Living Funeral Death Meditation

April 21, 6-8:00pm, Studio Buddy, Toronto - SIGN UP HERE through eventbrite

Space limited to 16 folks - each ceremony typically sells out quickly.

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Thank you so much for your interest and trust. Together, we will navigate waters that can sometimes be choppy alone. Here, we can attempt to return to the still and daily awareness of death with careful, compassionate investigation of our mortality and impermanence through the lens of love, nature and its cycles.

I like to give a clear understanding of setting and tone in order to help everyone feel as comfortable as possible before arriving so forgive me if this message is long winded. Please take a moment to read it as it may cover some information you need, and too, I have some requests highlighted in bold. Each ceremony is a little different and for this one, I've changed the format to reflect the season, new learnings, and needs.

The format flows as follows:

We introduce ourselves, though introduction is an invitation - no one has to speak if they do not wish to. I explain the history of my work both personally and historically, many thanks are given. A brief education on anti-capitalist and green options in death care, how death became an industry, terror management theory, and impermanence using nature as guide are next. There are two meditations to begin, one reflecting life and the other reflecting death. We learn a simple breathwork before to anchor us into our bodies for support. We then take time to sit in the death space through poetry and readings before answering written questions that will then be used to complete a holographic will on one's own time. The focus here is a return to self without consideration to property or possessions; We explore the meaning and value of grace and beauty, love and grief, forgiveness and acceptance in reflection to our own impermanence and mortality. Afterwards, we lay covered by a blanket and eye pillow in a guided stillness meditation where we imagine our bodies returning to the earth as we move through sounds of pink and green noise simulating a still and peaceful death space. Ending the ceremony, there is a space for questions, reflection, greater green death education, aftercare and integration tips. Historically, these spaces shared have been immensely valuable to everyone. I suggest that you don't plan anything exhaustive after the workshop and take the time to be loving and gentle to self.

For Body: Masks are not mandatory during this ceremony but they are appreciated and very welcomed. For clarity in my voice, I will not be wearing one. The temple space is located up a flight of stairs at The Rock Store -- if you need assistance please feel free to message me and I will be happy to arrange this. Natural scent will be used during the meditation (I burn cedar, fallen + ethical palo santo gifted to me by an elder friend. I also use florida water in very small traces. I don't use orange or citrus due to common sensitivities). You will be seated on a cushion and move into a lying position with your head on the cushion during the death meditation portion. If your body needs extra support, we have extra pillows and chairs with backrests, please let me know if you may need more accommodation and I am so happy to adjust to meet your needs. All blankets and eye pillows have been washed prior to the ceremony for everyone's safety.

For Spirit: A death doula leans into the spiritual-socio-bio-psycho-philosophical needs of each individual to co-create holistic and personalized places of understanding and care with each person or group they work with whether in active stages of grief, dying, or otherwise. In a group setting, it is important to me to create a safe space for all that attend. I recognize that I am unable to have lengthy conversations with each individual before the meditation but I do invite you to share with me via reply to this email anything you feel I might need to know about you to help create a place of safety for you during the meditation. Everything you may share with me is strictly confidential and my code of ethics follows the International End of Life Doula Association. I am most recently trained under the Institute of Traditional Medicine and INELDA, two of the most renowned compassionate end-of-life-care programs in North America. I am careful with whom I learn from, using academics, constant peer/colleague led-education, personal experience, and ancestral knowledge and teachings (both in my own lineage through my grandmother and gratefully, through many of my teachers) to inform my scope of care. I am adverse to much of the very white-washed spiritual wellness world and also feel similarly about colonial notions of privilege and value through heavy-handed institutionalization though I recognize that both exist. I follow INELDA's code of ethics (happy to share this document at request) and though I am currently studying psychotherapy and Clinical Hypnosis, I am not yet qualified to couple this work into my doula work at this time and thus am extremely mindful to never give or guide care outside of my current scope of knowledge.

For Mind: This experience is very personal - each person sits facing an image of themselves most of the meditation, and nothing you write in your holographic will is shared. No one is forced to speak if they do not wish to, though there are opportunities for many questions and communication. I do many check-in's and pay close attention to care that may be needed throughout the meditation. Death -- similar to perhaps only birth and nature -- is the universal binder of all though each individual's experience of death is a very unique reflection of one's worldview; personal experience, culture, gender, religion, race, class structure, ancestral mapping, etc. In recognizing this, my intention is to pull a common thread that connects through the lens of nature, focusing our attention towards our impermanence in reflection to its cycles. We forgo a last will and testament that upholds death-as-industry ideas post 20th century (e.g. personal possessions, work/productivity, or capital in reflection of one’s life) and instead gently move toward the fundamental understanding of the cycle of the body and consciousness through nature. Nature can quietly connect us all to our own mortality daily. By simply observing the life cycle of a flower, we can cultivate a daily life cycle practice to help slowly diminish any fears that may exist, limit, or accumulate over time. We can carry these new gracefully infused understandings of death and impermanence into our daily life moving forward. When the time does inevitability come to face our own mortality in a more direct way, we can meet it with greater presence, self reflection, self acceptance, and loving awareness.

Any questions at all, I am an email away or please feel free to visit my website or instagram. Thank you for reading this long message! Thank you for your care, interest, and enthusiasm! Importantly, again, thank you for your trust and I deeply look forward to connecting with you :).