Arnold Mindell: A COMA Story

This is a fascinating incident reported by Arnold Mindell in a book called Coma, one of my all-time favorites.  He and his wife Amy developed an amazing and amazingly simple technique for pulling people out of comas in a matter of 15-30 minutes . .               Arny says, "Except for those with severe structural brain damage, all the comatose people I have seen have awakened and verbally communicated powerful experiences. even those with extensive traumatic brain damage responded positively to process work with nonverbal signals, while those without severe brain damage awakened and competed their unfinished learning and loving. Some died, while others climbed out of bed at the point of death, discharged themselves from the hospital, and went back to life. Most transcended the ideas of life and death altogether, and one person went for a cruise in the Bahamas. Let me tell you his story."           [[What follows is directly from his book.]]           John, a man in his 80s, seemed stuck at the edge of life, unable to die. He had been in and out of semicomatose states for 6 months, intermittently groaning and yelling. When I saw him he was lying in his hospital bed, moaning and shouting out something that no one could understand. He disturbed the other patients and nurses. Though I was working with a client in another room, the nurses begged me to go in and see him because they thought maybe I could quiet him down.           As I entered his room, I saw an old black man lying in pool of sweat, groaning loudly. I joked, “Hey! No one around here can get any sleep! You’re too loud.” John seemed not to hear me but continued to moan.           I decided to follow his sounds. “ohhh, oooh, wow, yeah,” I groaned with him, approximating the sound of his breathing. I gently squeezed his hand in cadence with his respiration and heartbeat..           After about 20 minutes his muffled shouts became distinguishable words. John, who had not said a word to anyone in days or uttered a complete sentence in 6 months, now said, “yeah. Wow, No, yeah, . . . oh .. . .”           (The following dialogue was recorded on tape.)   Arny: [Adding a phrase onto his words] Wow, yeah, unbelievable! John: [Slowly, at first vaguely] Yeah, you . . . you .. . know . . . Arny: Me. . . yeah. John: Shhhh . . . Yeah. A b… bb… bbbbbiig, a biiig shhhhhip. Arny: Shhhiiiip . . . Yeahhh. Larger than I thought, that ship. John: Yeah, aaaa big ship’s . . . coming . .. for John!!! Arny: Wow, wow . .. You gonna take it? John: [Yelling with all his might] No, man – not me!! I’m not getting on that ship. Arny: Why n ot? John: [Long pause, coughing and sputtering] That ship’s going … on … vacation! I’m not going. I gotta get up at 8 in the morning and go to work! Arny: Me too. Me too . .. But do me a favor, a big favor [following the direction of John’s eye motions], put your eyes up in your head and take a good look at the ship. John: [John began to look incredulous anad rolled his head upwards.] Arny: Look in and then tell me who’s driving that ship. John: Hummmm, who . .. hmmmm. [looking up, the whites of his eyes showing] Oh wow!! Wow . . . There are angels in that ship, driving it. Arny: Angels?                      I feel excited and think to myself that this experience has to be completed, that is, he has to go into it more deeply in order for it to be of use to him.   Arny: Take a look in the boiler room. Who’s in there? John: [Looking down, moving his head down]: hmmmm. Oh wow, hmmmm, down there . . . angels . . . too. No . .. yeah. [Though limited by his physical deterioration, he begins to yell with excitement] hey . . . heyyy . . . heeey . . . angels are driving that ship!! Arny: Angels! Wow! Please do me a favor, will ya? Go closer and check out just how much it costs to get on that ship. John: Hmm . .. [looking from side to side] hmmm, yeah, yeah. That . . . That . . . no . . . yeah . . . that . . . well . . . it costs nothing. Ze . . . ro. Arny: Well, what do you think about that? it’s a free trip. John: Interesting. Yeah! Arny: you ever had a vacation? John: Nope, not me. Arny: Listen, man, you never had a vacation. You’re a working man. You should consider a little trip. If you don’t like it, you can come back. If you like it, then think it over. If you want to, take off. Come back if you want or just keep going. You can now make all the decisions yourself. If you go on vacation and stay, good. If you stay here, fine. If you go, I’d love to meet you there some day. John: Yeah. Yeah. Vacation, to the Bahamas, Ba . . . ha . . . mas . . . Yeah. Hmmmmm . . . no work.           John quieted down, closed his eyes and went to sleep. He had stopped screaming. I went back to my client and came about half an hour later to see what he was up to. A nurse was standing by his bed and said that john had just died. I was both sad and happy. The old man had decided to go on vacation.           Though I would have loved to have known him better, at least I had the chance to help him relax his work ethic and take a trip to the Bahamas. He needed a break from working. He was stuck at the edge of life because he was in conflict about whether or not he could go on vacation. He was also stuck because those around him had trouble communicating with the yelling and hooting of his comatose state. For John, his coma state may have been a statement like this: “I am in conflict. There is no one here who can help me with it, so I’ll do the best I can by going internal and visualizing this ship. Since I am not used to working with visions, I can only shout with excitement about what I see.”   ~~~~~~~~~~~    *    ~~~~~~~~~~~             … Today, as never before, the needs of the dying are being met in hospices, hospitals, and private homes with loving kindness, psychological understanding, silent meditation, and prayer. Yet some of the deepest inner feelings of the dying – like John’s conflict about vacation – escape our attention. All of us connected with the dying do the best we can, but we are still in the beginning stages of our work. There is still a lot to learn about dying, as we can see by the frustration we feel in our inability to relate to the dying. We guess incorrectly that they are unreachable, that they are leaving their bodies, and that compassion, meditation, and love are all we can offer. All of these interventions are necessary, but none are sufficient.           Most dying people need assistance to experience fully the powerful events trying to happen. Without assistance, altered states confuse and baffle us. We misinterpret the signals of an altered state, believing they are signs of pain, drugs, or disease. While the dying silently and alone seek the solutions to life, we misunderstand them and imagine that they are peacefully floating off to another world.    Back to The Breadcrumb Trail ... .   . Home  ~ ~ ~  Next Breadcrumb ..  .