The Last Breath:Yoga Therapy & DyingAnne PitmanM.Sc., Certified Yoga Therapist C-IAYT, & Griefand Dying Therapist

Euphemisms

6 feet under

Lost

Gone

Kicked the bucket

Crossed

No longer with us

Lost the battle

Pushing up daisies

Taking a dirt nap

Passed Terminated

Extinguished

Taken from us

Gone to meet their maker

With the angels

With the ancestors

Kissed the world goodbye

In a better place

Checked out

Stone cold

Gave up the ghost

Put out of their misery

In spirit

Soul has left the body

Croaked

Dead (but not

for Dying)

I’m literally dead

Phone died

Died of embarrassment

Died of hunger

Dying to see you

Died a thousand deaths

Death by chocolate

Over my dead body

Love you to death

Scared to death Dead Tired

Drop dead gorgeous

Dead ringer

Dead to the world

Dying of boredom

Do or die

Sudden death

Photo by Daan Stevens on Unsplash

It is hard to die here.

“Bringing grief and death out of the shadow is our spiritual responsibility, our sacred duty. By doing so, we may be able to feel our desire for life again and

remember who we are, where we belong, and what is sacred.”

-Francis Weller

“How we die, and how we carry our dead: this makes our village life, our

culture, or breaks it.” -Stephen Jenkinson

“santhara”Practice of Contemplative Dying

Buddha's Five Remembrances - Thich Nhat Hanh

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

Dying well is a right of everyone.

Dying well is a moral obligation

Dying well is a political act

Dying well is an act of love

Dying well is spiritual activism

Dying well is immensely hard labour

-Stephen Jenkinson, Die Wise

Dying is Active

-Living Life, Dying Death – Jennifer Collins Taylor

People who are dying

People who aren’t dying

People who are dying, not dying.

Stages of Dying During:

Active dying and death

After: Final rites, burial or cremation, funeral or memorial,

bereavement

Before:Life threatening disease/terminal diagnosis

But what about BEFORE before…

Bow to the holistic nature of humanity

Support the cultivation of awareness and interoception

Sit with grief, sadness, and despair

Tend to anxiety, stress, and fear

Practice with shock, discomfort, and pain

Cultivate the art of letting go - śavāsana

Expertise of yoga therapy!

Yoga Therapy

BrilliantlyAccompanies

DyingPractice compassion, openness, and brokenheartedness

Practice accompaniment with presence

annamaya kośa

prāṇamaya kośa

vijñānamaya kośa

manomaya kośa

ānandamaya kośa

Graphic by Cassi Kit SEYT © 2019

Yoga TherapyGuided by:yama–s:

o ahimsāo satyao asteyao brahmacharyao aparigraha

niyama–s:o śaucao santośao tapaso svādhyayao īśvara praṇidhāna

satya:o honesty, truthfulness

ahiṃsā:o non-harming

asteya: o non-stealing

svādhyaya:o self-study, study of sacred texts

īśvara praṇidhāna: o dedication, commitment,

surrender,(including to a higher power)

Yoga TherapyGuided by:

kleśa–s:

o avidyā o raga:o dveṣao asmitā:o abhiniveśa

abhiniveśa:

• clinging to life, fear of death, fear of death of me, thirst for further existence for myself or others, fear of letting go of “I, me, mine”, fear of letting go of attachment and aversions

avidyā: • lacking awareness, not being with life as it

is

“I don’t want to give up on myself.”

Carly

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Manomaya kośaVijñānamaya kośa

AvidyāAsmitāRagaDveṣaAbineveśa

Carly

Practice:• Compassionate Inquiry• Ventral Vagal Accompaniment• Waiting for the Turn – “What do you Think is Happening?”• Shock Practice – Eyes, Head, Central Line, Novel Movement, Grief

Interoception• “Coming In” and “Letting Go” Practice with Breath, Alternate Nostril

Breath• Śavāsana – Self Compassion and Gates of Grief

“Wanting to talk directly about death and continue to move and breathe, to remember life.”

MARIE

Photo by Devan Freeman on Unsplash

MARIE Ānandamaya kośaManomaya kośaVijñānamaya kośa

RagaDveṣaAbineveśa

Practice:• Compassionate Inquiry• Ventral Vagal Accompaniment

• First Half of Practice – Death• Facing into Fear• Practicalities• Śavāsana – Releasing Day to Day-ness

• Second Half of Practice – Aliveness• Grounded Practice – Working with any felt tension, Standing Poses, Breath of Fire,

Embodied Breath• Noticing aliveness sensations

DAVID

Photo by Anton Darius | @theSollers on Unsplash

“Wanting to practice breathing at the end of his life.”

DAVID For David:Vijñānamaya kośaĀnandamaya kośa

AhiṁsāSatyaAsteyaBrahmacharyaAparigraha

Sukha

For Daughter:avidyā ragadveṣaasmitāabhiniveśa

Practice:• Extended Commiseration• Compassionate Inquiry• Ventral Vagal Accompaniment• Many Breath Practices – extended exhalation and kumbhaka• Anticipatory Pain Practice – Mapping and looping• BOGA• Śavāsana – Ćakra/Elemental Release

śavāsana

Gates of Grief

Day to Dayness Release

Meditation: What dies? What does your death serve?

Heart Cords

Name Release

Mantras – AUM, HUM, SAT-NAM, Gayantri

Mudras: anjali, padma, adhi

Chakra Release

Elemental Dissolution

Dying to Ancestors/Heaven/Universe/All

Death – Angel or Executioner

Dying to the Light

Deathing: Vibration; Sound; Breathing and Relaxation; Sensing Energy; Visualization; Withdrawal of Consciousness; Light/Teacher/God

śavāsana

Be around Death

Practice Presence in the face of Suffering

Practice Saying Good Bye – for Real

Contemplate Death inthe Face of Illness

Learn the Skill of Grief

Practice Impermanence

Practice Endings of all KindsWrite a Eulogy or Epitaph.

Read Death Notices. Turn Toward your Ancestors

Honour aging

Make an Elder

-Morning Altars by Day Shildkret

www.embodiedyogatherapy.comannesyoga.com

Remember,you will

die.