James Van Praagh's unique paranormal
experiences during the past 30 years have been recorded
in his early best-selling books Talking To Heaven,
Reaching To Heaven, and Healing Grief. His
fourth book is the proclaimed Heaven and Earth -
Making the Psychic Connection. In September 2003,
teens were introduced to Looking Beyond: A Teen's
Guide to the Spiritual World. In November of that
same year his book Meditations with James Van Praagh
brought a new awareness to the meditation experience.
Ghosts Among Us was released to critical acclaim
in May 2008 and quickly landed on the New York Times
Bestseller list and #1 on Amazon.com Bestseller list. In
2009 he released the much anticipated Unfinished
Business and was followed by his newest book, Growing
Up in Heaven, released in 2011.
James Van Praagh shared his extraordinary gift on
television with a daytime talk show of his own entitled Beyond
With James Van Praagh. The show aired in the U.S.
from September 2002 through September 2003 and is still
showing in syndication in Europe, Australia and South
America.
In April 2002, James began an ongoing relationship with
the CBS network and produced an incredibly successful
mini-series Living With The Dead (title was later
changed to Talking to Heaven), inspired by his
first book Talking To Heaven. This mini-series
starred Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen and was the
highest rated show for CBS in two years. In October 2004
his second successful CBS project aired entitled The
Dead Will Tell starring Anne Heche and Eva Longoria.
James Van Praagh was Co-Executive Producer of the CBS
primetime series Ghost Whisperer starring
Jennifer Love Hewitt. This show premiered in September
2005 and became the #1 Friday night drama for CBS. It
ran for five seasons and is currently seen in
syndication over 200 markets worldwide.
To assist others in spiritual awareness, James Van
Praagh travels the world teaching mediumship development
classes, hosting spiritual cruises, and conducting
sold-out seminars. He takes pride in having built a web
site that encourages spiritual learning, grief support
and friendships through its many online communities,
resources and activities.
"The books, CDs, seminars, classes, web site and
television projects are ways to share my abilities and
the message that our personalities do indeed survive
death. My greatest satisfaction in doing this work is
witnessing an instantaneous change in people,"
states James Van Praagh about his work.
"When someone is alone and overwhelmed by grief,
life seems over. But, when I'm able to help teach
someone to make contact with a loved one, their grief
and loneliness disappears and proper closure can take
place" adds James.
And so…"When a bright smile overcomes tears, it
becomes a smile that can light up the world!"
JAMES VAN PRAAGH'S EARLY DAYS
During his early days in Los Angeles, James was invited
to attend a session with a medium, although he didn't
even know at that time what a medium was. Given that, he
was understandably dubious when the medium informed
James that he would be doing the same work within two
years. "My first reaction was, I have enough
trouble dealing with the living; why do I want to talk
to the dead?" As James' sensitivity increased, he
began doing psychic readings for friends. During these
readings, he began receiving detailed messages from the
beyond. Though at first this seemed bizarre, the more he
learned, the more he could not deny the fact that he had
the gift to reach beyond the familiar plane of existence
we call life. Today, James is recognized as one of the
foremost mediums in the world.
Naturally, there remain skeptics about his abilities.
James, however, is the first to say that he welcomes
healthy skepticism, declaring, in fact, that he is a
skeptic himself. "I believe that I am doing this,
but I don't believe that just anyone can do this. All
mediums are psychics, but not all psychics are
mediums."
A psychic senses energy around the living people or
objects. A medium not only senses energy, but is able to
interface between the slower vibrations of the physical
world and the much faster ones of the spirit world.
Though James is quick to point out that his gift does
not provide insights into the future, he is able to
provide detailed evidential proof that a loved one
survived death. Surviving death may seem to be the
supreme oxymoron, but he has a firm belief that we are
all spirit beings, and that there is far more to our
life than our life span.
Ultimately, James feels extremely fortunate to be a
conduit of comfort, healing, and most importantly, love.
"As a medium, I have never experienced anything but
love and compassion and healing in my work," he
avows. "It is the love bond between people which
allows me to make the connection between the living and
the dead."
JAMES VAN PRAAGH'S ABILITY
His very natural, easy-going style would lead you to
believe that James Van Praagh is chatting with a friend
on the telephone, not communicating messages from the
grave. James is a survival evidence medium, meaning that
he is able to bridge the gap between two planes of
existence, that of the living and that of the dead, by
providing evidential proof of life after death via
detailed messages. "I'm clairsentient," he
explains, "which simply means clear feeling. I feel
the emotions and personalities of the deceased. I am
also clairvoyant," he adds, clarifying that,
"the first is feeling, the second is seeing, very
much like Whoopi Goldberg in the movie, Ghost."
The true essence of the messages are the feelings behind
the words. James is an expert on this subject, since he
has been in touch with those feelings most of his adult
life. "The spirits communicate by their emotions.
No words exist in the English language, or any other for
that matter, which can describe the intense
sensations."
Personality traits come in as well. If a person was
talkative while alive, he will come through with plenty
to say. James also relays physical traits and death
conditions as evidence. "If I convey recognizable
evidence along with even a fraction of the loving energy
behind the message, I consider the reading
successful."
James' public popularity began during his appearances on
the NBC talk show The Other Side. The show
concentrated on paranormal issues, and James became the
favorite guest and resident expert on the subject of
life after death. Even Howard Rosenberg, the Los
Angeles Times distinguished television critic,
dubbed James "spectacular".
Through the years his message of hope has touched a
great many more people due to his television appearances
on such shows as Oprah, Larry King Live, Dr. Phil,
A&E Biography, Maury Povich, 20/20, and 48 Hours.
His unique paranormal experiences during the past
twenty-five years have seen him author best-selling
books, create meditation programs and development
videos, teach mediumship classes, conduct seminars to
sold-out audiences, and produce successful television
projects.
[The above was copied with permission from James Van
Praagh's website.]
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