“An out-of-body consciousness beyond space and time.”
That is how Christine from Ulm describes the near-death experience that changed both her life and her relationship with death.
March 31, 2026
By Stefanie Meinecke
Christine Brekenfeld of Ulm was heavily pregnant in 2004 when her placenta suddenly detached. The resulting hemorrhage was so severe that she nearly died. Even today, she says the near-death experience enriched her personally and spiritually.
“Suddenly, all fear was gone. Everything became quiet and still. It was as if time had stopped, as if there were no past and no future. There was also a feeling that everything was okay. Something calm and peaceful completely enveloped me.”
A Near-Death Experience Changes Christine’s Life and Her View of Death
Since her near-death experience, Christine says she moves through the world much more consciously. She lives more intensely, loves more deeply, and says that fear has completely disappeared from her daily life – both the fear of dying and the fear of living.
“Something truly changed. I now have complete trust in life and no fear anymore. No fear of whatever life may bring. I am open to everything. Before, I was more restricted. It feels as though the experience placed me on an entirely new life path, and only now am I truly living.”
Christine lives and works just a short walk from Ulm Cathedral in the picturesque Fishermen’s Quarter. Surrounded by history, timber-framed buildings, and waterways, she has found a place that resonates deeply with her. Water, she says, is a source of strength. The Danube River flows just around the corner.
“Everything is flowing,” she says with a smile.
After Her Encounter With Death: Training as a Trauma Therapist
Christine later trained as a trauma therapist. She says she could not simply continue as if nothing had happened – neither personally nor professionally. She left a secure position at a Berlin university and began working independently as a therapist helping others.
“I am not afraid of dying. And something wonderful comes from that: I am no longer afraid of living. I experienced that again when I moved to Ulm. Everyone said, ‘My God, you can’t give up a successful practice in Berlin and move to Ulm. You don’t even know how it’s going to work out!’
I said, ‘That’s true. But I’m going to do it anyway, and then I’ll see what happens.'”
Since the Near-Death Experience: No More Endless Worrying
Christine says her outlook on life also changed dramatically. Before the experience, she describes herself as materialistic. Relationships, career, housing – she believed she had everything under control. For nearly forty years, her approach to life seemed to work. It was efficient, but also somewhat one-dimensional, she says.
That changed on July 12, 2004, when her placenta detached.
“I felt as though I was standing on the edge of a high cliff. The edge was crumbling beneath me, and I knew I was about to fall completely. Yet there was something inside me that resisted.”
Christine managed to place an emergency call. Paramedics arrived, followed by firefighters and an emergency physician. Even then, she believed she could somehow control the situation and stop the catastrophe.
Then came the moment when she realized she could not.
Is This What Dying Feels Like? The Journey Beyond?
“That was the moment my consciousness shot beyond my body. I was no longer in my body. Suddenly I was outside it. I had the feeling that I occupied the entire room. I was everywhere.”
Christine says she watched her own body from outside as it was transported to the hospital. She even remembers hearing someone say that the unborn child no longer had a heartbeat. Yet throughout the experience, she felt only peace.
Everything was completely peaceful, she says. She always had the feeling that everything was okay.
Doctors were able to save Christine through emergency surgery. Her baby did not survive.
To this day, she experiences her son, Frederik, as a companion and guide in her life. Returning to the physical world without his physical presence was difficult and emotionally contradictory, she says.
Scientists Say Near-Death Experiences Share Common Elements
Approximately three million people in Germany report experiences similar to near-death experiences. Common features include leaving the body, seeing colors and lights, encounters with divine beings, and meetings with deceased loved ones.
Christine did not report encounters with deceased relatives or spiritual beings. However, she vividly remembers an extraordinary light – dark orange and golden – and says she felt infinitely free and completely safe at the same time.
Some medical researchers who study near-death experiences argue that we should rethink our understanding of life and death. Dutch cardiologist Pim van Lommel, for example, believes that human consciousness may not necessarily be dependent on a functioning body or even the brain itself.
Most scientists disagree. Their explanation is that the dying brain, deprived of oxygen, creates vivid and extraordinary experiences as part of the biological process of death – a final fireworks display generated by the brain.
Christine’s Encounter With Death Changed Her Life
Christine has little interest in arguing with scientists about what happened.
For her, the near-death experience was a gift.
She says it allowed her to grow personally and spiritually. It awakened a lasting curiosity about what may exist beyond the limits of ordinary human perception.
The experience helped her view death calmly and without fear. It became a form of liberation and perhaps the first step toward her current vocation – helping others as a trauma therapist and spiritual guide.
“It is important to me to invite people to engage with the end of life and with death. To ask what we might gain for our lives when we understand that life is not forever.”
Update: Christine in 2026
“The path unfolds beneath the feet of the person who is walking.”
— Martin Walser
Christine Brekenfeld says this quote perfectly describes her life in 2026.
She feels she made the right turn when she moved to Ulm. Speaking shortly before Easter – a season when themes such as death, resurrection, and life after death are often discussed – she says she is doing very well.
Three years after her first SWR interview in 2023, she remains grateful for the experience that transformed her life. The near-death experience continues to influence both her work and her understanding of what may lie beyond death.
Editor’s Comments: Christine’s account contains many of the most commonly reported elements found in near-death experiences around the world. She describes an overwhelming sense of peace, the complete disappearance of fear, and the feeling that time no longer existed. These are among the most frequently reported aspects of NDEs, appearing in accounts from people of different cultures, religions, and backgrounds. Particularly noteworthy is her description of an expanded state of consciousness in which she felt herself occupying the entire room rather than being confined to her physical body. This type of out-of-body experience is one of the most widely documented features of the near-death experience phenomenon.
Another classic NDE element appears in Christine’s report of observing events occurring around her physical body while medical personnel were attempting to save her life. She describes perceiving her body from an external perspective and hearing conversations taking place around her. Whether one interprets such reports as evidence of consciousness operating independently of the brain or as an unusual neurological process, the consistency of these observations across thousands of cases is difficult to ignore. Christine also reports encountering an extraordinary light and experiencing a profound sense of safety, freedom, and well-being. While she did not describe meetings with deceased relatives or spiritual beings, not every NDE contains every possible element. What matters is that the overall structure of the experience remains highly recognizable.
Chapter Nineteen in in my book titled “The Science of Denial” takes a deep dive into one of the elements discussed in this article. Doctors and scientists always insist on trying to explain NDEs away as “… the dying brain, deprived of oxygen, creates vivid and extraordinary experiences as part of the biological process of death…” However a close analysis of the mountains of NDE accounts and data clearly proves this is not the case. It makes no sense at all to continue to examine dead corpse once the soul has moved on. Literally, Elvis has left the building.
What I find most interesting about this account is not what makes it unique, but what makes it familiar. This experience occurred in Germany, involved a woman with her own life history, beliefs, and circumstances, yet the underlying pattern closely resembles accounts reported in North America, South America, Asia, and elsewhere. The details vary from one person to another, but the framework remains remarkably consistent. After reviewing thousands of near-death experiences, I have come to expect this pattern. The individual details are always unique. The box they come in is almost always the same.
Here’s a link to the original source:
https://www.swr.de/leben/lebensgeschichten/nahtoderfahrung-so-fuehlt-sich-sterben-an-100.html
