Neuroscientist who says she speaks daily with late husband outlines method for spotting ‘signs’

Neuroscientist and author Dr. Tara Swart says she has maintained a daily sense of communication with her husband since his death and is publishing a guide on how others might recognise similar "signs." Swart, who trained at Oxford and holds a PhD in neuroscience, describes a sequence of personal experiences that led her to develop an approach she says is grounded in her study of the brain, consciousness and intuition.

Swart told reporters and readers that her husband, Robin, became unwell soon after their marriage and died after an acute illness. In accounts she has shared publicly, she described a period of intense grief followed by episodes she interpreted as contact: vivid visual impressions, recurring symbolic occurrences and meaningful coincidences. She says those experiences prompted a review of research into near-death experiences, terminal lucidity and altered states of consciousness, and that she combined that reading with practical exercises to deliberately seek further signs.

In interviews and in an excerpt of her new book, The Signs: The New Science Of How To Trust Your Instincts, Swart outlines the steps she recommends for people who wish to try to receive or recognise signals they believe come from someone who has died. She advises sitting quietly and holding a clear, specific image or memory of the person, then choosing a concrete, unusual sign to request — for example, a particular object, symbol or number — and setting limits such as how many times the sign must appear or within what time period. She also recommends photographing any perceived sign and sharing the experience with trusted friends or family to aid interpretation and emotional processing.

Swart described a range of occurrences she interprets as communications from her husband: the spontaneous appearance of robins in her garden, repeated numbers such as 11:11, unexpected references to his name and a moment in which she said she saw his figure at the side of her bed. She said that what began as occasional coincidences gradually intensified and that sharing her story led to thousands of people contacting her with similar accounts.

The account includes personal chronology: Swart said she met her husband on a flight, married later in life and cared for him through a progressive blood disorder that culminated in an acute diagnosis and a brief period of intensive treatment. She said his death occurred several months after a rapid worsening of his condition, an event that precipitated her search for ways to cope and to maintain a felt connection.

Swart said she consulted a medium early on but remained sceptical of some claims. She described turning to scientific literature on consciousness, interviewing psychiatrists and psychologists about end-of-life experiences, and studying practices from different traditions that alter consciousness, such as sensory deprivation, to form a pragmatic set of tools. Those tools, she says, can help people notice or elicit meaningful coincidences and symbols that provide comfort and a sense of guidance.

Her recommendations emphasise specificity and documentation. She suggests choosing a sign that has private meaning, asking for it clearly, stipulating how many occurrences would be convincing, photographing any instance of the sign and discussing the observation within a supportive social circle. Swart said that for many people the interpretation may be religious or spiritual, while others may see psychological or neurological explanations; she wrote that what matters most is the meaning the sign holds for the individual.

Swart’s framing combines subjective report, references to neuroscientific concepts and practical steps, but she stops short of asserting a particular metaphysical origin for the signs. In public statements she has said the phenomena can be understood in different ways depending on personal beliefs and that her focus is on helping people who are bereaved find solace and practical ways to access intuition.

Scholarly attention to experiences at or around death has increased in recent decades, and researchers describe a range of phenomena — from near-death experiences to terminal lucidity, in which some people with severe cognitive impairment briefly regain clarity near death. Scientists studying these phenomena investigate underlying brain processes, psychological factors and cultural contexts, and there is not a single accepted explanation for reports of after-death communication.

Clinicians and grief specialists caution that bereavement reactions vary widely and that practices intended to foster contact with the deceased should be considered within a person’s broader coping and mental health needs. Evidence-based bereavement support typically focuses on helping people adapt to loss through social support, counselling and, when appropriate, clinical treatment for complicated grief.

Swart said she does not claim a universal outcome and encouraged readers to interpret signs within their own belief systems. Her book presents her personal narrative, the research she reviewed and the practical steps she developed. She said the exercises helped her move through intense grief and re-engage with life, and that many people have reported comparable experiences after adopting similar practices.

Readers interested in Swart’s account can find the full guidance and case descriptions in The Signs: The New Science Of How To Trust Your Instincts, in which she sets out what she calls a method for increasing awareness of meaningful coincidences and using them as an emotional resource during bereavement.