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10 Questions with ... Sandra Champlain
November 10, 2020
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
A chef by trade, I’ve spent the last 30 years running a hospitality business cooking for race car teams in the IMSA series of automobile racing. In the mid '90s I developed a fear of dying, and it led me on a journey to look for evidence of the afterlife. After the death of my dad in 2010, I created an audio called “How to Survive Grief” that was quickly heard by thousands worldwide, many reporting they chose not to commit suicide after hearing my words. In 2012 I wrote the book “We Don’t Die: A Skeptic’s Discovery of Life After Death” to get this powerful information to as many as I could. In 2014, I created the podcast “We Don’t Die” and continued to collect and share information about the reality of the afterlife and help through grief. In 2019 I began hosting live "We Don’t Die" conferences in the United States. In 2020, I began online psychic and medium classes, workshops, demonstrations, and a Sunday service as well as hosting a new show called “Shades of the Afterlife” on the “Coast to Coast AM and iHeartRadio Paranormal Podcast Network.”
1. The obvious first question is to ask you: How did you go from being skeptical about the afterlife to what you do now? Was it a gradual thing or did something happen that convinced you that there is life after death?
I was raised to believe you had to see it to believe it, and that psychics and mediums were not real -- frauds to take people’s money. However, I developed a fear of death in the mid '90s and secretly started looking for reasons to believe in the afterlife. I studied science, religion, extra sensory perception, metaphysics and more and finally had personal experiences that told me that we don’t die. It was definitely gradual. It took me from mid 90’s to 2010 when my dad died to finally feel I had enough credible evidence to share it with the world. I was certainly scared when I did, afraid of losing family and friends who wouldn’t align with my beliefs. However, the opposite happened when I realized that most people secretly believe or want to believe in the afterlife.
2. You've done radio shows before, but the new podcast is on a bigger platform and is part of the Coast to Coast empire. How did that come about -- how did you come to George Noory and CtC's attention, and how do you think that connection will be beneficial to your podcast?
After my book “We Don’t Die: A Skeptic’s Discovery of Life After Death” was published - I felt strongly that the material I had 10 years ago needed to shared with as many people as possible. I tried many times to get noticed by "Coast to Coast" but no response.
Then, one day I got a phone call about being a guest on a radio show (I say yes to all requests) but didn’t know who I was speaking to, until I was told they’d call me at 2AM Eastern time for the two hour interview. That’s when it dawned on me, “This is Coast to Coast.” The interview went well so well, George Noory and his producer Tom Danheiser flew me to Colorado to be a guest on the television program “Beyond Belief” on the Gaia network.
I’ve been on "Coast to Coast" a couple times since, and this past March I got a call from Tom about an upcoming podcast network they were creating in partnership with iHeartRadio and wanted a show about the afterlife to be their inaugural podcast. Of course, I said yes! Then COVID-19 hit and the project got put on hold until now. I couldn’t be happier, and we all agree that helping people believe in the afterlife is so important during these difficult times for humanity.
3. How unique is the ability to serve as a medium -- can anyone learn to communicate with the other side, or is it something only a certain number of people can do?
Anyone can learn. We are all souls having a human experience, and it is our soul power that connects with souls who no longer walk this earth. Like learning to play the piano, some people have natural abilities and others it requires practice and commitment. Mediumship works through our imagination and emotional faculties and requires us to learn to quiet our busy minds and feelings so we can be highly sensitive to information being received from discarnate souls.
4. How do you prove to a skeptic (such as you used to be) that, as your book and radio show title proclaimed, "we don't die"? What are the most striking pieces of evidence you can show someone to convince them that there is an existence after death?
Four main things come to mind. First, the work of Brazilian researcher Sonia Rinaldi, who captures images of the deceased. Through filming static or steam or light or other things, the deceased can rearrange the particles into faces. The likeness to people who actually lived are astounding. Children can show themselves at various ages, old people can show themselves at their favorite ages. They show pictures of themselves that don’t have matching photographs from when they were alive. Sonia often sends me these “trans images” of people unknown to her. Two pictures of my father came through, bringing me from a belief in the afterlife to a knowing!
Some mediums are “spirit artists” who not only verbalize the evidence that your loved one has survived physical death but also draws their portraits. One such medium gave me the most vivid details of my father and knew some private conversations he and I had. As she did, the portrait she drew was my dad very healthy in his mid 20’s -- not the 74 year old sickly man he was when he died. Her response was “We get to be our favorite age in the afterlife.”
Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) is the recording of white noise (water running, fan blowing, etc) and playing them back to hear voices on them. While I feel our imagination can make sounds into words, the deceased can use this as a effective communication tool. It takes practice and commitment from both sides to learn this method. One of my first experiences one evening was to hear “Goodnight Sandra, goodnight, goodnight” when recording raindrops! I have gone on to record hundreds of messages, hearing information that I couldn’t have possibly know but was verified by recipients.
Last would be my own experiences exploring mediumship. I am always shocked and amazed when I see pictures in my own mind, feel memories and emotions that don’t belong to me. Then, the confirm those are details about their loved one who has passed on. Just yesterday I spoke a woman on an online medium course I hosted. I gave her specific information about her grandfather that she confirmed was correct. Then, I actually felt myself pulling carrots from the ground! Her grandfather loved growing vegetables, and was especially proud of his carrots.
5. How does religion, in general, work with (or against) how you depict or communicate with the afterlife? Are they complimentary or do they conflict in their treatment of what comes next?
Most religions wholeheartedly believe in the afterlife and the fact that we are eternal souls. However, some believe that the Bible says not to communicate with the dead. I have spoken with several biblical scholars who have cited many occurrences of talking to the dead and the practice of mediumship in the Bible. Religions are man-made, and many are fear based.
I feel very strongly about never pushing this afterlife information on people, or trying to change anyones personal beliefs. However, if they are interested, have experienced grief or have a fear of death, and come looking, I’ll gladly share all that I know. One last thought, many people talk to Jesus and he is physically dead.
6. What would you say is the main message you would like to communicate with your work, including the podcast, books, videos, and seminars? How would you summarize what you do and why you do it, in brief?
That life after death is real, but life before death is even more important. Earth is the place to explore, experience, have emotions, experience love, challenges, forgiveness, success and failure. That we are each unique, important and we are supported by an unseen force as well as guides and our loved ones who have passed before us. Too many people die with regrets and things undone and unsaid. Although we all continue our souls’ journeys in the afterlife, I wish all people to play full out and get their money’s worth out of being alive. I also really want to help people who are experiencing grief to heal.
7. Who have been your inspirations, influences, and/or mentors?
Still on Planet Earth, I’m grateful to: Doreen Virtue, R. Craig Hogan PhD, Roberta Grimes, Sonia Rinaldi, Tom and Lisa Butler, Scott Milligan, Nic Whitham, Steven Siu, Kerry McLeod & Philip Dykes, Tony Stockwell, Paul Jacobs and the 350+ people I have interviewed on my first podcast “We Don’t Die.” Living in the Unseen World: my dad John, grandmother Betsy and cats named Millie and Ozzie. You haven’t asked but our beloved pets will be reunited with us in the afterlife. A giant “thank you” to Tom Danheiser and George Noory from "Coast to Coast AM "and Julie Talbott, president of Premiere Networks, for giving me this opportunity with “Shades of the Afterlife”
8. Of what are you most proud?
The strength I had when my dad was dying. It was a horrific death to cancer. I became a person so strong to help him through the last months of his life. During this time I told my very Catholic father, my secret of secretly studying the afterlife and all I had learned. Then, In my mind’s eye, I saw a yellow Piper Cub airplane and felt a man’s presence laughing telling me to tell my dad “I did get to bring my toys with me.” As religious as my dad was, I think all humans have fear approaching death. When I shared those words with my dad, he laughed and he cried. He had a friend who died of cancer and while fighting for his life my dad had told him “Keep fighting, you don’t get to bring your toys with you.”
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ________.
...water (which conveniently is the main ingredient in coffee).
10. You have an unusual background for someone who does what you do. (Okay, not sure that there's a "usual" path to it, but let's go with this for now.) What about your life do you think would surprise people the most?
That my career has been being a chef for race car teams. I’ve spent 34 years cooking in the IMSA series (owned by NASCAR) cooking for amazing people like Paul Newman, Bobby Rahal, Roger Penske, Patrick Dempsey and fabulous crew members, drivers and support personal from around the world.
It is the hardest work I’ve ever known, working 16+ hour days for often 1000 people per meal. However, I am human and have experienced loss and deep grief. I have a sneaky suspicion that God or the Spirit World knew it was time for the truth of the afterlife to be shared with mankind, as there is currently so much pain and suffering.
While they were looking for a messenger, they took a look at my passion for service and the strength needed at the racetrack and said, “Let’s give the job to this gal.”
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