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The Last Gift

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25.01.2022 The Last Gift has the only cool plate for hire in SA. A cool plate enables the body of a loved one to remain at home for a few days. It runs on a compressor and maintains a constant temperature to keep the body cool. Many people have no idea that the body of a loved one can be brought home before burial or cremation, instead of being taken to the morgue. Some may find this confronting, but those who do keep the body at home, describe the experience as ‘beautiful’, one that af...forded them deep peace. Time allows for a loving goodbye in an intimate setting of your choice, time to tell your loved one how much they are loved, to hold their hand and express your feelings in your own time. Time for friends to visit, to decorate he coffin, to celebrate the beauty of this life, as and when you are ready. For more information contact Joy or Sandra See more

23.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch What will our deaths look like? We have become so sheltered from seeing death that just talking about it makes many of us think it may bring death closer. This full length documentary ‘The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman’, is that of an Elder, showing us one way of a good death. Theodore made a spiritual choice to live his ‘last great adventure’ to the fullest, and with the kindness and support of family and friends he left a legacy of encouragement for us, empowering us with a choice for our own dying, You are invited to take time out for this video and learn from a most excellent death.

23.01.2022 Book Review ‘Advice for Future Corpses’. Sallie Tisdale Advice for Future Corpses, seems to be an outrageous title for a book in our death phobic society. Sallie, is a nurse, Buddhist practitioner and end of life educator. She talks about a generation who are ‘ energetically trying not to be as old as they are, to not look old, feel old and most of all, not to be perceived as old.’ Youth is worshipped, but aging happens anyway. Ask anyone if they know they will die an...d they will say of ‘course,’ but do we really believe that we might not be here tomorrow? Of course everyone dies, ‘except (secretly, without conscious thought) me.’ Sallie says a lot about our plans for death, how we can plan many elements of our dying, but we forget that we have not chosen death, death has chosen us. ‘All the planning, support and directives in the world, won’t give you control.’ This book looks at the reality of our dying, but not in a depressing, book of doom, but in the sense that knowledge of what truely is, not our fantasies, is what will help us the most at the time of death. See more

22.01.2022 Much excitement!! Thank you to all the lovely ladies who joined us for our inaugural Self forum. It was a great success! We are still receiving lots of positive... feedback, feeling the love and gratitude that is for sure! Many have stated, ‘we can’t wait for the next session’ So here it is: ’SELF’ Approval Valuing the Feminine Self Enjoy a home-cooked light vegetarian dinner with one of our favourite spring time teas. Relax into a guided meditation and prananyama session. Explore with us: 1. Goals of Life - What is our role? 2. Importance of Being a Woman - An Ayurvedic perspective 3. The Effects of Seasonal Change - With a spring focus Please join us: Tuesday 13th October, 2020 7.00pm - 8.30pm Hope’s Cafe Clayton Wesley Uniting Church 280 Portrush Road Beulah Park SA $25.00pp (with an option to, ‘pay it forward’ This is a beautiful way of gifting a heart space for other women to join with us in our upcoming forums) Please book your seat on the link provided below. https://www.trybooking.com/BLRDN Beatrice, Pawan, Nitika and Lee 'SELF’ for Women

22.01.2022 Adding to our vision of, Living Well, Dying Well, Joy and Sandra are developing Paper Moon, a retreat in an isolated setting, designed as support for those diagnosed with a life threatening illness. This is a traumic, confusing time and Paper Moon will offer peace, serenity and a time to think and access a way forward, whilst being spoiled and cared for. On offer will be healthy vegetarian or vegan food and a chance to to enjoy meditation, massage, yoga and other options, provided by professional, compassionate therapists. Relax with your own spa, swimming pooland private walks. Paper Moon will also offer this serene space for wellness workshops, group meditation retreats and private, catered for mediation retreats.

19.01.2022 LINKS TO NEW ZEALAND FARE-WELL TRUST Malborough is a district in a beautiful area in the North East of the South Island New Zealand. The largest town in the area is Blenheim, with a population of 27,000. We’ve been fortunate in linking up with folks from Fare-well, a Charitable trust in New Zealand, situated in the Marlborough Sound Area (popn. Approx 4000) The old English word (Fare-well) means to travel or journey well so the name is appropriate. The group provide a...Continue reading

09.01.2022 https://www.ted.com/tal/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to A short video about a global wall project that inspires and invites us to reflect on mortality and to consider what matters most.

