Join us – a group of Brave Souls - as we create a safe space in which to explore the many facets of our mortality, conscious that we are Spirit beings embodied on this beautiful planet for only so long. While the topics may be challenging, we approach them with curiosity and wonder about choices we can make to ease (yet not speed up!) the transition. We aim to look Death in the face while embracing Life and Living Fully!
In April, 2016, Mary Beth trained with Rev. Olivia Bareham of Sacred Crossings, a certified Death Midwife, Home Funeral Guide and Celebrant. This has been calling me, for a while, and will certainly generate new topics of exploration for The Journey Across. My prior experience as a Hospice Nurse left an indelible mark. It is sacred work and I am honored to have become a Home Funeral Guide.
To further understand home funerals and green burials, watch these videos by Risa Morimoto of This is Modern Aging (I assisted at her mom’s home funeral in October, 2019). My Experience with End of Life and Death (Part 2): How to Plan a Funeral; and (Part 3): What Happened at the Final Stage of Mom’s Life. And listen to Dry Ice with Mary Beth White on Heritage Radio Network’s Processing: the Intersection of Food and Grief.
Our last event:
Sunday, May 31, 2015 -A field trip to the Greenwood Heights Cemetery and the Greenwood Heights Funeral and Cremation Services with Amy Cunningham. And check out Amy's blog, The Inspired Funeral.
On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 we launched THE JOURNEY ACROSS- AN EXPLORATION - Liza Johnson, LMFT - The Caregiver's Journey as a Rite of Passage to Wisdom.
Liza Johnson introduced the idea that caregiving our elders is a Rite of Passage to Wisdom. Caregiving envisioned in this way provides caregivers with a practice to benefit emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Liza will discuss what challenges make caregiving fertile ground. Tools and techniques that are most effective and easy to use for cultivating wisdom will be provided. The practice of achieving wisdom will expand your consciousness and improve the quality of your life. Habitual and historical patterns that cause suffering can be broken. We can grow older with grace, vitality and the abundance of well-being. For more information, read Liza's book, Take Me Home: Walking on Sacred Ground in the Last Stage of Life, or contact her via her website.
THE JOURNEY ACROSS- AN EXPLORATION continued on April 4, 2014 with Amy Cunningham discussing The Final Footprint: Shifting the American Way of Death to a More Sustainable Future .
Amy Cunningham is an accomplished writer, editor, blogger turned funeral director with a passion for helping families arrange dignified, distinctive funeral and memorial services. She has blogged on healthy living, holistic spirituality, yoga and meditation and lectures on funeral planning and the greening of the funeral business. Amy currently is a funeral director at the Greenwood Heights Funeral and Cremation Services adjacent to Brooklyn's historic Green-Wood Cemetery.