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If you are like me, you don't think much about death. As those close to us pass away, though, the question will inevitably come up: "What will happen to me when I die?"

Anita Moorjani had that question, too, before being stricken with cancer. In her new book "Dying To Be Me: My Journey From Cancer, To Near Death, To True Healing" she tells a fascinating story of her brush with death, and in the process gives hope and comfort to those of us who would rather avoid the subject.

I like how Moorjani delays getting into her cancer diagnosis until chapter five. In the early pages the reader gets to know Anita through her stories of her youth. "Because of my Hindu roots, I grew up to believe in karma and reincarnation," she writes, yet she attended a Catholic grade school. The conflicts in these two belief systems became apparent to Moorjani early in life. A Catholic classmate tells her "You need to tell your parents to take you to church to pray to God every Sunday, otherwise you won't get to heaven when you die." Later she tells of backing out of an arranged marriage, and how she meets her future husband Danny. We get a full picture of the "pre-cancer" Anita, with the cultural and family issues she had to work through.

When Moorjani's best friend Soni is diagnosed with cancer, as well as her husband's brother-in-law, she is paralyzed with fear that she, too, may get this dreaded disease. Soon thereafter she discovers a lump on her shoulder, and her worst fears are realized after a medical exam. She has lymphoma. Moorjani tries yet is frustrated with various alternative healing methods. "I didn't know what was good for me and what wasn't, because each system of healing espoused a different truth, and they all conflicted with each other," she writes. "This confusion only added to my already overwhelming fears. And as the terror tightly gripped me in its vice once more, I watched helplessly as my health rapidly deteriorated."

Moorjani describes in detail her hospital stay, and the painful tests she had to endure. Eventually she loses consciousness and her husband is given this grave diagnosis from her doctor: "There's nothing we can do for your wife. Her organs have already shut down. She has tumors the size of lemons throughout her lymphatic system, from the base of her skull to below her abdomen. She won't even make it through the night."

Moorjani relates her feelings of being detached from her body during this time. "What I can only describe as superb and glorious unconditional love surrounded me, wrapping me tight as I continued to let go," she writes. "The term unconditional love really doesn't do justice to the feeling, as these words have been overused to the point of having lost their intensity." With this feeling of peace and love she returns to consciousness, and miraculously her body starts to heal on its own. Her doctors are baffled.

The best part of the book are the concluding chapters, where Moorjani explains her new understanding of God, Spirituality, and life with the lessons her near death experience taught her. She posts her story on the internet, where it is discovered by inspirational author Wayne Dyer. Though reluctant at first to tell of her experience to a wider audience, Dyer encourages her to publish a book and appear with him at various conferences.

Anita Moorjani's book at first glance appears to be about death and how we can better deal with it. But it is really a story about life. Grounded in an understanding of the unconditional love of God, she encourages the reader to "express your uniqueness fearlessly, with abandon! That's why you're made the way you are, and that's why you're here in the physical world."

This is another book review in my partnership with Hay House. I was not financially compensated for this post. I received the book from Hay House for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

I was a little skeptical when Hay House sent me Anita Moorjani's book to review, the story detailing how she had miraculously healed from cancer after an NDE (Near Death Experience). I'm an open-minded person, but I couldn't help but be a bit cynical of someone who had organ failure as a result of a long battle with cancer one moment and the next moment was completely cancer-free. Although I was intrigued.

As I began the story, I read of Anita's early childhood and adolescence and the conflicting messages she felt torn between regarding cultures and religions as she grew up with an Indian background living in Hong Kong. As she tried pleasing everyone around her, she ended up losing herself. After two people close to her were diagnosed with cancer, she was absolutely terrified of getting cancer herself . Being a firm believer that your thoughts manifest the things in your life, it came as no surprise to me that she was eventually diagnosed with the disease.

Anita takes you on her journey of healing, through the diverse methods of holistic healing she tried, from Chinese herbs to an ayurveda guru in India and everything in between. She doesn't omit the fact that many of these modalities contradict one another, which makes the path to healing even more confusing and frustrating when you are trying to find the 'right' way. The more techniques she incorporated, the sicker she became.

Anita's account of her NDE is quite beautiful and her realizations profound. She states, "In truth, I'm not my body, my race, religion, or other beliefs, and neither is anyone else. The real self is infinite and much more powerful - a complete and whole entity that isn't broken or damaged in any way." And, "I'm at my most powerful when I am working with life rather than against it."

I am grateful Anita has the courage to share her story. Even if you are skeptical like I was before reading the book, you can still benefit greatly from her words of wisdom on how to live your life fearlessly. No NDE required.

