The sick person should be lying comfortably on the bed or sofa, covered with a light blanket. Instructions should be given on the person's exhalation only, as speaking on the inhalation gives rise to thinking. The instructions should be given a split second after the exhalation begins, in a clear, firm, pleasant voice.
This practice is highly adaptable and can be tailored for each terminally ill person, helping them cut through discursive and pictorial thoughts, anxieties and fears, returning again and again to the present moment: this exhalation, this sound. Please note that "AH" should not be used in a person's final hours. Once the actual dying process has begun with its unalterable breathing pattern, fit the practice into the relentless labouring rhythm. Instead of AH, one-line prayers may be recited or chanted on the exhalation.
Just listening with complete attention
Just listening with one hundred percent attention
Listening to the sound of great relief
Listening to the sound of great release
Thinking is not necessary
Letting go of all thoughts
Listening to the sound of AH
Just listening to the AH
AAHHH
(this first AH should be sounded as a light pleasant sound of relief)
On each exhalation, the sound of AAHHH
(again, a light, pleasant sound of relief)
AAHHH
Just listening AAH
AAH
Thinking is not necessary
AAH
AAH
Feels wonderful to breathe out fully AAH
AAH
AAH (and so on)
Barbara Rhodes adds:
The first time I used this practice was with a family - an average Catholic family - whose father was dying from cancer. I suggested we try this meditation, saying a phrase of the Lord's Prayer on his exhale. Some of them kept going out of the room because they couldn't handle the intimacy, which was very intense. Just to be able to say, "Our Father ..." - he was breathing slightly - "who art in heaven ..." It was beautiful.
We did it for about 45 minutes without stopping and it was like being at a Zen retreat. The family really responded and relaxed and, you know, there was no patient there, we were all dying. And after having a really pained expression on his face, the man relaxed. He died with a smile on his face. It was incredible.
This webpage forms part of the Global Ideas Bank (www.globalideasbank.org).
Book
Orders: To order any of the Natural Death Centre or
other books that make up the Global Ideas Bank.
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