What Others Are Saying

"A contemplative approach to end-of-life care opens patients and clinicians to remarkable healing and transformation. As a palliative medicine clinician at several prestigious academic medical centers, I have witnessed the powerful impact these trainings have had upon our ability to meet the needs of dying patients and their families. The practical but profound skills developed through this course will radically enhance your ability to provide more effective and compassionate care for your patients. They will also enliven your passion for your work as a healer and nurture your own flourishing."

James Duffy MD FANPA FAAHPM DABMA
Professor of Psychiatry, M D Anderson Cancer Center Fellow, John P McGovern Center for Health, Healing, and the Human Spirit at the University of Texas

“As a physician who has practiced radiation oncology, this program provided me with a comprehensive framework for end-of-life care through its didactic and experiential components. Much of medicine is intellectual, but this program gave me the personal experience and the tools to meet people on their own ground, which is critical, and to continue working in a heartfelt way with patients and staff.”

Carole Milligan, MD, graduate of Contemplative End-of-Life Care Program

"This course of study, more than any other in my life, has shifted my deep internal understanding of what it means to be courageously and authentically present with people in crisis, whether it be in the ICU, ER, or in moments at the end of life."

Joannie Webster, MD, graduate of Contemplative End-of-Life Care Program

“Instead of finding a solely academic program, I found myself fully engaged on a personal level, which opened my whole understanding of life and of death. The contemplative and compassion practices taught were the tools I was familiar with, but it was through the program, that my experiential understanding of them provided the transformation. I became more open and accessible to my clients; the barrier created by my own hope and fear around illness, death and dying was removed. Now I know the meaning of those practices and the healing opportunities they offer.”

Janice Smith, psychotherapist, graduate of the Contemplative End-of-Life Care Program

"The knowledge and experience I gained (from the Contemplative End-of-Life Care Course) lead me to adeeper and more compassionate way to be with others, both the dying and the living. To be with, present toanother, has become an experience of love. What's so amazing is when families see how, whether inconversation, in silence, reading, or providing respectful touch, they, too, can express their love, and know how to create a ‘living room’ setting at the bedside where all can be at ease.”

Sister Gertrude (Trudy) Keefe, graduate of the Contemplative End-of-Life Care Program

“The lessons in this course are many and are, I believe, infiltrating all aspects of my life. It is as if my sitting practice and my work are intertwined and feeding each other. That connection of being present to another’s pain and my role in trying to alleviate it is why I am a doctor. I have the opportunity to make my occupation a spiritual practice now. Something more than just patching someone up, it’s about allowing my true essence that comes from my heart to shine forward. If I am just present and open to all the suffering and pain I see on a daily basis, sure I sometimes feel tired and don’t feel open. But what I’ve learned in this course is how to renew every day. That’s the transformation. It’s in allowing for more spaciousness, less reactivity, less judgments and how not to hold on to the things that are impermanent anyway. Now I can sit with a patient with a more clear and open heart and really be with them. I come away refreshed! “

Peter Brown, MD

"The richness of the teachings and practices taught in this course is enabling me to embrace more fully the essence of basic goodness in the world. This in turn is offering more enrichment in my personal life, as well as in my professional role as a Hospice nurse. Here the gifts are experienced both with patients and their families, as well as with colleagues. I am very grateful for the experience."

Jan Gould, RN

“One of the most practical examples of transformation gained from this course was about how the principles of meditation changed my whole way of listening. My entire approach to and understanding of what is really going on when I sit down with someone to listen to their life has changed…I realized that perhaps fo the first time I could really listen with my whole being to the deepest part of my patient’s heart and mind.”

Meg Brady, professor for oral history and recorder of patient’s life stories