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                Definitions, 
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                DJ's Rights, 7 Stages,  
                Alternative Providers,  
                CINDEA Recognition,  
                Why use Services? 
              
  
                Expectations, 
                 
                Web of Facets,  
                Advantages of a DM,  
                CINDEA Recognition,  
                Philosophy in Practice 
                 
                
              Final 
                Affairs, 
                Advance Directives & Representation/Proxy, 
                Dementia 
                 
              History, 
                 
                Why Consider It, 
                Basics, Videos, 
                Physical 
                Care, 
                 
                6 Shroud Patterns, 
                DJ's Remains 
                 
                 
                Various forms 
                of  
                ecological disposition 
               
              By My Own Heart & Hand 
home funerals, Greening Death, Children, and Deathing Rites  
                
              National 
                & Provincial 
               
                National 
                & Provincial 
              National 
                & Provincial 
               
                U.S.A., U.K., 
                etc. 
               
                for 
                Adults & Children 
                
                 
                 
Articles & Updates 
                 
                 
                
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                                      Momma's 
                                        Deathing 
                                      In 
                                        the 4-person hospital room 
                                      One 
                                        tiny spoonful at a time ~"I don't 
                                        want to eat if I have to be spoon-fed". 
                                          Even when gently wiping a 
                                        bit of food from her face, her hands tremble 
                                        uncontrollably.  
                                           
                                        Gently assisted into the lift-chair and 
                                        wheeled to the bathroom ~"I don't 
                                        want to live if I can't walk".   It 
                                        is hard to even move her into a different 
                                        position to relieve her sore bedridden 
                                        hips. 
                                      She can hardly wake up any more, despite 
                                        the endless lights.   After 
                                        the fact, I find out that she had been 
                                        treated for aspiration pneumonia.   The 
                                        nurses and doctors were very kind and 
                                        caring, but that was against her will 
                                        ~ and mine, as her Representative.   Despite 
                                        recovering from the infection, it has 
                              sapped all of her remaining life-strength... read more  
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                                  An 
                                    Example of Caring  
                                    for a Death Journeyer at Home 
                                      | 
                                   
                                     Rethinking 
                                      the  
                                      Language of Suffering 
                                      in End-of-Life Choices 
                                                                          | 
                                   
                                     Japanese 
                                      funerals and beliefs                                    | 
                                 
                                 
                                  | Bill 
                                    (not his real name) was in hospital when he 
                                    was identified as being in the final stage 
                                    of life.   He expressed a strong 
                                    wish to return home to die, and I was called 
                                    to support the family as their end-of-life 
                                    doula.    read 
                                    more | 
                                  This 
                                    blog is not about MAiD itself, but rather 
                                    the issue of the wording we use for 'end of 
                                    life' states. In Canadian MAiD, one must have 
                                    a terminal condition or 'intolerable suffering' 
                                    in order to qualify. Actually, the language 
                                    now is "Grievous and irremediable medical 
                                    condition"; but 'grievous' means "characterized 
                                    by severe pain, suffering, or sorrow" 
                                    ?? so pretty much the same as 'intolerable'. 
                                       read 
                                    more  | 
                                  I have 
                                    been researching shukatsu which is a practice 
                                    that has been on the rise in Japan since about 
                                    2009.   This practice involves the 
                                    person planning out their end of life and 
                                    funeral service prior to illness.   The 
                                    increase in shukatsu practices is a result 
                                    of increasing aging population, families moving 
                                    further away and a shift in mindset that life 
                                    is a circle, there is no ending, just transformation. 
                                        read 
                                    more  | 
                                 
                                
                                  | 
                                     July 
                                      10,2025 ~ 
                                      Gaylene Delaney 
                                      By My Own 
                                      Heart and Hand student, end-of-life 
                                      doula, New Zealand 
                                                                          | 
                                  
                                     June 
                                      10, 2025 ~ Pashta MaryMoon 
                                      By 
                                      My Own Heart and Hand  teacher                                    | 
                                  May 
                                    10, 2025 ~ Jennifer McCrae,  
                                    By My Own Heart and Hand  graduate  | 
                                 
                               
                                
                                
                              
                                 
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                                     Practicing 
                                      Deathcare Together                                    | 
                                   