Although I receive books from Hay House to review I actually purchased Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani. I haven’t read a lot of books on NDE (Near Death Experience) because they all seem to be similar. However, Wayne Dyer highly recommended this book, so late one night out of boredom I purchased it via Kindle. I skipped right to the NDE part and was really intrigued by what I read so I decided to read the entire book. The book really drew me in. I found Anita’s story very compelling.

As I was writing this review, I realized how jaded I’ve become around certain events. So I began to look at the book through the eyes of someone new to NDE’s and realized this story is really amazing and worth taking the time to read!

To give you a brief background, Anita was born in Singapore to Indian parents and grew up in Hong Kong. On February 2, 2006 Anita’s body began to fail due to the cancer that had been progressing for a number of years. As her organs shut down, she fell into a coma. Unaware of what was happening to her she realized she had never felt better and could hear and feel everything that was going on around her. She experienced the emotions of her family as if they were her own. She heard what the doctors were saying. She was experiencing her own death.

For most of her life Anita had lived with the fear of living up to the expectations of her culture. She was fortunate to marry the love of her life but then within a short time span in the 2001 people close to her were diagnosed with cancer. She began to research the disease in an effort to help her good friend but the research made her begin to fear life itself as she began to uncover how many things have been linked to cancer.

Then into 2002 she was diagnosed with lymphoma after finding a lump on her right shoulder just above her collarbone. For four years she suffered with the disease, trying different healing modalities during her travels to India. She was even pronounced healed after a lengthy Ayruveda retreat. However, when she returned home the fear and negative responses from well meaning people around her began to reverse the effects. Then in 2006 her organs began to shut down and she had her NDE as described above.

During her NDE she experienced pure, unconditional love. She felt the presence of her father and good friend. She felt their love and she was at last free of fear. However, she made the decision to return when she realized everything in her life was perfect. Once the decision was made her condition healed rapidly, almost instantly. She required no additional treatment. She is now completely well and speaks on her experience and on the power of unconditional love and releasing fear. To me, one of the best parts of the book was the question and answer chapter in the back.

What I like about the book is that it doesn’t place blame on the patient if they don’t heal. She is very clear on this point. If you have never read anything on NDE’s, this is very good start. However, be sure to read it with an open mind. If you are familiar with NDE’s this book just reiterates the power of unconditional self love and the importance of releasing fear to live your fullest life. This is a very inspiring read!

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Whenever PBS has pledge month, I look forward to listening to Wayne Dyer. Each show inspires me. I love his guests. Their stories always bring life to his words.

In his latest program Wishes Fulfilled, his guest is Anita Moorjani. Her story is about her battle with cancer and the near death experience that changed her life.

I loved the way she spoke about her experience. She was so loving and peaceful. I wanted to read her book, Dying To Be Me to learn more. I signed up for Hay House's Book Nook and they sent me the book free and in return for a review. I was happy to comply.

dying to be me

Anita begins the book talking about her life before cancer. Like many of you, she talks about growing up never feeling as if she fit in. This uneasiness turned into fear. She wanted to do things "right," but always felt out of place.

This fear spread to other areas in her life. She began to fear cancer because she watched a friend wither away from it's effects. When she was diagnosed with cancer, she feared treatment. On February 2, 2006, she let go of all her fears and died.

She details her near death experience with such clarity. She describes how her awareness expanded in all directions. She could connect with her father and friend who had died before, as well as, listen to what the doctors were saying. She could sense when a nurse had given up on her and what her brother was thinking on the way to the hospital.

Here's how she described her initial experience:

It didn't feel as though I'd physically gone somewhere else - it was more as though I'd awakened...Love, joy, ecstasy and awe poured into me, through me and engulfed me. I was swallowed up and enveloped in more love than I ever knew existed. I felt more free and live than I ever had...The feeling of complete, pure, unconditional love was unlike anything I'd known before...I didn't have to do anything to deserve it, nor did I need to prove myself to earn it.

In her choice to come back, she knew she would be healed. Her message was to live her life fearlessly. As I read those words, I attached my own definition to fearlessly. I took it to mean of courageously or adventurously.

It wasn't until Part 3 - What I Learned From My Experience that I fully understood the message. Fear is something you create. It doesn't exist. To live without fear means to live in joy. It's a simple message. Let the fear go and replace it with joy.

I've already recommended this book to friends and family. It's message is pure. Whether you're dealing with illness, death or more importantly want to make shifts in your life, this book has something for you. I know I'll be reading it several times to absorb Anita's lessons.

The quote from The Little Prince spoke to me about Anita. Through her experience she now can see with her heart what is essential. It's something we can all learn.

After reading Anita's story in Wayne Dyer's latest book, Wishes Fulfilled, I just knew that I had to read her book Dying to Be Me. So, when my friends at Hay House Publishing offered me a free copy in exchange for my honest review, I was delighted and waited in high anticipation for the book to come in the mail. Thankfully, it was not a disappointment in any way. I highly recommend that everybody reads this powerful book.

