Holding Space: On Loving, Dying, and Letting Go

Meditation, massage, yoga, eating well, therapy, and healthy relationships help open us to acknowledge, honor, and accept the forces compelling us to numb uncomfortable feelings through disassociation or fracture.

What started as a personal quest to unravel the mysteries of birth and death became central to my professional work as an adult.

Buddhist “wheel of life.”

For death is not a disease. It is the twin companion of life. Birth and death are forever linked. Inseparable. Love is what weaves meaning between the two thresholds.

the hyper-medicalization of birth and death pose great challenges to all of us. They pose challenges to doulas working to improve the quality of birthing and dying. While many of our ancestors experienced profound intersections of life’s bookends, today very few of us are born and die in a space that is personally meaningful, holding memories of ou

On the one hand, the threshold point that constitutes our entrance into this world and the threshold point that constitutes our exit out of this world are axis mundis. They begin and end each heart’s journey through time. Sacred sites, both human-made and those found in nature, also can be regarded as axis mundis. However, mystics of all faiths aff

In her report on Torajan death practices, National Geographic author Amanda Bennett writes, “[T]he death of the body isn’t the abrupt, final severing event of the West. Instead, death is just one step in a long, gradually unfolding process.”

For bereaved parents, simply getting out of bed is an act of resilience.

illicit substance abuse should be regarded as a public health concern rather than a criminal justice matter,