                                     There 
                                      was a phone call ~  
                                      Children and Death                                    | 
                                   
                                     The 
                                      Dark Sky Swaddles  
                                      Its Secrets                                    | 
                                 
                                 
                                  |  
                                     On 
                                      a winter's day in January, nine souls from 
                                      our community deathcare group gathered in 
                                      one of our serene rural homes to rehearse 
                                      what was once an intuitive, communal act-caring 
                                      for our dead.    
                                    This 
                                      magical home funeral session was a space 
                                      for hands-on practice, a way to deepen our 
                                      comfort with deathcare, and strengthen our 
                                      ability to support one another when the 
                                      time comes. (read 
                                      more)                                     | 
                                   
                                     I 
                                      loved my grandmother very much.   My 
                                      whole life, for some reason, I would always 
                                      say she was like my mom to me.   I 
                                      spent every weekend with her at her house.... 
                                      is how I remember my time with her.   It 
                                      was like an escape from my home to be with 
                                      her.  
                                    One 
                                      day when I was maybe when I was 11 or 12, 
                                      I was at her house for a sleepover and she 
                                      drew the bath water for me.  I remember 
                                      her coughing a lot. 
                                      (read 
                                      more)                                     | 
                                   
                                     We 
                                      are moving towards our annual blessed darkness, 
                                      the Winter Solstice.  This is the time 
                                      of year to take advantage of sheer and complete 
                                      darkness as a healing element.  Black 
                                      is the most restorative hue for the retina. 
                                    If 
                                      you were to lie down in a darkened room 
                                      in Shavasana (Corpse Pose), with cupped 
                                      hands over your eyes, to dispel any light 
                                      entering, the sustained pose would gift 
                                      your eyes the inner re-set instructions 
                                      to re-vision your world again...(read 
                                      more)                                    | 
                                 
                                 
                                  |  
                                     March 
                                      26 Madeline Christe  
                                      By My Own Heart and Hand  teacher 
                                                                          | 
                                   
                                     June, 
                                      2024 Andrea Trimble  
                                      By My Own 
                                      Heart and Hand Graduate                                     | 
                                   
                                     December 
                                      15, 2024  
                                      Tricia Keith  
                                      By My Own Heart and Hand Teacher                                    | 
                                 
                               
                                
                              
                                 
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                                     A 
                                      Family Undertaking ~  
                                      Such a Beautiful Film,  
                                      A Student's Perspective                                     | 
                                   
                                     Three 
                                      Possible Elements of  
                                      Our Being in Deathing                                     | 
                                   
                                     On 
                                      Disorganized and  
                                      Delayed Grief                                    | 
                                 
                                 
                                  | The 
                                    beauty of the relationships of the journeyers, 
                                    families and companions really shone through. 
                                     The love and connection to the process 
                                    really allows people to have a sense of agency 
                                    during this phase of life transition. 
                                    ......     
                                    read 
                                    more | 
                                  When 
                                    I was in my early twenties, I visted Elizabeth 
                                    Kubler-Ross's centre in California, Shanti 
                                    Nilaya (meaning 'home of peace'), to talk 
                                    to them about an idea I had: although, looking 
                                    back, I can't recall how this idea originated. 
                                    The Shanti Nilaya folks had no response ~ 
                                    I guess the idea was too weird, BUT................ 
                                    read 
                                    more  | 
                                  The 
                                    impact of my father's death on me is that 
                                    I had not really felt grief...as I completely 
                                    accept his decline, frailing ~if this is a 
                                    word~ and death.... 
                                    I can count on one hand the times he said 
                                    something positive or acknowledged anything 
                                    "good" that I had done during my 
                                    childhood till adult and into my late 50's.  read 
                                    more | 
                                 
                                 
                                  |  
                                     October 
                                      2024 Shelley Garside  
                                      By My Heart and Hand graduate                                    | 
                                   
                                     November 
                                      7, 2024 Pashta MaryMoon  
                                      By My Own Heart and Hand Teacher                                    | 
                                   
                                     October 
                                      20, 2024 Alisa K.  
                                      By My Heart 
                                      and Hand graduate                                    | 
                                 
                               
                                
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                                Last 
                                updated June 2023    © CINDEA 
                                 (To use more than a brief extract, please 
                                contact us 
                                for permission.) 
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