Dance To Death Afterlife

You know those experiences you have that just make you happy remembering them, like a great birthday party or a fabulous meal with friends...when your heart, soul and body get that deeply satisfied, good feeling? Well that’s how I would describe my time with Dr. Karen Wyatt, MD...hospice caregiver and a diamond mine of wisdom on how to live abundantly. Author of “What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying,” Karen is a family physician who invested her 25 year medical career working with patients in challenging settings, such as hospices, nursing homes and indigent clinics. She is the founder of a free medical clinic in a homeless shelter and of  Creative Healing LLC ~ an initiative to integrate spirituality into traditional medical practice. In addition to being a prolific author, Karen has testified twice at Senate briefings on cutting edge models of integrated medical care. Karen’s beautiful, compassionate heart really shines out brilliantly in this interview, which I have

Punk Professor. Space pirate. Design rebel. Noah Scalin is not your ordinary guy ~ he might not even sleep! He teaches design at the Virginia Commonwealth University, runs a socially conscious design firm called Another Limited Rebellion, and has just launched a kickstarter campaign for a new book of skulls that you’ll want to hear all about. We had so much to talk about that this show is just part one of a two part interview. Noah’s work can be seen in many publications including USA Today, Wired and The New York Times. His art has been exhibited at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, the Museum of Death in Hollywood, The International Museum of Surgical Sciences in Chicago, and the Museum of World Culture in Gothenberg, Sweden. He gets around. Noah has written a series of books on creativity, made skulls with Martha Stewart on her TV show, and even found time to meet me in his Richmond studio. We had so much to talk about that this show is just part one of a two part interview.

You care about the earth in life ~ but what about in death? Will your final act be kind to the planet and to those you leave behind? Learn what a truly green funeral is, what is myth and what is truth, the trends and the obstacles in this interview with Jeff Jorgenson of Elemental NW ~ Seattle's first and only all green funeral home. In one of those unexpected twists of fate that life tosses our way, Jeff found himself with a newly minted degree in aeronautics, plus a Master of Science in Management, but a job offer with the corporate goliath of the funeral business world. He took the job and paid his dues, opening Elemental to serve a growing niche: a greener, more affordable, collaborative approach to funerals. Today Jeff is one of the leaders in a movement of entrepreneurs who are challenging entrenched systems that are often unaware of their environmental impact, and by doing so has discovered he can also provide a less expensive, more intimate experience for the families he serves.

On a train between Seattle and Portland, along the beautiful Puget Sound, University of Washington Teaching Fellow Michael Hebb had one of those serendipitous conversations that changed everything. In the salon car, Michael struck up a conversation with two strangers, both of whom were MDs, and learned two devastating facts:  The vast majority of American bankruptcies are related to end of life issues 75% of Americans want to die at home, yet only 25% actually do. This provoked Michael’s question to the doctors: Do you agree that how we end our lives is the most important and costly conversation that Americans are NOT having? The resounding answer was “Yes,” and a few months later, a groundbreaking initiative, called “Let's have dinner and   talk about death,” was born. In the years since that train ride, these innovative gatherings have taken place on five continents and have been exhibited in several museums, garnering coverage in The New York Times, W, Art Forum, The New Yorker, GQ, TedTalks, The Guardia

Rachel Zeldin of Funerals 360 (formerly I’m Sorry to Hear) talks about the importance of of providing equal access to information on funeral planning and encouraging the sharing of one’s personal funeral planning experiences. Oh, and she also a secret the funeral industry does not want you to know that could save you thousands of dollars. A Philadelphia native, Rachel earned a bachelor’s degree in International Business & Economics from Drexel University. Following five years working globally in international financial services, Zeldin switched to pursue the start of a funeral planning platform that she wished her family had when her great uncle died. Rachel was selected as a 2014 Fellow in the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) as well as the Tribe 12 Fellowship program.

A rollicking interview with Marc Okrand, a University trained linguist who produced the Vulcan and Klingon languages heard in the Star Trek movies. You may think Marc is suffering from a bad case of post nasal drip, but seriously, he’s produced a legitimate language that introduces us to the Klingon death culture and that’s even been used in Shakespeare. Marc and I do some role paying and trade off speaking Klingon death proverbs. It's a good day to die!

They’re green! They’re blue! They’re bubbly and luminescent and glowing and so totally cool you’ll surely want to know more about what artist Greg Lundgren does in the cemetery with massive slabs of glass. You’ve never seen anything like it! Greg is an artistic visionary for how to bring beauty and art back to memorials, so that they are...memorable and not so. Hear Greg discuss what can be done about blasé grey monoliths, and opportunities for artists and branded fashion designers in death services and products. Greg Lundgren doesn't just look like Gregory Peck ~ he does amazing things with glass.

The Death with Dignity National Center works to bring the freedom of choice to every state in the US. What freedom would that be? The freedom to die at a time of your choosing..providing, that is, that you pass some very carefully thought out safeguards and conditions. Melissa Barber, who at the time of this recording was with the Center, walks us through the delicate subject with sensitivity and grace. Together we learn a lot about the freedom to choose, along with the origins of a Molly Bolly!

Trent Nicholas teaches film history for the Virginia Commonwealth University art history department, and he holds a master’s degree in cinema studies from New York University. I met Trent at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts where he is a media programs coordinator in the art and education division. We talked about how death is portrayed on the silver screen, covering everything from Mae West to Clint Eastwood to Quinton Tarrantino, with a little side discussion on the infamous Willhelm scream.

This very first episode of the Dance to Death Afterlife provides a brief introduction to our mission and purpose followed by an epic interview with Marilyn Schlitz, Ph.D., social anthropologist, film maker, a leader in consciousness studies, Pres. Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Inst. of Noetic Sciences, and pumpkin goddess. Learn about the stunning and life-changing experience former astronaut Edgar Mitchell had upon his return to earth from space, and the work Marilyn is doing with Deepak Chopra in a 2014 film entitled "How Death Makes Life Possible."