Draft_Invite_WCS_Meditation Course_June29_July1_2018

White Cloud Sojourns
Compassionate Breath Meditations for Ending Suffering As the End of Life Nears
Short Course Synopsis
Friday Evening: 3 Hours
Saturday: 8 Hours
Sunday: 8 Hours
Our ultimate goal is to create an open sourced, mindful community of care
by utilizing simple breath meditations to relieve suffering.
This will be course is for caregivers, healers, clergy and chaplains, doulas, family members and, not the
least, anyone who is dying. It will be practicum consisting of an evening and two days (18 hours) of a
hands-on, intensive in active breath meditations. These are techniques that may provide comfort,
compassion and increased awareness at the end of life. They are based on Tibetan Buddhism and other
forms of yoga as well modern “breath-work” theory which I studied, receiving certification as a
facilitator of conscious connected breathing(2005). The course may be spiritually aligned with
meditation and prayer and compassion teachings found in all major religious traditions. It also seems
true to me that any human who acts with compassion is spiritual. This course is suitable for those over
16 (with written, parental permission under 18), and it’s also suitable for anyone approaching the end of
life or who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
If someone can breathe, if they can find compassion, they can learn the following and use it to relieve
suffering upon leaving here.
• Methods and theories of breathing patterns that are tied to everyone’s physical, emotional and
spiritual state of being.
• Tibetan breath meditations that are based on compassion
• Modern relaxation and breath awareness techniques
Upon leaving the workshop, an attendee may assist, using discernment, in caring for the dying (or, for
their own use), to help relieve the suffering of the whole person. Some of the breath meditations that
relieve stress for both caregiver and the dying will include:
• Breath of Joy
• Smile Breath
• Loving Kindness Meditation
• Tonglen (Receiving and Sending)
• Tonglen with Toning Breath (“The Long Vowel “A” Breath.”
• Intimate Connection – Sitting and Observing the Breath
• Other simple breath meditation techniques
To allow for meaningful presence at the end of life by relaxing body and spirit. These techniques may be
done actively, in partnership with the dying; while some of the meditations may also be done passively,
by the caregiver, without intruding on the dying person or their family or caregivers.
14 Pratt Rd, Alstead, NH 03602 peter@whitecloudsojourns.net 603-760-8362