This book is the true story of Anita Moorjani's near death experience after battling cancer for many years, and the significance that it had on her life. Anita was born in Hong Kong, and grew up in the midst of a few different cultures. Her family was from India, and they practiced Hinduism. The school that her family sent her to was Catholic. And she also had friends that followed Chinese traditions. All these different cultures thrust their expectations on Anita, and it caused her to grow up with a lot of internal conflicts and lose sight of who she really was inside.

Later as an adult, Anita managed to connect with her soul mate and got happily married. But shortly after the wedding, disaster started to creep into her life. After watching her brother-in-law and best friend fight for their lives against the beast known as Cancer, Anita too was diagnosed. She refused chemo and her symptoms just got worse. When she was finally rushed into the hospital, she was weighing less than 80 pounds and had tumors the size of lemons all over her upper body. All of her organs completely shut down and she slipped into a coma. Her family was told to get the affairs in order because there was no way she was going to make it. This is when she had her experience on the other-side.

When she crossed over Anita felt nothing but pure unconditional love. She had total awareness and understanding. She meet with her recently deceased father and her best friend that had just lost her battle with Cancer. At first I was thinking that maybe she just dreamed all of this, but Anita was also able to tell the doctors and her family about the things they were talking about when she was in the coma. The one conversation that she recalled for them took place down the hall from her room. She even saw her brother flying on a plane to Hong Kong to see her.

While on the other side she was then given a choice, stay or return, and felt that it was best if she came back to her physical body. She knew that when she returned that she would be fully healed. Her only requirement was to "be herself" and "live fearlessly." After fully recovering from her cancer, she began to share her story with others. Her message that we are all a part of this unconditional love, that we are all divine, eventually found it's way into Wayne Dyer's hands who encouraged her to write this book, Dying to Be Me.

I am not telling the story very well, and I have skipped over a lot of the details, but that is okay because Anita does such an amazing job telling it herself. You just have to read this book for yourself. Her ability to paint a picture of the indescribable is quite spectacular. I found this book to be very gripping and have been recommending it to every one that I know. Once I started reading it, I just simply couldn't put it down and I ended up finishing it in just one day.

The only real down side to this book was that it tended to get a little repetitive, especially in Part III. Anita follows the story telling pattern of a news anchor; Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you just told them. Don't get me wrong Part III is filled with some beautiful statements and fascinating insights, however they are buried among the same phrases that were written many times earlier in the book. With that said, some people may actually enjoy the repetition as it can help make the meaning of the story really sink in fully.

It seems as though we live in a society that is scared to even talk about death. But once you get your hands on this book and read it for yourself, you will see the experience of death in a whole new light. I do. Anita was able to describe her experiences very well, but a part of me still wishes that I could have actually felt what she felt. Her vivid description of the unconditional pure love that she experienced while on the other side is astounding.

Here is my favorite quote from the book, "In truth, I'm not my body, my race, religion, or other beliefs, and neither is anyone else. The real self is infinite and much more powerful - a complete and whole entity that isn't broken or damaged in any way. The infinite me already contains all the resources I need to navigate through life, because I'm one with Universal energy. In fact I am Universal energy." I love this quote so much that I decided to start using it as an affirmation.

When it comes right down to it, this is not a book about dying or the after-life. It is really a book about living. A book that invites us to re-evaluate our own life and to live it to the fullest, without fear. After reading this book I was left with a feeling of great inner peace. I really cannot recommend Dying to Be Me enough. I give it a five star rating. Now, it's time for me to keep my fingers crossed with the hope that Hay House Films will decide to turn this amazing story into a movie.

Do you know just how powerful you really are? Is it possible to heal your body purely by realizing your true essence? Are there miracles in the Universe that you have yet to imagine?

If you are looking to answer these questions for yourself, then Dying To Be Me: My Journey from Cancer to Near Death to True Healing (Hay House) by best-selling author, Anita Moorjani, is a great book to read.

In a world with surmounting challenges, we tend to forget the miracle of who we are and that we often hold everything we need within us. This book is a powerful reminder.

It is a story of a miraculous healing. It is a story that offers comfort across religious boundaries.

The earlier chapters give an account of Anita Moorjani's life as a daughter of traditional Hindu parents, growing up in Hong Kong with varying beliefs and cultural expectations that led to much internal conflict and fear. She shares a familiar struggle of trying to fit in. "Why am I always different, wherever I go? Where do I belong?"

She describes how her continued fears created in her a state of dis-ease and one of her worst fears became a reality when she received a diagnosis of cancer. I was most struck when she later explained that she ate "very healthfully" prior to her diagnosis, but that she did so out of fear. I often feel that many of our well-intentioned habits are based on fear or obligation, rather than love and pure joy. This was a great reminder for me to just check in and assess my motivations for my healthy habits.

