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For millennia indigenous people everywhere have known "how to die."
Their teacher was the natural world and, over many years and many
generations, they learned their lessons well. Cycles of dying and
rebirth were seen everywhere: the setting and rising of the sun, the
turning of the seasons, the death of the elderly alongside the birth of
a new generation. Ceremonial rites of passage emerged pan-culturally as
an expression of these lessons well-learned. These rites supported
individuals as they let go of one stage of life—the “little deaths”—and
were “reborn” into the next. And these rites supported people as they
prepared for the final transition, the big Death that awaits us all.
As our modern culture has grown ever more sophisticated, we have also
become ever more divorced from our natural surroundings and from
ancient wisdom about living and dying. We have pushed Death away from
Life, the dying away from the living—all in order to impose the
illusion of control on the uncertainty of change. We have lost touch
with the natural world and with our place in it as mortal animals. We
have forgotten “how to die.”
Over 30 years ago, a cultural
transformation—a slow rediscovery of the lost art of living and
dying—began simultaneously in two different settings. In 1973, the
first American hospice was started in New Haven and two years later,
the first California program opened in Marin County. Also in 1973,
Steven Foster began working for a government agency called "Rites of
Passage” and two years later partnered with Meredith Little (also in
Marin) and together they began their pioneering work in wilderness
rites of passage. Thirty years later, these worlds met at Steven’s
deathbed when Dr. Scott Eberle, a hospice physician, was asked to help Steven with his final rite of passage into death. In 2003, Scott and Meredith joined together as teaching partners, creating "The Practice of Living and Dying" - a new kind of curriculum that draws from both the hospice movement and the rites of passage movement.
Meredith Little and hospice physician Dr. Scott Eberle are committed to promoting more understanding about rites of passage within health care, and increasing awareness about the dying practice contained in rites of passage work. Their dream is to learn what will be evoked by the dynamic juxtaposition of hospice, rites of passage, and the land we live on, that we might each be inspired to live and die more consciously amid these challenging times.
Course Overview:
Each of the following trainings will explore the personal, evolving mythos of each participant, while also seeking to create a bridge between the growing wisdom of the modern hospice movement and the ancient, pan-cultural wisdom of indigenous people. The courses range from six to twelve days in length. Typically we are camping out for most, if not all, of our time together, so that our group can be held in the special container of an isolated natural setting. Each day provides opportunity for solo time on the land. Activities undertaken are non-strenuous, and "safety first" is always our emphasis.
The Great Ballcourt Vision Fast is a more “advanced” program built around a four-day fast. It is meant for people who have either completed one of our other wilderness programs, or a three- or four-day wilderness fast of some kind.
Dying as a Rite of Passage - Program for “Caregivers” of Any Kind:
This course will explore how to move through the dying process - be it a symbolic dying or a physical dying - while also building a bridge between the growing wisdom of the modern hospice movement and the ancient, pan-cultural wisdom of indigenous peoples. Our aim is both educational and therapeutic. Educationally, we will see how these two worlds can be interwoven: how the wisdom of one world can inform daily practice in the other. Therapeutically, time spent alone in nature will encourage you to explore your own personal truth about living and dying.
In the Life Lodge - Forgiveness, Apology and Reconciliation:
Imagine you live in a community that has its own “Death Lodge,” a place where a dying person can rest and receive the visitors who come to say goodbye. This is the natural place of “making it good” with your people so you can cleanly move on, and they can let you go in the fullness of completion. One of the great challenges we all face in life is to do this work now, when it is most needed, rather than waiting until the last days of our dying. Call this the work of “the Life Lodge.” In this program, we invite participants to move through “the four shields of the Life Lodge,” looking to restore a personal and communal balance that embraces the wounds of the past without becoming mired in them. If you listen, today more than ever, you can hear a cry for this kind of healing—be it in the lives of individual friends, or in the biggest stories of our time.
The Great Ballcourt Initiation Fast - An Advanced Program:
This unique program blends allegorical material drawn from the Mayan
culture with the wisdom of hospice work, all in support of a four-day
solo fast in nature. Briefly, the “ballcourt player” is invited to spend 4 days and nights alone experiencing the four-step process of preparing to die to the old life, so that a new one can be born. Day one is a time to consciously step onto Decision Road, committing fully to the ceremony. Day two is spent in the Death Lodge, looking to complete (or make current) all important relationships. Day three is time for the Purpose Circle, a place to sum up one's life and to step fully into the present moment. Having "died" during the third night, the person awakens the fourth day on the Great Ballcourt, in-between the world they have left behind and the new life soon to come. We recommend that people have
first completed one of our other courses or some other three- or
four-day wilderness fast.
The Wounded Healer: Listening and Mirroring in a Health Care Setting:
In a health care setting, caregivers often focus intently on diagnosing and fixing problems. When the pace of this work becomes too fast, too intense, the ability to truly listen can diminish. Often lost in a patient’s life-and-death struggle is a personal lifestory: a mythic telling of "who I am" and "where I'm going" in that person’s singular and precious life. If not seen and not heard, the patient becomes twice-wounded: already ill, she also becomes invisible. This new program invites people who work as caregivers—be it as professionals or volunteers—to hone their own capacity to deeply listen and to give back a person’s unfolding story. To do this, each participant will be asked to be both “patient” and “healer.” As “patient,” each person will explore a deeper telling of his own story as a “wounded person,” offering that story to a circle of caregivers. As “healer,” each person will also be asked to listen deeply to the stories that others tell and to mirror them back.
Programs offered by Other Guides
Choosing Conscious Elderhood:
Throughout much of recorded history, elders have held honored roles in society. They have been the nurturers of community, the spiritual leaders, the teachers, mentors and initiators of the young. Elders have been the storytellers who have reminded the people of the enduring wisdom that persists through life’s changes. In today’s world, where the role of elder has been largely lost, many people in or approaching their senior years feel an inner call to claim the role of elder, living with purpose, passion, service and spiritual deepening. This program, presented at a retreat center high on a mesa in Western Colorado, is designed to support those who feel this call. Through reflective time in nature, deep imagery, sharing councils, Four Shields teachings, ceremony, and a 24-hour solo/fast, you will have opportunity to shed limiting beliefs, attitudes and self-identifications and to embrace a deeper knowing of your wisdom, gifts, spiritual connection and the legacy you are being called to create as an elder.
International Opportunities
Six to twelve-day seminars offered in various settings, basecamps and seminar houses outside of the USA. Open to all-comers.
For specific offerings, visit International Opportunities .
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