08.01.2022 https://www.feministes-radicales.org//Barbara-Ehrenreich-a There has been some interesting conversation recently on several of the Death Doula sites regarding the push for qualifications against the thought of women developing their nurturing skills with community based care of the dying. I sometimes lament the fact that the healing skills, herbal knowledge, birth and death mothering are not now handed down from mother to daughter, as once was the case. I was given in an ...interesting booklet years ago - ’Witches, Midwives and Nurses’ by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English. They wrote of how the skills of women were taken away and during the 14th to 17th Centuries thousands of ‘witches’ were burned at the stake. It has a nursing bent and some of the figures would be superseded published in the early 70’s - but nevertheless is a very interesting read. The ‘witch hunts’ certainly changed the world of women and our lives have been impacted by these changes. Part of the Doula movement is to regain these skills and make them available to all families experiencing death, dying or bereavement. Women have always been healers. They were the unlicensed doctors and anatomists of Western history. They were abortionists, nurses, and counsellors. They were pharmacists, cultivating healing herbs and exchanging the secrets of their uses. They were midwives, travelling from home to home and village to village. For centuries women were doctors without degrees, barred from books and lectures, learning from each other, and passing on experience from neighbour to neighbour and mother to daughter. They were called "wise women" by the people, witches or charlatans by the authorities. Medicine is part of our heritage as women, our history, our birthright’ I have included the link for the pdf and if you don’t have time to sit and read you may like to listen to a reading of the booklet available on U-tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF_M-9iBIFM

07.01.2022 As we were developing our ideas for ‘The Last Gift’ Sandra and Joy held a meeting at ‘Paper Moon’ - Sandra’s residence in a beautiful isolated setting on the outskirts of Adelaide. Twelve women, from a variety of occupations, met to discuss strengthening our vision. We discussed death and community attitudes, completing Advance Care Directives, natural burials and coffins, family run funerals, influences of the established funeral business, care for the dying end of life ...carers (Death Doulas), lack of care for those with dementia, food and care in Aged Care homes (Maggie Beer’s vision for change and her books), Buddha House new home hospice care (Pure Land Amitabha) and so much more. There are so many amazing women out in the community, working to improve life for those struggling with physical or spiritual issues. Attending was a marriage and funeral celebrant, Reiki master and counselor, Chiropractor, Ayurvedic consultants, Senior Yoga practitioner, Occupational therapist, End of Life Carers, Palliative Carers, Aroma therapist etc. At the end of the day we realized our vision had broadened from Dying Well, to ‘Living Well, Dying Well’. Everyone at the meeting has their own dream and ability to improve health in diverse ways and we hope these women will be part of a group supporting the Last Gift community and these ideas will develop in following discussions on our page. See more

03.01.2022 We’ve been pondering on the way death is advertised in the media and this feature illustrates a reaction to the handmade dolls throughout the town of Nagaro in Japan. ‘Creepy’. The description doesn’t give credit to the attempt of one woman to fill the loneliness of the village where only 27 people are now living. She makes a new doll every time someone in the village dies - a celebration of their life but it is also a celebration of the way things were lively and vibrant. The younger generation head to the cities leaving rural traditions behind but perhaps one day they will return, realizing the importance of rural life to our well being. Sad I suppose, but perhaps ‘charming’ would be a more fitting description of this way of remembering the dead.

02.01.2022 MATTHIEU RICARD - TIME TO PREPARE FOR DEATH IN PEACE AND JOY Matthieu Ricard has spent decades photographing and cataloging Himalayan texts and paintings, and plans to return to the mountains. He has stepped back from the day-to-day running of his 20-year-old humanitarian foundation, which provides healthcare, education and social services in India, Nepal and Tibet. Now he is writing a testimony of what it is to spend years with the great Buddhist teachers. I don’t ha...ve huge plans, says Ricard. I’m 74 so it’s time to go back to the hermitage. I don’t want to die on an airplane, I want to have a few years of peaceful life. It’s time to rejoice and prepare for death in peace and joy. A good death is the crowning of a good life, hopefully. The composure with which he faces his next chapter reflects the Buddhist belief in death as a natural part of the life cycle. Many people in modern western societies are unprepared for death because they have not pondered the fragility of human life too much, says Ricard. And they are not used to cultivating those inner qualities that make you face death with serenity. In Buddhism, we think about death all the time. It is not morbid; it is simply to give value to every moment that passes by. Why do so many people who have been given a year left to live because of a terminal illness often say that it was the richest year of their life? Because it draws into sharp relief all they hold precious, I suggest. You can appreciate that all your life, says Ricard. That is the best way. Thinking of death is just to appreciate every moment. See more

02.01.2022 More issues to think about, more issues to talk about. Not everything was good in ‘the good old days’, but dying was more a universal passage from life to death, marked with words and anointing of oils. The family washed and dressed their loved one’s body, in a familiar, comfortable space, spending time to grieve. In the metallic ICU, where death is seen as a failure, the rites of passage have mostly disappeared. Busyness now supplants waiting, families, once involved in the... care of th dying, become onlookers. There are often no ‘last words’ because of the tubes of respirators. The spiritual, mystical aspect of our life and death, has been replaced with pumps and machines. The dying patient is often surrounded by life support systems with the one aim to extend life as much as possible and families who think there is nothing more important than life, at any cost. This is why we need to talk, before it’s too late; to express how we want to be at the end of our life.

01.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bfomd2mq7w&feature=emb_logo