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What is integrative massage therapy? (Interview)
Christine Brusati shares her experiences with massage therapy in hospitalsToday SevenPonds speaks with Christine Brusati from Sage Hands, a massage therapy service based in San Francisco and Marin. A massage practitioner since 2005, she first studied at both World School of Massage and the Holistic Healing Arts and Diamond Light School of Massage and Healing Arts, and then went on to graduate from the…
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“Holding Silvan, A Brief Life”
It’s so intensely real I cried and sobbed through many of it’s pagesFew books offer a journey so intimate and overwhelming that we witness the author’s experience as though we were there. Intensely gripping, Holding Silvan, a Brief Life made me feel every second, every heartbeat from Monica Wesolowska’s true story—the infant loss of her first born. The author begins by describing the birth of her son, Silvan, who…
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What if you met your best friend at a funeral?
Clip from the 1971 classic film “Harold and Maude”More from Laughter is Medicine: “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” “I want to die like my father, peacefully in his sleep, not screaming and terrified, like his passengers.” Some People Just Don’t Get Death
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Tolkotin Native Americans: Rituals for the End of Life and Burial
Why Native American traditions for death and dying captivated early explorers.North America, circa 1831: Irishman Ross Cox had long braved his emigration to America and finally published Adventures on the Columbia River. The early explorer’s book is integral to our understanding of the era, and not just because it informs us on the infamous American Fur Company in which he was a prominent player. Throughout…
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Corruption and Incompetence in the Coroner’s Office
Many coroners do not provide quality end of life investigationMassively controversial but often overlooked is the institution of the coroner. Inherited from Great Britain back in colonial days, the position originated as the King’s investigator who kept track of deaths and, more importantly, collected some last death taxes. Today the coroner performs autopsies—a practice one assumes would require special training and expertise. It does…
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Messages from Beyond Death: “My Husband’s Things”
In the midst of grieving, widow Joans Marans Dim digs through her husband’s pastThe latest non-fiction essay by Joans Marans Dim, “My Husband’s Things”, is an intimate look into the grieving author’s struggle to accept the death of her husband, Stuart. Published in The New York Times last Wednesday, Dim’s essay chronicles the surreal experience of digging through Stuart’s things after he passed away from Cancer in June…
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I Answer the Question Most Often Asked: What Made You Start SevenPonds?
For our third anniversary I repost Dying is Not Always a Sad Process, My grandmother’s glorious last hurrahSo many people ask me the same question – what caused you to get into this topic of end-of-life/death and dying? So today I repost the story of my progressive grandmother’s death, over two decades ago, that led me to where I am today. The title is: Dying is Not Always a Sad Process, My grandmother’s glorious…
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“Death in the Sick Room” by Edvard Munch
The Munch painting explores tuberculosis and death through the survivors they affectIn the 1895 painting Death in the Sick Room, Norwegian symbolist Edvard Munch takes a unique look at his sister Johanne Sophie and her death by tuberculosis. Rather than fix his gaze on his sister, Munch directs his attention to those surrounding her. The result is a scene with an expansive gaze on death, one…
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How Can We Plan A Memorial Service? (Interview)
Rabbi Sara Shendelman discusses the services she offers for people planning a memorial service for a loved oneToday, SevenPonds speaks with Rabbi Sara Shendelman, a rabbi and cantor as well as a former ordained minister. Currently based in Berkeley, California, she officiates all types of weddings and conducts memorial services, both interfaith and Jewish, for individual families. She holds an MA in Education from New York University and is the Director and…
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