Conscious End-of-Life Training Program

                                      Presented by   

          Grand Transitions Institute and Hospice

 Death is the most crucial moment of our lives, and each and every one of us should be able to die in peace and fulfillment, knowing that we will be surrounded by the best in spiritual care.”

 -Sogyal Rinpoche

Introduction to the Training Program:

The Conscious End-of-Life Training Program offers a dynamic, fresh approach to end-of-life care under the direction of Domo Geshe Rinpoche, a western reincarnate lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Although key elements of these original teachings are based on ancient Buddhist principles, Level 1 of this trainingprogram designed for professionals, paraprofessionals, volunteers and other individuals, is open to anyone interested in care at the end of life regardless of their personal spiritual orientation.

A foundational Buddhist belief that has profound implications is that the actual dying experience and one’s state of mind at the time of death will profoundly influence the quality of the dying process and what happens after the death.  Importantly, the care receiver’s state of mind is sensitive and strongly influenced by the mind states of one’s caregivers, negatively or positively. This training enhances conventional hospice care by preparing those who want to increase their skills in providing a careful spiritual environment for persons at the end of life who need energetic calm around them. It is intended to guide the student to transform into the one who is increasingly capable of providing the highest quality of spiritual support. This training fosters the development of beneficial personal qualities that allows individuals to become more capable of caring for others in a more energetically aware manner so that they do not inadvertently cause harm, while simultaneously enhancing ones daily interactions and relationships with others, and facilitating preparation for one’s own eventual “grand transition.”

What Does the Training Program Consist of?

In total, there are four levels of this training that will be offered.

Level 1:  Prepares one in the basics of establishing the environment supportive of the patient, and energetically interacting with the person who is passing. Who is this person and what process are they engaged in? Training will focus on learning to be quiet energetically, eliminating impatience and learning or increasing patience. Level 1 will be most widely disseminated and is appropriate for all audiences.  It consists of a total of 12 modules that are covered over four separate full days of training that are offered approximately 3-6 months apart. Each day of training covers three modules (e.g., the first training of level one includes Modules 1-3).

All Level 1 trainings include:

• Lectures and discussion of key concepts and principles necessary for effective care-giving (includes DVD teachings by Rinpoche and group interaction)
• Experiential on-site exercises to help students gain greater understanding of the teachings
• Take-home assignments (homework) to facilitate deeper self-awareness and personal growth
• Monthly facilitated face-to-face or conference call group meetings to share homework insights, experiences, reflections, and offer support (to be organized and facilitated by local coordinator)
• Brief question and answer sessions with Rinpoche at the conclusion of each day long training, and at the conclusion of the group meetings/conferences calls when she is available

Level 2:  Student who obtain a certificate of completion for Level 1 and who wish to receive the higher trainings in accordance with the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, will be eligible to take Levels 2 and higher. Level two will deepen awareness of patience and inner quiet that was started in Level 1, begin training in the transformative compassion practices, and gain an understanding of one’s relationship to all living beings.  Attention will be given to understanding the correct view of compassion, which is not sentimental, but allows one to hold all living beings dear. An important element of the level 2 training, is the opportunity to receive the practice of the Medicine Buddha.

Level 3:  This level of training will assist students in overcoming one’s personal intellectual fear of death; deepening understanding and practice of patience and correct compassion. This level includes preparation for level 4. Before one can engage in the end-of-life yogas (i.e., the inner energetic practices at the time of passing) one must become the one capable of undertaking them.

Level 4:  Training of level four includes overcoming one’s innate fear of death; overcoming the obstacles that arise to achieving a correct view of compassion; deepening all previous training; and training for one’s own end-of-life while still healthy (i.e., the end-of-life inner yogas).

