North Bay Center for Compassionate Care
To redefine the culture around death and dying as a process of life. To educate and inform about the rights of the dying and family.
To provide and facilitate a space to grieve and celebrate life together through individualized life celebrations.
07/06/2024
Come and rewire your brain. Sitting in Place, Tuesday-Thursdays. 8:30-9AM.https://sfdharmacollective.org/events/sitting-in-place-with-andrea-vecchione-online-only-/6-11-2024
Sitting on a bench in Central Park on a beautiful autumn day feeling peaceful and connected in the moment.
21/10/2023
Got compassion? Join us next Sunday at noon.
Dharma Of Intimacy | San Francisco Dharma Collective, a student-run independent meditation center. Come sit with us! San Francisco Dharma Collective Event: Dharma Of Intimacy San Francisco Dharma Collective is a student-run independent meditation center. Come sit with us!
11/10/2023
Lineup | Death, Love, & Wisdom Summit Learn more about upgrading to own the entire summit in the special Event Resource Package, including all the recordings in video, audio, and transcript formats, plus special bonuses.
11/10/2023
Join myself, and some amazing Dharma and EOL teachers starting tomorrow for this free summit!
Lineup | Death, Love, & Wisdom Summit Learn more about upgrading to own the entire summit in the special Event Resource Package, including all the recordings in video, audio, and transcript formats, plus special bonuses.
17/06/2023
My teachers Koshin and Chodo will be speaking at the Rafael following their film Sunday. A must see for those interested in contemplative care - end of life work. Or your own end of life process.
INTO THE NIGHT INTO THE NIGHT
30/09/2022
Join us for a half day retreat. In person or remote. Link in bio.
19/09/2022
There are many things you can do before you call Hospice, or make that call to 911 if needed. This is a good reminder.
When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment.
There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world. At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space. The veil between the worlds opens.
We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in. "They're dead!"
We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise. It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad, but it's not cause to panic.
If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop, and be really present to what's happening. If you're at home, maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.
Sit at the bedside and just be present to the experience in the room. What's happening for you? What might be happening for them? What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way? Tune into all the beauty and magic.
Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust, because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock. If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance to absorb the enormity of the event.
Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be. You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.
After that, do the smallest thing you can. Call the one person who needs to be called. Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level. Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.
Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up. If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present, take it. Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening. Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.
You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now.
Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breath away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.
Sarah Kerr, Death Doula
https://www.facebook.com/SoulPassages/videos/610729049323633/?t=59
15/09/2022
About NBC4CC
Compassion Education Preparation Celebration
The North Bay Center for Compassionate Care is an institute for living and dying. We are here to disrupt the culture of fear around death in our culture. We offer spiritual and emotional care for our loved ones who are in the process of dying. We offer personalized celebrations of life, catered to the individual’s wishes. We offer classes and educational workshops to help us all engage and familiarize ourselves with death and dying. We offer grief rituals and groups.
About Dr. Vecchione
Andrea Vecchione, earned a PhD. in Religion and Philosophy with a focus on Buddhism, Hinduism, and world religions. She spent over six years living in India, Bali, and Thailand, where she studied multiple practices around death, dying, mediation, yoga and transformation. Her many years of teaching and practicing Buddhist philosophy and mediation is the foundation of her approach to cultivating a healthy relationship with death and dying. She combines years of practice with the knowledge from her end of life teachers (Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison, and Sensei Robert Chodo Campbell) in their program through the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, and INELDA (End of Life Training Program).
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