Dying Your Way

In this Season 4 finale, Claire O’Berry reflects on a season filled with honesty, courage, and deep learning. Each solo episode this season served as a “Cliffs Notes” version of the Dying Your Way End-of-Life Training — a practical roadmap for anyone facing a chronic progressive illness or supporting someone through one.

Claire also expresses deep gratitude to each guest interviewed this season. Their stories, insights, and lived experience expanded the teaching topics and grounded them in real human wisdom. Each module was followed by a guest who illuminated the theme through their own journey.

This season — and all past seasons — will remain available, and Claire will be highlighting past interviews in the weeks and months ahead as we prepare for Season 5. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe, like, and comment to help spread the message of mindful dying and conscious living.

This finale reviews the key lessons from Episodes 1 through 23:
• Receiving a diagnosis
• Building your end-of-life support team
• Advance care planning
• Understanding your disease
• Aging in place
• Legacy work
• Funeral planning
• Stages of dying
• After-death care
• The week of the funeral
• Grief and bereavement

Claire shares why preparation is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and the people we love — and invites listeners to take the complete Dying Your Way End-of-Life Training to create their own EOL plan.

Learn more or enroll: https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training
Contact Claire: [email protected]

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean to prepare for death with dignity — even from behind bars?

In this deeply moving episode, Claire O’Berry speaks with Murali Pacini, former director of the Prison Project, about two remarkable men — James and Miguel — who spent their final years on Texas Death Row immersed in spiritual practice.

Through meditation, community with like minded inmates, and unwavering commitment to transformation, these men faced their final moments not with fear, but with peace.

You'll hear:

• How the Prison Project brought meditation to thousands of inmates worldwide
  
  

• The final letters exchanged between each man and their spiritual teacher
  
  

• Miguel’s last words, witnessed by those who sat with him
  
  

• James’ poetic statement of oneness moments before execution
  
  

• Reflections on what we can do to live more consciously and die more gracefully
  
  

This episode is not about capital punishment — it’s about what’s possible when a soul prepares and turns inward. Any soul!

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. [link]

Explore the Dying Your Way End-of-Life Training

https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Prema Paxton’s 20-year-old son Lance died from fentanyl poisoning, her world stopped. In this intimate conversation, Prema shares her family’s story, the memorial they created forLance, and how she now serves other grieving parents through Love in the Trenches (LITT).

She offers free online classes blending restorative yoga, meditation, and Yoga Nidra to help grief move through the body. Explore them at loveinthetrenches.org/litt-yoga.

Donations to support LITT’s programs can be made here: loveinthetrenches.org/donate.

Prema also leads Soham Retreats in Sweden—safe, nurturing spaces to rest and reconnect. Learn more at soham.se/grief-loss-love.

Highlights

• Lance’s story and the fentanyl epidemic
  
  

• Speaking truth to reduce stigma around overdose deaths
  
  

• The deep love underneath unbearable pain
  
  

• How yoga, breath, and stillness ease the body’s trauma
  
  

• Creating a “sacred altar of the heart” for unconditional self-love
  
  

• The healing power of community and shared presence
  
  

Support: U.S. 988 | Australia 13 11 14
Host: Claire O’Berry, Dying Your Way Podcast

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is not a teaching episode. It’s not a checklist or a tidy list of stages. It’s a story — my story — about grief, love, and the spaces in between.

In this deeply personal episode, I share the complicated grief that followed the unexpected death of my husband, David, in 1985, just two weeks after our divorce — a loss that wasn’t acknowledged but that shaped me for decades. I also speak openly about the anticipatory grief I’m experiencing now as my husband Terry, my late-life gift, faces a Parkinson’s diagnosis — and how my past informs my present.

This conversation isn’t about answers. It’s about honesty. About the scars that never fully heal. About the love that remains. And about the shared, human experience of grieving — whether the loss happened long ago, recently, or hasn’t yet happened at all.

Next week, we’ll continue the conversation with guest Prema Paxton, who transformed unimaginable loss into a mission of support for grieving parents. But for now, I invite you to sit with me in this tender space, where love and grief live side by side.

💔 If you or someone you love is struggling:

• U.S.: Dial 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (24/7).

• Australia: Call Lifeline at 13 11 14 (24/7).

Explore Dying Your Way End of Life Training: https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this moving and wide-ranging conversation, host Claire O’Berry sits down with mentor and trailblazer Deanna Cochran, RN, hospice nurse and bestselling author, to explore the current challenges — and extraordinary possibilities — in end-of-life care.