Anita Moorjani was able to discover the truth of who she is through a near death expereince (NDE). She no longer fears her physical death and sees the perfection and connectedness of all of life. She explains that even if she were to come back to a sick body, the understanding she gained "would have eliminated or reduced my internal suffering. There would have been a sense of purpose in having to live with a sick body. I believe everyone has a purpose, regardless of their physical condition." I love this.

I also enjoyed reading about the synchroncities that led to Dr. Wayne Dyer learning about her story and encouraging her to share her message. As she writes, "Each of us is an integral part of a greater unfolding tapestry that's continually working toward healing the planet." I absolutely love this line.

"You already are everything you need to be." That's what Anita Moorjani wants us all to remember. It's a message that affirms what I feel deeply in my heart...that we are all an expression of divine love. We often lose essential parts of who we are in order to feel accepted by others. In God's plan, we each fit perfectly...just as we are.

Kathleen O'Malley, DC
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinion in this review is unbiased and reflects my honest judgment of the product.

For starters, Anita Moorjani’s book, Dying To Be Me, was an amazing read.

It is a book about the agony and torture of the relentless spread of cancer. It is also about an opportunity for redemption that arises out of Anita Moorjani’s NDE as she feels herself leave her body and, for a brief period, being allowed a glorious preview of what eternal and joyous life is like after our body physically dies.

Anita’s account of her NDE experience reminded me of what author, Betty Eadie, shared in her book, Embraced By The Light, published back in 1994 by Gold Leaf Press.

Anita's experiences that I found wondrous were:
1. Stepping outside of linear time
The sensation of stepping outside of the physical boundaries of what we know
of as linear time. In her NDE, every sensation, every visual image, every thought was available to Anita to absorb or experience in an instant, irrespective of whether the event occurred 20 years ago, 10 days ago or was actually in the present moment. In other words, in the ‘real time’ realm of where she had traveled to, any experience could be viewed or manifested on the spot without the barrier of time acting as a barrier or shield.

2. The analogy of the darkened warehouse
I loved her analogy of wandering through a gigantic darkened warehouse filled with wonder and visual treasures with only something akin to a small flashlight.
Then, flip the switch that turns on hundreds of bright floodlights and the scope and depth of the warehouse and it’s contents are now revealed.

3. Remote sensing ability
Her ability to tune in on remote events, conversations, and even the personal feelings of her family, medical personal and others, many of whom were far from her hospital room or separated by a considerable distance. Remote sensing is the parapsychology term that applies to this phenomenon.

The following excerpt of Anita's describes her feelings and observation of herself while outside of her own body:

“Ohh...I’m dying. Is this what it feels like? It’s nothing like I ever imagined. I feel so beautifully peaceful and calm...and I feel healed at last!”

“I was still acutely aware of every detail unfolding before me as I observed the medical team wheeling my near-lifeless body to the intensive care unit. They were surrounding me in an emotional frenzy, hooking me up to machines while poking and prodding me with needles and tubes.

I felt no attachment to my limp body as it lay there on the hospital bed. It didn’t feel as though it were mine. It looked far too small and insignificant to house what I was experiencing. I felt free, liberated, and magnificent! Every pain, ache, sadness, and sorrow was gone. I was completely unencumbered, and I couldn’t recall feeling this way before ---not ever.”

Whew! Pretty remarkable disclosures of what her experience was like. Imagine being allowed a dress rehearsal exposure to the extraordinary, then being graced with the ability to return to our physical world to report about it to others.

As caregivers in our personal lives of four aging parents suffering from the effects of both stroke and Alzheimer’s induced dementia, Anita’s story renews the hope and faith of my wife and I that something wonderful awaits each of our parents when their time to go home arrives.

Anita Moorjani made a courageous decision to share her very personal and private though astonishing story with us that encompasses a miraculous healing and a mesmerizing tour of the hereafter.

This book is a must read. If you enjoyed reading the story of 4 year old Colton Burpo and his NDE as told in, Heaven Is For Real, you will find Anita Moorjani’s book heartwarming and reinforcing of your own faith in that of a spiritual Creator and Source.


Jeff Dodson
September 14th 2012

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are unbiased and reflect my honest judgment of the product.

For my first book review, I chose
Dying to be Me ~ My Journey from Cancer To Near Death To True Healing
by Anita Moorjani

Anita's first book Dying to be Me is an absolute gem! An easy read ( I finished it in less than two days)...I found in the days and weeks after that I often had conversations with people on various topics and found myself referencing something from the book........this is not a book about dying, its not a book about cancer.....this is a book about living!! about being you who truly are!! about letting go of fear and stress and worry.....it's a book about why we are really here!

