Being Well Podcast: On Death and Dying with Roshi Joan Halifax

01 Aug Being Well Podcast: On Death and Dying with Roshi Joan Halifax

Posted at 13:26h in Mindfulness and Meditation Podcast, Podcasts by
Being Well Podcast: On Death and Dying with Roshi Joan Halifax

Though there is no more human experience than death, it’s one of the most challenging topics to explore. Today we have the pleasure and privilege of learning from a true pioneer in the field of end-of-life care: Roshi Joan Halifax.

As you may know, “roshi” is a title for the honored teacher of a Zen Buddhist community. Roshi Joan Halifax is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, and doctor of medical anthropology. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She’s also the author of several classic books, including among others The Human Encounter with Death with famed psychiatrist Dr. Stanislav Grof, The Fruitful Darkness: A Journey Through Buddhist Practice and Tribal Wisdom (which has spent a lot of time on my nightstand recently), and Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death, 

We would like to draw particular attention to her most recent book Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet. In it, Roshi Joan identifies five psychological territories she calls Edge States – altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, and engagement – that epitomize strength of character. Yet each of these states can also be the cause of personal and social suffering. In this way, these five psychological experiences form edges, and it is only when we stand at these edges that we become open to the full range of our human experience and discover who we really are.

We’d also like to let people know about the Upaya Institute’s general fund, which allows Upaya to provide a wide array of workshops, trainings, and retreats for thousands of people each year. Gifts to the fund also help expand Upaya’s trainings in Compassionate End-of-Life Care and advance socially engaged Buddhist practice. If you would like to give to the fund, please follow this link. 

Timestamps:

2:09: Roshi Joan’s childhood experience, and how it shaped her.

4:42: How has your work with the dying informed the way that you’ve lived your life?

8:17: In your experience of sitting with people who are going through the dying process, what have you found they particularly valued or regretted?

10:14: Handling existential dread.

11:48: We only have one “big” death, but we may have many “small” deaths throughout life. What lessons can we take from the “big” death and apply to those?

18:18: Can we know our own true nature?

20:56: Do you have any counsel for those who are grieving?

26:43: A teaching from indigenous cultures.

28:17: If you could go back in time and speak to yourself as a child or young adult, what would you say?

 

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Dr. Ramani Durvasula is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and expert on the impact of toxic narcissism. She is a Professor of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles, and also a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg.

The focus of Dr. Ramani’s clinical, academic, and consultative work is the etiology and impact of narcissism and high-conflict, entitled, antagonistic personality styles on human relationships, mental health, and societal expectations. She has spoken on these issues to clinicians, educators, and researchers around the world.

She is the author of Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving a Relationship With a Narcissist, and Don't You Know Who I Am? How to Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility. Her work has been featured at SxSW, TEDx, and on a wide range of media platforms including Red Table Talk, the Today Show, Oxygen, Investigation Discovery, and Bravo, and she is a featured expert on the digital media mental health platform MedCircle. Dr. Durvasula’s research on personality disorders has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and she is a Consulting Editor of the scientific journal Behavioral Medicine.

Dr. Stephen Porges is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He is a former president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and has been president of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences, which represents approximately twenty-thousand biobehavioral scientists. He’s led a number of other organizations and received a wide variety of professional awards.

In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological states in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders, and has had a major impact on the field of psychology.

Dr. Porges has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers across a wide array of disciplines. He’s also the author of several books including The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation.

Dr. Bruce Perry is the Principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, and a Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. From 1993 to 2001 he was the Thomas S. Trammell Research Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of psychiatry at Texas Children's Hospital.

He’s one of the world’s leading experts on the impact of trauma in childhood, and his work on the impact of abuse, neglect, and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs, and policy across the world. His work has been instrumental in describing how traumatic events in childhood change the biology of the brain.

Dr. Perry's most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, was released earlier this year. Dr. Perry is also the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children, and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Additionally, he’s authored more than 300 journal articles and book chapters and has been the recipient of a variety of professional awards.

Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith is a child clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma and issues of race. She earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard and then received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She performed postdoctoral work at the University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital. She has combined her love of teaching and advocacy by serving as a professor and by directing mental health programs for children experiencing trauma, homelessness, or foster care.

Dr. Briscoe-Smith is also a senior fellow of Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and is both a professor and the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Wright Institute. She provides consultation and training to nonprofits and schools on how to support trauma-informed practices and cultural accountability.

Sharon Salzberg is a world-renowned teacher and New York Times bestselling author. She is widely considered one of the most influential individuals in bringing mindfulness practices to the West, and co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts alongside Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Sharon has been a student of Dipa Ma, Anagarika Munindra, and Sayadaw U Pandita alongside other masters.

Sharon has authored 10 books, and is the host of the fantastic Metta Hour podcast. She was a contributing editor of Oprah’s O Magazine, had her work featured in Time and on NPR, and contributed to panels alongside the Dalai Lama.

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