A NASA scientist has claimed she experienced death not once, but three times, and each time she witnessed the same phenomenon. Ingrid Honkala, 55, an oceanographer who has collaborated with NASA, reports having near-death experiences at the ages of two, 25, and 52. Although each incident unfolded under different circumstances, she asserts that the outcome was identical: she entered a peculiar state of complete calm, devoid of fear, with no sense of time, and felt a separation from her physical body.
Instead of remaining within her body, Honkala describes becoming 'pure awareness,' immersed in what she calls a vast, interconnected consciousness filled with light, clarity, and peace. She maintains that this was not a fleeting hallucination but a consistent experience she returned to every time she approached death. The scientist now believes these moments offered a glimpse into what lies beyond human life, challenging the notion that consciousness ceases when the body shuts down. Her claims, which blur the boundaries between science and spirituality, are already igniting debate over what truly happens when we die. Despite skepticism, she insists the experiences were more real than anything she has felt in the physical world.
First Near-Death Experience at Age Two
Honkala recounts that her first brush with death occurred when she was just two years old, after falling into a tank of icy water at her home in Bogotá, Colombia. She recalls the initial shock and panic of struggling to breathe, but then everything suddenly shifted. 'Instead of fear, a deep calm came over me,' she told Jam Press. 'The panic disappeared and was replaced by an overwhelming sense of peace and stillness.' She describes the moment as if her awareness separated from her body, allowing her to see herself floating lifelessly in the water. 'At that moment, I no longer felt like a child in a body but like pure consciousness, a field of awareness and light,' Honkala said.
According to her, time seemed to vanish entirely, along with fear, thoughts, and even the sense of being an individual. Instead, she felt completely connected to everything around her. 'It felt like being immersed in a vast intelligence filled with love, clarity and peace,' she explained. In one of the most extraordinary parts of her account, Honkala claims she could see her mother several blocks away and somehow communicate with her without speaking. Her mother later rushed home and found her daughter unconscious in the water, a detail Honkala says matched what she had seen during the experience. The incident, she says, changed her life forever. 'From that moment forward, I no longer feared death,' she said.
Later Near-Death Experiences
Honkala went on to have two more near-death experiences later in life: one during a motorcycle crash at age 25 and another at 52 when her blood pressure dropped during surgery. Despite the very different circumstances, she says each experience brought her back to the same place. Each time, she claims, she entered the same peaceful state of awareness beyond her physical body. While many scientists argue that near-death experiences are the result of brain activity under extreme stress, Honkala believes they point to something far deeper. 'These experiences transformed my understanding of life itself,' she said. 'Instead of seeing ourselves as isolated individuals struggling to survive, I began to understand that we may be expressions of consciousness experiencing life through a physical form.'
She now believes death is not the end, but a transition. 'From that perspective, death does not feel like the end of existence, it feels more like a transition in the continuum of consciousness,' she said. Despite her extraordinary claims, Honkala built a successful scientific career, earning a PhD in Marine Science and working in environmental research, including collaborations with NASA and the US Navy. She adds that her near-death experiences actually fueled her desire to understand reality through science. 'I wanted to understand the nature of reality through observation and research,' she explained.
Bridging Science and Spirituality
While she largely kept her experiences private for years, she now believes science and spirituality may not conflict. Instead, she argues they could be exploring the same unanswered questions from different angles. Her upcoming book, Dying to See the Light: A Scientist's Guide to Reawakening, dives deeper into her experiences and what they could mean for our understanding of consciousness.