Starting with the authors life growing up in an East Indian family in Hong Kong and attending British Catholic schools, Anita lays a foundation for us that shows how the way we think affects our physical bodies. Anita points out that cancer is just our minds way of getting our attention that we need to change something in the way we are thinking. Cancer is not the enemy, it's just an indicator of how we have been thinking. Change the thoughts the indicator has to change too.
After her near death experience Anita comes back to live her life to the fullest. When asked in the back of the book whether she had changed her way of eating since her NDE , she replies that she has indeed but not in the way you'd think. She now eats whatever makes her happy, and if that means chocolate or a nice glass of wine that's okay! She still eats healthy but from a place of joy not fear that not doing so will bring about disease.

This is a book that everyone should read regardless of religion. The wisdom found in this book can be applied to every day issues with amazing results.

I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for review purposes.
I was not financially compensated for this post. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

What a book! I would recommend this page-turner to anyone, even those without health concerns. Moorjani's story is about her difficulty growing up in Hong Kong as an Indian, about her challenges navigating her childhood and teen years with conservative Hindu parents in a westernized culture, and her hope to please others amid conflicting rules and lifestyles.

It is understandable, then, that all these external conflicts would lead to the inner turmoil and fear that would eventually manifest as cancer. She was sick for a number of years and throughout continued to do research and attempt to follow various Eastern and Western regimens. For several months, she lived in India and followed Ayurvedic practices. However, when she returned to her home in Hong Kong, she faced differing opinions and feedback about this approach among her friends and colleagues.

This lead to a continuation of the pull from different directions to be different than she was - a continuation of the mixed messages that she received growing up in Hong Kong. Her illness then took a nose dive until she ended up in the hospital with her husband and mother where she eventually went into a coma. Her doctors informed her family that she had just hours to live. It was during the coma that she experienced what is known as an NDE, a near-death experience. What she learned during that experience has enabled her to share deep universal truths about what it means to be human from the soul's perspective.

Moorjani was given the opportunity to return and re-inhabit her weak body. When she did so, she immediately came out of her coma and recovered from her illness so quickly that she shocked her doctors. Apparently, only several people as sick as Moorjani have ever come out of a coma and recovered well enough to return to normal life.

Although the story is compelling, what any reader will walk away with is a renewed sense of how each of us is so utterly driven by fear on some level. Moorjani's story shows how the fear and inner conflict that was part of her history created her illness. However, she is quick to say that this was the cause of her disease and not necessarily the cause of others' serious illness. She helps each of us see how we are all connected to one another and how living fearlessly and authentically is the way we were meant to live.

As an amazing, spiritually oriented autobiography, Anita Moorjani has given us such a gift in Dying to Be Me, My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing. Because of her experiences that she relates in this book, Anita has been hailed as “the embodiment of truth” that we are children of the universe and have the insight, if we are open to it, to live this life with courage and audacity.

Dealing with death is not a new experience for me, and I was fearful of reading Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani, when Hay House Publishing sent it to me for review. I just lost my only child (daughter, age 36) two years ago. Was this going to open up those painful wounds? I have accepted her passing, at least in part. And as a wonderful author, Maria Houston, author of Hannah’s Gift, Lessons Fully Lived has said, “Grief has become a part of me, not something I needed to get through.” So I’ve been able to honor the grief, not ignore it.

But I was surprised when I started reading Moorjani’s story. It is not a book about death necessarily, but about re-connecting with the universal love that we come into this life with, and living Life in Love. Somehow we get sidetracked into believing what others have said about us, and what we mistakenly believe about ourselves. And in doing so, we lose the sense of that love.

Moorjani gracefully portrays her life story. By sharing her experience, it becomes easier to see how we can become preoccupied and confused by other people’s perceptions of ourselves. She relates her early life as the child of a Hindu family living in Hong Kong, and schooling in a strict British Catholic setting. Her life consisted of contradictions at every turn as she tried to fit in. As Moorjani puts it, “Soon, I found myself locked in my own cage of fear and desperation, where my experience of life was getting smaller and smaller.”

After coming of age, embarking on her own career, and meeting the man she would marry, Anita still held subconscious fear of life and self-expression. She ended up getting cancer. During the next few years, battling her own disease, she lost a dear friend and brother-in-law to cancer who each had slowly declined from treatment. Her illness continued to deteriorate and eventually she ended up in an emergency situation at the hospital. Her body had shut down and she was dying.

Anita was so aware of everything, even though the doctors said she was in a coma. She became so sensitive to everything. She could feel her husband’s emotions, recognized the nurse and doctor’s conversation about her condition. But she couldn’t understand why she was unable to comfort her mother. Everything going on in the medical area revolved around her. But she seemed to be above it. She was floating above, but still right in the middle of the action.

