A sense of presence.
It was a warm day, the windows were open with a gentle breeze. I was treating a child who had lost their pet. Contact was at the heart centre. My arms were bare. Eyes closed. And then I felt it – a cat’s paw pressing onto my arm. I opened my eyes and looked down. Of course there was no visible cat there.
This is what psychiatry refers to when individuals feel their deceased loved one nearby. Experiencing some form of contact – be it a voice, a touch or a scent is a common experience amongst the bereaved (Kamp et al. 2020). And it can bring great comfort to family.
During sessions, I have experienced both humans and pets enter the space, or biofield – the luminous field of energy that extends beyond the physical body (Jain 2015). Sometimes their relatives will feel it, at other times they do not. Given my propensity for focusing on the tangible, science – led, peer reviewed explanations for what happens during a treatment, even when it is sparse, I am reluctant to put myself in the category of psychics or mediums. But the fact is that when you do this work, phenomena that cannot currently be explained by “science” can and do occur. At times, I have sensed deceased relatives urging me to pass a message to the person lying before me on the treatment couch. Felt a presence by my shoulder as I work.
Sometimes it is not just the deceased, but those who have yet to come into being. I have at times, worked on women who wish to get pregnant, and known that it will happen soon and what the sex of the baby is. As someone who believes that our children choose their parents, it has been a wonderful experience.
Between 25–60% of bereaved people report sensing, feeling, hearing, dreaming of, or otherwise experiencing contact with someone who has died. Amongst those who have these experiences, around 86% describe them as comforting (Sweeney et al 2026).
For many years now I have welcomed into the space, those who have passed who wish to support their child / brother / sister / mother / father. Sensing their presence as a source of support during treatment.
Whilst not making any claims – death is a part of life and something we can all be certain about experiencing one day. To work alongside that presence, with reverence, can be a profound source of solace for both practitioner and patient alike.
References:
Kamp, K. S., Steffen, E. M., Alderson-Day, B., Allen, P., Austad, A., Hayes, J., Larøi, F., Ratcliffe, M., & Sabucedo, P. (2020). Sensory and Quasi-Sensory Experiences of the Deceased in Bereavement: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Review. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 46(6), 1367–1381. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa113
Jain S, Hammerschlag R, Mills P, Cohen L, Krieger R, Vieten C, Lutgendorf S. Clinical Studies of Biofield Therapies: Summary, Methodological Challenges, and Recommendations. Glob Adv Health Med. 2015 Nov;4(Suppl):58-66. doi: 10.7453/gahmj.2015.034.suppl. Epub 2015 Nov 1. PMID: 26665043; PMCID: PMC4654788.
Sweeney, S., Ryan, P., Leahy, D., & Deering, H. (2026). The impact of after-death communications on grief and meaning-making among the bereaved: A qualitative systematic review. Death Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2026.2626550
Raj lehl 