Our Story
The text below is from a website, t-g-a.org which is the parent website to this one:
“We started in 1997 as a newsletter doing reviews in the field of death and dying, and now we are your complete information center: the DIRECTORY, conference info, events, chats, news, and reviews. The growth of the holistic approach to dying, ie. that which takes life in to account, was the inspiration for the starting of The Great Adventure.
It was at the Art of Dying 2 Conference in May of 1997 that Grant Abrams and Paul Barry realized the importance of the growing holistic death and dying movement in the persons of Robert Thurman, Stephen Levine, Ram Dass, Therese Schroeder-Sheker, Christine Longaker, Paul Brenner and Joan Halifax just to name a few. We spoke with Iven Lourie, the editor of Inner Journeys, a newsletter of book reviews, and decided to combine with Inner Journeys and do book and conference reviews which would present this more enlightened view of death and dying. Since that time we have been covering conferences and doing as many reviews as possible. In 1999 we switched to a web based format.”
Throughout the early 2000’s I collaborated with Patricia Elizabeth doing workshops and we wrote a book entitled Caregiver Revolution which went to print in 2011. We hope that it makes for a more enlightened approach to caregiving for both caregivers and professionals.
I continue to do a lot of work with the elderly and infirm in my hospital, home care and per diem physical therapy work in the Hudson Valley Region of New York. I think that it is necessary to bring a clinical exercise-based orthopedic framework to PT work with the elderly but that the experience of “being” with them is also important. People feel better when they are active, can exercise a bit, have a social experience, and make functional gains. This is why PT and OT are ideal modalities for interacting with the elderly.
Exercises and techniques such as tai chi, chi kung, reiki and the like which bring in a more energetic/holistic element may be totally appropriate in a geriatric setting. They help people relax. In many ways the elderly and the very ill are much more sensitive to energies than we are and if they enjoy the experience and it is appropriate to their situation, they will make gains.
I have truly enjoyed and am indebted to the work of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, EJ Gold, Sogyal Rinpoche, Ram Dass, the Dalai Lama and many others in the spiritual death and dying movement which I truly hope sees continued growth and acceptance in our culture.