Here is Moorjani’s account of this near-death, coma-state: “I was more acutely aware of all that was going on around me than I’ve ever been in a normal physical state. I wasn’t using my five biological senses, yet I was keenly taking everything in, much more so than if I’d been using my physical organs. It was as though another, completely different type of perception kicked in, and more than just perceive, I seemed to also encompass everything that was happening, as thought I was slowly merging with it all.”

Much of the book deals with Moorjani’s Near Death Experience (NDE), recovery and illumination. The illumination is what I find most interesting. It consisted of the extreme feeling or sensation of being completely enfolded in the arms of Love. The more Anita tried to explain the feeling of unconditional love; the more it became apparent that it was something that actually could not be explained, at least in human terms. You know the saying, “You had to be there,”? It seems to me that actually being there (in NDE) is the only time you would be able to completely understand what she really is experiencing.

Anita was able, in this sensation of love, to realize that she is perfect just the way she is: that there is no such thing as judgment, or fault, or guilt. Experience in the human body is just that – experience. Spending all her life feeling like she was not good enough was simply wasted time and energy. She could have been moving through her life in complete confidence. Why had she chosen to feel inadequate? That seems to be one reason she returned to her physical body after the NDE: to understand that God is All, that she is All. There is no separation. And she was to live confidently thereafter. She was to share this glorious information with as many people as she could.

At this stage, Wayne Dyer, author and spiritual teacher, came into play. He became acquainted with Anita’s experience and situation. He encouraged her to write the book, Dying to Be Me, and was instrumental in having it published.

And so, we move back to the beginning of this blog: the part where I said I was fearful of reading it. Yes, the book speaks of death. Yes, it opened old emotional wounds of my daughter’s passing. But, we all experience death as part of life. It is the natural transition. Some of us live through much more than others do. But this book, Anita’s account of her NDE, gives me solace in knowing that my daughter is in that indescribable state of love. Of course, I knew it on many levels already. But to hear it from someone who was actually there makes a major difference in how I understand it.

If you or someone you know has moved through a place of grief, after losing someone in their life, then I whole-heartedly guarantee that they will find peace in this book. If you have ever entertained the idea of what it is like on “the other side,” then this book is for you. But most of all, if you intend on truly living your life this time around, then the book for your inspiration is Dying to Be Me, My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Health.

I have signed up for Hay House’s book reviewer program at http://www.hayhousebooknook.com, and my first review is of Anita Moorjani’s Dying to Be Me. This book first came on my radar through a blog post from Danielle LaPorte; and since I have just had kidney cancer surgery in the past year, issues of death and mortality are still very much on my mind.

We get to know Anita long before her cancer diagnosis and see her struggle with resolving conflicts between Hindu cultural expectations and forging her own path, eventually establishing a fulfilling career and finding the love of her life. After a few peaceful years, Anita saw her best friend and her husband’s brother-in-law go through painful chemotherapy and eventual death due to cancer. Then she discovered a lump on her shoulder. She is diagnosed with lymphoma and tries to figure out which alternative healing methods to use, but finds herself confused by conflicting theories.

Her health steadily declines, and after four years, she eventually ends up in the hospital, not expected to live through the night. Her near-death experience leads to an encounter with her father and her best friend, who had both passed on years before. She is given the chance to choose death or life. When she regains consciousness, the doctors soon discover her cancer has not only gone into remission, but even disappeared. She learns to let fear go and replace it with joy.

Even though I have never been sure I understand near-death experiences or even believe in them, I would definitely recommend reading this book if you can open your mind to beliefs that may challenge your own. I am not sure I believe that emotional or psychological triggers contribute to getting cancer. Can we reduce or eliminate our chances of getting sick by identifying those triggers? Maybe, maybe not.

I’d like to end this review by sharing part of Anita’s answer to the question, “What’s your opinion on service and serving others?” She says:
When service comes from the center of our being, it’s the highest form of self-love. We know this is the case when we feel joy while serving. It will even feel light and fun! This uplifts both us and the recipient and helps to elevate the receiver’s self-worth.

But if we perform out of an obligation or sense of duty, it feels serious and heavy and can be energy draining. This really doesn’t do us any good, and it’s not that great for the recipient either–especially if they can sense that we’re acting out of obligation. This can make the recipient small and worthless.

In addition, when something comes from the center of our being, it’s no longer an action–it becomes who we are. We don’t need to think about it or work at it. We become an instrument for service to manifest on this planet. This is the difference between being of service and performing a service.

I hope we will all remember this in serving those with whom we come into contact.

