explains why karma isn't a cosmic penalty system, what the Law of Karmic Entanglement means for the patterns you can't seem to escape, and how the shift from 3D to 5D consciousness is less about thinking positive thoughts and more about doing the real inner work.
This is a conversation about breaking cycles, reclaiming your power, and discovering that you were never as stuck as you thought.
In this episode, we explore:
Liane's near-death experience and the dark night of the soul that followed
What karma and dharma actually mean — and how they differ
The Law of Karmic Entanglement and why some people never seem to face consequences
Why you're already a master manifestor (and what's blocking you)
The difference between 3D, 4D, and 5D consciousness
Tower moments, soul contracts, and how the universe pushes us to evolve
Practical steps to clear karma and raise your vibration
About Liane Marie Lambert:
Liane is an ascension coach, energy alchemist, karma/dharma activator, and bestselling author of Karma to Dharma: A New Age Guide to Becoming Superhuman — now available as an audiobook narrated by Liane herself. She works with individuals one-on-one and through her 9-week transformation course to help people move from karmic cycles into dharmic living.
🌱 Learn more and connect with Liane: https://lianelambert.com
📚 Get the book Karma to Dharma: https://lianelambert.com
What resonated with you from this conversation? Did Liane's take on karma surprise you? Have you experienced a "tower moment" that cracked you open and pushed you forward? Share your thoughts in the comments — I'd love to hear your story.
You've been listening. You're doing the work. But there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place.
Maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back. 
I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you.
All of it, pay what you want. You decide what it's worth. Nobody gets turned away because of money.
https://grief2g
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15.

Visit IANDS.org to register
The International Association for Near-Death Studies or IANDS will host its annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.  The event features an all-star lineup of keynotes like Proof of Heaven Author Eben Alexander, MD, and Dying to Be Me Author Anita Moorjani. I Early bird registration rates are available through July 15. 

Visit IANDS.org to register
Want to go deeper? My Substack is where I share solo essays on grief, consciousness, and continuing bonds — thoughts that don't always make it into the podcast. It's also home to a community of listeners who get it, because they're living it too. Free to subscribe. Find it at substack.com/grief2growth.
Support the show
🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Join me on Substack- connect with others and me
👛 Subscribe to Grief 2 Growth Premium (bonus episodes)
📰 Get A Free Gift
📅 Book A Complimentary Discovery Call
📈 Leave A Review

Thanks so much for your support