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A Personal Letter from Ram Dass Greetings, My first journey to India was, in part, a result of an interest I had in better understanding death. Sitting at the funeral ghats in Benares watching the families watch the bodies of their loved ones burn showed me how in Eastern culture death is part of life. Looking back … Read more

Joan Halifax, Head Teacher, Upaya Zen Center The ultimate relationship we can have is with someone who is dying. Here we are often brought to grief, whether we know it or not. Grief can seem like an unbearable experience. But for those of us who have entered the broken world of loss and sorrow, we realize that … Read more

This past spring and summer, Phil was my Living/Dying Project client. Phil was 48 years old and lived a mile up the hill from me with his wife Joelle and their son Philip, who had his third birthday during our time together. When I met Phil his oncologist had just told him that the cancer … Read more

Health care professionals report a lack of skills in the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of caring for dying people and high levels of moral distress, grief, and burnout. To address these concerns, the “Being with Dying: Professional Training Program in Contemplative End-of-Life Care” (BWD) was created. The premise of BWD, which is based on the … Read more

DEATH AND OPTIMISM My friend, Susanna Valadez, as a young anthropologist staying with Huichol Indians in Mexico, encountered a large Huichol family as they passed through the village in which she was living. The baby seemed to be quite ill and neglected. When she asked what was happening with the baby, the mother told her … Read more

Being with Dying Contemplative Approaches to Working with Dying People for the Death in America Project, January, 1995 Joan Halifax Each week I sit with a group of people, some of whom are dying, some of whom are care givers. Others come because death is an issue they want to be with and explore. I … Read more

The Wit Lectures at Harvard Divinity School are an exploration of living a spiritual life in the contemporary world, a subject of great importance today as we see the suffering of so many beings in the face of human greed, hatred and confusion. This book by Joan Halifax tells us about a life that touches … Read more