What are the Objectives of Level 1 Training?

modules 1-3  –  heighten understanding of:

• What is, and what is not, “end-of-life” (beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors)
• The dynamics of various types of relationships between caregivers and care-receivers
• The basics of establishing a supportive environment for the patient
• How to understand and deal with complex emotions that may arise in end-of-life situations
• Subtle influences that have a major impact on spiritual awareness
• The harm caused by caregiver “impatience”
• How to be energetically quiet

modules 4-6 – heighten understanding of:

• Factors contributing to impatience
• The health hazards of impatience for the caregiver and care receiver
• States of  mind associated with and leading to impatience that may arise in hospice setting
• Methods to overcome impatience
• Kinds of patience within hospice beneficial to arise
• Health benefits of patience
• States of mind to gather for patience

modules 7-9  – heighten understanding of:

• A special form of patience needed in end-of-life care as a state of mind that is cultivated
• Three primary ingredients of patience needed by caregivers
• Methods for preserving patience
• Different forms of equanimity needed for end-of-life care
• Techniques to strengthen endurance equanimity
• Various aspects of impermanence
• Three levels of impermanence from a Buddhist perspective
• The dissolution process at the time of death (outward signs and sensation of the dying person)
• How caregivers may support patients during the dying process

modules 10-12  – heighten understanding of:

• Differentiating controlling the mind from “critical thinking”
• Relate controlling the mind (thoughts) to the process of quieting the mind
• Techniques for quieting the mind
• Ways of responding to family grief prior to and after death of the patient
• Three foundational aspects of peacefulness
• What it means to deeply respect the privacy of the patient
• The importance of joy to physical and spiritual well-being of the caregiver
• How the  caregiver can maintain personal joy
• Meditations for arising desired states of mind such as peacefulness or joy

Where is this training offered?

Level 1 training is offered by White Conch facilitators in New Mexico, Wisconsin, Germany, and Hawaii, and will be offered in Illinois in the future as well.  If there is sufficient interest in other locations, and individuals are willing to organize and host a visit, facilitators could be available to bring this training to other parts of the country and the world.  If you are interested in bringing this innovative training to your area and would like to host, or if you have further questions, please contact Betty Kramer (ngakmo.chonyi@gmail.com) or Sharon Leftwich (sharon@tashidewa.com).  They would be happy to assist you.

What is the Cost for each of the day long Trainings offered in Level 1?

Funds generated from this program are used to cover program costs and to support the development of Buddhist hospices in Santa Fe New Mexico and in central Wisconsin that will serve persons of all faith.   Costs for each full day of training for Level one are as follows:

• $150  (new participants)
• $75 (full time high school or college students)
• $50 (returning participants)

 Instructor and Facilitators

Instructor: 

This training is directed by Domo Geshe Rinpoche, a Western reincarnate lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and is based on Buddhist approaches to compassionate care at end-of-life.  Rinpoche is the Spiritual Director of the White Conch Dharma Center and regularly provides community workshops to health care providers as part of her “Healing the Healer Series.”    She has a depth of knowledge regarding the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and views surrounding death, and the dying process, and is uniquely qualified to explain to westerners how to provide careful energetic support for persons at the end of life. Rinpoche’s teachings are presented in DVD format.  She is also available for Question and Answer Session at the end of each day long training.

Facilitators in the U.S.:

 Betty Kramer, Ph.D, MSSW, is a nationally recognized gerontology researcher, scholar and educator. Her research agenda is centered on improving care at the end of life. She is coauthor of the first evidence-based textbook to profile grief and bereavement interventions for human service professionals entitled Living through Loss: Interventions across the Life-Span (2006). She is the recipient of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Distinguished Researcher Award for her research relevant to improving care at the end of life.  She has 28 years of experience with various forms of meditation, has a long standing interest in Eastern perspectives on mental health, and has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism since 2003. Betty facilitates trainings in Wisconsin.

Sharon Leftwich, RN, BSN: has over two decades of experience in both at-home and inpatient hospice as a care provider, trainer and manager.  Most recently, she built a hospice from the ground up, which she managed in her beloved New Mexico. As a certified aroma therapist and practitioner/teacher of Reiki, she integrates both conventional and complementary approaches into her practice, and offers training in these integrative skills at numerous hospice conferences and organizations. She has personally developed blends of essential oils to help manage symptoms in the dying patient and their family members. Ms. Leftwich has been a practicing Buddhist for more than a decade.  Sharon facilitates the trainings in New Mexico.

 info@white-conch.org