“Death cannot be denied by repeating that death does not exist. Death will have to be known; it will have to be encountered. It will have to be lived. You will have to become acquainted with it.” Osho

A way to “die before you die,” this course is an experiential confrontation with the reality that one day we will meet our physical death. In a loving, retreat environment, with the help of certain exercises, devices, meditation and discussion, participants will be supported to be with whatever comes up for them.

For a full description, the benefits and participant feedback:
 https://oshosammasati.org/workshop/experiential-enquiry-death/
Prerequisite: An interview (online) with Maneesha

It is possible to join this as a stand-alone workshop. It is also the prerequisite for participation in the subsequent three courses.

Meditative support for the end of life

The global political, health and environmental crisis – with the very real threat of humanity’s extinction – increasingly  impacts our everyday living.  It also brings sharply into focus the possibility of our dying or the death of those we love. It can provide the incentive to ask ourselves: What can I do to live through critical times? How to confront the reality of death?

Our program is a practical and a profound process to consciously prepare for our own dying – or to be with another through their dying. The resources we will access are also those that will support us through other times of drastic change and of facing the unknown.

We will identify our personal issues around the prospect of dying – valuable in itself and also as a way to understand what another might be experiencing. Through meditation, structured exercises and discussion we will experiment with techniques to develop the many invaluable assets available to the meditator.

There will also be suggestions from Osho about how to be by the bedside of the dying.
Dying can then become a deeply transformative experience – both for the person dying and for those supporting them.

Have you ever looked back on an interchange with someone and felt regret or a sense of inadequacy? Is there a person who always ‘presses your buttons’ or throws you off centre? Have you ever felt that you’re not even speaking the same language?

To be human is to communicate, but we are not born with that skill perfectly in place.
This 4-day process can enhance our ability to connect and even commune with others – at the most profound level possible. It addresses our everyday communication generally, and in particular, especially challenging situations such as when the other is in a crisis of any kind, deeply distressed, sick and/or dying.

Some of us actually avoid friends when they are going through such experiences – simply because we feel so awkward. We don’t know what to say or what to avoid saying and how to behave generally. This of course can be immensely painful for the one who is looking for support. Is that what we want? To desert those we have loved at precisely the moment when they need us?
It need not be so: with some basic understanding and skills the whole picture can be completely different – both for the other in need and for ourselves. In this workshop, “In Rapport”, this is the delicate terrain that we will be exploring.

*

Through meditative techniques we’ll start by connecting with our inner space – of calmness and centering, of a loving awareness – and then learn how to take that into being with others.  The basic relating skills we’ll practise include establishing rapport, active listening, different ways of responding and the use of questions; looking at the appropriateness of touch, what body language can reveal, being with the feeling of ‘not-knowing’ and the other’s changing emotions; and throughout, remaining centred yet responsive, aware of our own inner process.
We’ll also explore how to be comfortable with silence and what can be communicated through it.
“You can talk with someone …and still, it won’t mean as much as what you can have when you sit in front of someone, not saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you feel like you have known the person for forever….” ( C. JoyBell C.)

Much of the workshop will focus on role-playing, in pairs – taking turns to ‘be’ the one in need, sick or dying, and the other to be the carer or visitor. In this way, we gradually incorporate our various new skills on an experiential level. Discussions with each other and in the larger group will help understand and integrate the whole process.

Link needed
In the 5-minute video above, workshop facilitators Maneesha & Sudheer speak about how to be with someone who is critically ill or dying and the great resource that meditation can be especially at this time.
Visiting someone who is seriously ill or who is actually on their deathbed can be daunting. How do you respond to questions such as: ‘Why me?’ or ‘Jesus will be waiting for me at the gates of heaven, won’t he?’ Do you encourage someone who seems to be ‘in denial’ to face the fact that they are dying?
The good news is: You don’t have to have the ‘right’ answer (or any answer at all).
Our focus is on helping you to develop a meditative presence and to be able to ‘hold the space’ … to provide a loving and supportive environment in which the other feels safe and accepted as they are; in which they can bring any issue into the light of awareness and connect with their own inner wisdom.
This workshop is suitable for anyone wanting to have a meditative presence as the basis of their relating. It also provides a rare opportunity to safely explore some of the issues touched upon in our free guide ‘A Guide to Visiting the Dying.

Through “In Rapport”  you can:
●      Learn how to relate with someone at the most profound level
●      Be truly there for a loved one who is in crisis, seriously ill or dying
●      Learn to remain centred and supportive at times when your own and your loved one’s thoughts, emotions and physical state may be unpredictable and uncomfortable
●      Be at ease with silence and the space of “not knowing”
●      Learn basic relating and communication skills for all circumstances (including coma
●      Learn how the basics of hypnosis and self-hypnosis can be used to bring relaxation to the seriously ill or dying

While the emphasis of this training is on the psycho-spiritual, we also need to be aware of the practicalities – related to ourselves, or as a support person. These include the attitude of friends and family. While some may be grateful and relieved that you have taken on the role of supporter, others may feel your presence is intrusive. The interpersonal dynamics of family members can also be confronting. There be unresolved conflict between them, or they may have quite different views about how the dying member should be cared for.

We need to be aware of the legal implications of being with someone who, in intractable pain, wants your help in ending their life. To know what measures can be put in place in a legally binding document (An Advance Directive or Living Will) that reflect the wishes of the dying person. For example, if they become unconscious they may want all life-supporting systems maintaining them to be switched off; if they stop breathing, they may not want to be resuscitated.

The patient may want to die at home; to have only certain people around them in their last days and hours; to have silence, or particular music played while they are dying; to design their own funeral or death celebration; to be cremated rather than buried. All such wishes need to be recorded and the practical aspects attended to before the event. For example, can they legally die at home if that is their wish? If they are dying in hospital, can they have friends around them playing music, singing, or reading them poetry? Who would they like to attend the death celebration, the cremation? If they choose the latter, where would they like their ashes scattered? Is it legal to scatter ashes anywhere they request?

The care of ourselves as the support person or part of a team. The role can be immensely fulfilling and bring you together with the dying person is an intimate and profoundly loving relationship. It can also be confrontative, for example, if you are deeply emotionally involved with the dying person – a parent, a close friend, a spouse or partner. Or you take on more than you can manage and begin to feel “burnt out.” How to look after ourselves when we want to be available 24/7? Being part of a team can be both a help and have its own challenges.

All the above practical considerations are as significant as all you will learn in the preceding modules. Attending to them may mean the difference between being able to offer the meditative approach you bring with you to the bedside or feeling too overwhelmed with the practicalities that you cannot cope.

Finally, we’ll review the learnings of the whole training – a very important part of the process. We’ll look at the question: “Where to from here?”  -- that is, at what we intend do with the skills, understanding and experiences we have accumulated.

*Please be aware that this workshop is open only to those who have participated in “An Experiential Enquiry into Death.”