I want Help Facing Loss, or Living with Illness

Along the path to healing we are all called upon to examine our grief. Most often we think of grief as the overwhelming response to a singular event, usually the death of someone we love.

When we look more closely we see that grief has been a companion through a good part of our life. Sometimes our grief is about what we have had and lost and sometimes it’s about what we never got to have. There is no one way through grief. Yet in this section can become a bit more familiar with the territory.

One day, in the middle of writing a foundation grant report, I got a call from a man I didn’t know. He explained that he was the father of a 7-year-old boy

Mirrors reflect the truth of what strikes their surface. The eyes of a dying patient are the clearest mirrors I have ever known. In their gaze, there is simply

There is a moment for most of us, when we realize that we are about to become a companion of someone who is facing death. Maybe we come to this experience as

By Frank Ostaseski (after his heart attack) I don’t know how to do this. How could I? I’ve never done this before. How do I include illness in

In the Mahåparnibbåna Sutta, there is an accounting of the monks response to the Buddha’s death. It seems a pretty good description of the spectrum of

Grieving the death of someone we love is like being thrown into a river raging with of powerful and conflicting emotions. It pulls us down… beneath the

Loss is inevitable and grief is the process of healing the pain associated with loss. Our grief is our common ground. Along the path to healing we are all

Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief turning down to its black water to the place that we can not breathe will

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VIDEO + AUDIO

Preparing for Dying

Frank Ostaseski speaks about how dying is more about relationship than medicine.

Guided Grief Meditation

Guidance on integrating the losses in our lives.

Three Centers Meditation

Guidance on observing, feeling and sensing in meditation.

MORE COURSES

I want to Live My Life More Fully

The cliché says, “We die as we live.” In my experience, that is not entirely true. But suppose we lived

I want to Be a Mindful Healthcare Professional

Mindfulness is an essential characteristic of good clinical practice. Regular mindfulness practice supports

I want to Be a Compassionate Companion

There is a moment when we realize that we are about to become a companion of someone who is facing death.

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THE FIVE INVITATIONS

Discovering What Death
Can Teach Us About Living Fully

Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most.

Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves.

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