near-death experience

noun1

1. •
   A sensation of detachment from one's body, the presence of a tunnel of light, the apparent viewing of one's own body from on high, and similar manifestations, experienced by people whose heart and brain have temporarily ceased to function.

   • Everybody has the same story of the near-death experience—my entire life flashed in front of me, the white light and all that—but no one really knows it. — 1995