The first time I heard of Anita Moorjani was last summer when I went to hear motivational speaker Wayne Dyer at a conference in Los Angeles. He began by telling a story of a woman whose life was transformed by a near death experience ("NDE"). He only spoke for a few minutes before introducing Ms. Moorjani and asking her to share her story herself. She spoke of her life before she was diagnosed with cancer and how she was practically declared dead by doctors, only to come out of it miraculously. I remember being touched by her experiences and being in awe of what transpired, but I didn't follow up with her story when I left that evening.

I had nearly forgotten about Ms. Moorjani until recently, when I came upon an opportunity to review her book, Dying To Be Me. I won't bore you with all the turns that led to my coming upon this opportunity, but I will say that I do not believe it was happenstance.

I began reading her book and was drawn into it immediately. As a South Asian woman with very similar experiences growing up -the extreme importance placed upon getting married, being in an appropriate career, putting others first while sacrificing oneself -much of what she had to say resonated with me on a personal level.

I was especially touched by her transformation after her NDE. Like her, I was raised to believe that nothing comes easy in life, that one has to struggle to achieve. But after her NDE, she no longer believed that life was meant to be difficult. She no longer believed one had to struggle for love. She came to realize that life is a beautiful place and that we are all connected, that we are all love. All of this resonated profoundly with me and I found myself drawn deeper into her world of universality. She tells us:

"...for me, there was this incredible knowledge of how we're all interconnected and how what I feel affects the universe, for the Whole is within me. As far as I'm concerned, if I'm happy, the Universe is happy. If I love myself, everyone else will love me, too, and so on."

I found her story engaging and thought provoking, and despite it being a bit redundant at times, I couldn't put it down. I admire her strength and tenacity in staying the course when it would have been easier to give in to society's version of who she should be. Ms. Moorjani reminds us that the journey to be true to oneself isn't always an easy one as she shares her difficulties adjusting to her pre-NDE life:

"I felt as though I couldn't relate to anyone around me -or more accurately, that others couldn't relate to me. If I thought about going back to work, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. Nothing felt right anymore. I felt as though I didn't fit in with the people of this planet and their values. My priorities had changed, and I found that I was no longer interested in working in an office, reporting to anyone, or earning money for its own sake [...] I felt lost...and lonely."

Reading this didn't make me sad, but instead made me hopeful. I have spent the last year re-prioritizing my life and in that time I have realized that we don't really need a lot of what we think we need in life, that we don't have to keep up with the Joneses or other people's notions of what our life should look like.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a peek into how vast our lives truly are. Dying To Be Me isn't about dying at all. It's about living -about living life to the fullest, about smelling the roses, about embracing each experience with an open mind and heart.

Please note: As a Hay House book reviewer, I obtained Dying To Be Me as a free review copy from the publisher. Any and all opinions are based solely on my thoughts and experiences.

I recently finished reading Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani after hearing Wayne Dyer say “If there is one book you read this year, this should be it.” The book tells the story of Anita Moorjani, a medical miracle. She battled cancer for years, died on the hospital table, had a near death experience (NDE) and came back with an amazing message that healing is available to all of us. Numerous specialists have been called in and to their amazement, her cancer has disappeared completely and she is living a happy and healthy life. I am so glad I read this book and it has had a profound effect on my life.

When I was 13 years old I experienced two drug overdoses. After the first I had some brain damage and was not able to remember anything for longer than a few seconds at a time. A few weeks later I had another overdose in which I had a near death experience (NDE). Although I didn’t quite know what to make of it at that age, I still remember the experience vividly after more than two decades.

Reading Anita’s story helped me see how my experience was not just imagined. It led me into recovery and essentially healed me on many levels physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I have talked about it only with very close friends over the years, but reading Anita’s story helped validate my experience and opened the doorway for me to honor and begin talking about it more openly.

Because of my own experience this book touched me in a very profound way, but Anita’s message is for everyone. I applaud her courage and compassion to share this amazing story of healing with the world. If you or someone you know is in need of physical, spiritual or emotional healing – and aren’t we all on some level – this really is a must read book. She has brought a bit of heaven down to earth and I hope that everyone opens their hearts and minds to the message of love that has come through.

Anita Moorjani's powerful memoir Dying To Be Me tells the story of her near-death experience and the choice she made to come back and heal. Not just herself, but millions of people who are struggling for answers on the earthly journey.

It all starts on April 26, 2002 with a lump on her right shoulder, just above the collarbone. Ignoring the ugly little voice in the back of her head does nothing to alter the diagnosis. The doctor pronounces Stage 2 lymphoma. Four years later, having exhausted all treatment modalities--hypnotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda, prayer and chanting, yoga, and Western naturopathy--Anita is staring death in the face. Rushed to the hospital on the morning of February 2, 2006, comatose and grossly swollen, she is pronounced clinically dead. Her organs have shut down and there is little hope.

