Make sure to pull over or stop whatever you're doing to listen to this one, this is an episode you'll want to go back to many times because we cover a lot of great information! Let me introduce you to Dr. Eben Alexander III. Dr. Alexander spent over 25 years as an academic neurosurgeon, including 15 years at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, the Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.  Over those years he personally dealt with hundreds of patients suffering from severe alterations in their level of consciousness. He thought he had a very good idea of how the brain generates consciousness, mind and spirit. But then late 2008, he was driven into a coma by a rare bacterial infection of unknown cause. What happened next is truly amazing, uplifting and inspiring. His story of coming to realize the true nature of reality and that we are so much more than this physical body and existence. He's the author of Proof of Heaven, The map of Heaven  and co-author with Karen Newell of Living in  Mindful Universe. Since Proof of Heaven was released in 2012, he has been a guest on The Dr. Oz Show, Super Soul Sunday with Oprah Winfrey, ABC-TV’s 20-20 and Good Morning America, FOX-TV’s FOX & Friends, and his story has been featured on the Discovery Channel and the Biography Channel. He has been interviewed for over 400 national and international radio and internet programs and podcasts.  His books are available in over 40 countries worldwide, and have been translated into over 30 languages. In this episode we dive deeply into consciousness, what is it? We talk about his own healing from his neo-cortex being completely wiped out, having a less than 1% chance of recovery to a perfect and full recovery within 2 months, something that science cannot explain other than his near death experience allowed him to fully experience consciousness and heal himself. The role of the linguistic brain(conscious mind) and how we can use it and where it is no longer beneficial. How the scientific community is opening up more and more into understanding consciousness. Eben gives you so many different resources to explore and learn more on the subject. I think the greatest lesson is near the end in giving us the advice to just jump in and begin going within to experience more of who you really are. Make sure to share this episode, subscribe to our show if you haven't already and tag myself and Eben in your posts.Instagram: @ebenalex3md and @benspangl. Check out his and Karen's website for resources on accessing deeper states of consciousness at www.sacredacoustics.com and his personal website for an incredible amount of resources www.ebenalexander.com