By Glenda Winders
SDUN Reporter
“Death is a subject few people feel comfortable talking about, yet it’s the one thing everyone has in common,” she said in an interview.
Lund said people fear death because it represents the unknown. They anticipate pain and suffering, the lack of control, separation from loved ones or even a punishing hell. She says she knows for a fact that none of these fears has any basis.
“When you have a near-death experience, there is immense love and peace and serenity,” she said. “If you were sick, you’ll immediately be healed and you’ll be in the light of God or Infinite Spirit or Higher Power – whatever you want to call it.”
Lund is glad to be alive now, but the path that led her to this point hasn’t been an easy one. As a child, she was repeatedly raped by her grandfather. Raised Catholic, she planned to become a nun so she would not have to face the physical intimacy of relationships, but when she was told she could go to hell for missing Mass, she left the church.
She did eventually marry and had a daughter, Jeaneen, who is now 35 and working as a photographer in Los Angeles. After that marriage ended, she married again in a glamorous ceremony on the 50-yard line at the Rose Bowl, but the marriage soon soured for reasons she didn’t at that time understand and she went into a downward spiral.
Anorexic and ill to the point where she couldn’t care for her child, she sent Jeaneen to live with her parents in Hawaii and then prepared to end her life. As she put the razor blade against her wrist, she prayed for forgiveness and said, “If there’s anything I need to know before I end this pain and suffering, let me know now.”
Lund says the bathroom immediately filled with bright light. A voice told her that it wasn’t time for her to die and that she should go to a hospital for treatment and then become a healer who would teach around the world and write books.
“It didn’t make any sense to me because I wasn’t doing any of those things,” she said.
Nevertheless, she checked into a hospital where she says two spirits dictated notebooks full of Eastern healing methods to her. A psychic she consulted later about her life’s purpose responded with the same advice – to heal, travel and teach – and taught her mind-body-spirit healing modalities, which she began to use with AIDS and cancer patients.
Then one night in 1986 she was watching a CBS special titled “AIDS Hits Home” when she recognized the voice of her former husband as one of the AIDS patients. At first he denied he’d been on the program, but she was tested anyway and learned the grim truth that she was one of the first women in Southern California to be infected with the HIV virus. She rejected the AZT therapy her doctor recommended and found a holistic doctor who helped her heal and encouraged her to go public.
For several years she traveled around the world teaching and healing. Her work garnered her TV appearances with Oprah Winfrey and Montel Williams, as well as on CBS’ “48 Hours,” and she was invited by President Clinton to take part in the first White House AIDS conference.
But in 1995, exhausted and burned out, she contracted pneumocystis pneumonia, a common complication of AIDS, which she battled for the next year and a half. Eventually she weighed 86 pounds and was at the point of death. This time she was aware of leaving her body and encountering two spirits who showed her scenes from her life, some of which she had forgotten. She was told she had a choice about whether to go or stay, and she decided to come back to be with her daughter. Her outlook changed yet again.
“My life is no longer my own,” she said. “It is to be of service to Infinite Spirit, to serve however I’m supposed to serve.”
Following instructions she received in meditations, Lund first wrote “Sacred Living, Sacred Dying: A Guide to Embracing Life and Death” using the guidelines she had used in her teaching with AIDS patients. That was followed by “The Integrated Being: Techniques to Heal Your Mind-Body-Spirit.” Finally, she was told to produce a DVD that would enable people who had never told their near-death stories to come forward.
She and Monica Hagen, her friend and editor, sent e-mails to all their friends asking if they knew of anyone who had had similar experiences. They were astounded with the responses they received from people throughout San Diego. One was a Grossmont High School football player, another a woman who was trapped by the 2007 wildfires. The movie was filmed on location at familiar sites around the county.
Lund says people all over the world have had near-death experiences but are afraid to discuss them for fear their families will think they are crazy. Their lives are different, however, once they decide to “come back.”
“What I have repeatedly witnessed is that people who actually face death start to live their lives more fully,” she said. “They stop taking life for granted. Some people quit jobs they hate and start doing what fulfills their hearts.”
As for her, today the North Park resident is in a 10-year committed relationship, and she just finished her doctor of divinity degree this spring. At 60, she radiates happiness and good health.
“Once you have AIDS you can’t say you don’t have it,” she said, “but I don’t have any symptoms and it’s non-detectable. I feel great.”
Lund has founded Sacred Life Publishers and Productions so she can publish more books and programs on this subject, and she’s available to hold workshops and speak to groups about the subject of dying.
“My desire is that people feel comfortable talking about dying and death,” she said. “I want them to know there is no fear, only warmth, peace and love.”
The “Dying to Live” DVD and Lund’s books are available at sacredlife.com. Her new book, “There Is More: 18 Near-Death Experiences,” comes out in July,