As nurses and doctors rush around attempting last-minute emergency measures, Anita leaves her body, floating above it with an incredible sense of freedom and a total absence of pain. Instantly, time and space cease to have relevance. She hears every word exchanged between her husband, Danny, and the oncologist 40 feet away from her bed; she also knows that her brother is on a flight to Hong Kong spurred by an urgency to reach his sister before it is too late.

The compelling part of the transition is that Anita wakes up to the realization of her true self: a divine being in a temporary physical shell. She describes a "sharpness of perception" in the afterlife, and the fact that she can "feel" everyone's feelings--fear, hopelessness, resignation--as if they are her own. She describes the transition thus: it is not as if she'd moved physically to another realm but as if she'd awakened.

In the other realm, Anita meets her father and best friend Soni--who'd died ten and three years prior. "My experience was like a single thread," writes Anita "woven through the huge and complexly colorful images of an infinite tapestry. All the other threads and colors represented my relationships, including every life I'd touched. There were threads representing my mother, my father, my brother, my husband, and every other person who'd ever come into my life, whether they related to me in a positive or negative way."

In a turning point, her father tells her it isn't her time yet, but it is her choice to return or not. Anita is conflicted about returning to her disease-ridden body. And then an aha! "I discovered that since I'd realized who I really was and understood the magnificence of my true self, if I chose to go back to life, my body would heal rapidly--not in months or weeks, but in days! I knew the doctors wouldn't be able to find a trace of cancer if I chose to go back into my body!"
Sure enough, five days later she is transferred to a regular room and makes a miraculous and full recovery. Not a trace of cancer can be found anywhere in her body which was riddled with tumors the size of lemons just days before.

I found this memoir truly inspirational. I believe Anita was returned to the physical realm in order to teach us what is really important in this life. The biggest lesson for me was the reminder that I have all I need for this journey--if I trust in my magnificence. Anita also focusses on another theme which is: release all fears. She is convinced that fear is what caused her cancer. Fear of contracting the dreaded disease, fear of everything that produced cancer including microwave ovens, pesticides, preservatives and plastic containers, fear of life, fear of brutal treatments, fear of death.

"I'm at my most powerful when I am working with life rather than against it," writes Anita in a memoir that is a must-have on everyone's shelf.

This is one of my favorite books of all time, and believe me, I've read a lot of books.

There is so much more value here than you might expect from a book about a near-death experience (NDE). You will find it not only comforting with regard to death (your own or those you love) but it's an affirmation of life, and inspiring in general. Just as important, you'll find it helpful in many practical ways.

You can benefit from this book if:

- You or someone you know is facing death
- You're grieving the death of a loved one, including a pet
- You're facing illness of any kind, serious or otherwise
- You're experiencing challenging emotions such as depression or lack of interest in life
- You want to feel more whole, healthy, and vibrant
- You simply want to feel better in general ... happier, more at peace, more purposeful, etc.
- You would like an enlightened way to understand or experience life and your place in it

As you can see, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. And it's a book that I envision myself reviewing periodically for my own benefit.

Anita begins by setting the stage with a brief biography of relevant parts of her life. She describes the experience of becoming incapacitated with terminal cancer, and I love that she describes its unfolding not only on the outside but from "the inside" as well.

But fairly quickly, she jumps right into the NDE. This is the part I want everyone to read who has ever lost anyone to death, or is facing it themselves. The way she describes it is breath-taking and eye-opening. It's beautiful, actually, and you'll never forget it.

And just as extraordinary is the explanation of how she then "came back" and proceeded to completely heal. Yes, completely! And how she learned to allow for this "unfolding of miracles" as she puts it.

So it's not just a book about death and what happens at that moment.

It's even more a book about life; about who and what you are; about healing and wholeness ... and about allowing your whole world to transform.

It's fascinating to read how you -- as your essence -- live even through death. And much more freely than you probably are now!

So how can you live with that same freedom even as you live your life?

In her quest to help others through her experience, she shares her thoughts about how you can apply what she's come to know.

From her expanded understanding of reality, she shares in a way that you can apply in everyday life:

- Why she got sick and how she healed
- How to connect with the soul of your magnificence
- Experiencing profound freedom in your life
- Trusting the wisdom of the infinite self
- What it means to Be (allow) vs. Do -- and thus experience vast inner peace and a beautiful flow in your life

You've really got to read it yourself since there's so much more to it than I could even put words to; pretty apropos given its expansive nature.

And I'm sure you'll find your own gems within it, probably new and different insights and practices each time you read it, depending on your perspectives at that time.

It's got a richness and depth to it that I enjoy applying and know I will for years to come.

Note: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for review purposes, and this review reflects my honest evaluation.