Tuesdays November 12 - December 17, 2024
7 - 9:30 pm Eastern (NYC) time
$175 Patreon Members) / $195 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.

For many Eastern spiritual traditions (sects of Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.), life is seen as an opportunity to prepare for death, with awareness-based mediation as foundational to the practice. 

Artist and educator Bryan Melillo has studied meditation in India for 25 years. When his mother died, he used these traditions—as well as the guidance of his teacher—to usher his mother through the dying process. Deeply moved by this experience, he enrolled in an End of Life Doula program, and found its teachings to be similar and complementary to what he had learned in India.

In this six week class, Melillo will synthesize the practices he learned in India with those of the End of Life Doula as a means of helping students to prepare themselves—or a loved one—for a less fearful and regret-filled death. The class aims to demystify the actual dying process, approaching death as a benign process that can be participated in with a healthy mindset. It will also prepare students for their own death or the death of a loved one by learning how to work with issues that commonly cause emotional and psychological suffering and distress for the dying. Students will also leave with a deeper understanding of practical aspects of death including how to ensure a durable power of attorney, important documents one should have in order, writing a will, burial options, etc. 

At the core of this class is a final project, which can take any form. Students might create or design: a legacy project (something to be remembered by); a ritual or vigil to be conducted at one’s death or immediately afterwards; an altar or sacred space to be set up bedside; an object specifically for the altar or bedside or to buried with; a burial shroud, quilt or clothing to be placed upon the dying; or anything else that feels appropriate. It could even be as simple as as writing one’s will or getting one’s documents in order.

This class will teach a simple meditation practice as a guide for the death process and the after-death experience; a recording of this will be sent to each student for home practice. Students will also learn a process of deep active listening to employ when working with the dying, and will be provided with prompts for journaling and/or artistic expression throughout the class. 

In summary, the class aims to bring clarity in the following ways:

1. The dying process as a benign event

2. Active “listening” as a means to deepen one’s presence and awareness of self and to assist others

3. Common issues holding people back from a peaceful surrender into death, as understood by death doulas, and guide you in preparing for these issues

4. Practical End-of-Life Planning 

5. Legacy, Ritual, and The Sacred, (the motivation of the final project)

The class will also include optional readings from a variety of texts supporting the class content. 

Bryan Melillo has studied meditation in the Jñana and Bhakti yoga traditions for the last 25 years. Experiencing a classically identifiable Kundalini experience in 1997, his path eventually led to Tiruvannamalai, India, where he has studied with the same teacher since 2001. Here, he began learning (and eventually teaching) a variety of breathing (pranayama) and mantra-based meditation techniques. His exposure to many esoteric practices opened him to insights around the great Eastern traditions on the death and dying process. Bryan completed an End of Life Doula certification training with the goal of integrating eastern understandings of death with the growing Western end of life care and the death with dignity movement. Bryan is a professor at NYC’s Parsons School of Design and Rhode Island School of Design where he teaches painting, mask making and design. He maintains an active studio art practice.

Images:

1. Miss Ria Munk on her Deathbed, Gustav Klimt, 1912

2. The Angel of Death, Evelyn De Morgan, 1881