“In one sense, working with the dying is something that one is called to do, and if you aspire to be an end-of-life doula, the Living/Dying Project will provide a spiritually grounded context along with useful techniques and tools to be one. But even for those who have no aspirations to work with people at the end of their lives, a Living/Dying Project workshop is a kind of spiritual training for life, because the fact of death is something that every single one of us is faced with, sooner or later. Dale presents a somatically and psychologically grounded, philosophically nuanced, and practical course that condenses his many years of experience into one deeply compelling weekend that will change how you relate to life and death.”
– Kaz, February workshop participant
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We don’t know when we may have a situation where we’ll be sitting with somebody who is dying or when we’ll be facing our own death.
Most spiritual traditions ask us to look at our own death as a practice in understanding ourselves and living an awakened life.
This course offers you the chance to feel radically alive, by learning to embrace your own death and support the dying.
In this course you will:
- Learn the background of the Living/Dying project and why the volunteers we train (and the transformation they experience) are the backbone of our work
- Gain practical tools to activate the heart and become grounded and embodied in the face of suffering, work with pain in the body, and to consciously work with others dealing with their own emotional and physical pain
- Understand the role of guides and best practices for sitting with people as they are dying and how connecting with your own life and death informs your practice
- Understand a framework for how we heal based on the wisdom of eastern philosophies, western psychology, devotional practices and energy medicine, and how this helps us to identify the next step that is transformational for each of us, even during crisis
- Be guided in short, intensive meditations to create a healing experience rather than an experience that is about healing
This training is designed to help you prepare to volunteer with the dying or to prepare for your own death or for sitting with a loved one.
It is through sitting with the dying that we get the invitation to truly live.
Recently Dale was at the bedside of someone who was deeply struggling with their dying due to cancer. As Dale tenderly offered support, she said, “Even though I’ve been trying to be spiritual, I didn’t focus on this part of my life enough that it made much difference. I’m still so afraid of dying.”
This was not the first time he sat next to someone who deeply regretted not exploring their essential nature more deeply. At the end of life, nobody regrets not having watched tv more.
Another time, Dale was at the bedside of a highly trained and disciplined meditator — someone who spent decades thinking and talking about God. And yet, their energetic barriers remained thick and dense that they also deeply struggled as their imminent death was approaching.
From being with so many different dying clients, it’s really clear that spiritual ideas don’t do much good. Such wisdom has to penetrate the core of one’s being. Ultimately it’s about surrender.
How alive are you willing to be?
Each of us is at a particular point on our healing path, confronting our next challenge, often without clearly knowing whether attitudes or practices we have been using to facilitate growth in ourselves or in our clients are becoming stale, without knowing which direction we should turn to create meaningful transformation.
This course is for people who:
- Would like to volunteer for The Living/Dying Project
- Have a loved one who is currently dying whom they want to support more consciously
- Want to be more aware of their own death as a spiritual practice
It is through this investigation of death and dying that one awakens to a more conscious life.
© George Ward
When you sign up you will immediately receive:
After completing this course,* you have the option to become a Living/Dying Project volunteer and to join a regular support group addressing the issues that arise in working with dying clients. We encourage you to visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Cost for the online course is $250. The course is available now. After receiving your payment, we will send you instructions for viewing the workshop.
*Course fee goes toward supporting those in the face of grief, illness, and death.
Who is your teacher?
For over 40 years, RamDev Dale Borglum has sat with thousands of people in their moment of dying, and with their families and caregivers. He ran the Dying Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the early 1980s where many spent their final months and days. Together, Dale, Stephen Levine, and Ram Dass taught workshops throughout the country addressing topics on aging, suicide, healing, spiritual practice, conscious living and dying, and so much more, while working with thousands as they faced various personal crises. He is a seasoned practitioner in both meditative and devotional traditions, and continues to use his wealth of experience and the teachings passed down to him to offer support for others. Dale is still working with the dying today.
“Thanks for the great workshop. It integrated very well with my current practice and teachings but you gave me a lot I can also work with with patients, and I’ve never had an actual tool / practice to work with opening the heart – despite years of working on just that. Thanks again.”
– Kim, Licensed Acupuncturist
“I want to thank you from the very depths of my being, Dale. I had to be rushed to the hospital just 4 days ago due to complications from a surgery and I had to confront and make peace with my death more fully than I ever have in the 5 hours leading up to another emergency surgery. Though I still felt fear, it didn’t overtake me and I felt divinely guided having just recently taken your course. I had my partner lead me through the practices that you shared and they helped keep me conscious and present in my body through the experience. I felt like I was right where I was supposed to be.”
– Katie, Writer