DarylLawsonLive.com
'IT WAS SO PEACEFUL' Brit skier, 29, saw ‘the afterlife’ after she ‘died for 20 MINUTES in avalanche before coming back to life’
Rhianna Shaw made the chilling decision to stop breathing, after an avalanche in St Anton, Austria, fully encased her in snow
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8034586/near-death-experience-ski-accident-austria/
She had been skiing with friends at the St Anton ski resort in Austria, when she collided into another skier.
As both of her ski's flew off her feet and she tumbled down the slope, she felt what she thought was a "wash of snow" shower her. But that 'snow shower' turned out to be a massive avalanche.
Rhianna, from Chichester, West Sussex, told Sun Online: "Our crash was so powerful, it created a massive fracture in the mountain and forcing a ledge to break off, setting off an avalanche which pushed me 200m down.
"But suddenly I stopped moving and all I could feel was this weight. Heavy snow just stopping me from moving, seeing and thinking. I could feel everything, but within seconds I couldn't breathe. I was just focusing on breathing.
"I tried to scream, but it became apparent that no one could hear me. So I decided to stop breathing. And everything became so peaceful."
Rhianna initially thought she was having a vivid dream, but says this was different. She had died, but her brain was still ticking.
She said: "I started walking along a pathway in this peaceful, pale forest. It had big tall evergreens on either side.
"Everything was as bright as day. Weirdly it was so calming, and it looked like there was some kind of snow on the ground but not like snow as we know it."
Rhianna believes she was conscious for at least five minutes before she decided to 'let herself die'.
Experts have suggested that we remain 'trapped' inside our bodies even after our hearts stop beating.
Dr Sam Parina and his team from New York University Langone School of Medicine launched a study into consciousness after death.
They..