Non-Ordinary States as Experiential Training for Death

Non-ordinary states of consciousness can allow our conscious minds to transcend ordinary boundaries of space and time. We can then have experiences of revisiting events from our early life with new perspective, encounters with loved ones who have already walked on, or even identify with whole communities from other cultures. These states have been valued for millennia.

The loss of meaningful rites of passage has impacted our relationship with death. Death is not only a biological reality, it has far reaching psychological and spiritual implications. Any real or even symbolic confrontation with death can lead to profound spiritual opening. When we can have an experiential knowing that our consciousness continues, that biological death is not the end point, then our fears can diminish, our appreciation for life deepen, and our orientation toward wholeness can carry us forward.

Please join Jim Van Buskirk, from the Castro Death Cafe, and Stacia Butterfield, a long time Holotropic Breathwork practitioner, for this experiential journey inward. Guided by the principles of Holotropic Breathwork, we will use the time-honored traditions of deep breathing, evocative music, and body awareness, to access an expanded state of awareness for self-knowledge, healing, and well-being. These states can support us in opening to the mystery of our own inner world, while also confronting our fears or difficult memories in a way that can be therapeutic, transformative, and even evolutionary.