Together, they discuss the growing gaps in U.S. healthcare, the power of early planning, and how end-of-life doulas can help families long before hospice. Deanna shares the deeply personal story of her father’s end-of-life journey and why community-based models like compassionate communities and doula-led neighborhood networks may be the most effective solution for the future.

 Topics covered:

• End-of-life care systems: Australia vs. U.S.
  
  

• The role and training of end-of-life doulas
  
  

• Building community and compassionate care networks
  
  

• What families really need in the pre-hospice stage
  
  

• Why mentorship and collaboration are critical for doulas
  
  

Deanna’s book:  Accompanying the Dying: Practical, Heart-Centered Wisdom for End-of-Life Doulas and Healthcare Advocates

Learn more: CareDoula® Education https://caredoulaeducation.com/

Earlier Podcast with Deanna Cochran: https://dyingyourway.com/podcast-item/rn-reclaiming-community-centered-death-care-with-deanna-cochran/

Explore Dying Your Way End of Life Training: https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a loved one dies, the world tilts. The air feels different. Time both stops and rushes forward.

In this compassionate solo episode, Claire O’Berry gently guides listeners through the sacred and often chaotic first days after death — from the moment of passing through the week of the funeral. Learn what steps to take, what mistakes to avoid, and how to find meaning in the midst of grief and confusion.

Topics include:

• Sitting with the body and honoring the sacred moment of death

• Understanding next-of-kin and executor responsibilities

• How to handle social media announcements with sensitivity

• Managing funeral planning and paperwork without losing your center

• Caring for yourself when exhaustion and grief collide

This episode offers reassurance, practical wisdom, and a reminder that there’s no “right” way to grieve — only your way.

Listen now and learn how the Dying Your Way End of Life Training provides the Executor Checklist, a vital tool to guide your family through the immediate days and weeks after a loved one’s death.
 www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Returning guest Dr. Fred Mirarchi, DO, joins Claire O’Berry to discuss the critical intersection of technology, ethics, and end-of-life care.

As CEO of MIDEO, LLC (My Informed Decision on Video) and Chair of the National Palliative Care Committee for USACS, Dr. Mirarchi has led groundbreaking research (the TRIAD Studies) revealing how often advance directives are misinterpreted — and how a short, personalized video can save lives by clarifying patient intent.

In this episode, they explore:

• Why AI and video tools are transforming modern medicine
  
  

• The growing trend of lawsuits for “wrongful prolongation of life”
  
  

• The dangers of outdated, paper-based advance directives
  
  

• New challenges in palliative and hospice care in the U.S.
  
  

• Ethical implications of AI-guided medical decision-making
  
  

Dr. Mirarchi’s call to action is clear: take charge of your own care through informed decisions and documented clarity.

Learn more about your own MIDEO card: https://mideohealth.com/

Listen, learn, and share this episode to start an essential conversation about how you want to be cared for at the end of life.

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this deeply personal and practical episode, host Claire O’Berry gently guides you through the physical, emotional, and spiritual transitions that occur during the final stages of life.

Using the framework of two months, two weeks, two days, and two hours before death, Claire offers a compassionate roadmap of what to expect — from declining appetite and extreme fatigue, to near-death awareness and the sacred stillness of the final moments. She shares tender stories of her parents’ passing, personal insights from hospice work, and her own near-death experience that removed her fear of dying.

Whether you’re a caregiver, a planner, or simply curious, this episode will help you demystify the dying process and prepare to hold space with peace, love, and presence.

 Learn more and access the full Dying Your Way End of Life Training: https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Dying Your Way Podcast, Ryan Bell returns for a deeper conversation about how we prepare for death—and why it matters.

From the history of embalming after the Civil War to today’s growing interest in natural burials, Ryan and Claire discuss the cultural shifts that shape our rituals of mourning. They reflect on how pre-planning transforms chaos into calm, and why legacy work—writing your own story—matters for the people you leave behind.

This heartfelt exchange covers:

• Advance care planning and the legal tools every family should have.

• How communities once rallied around grief, and how we might reclaim that support.

• Gender roles in end-of-life care and what’s shifting now.

• Death as our final opportunity to teach those we love how to live well.

• Download your free copy of the Dying Your Way eBook  and consider enrolling in the Dying Your Way End of Life Training to create your own informed End of Life Plan: https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most people avoid thinking about funerals—until it’s too late. But planning ahead is a gift, both for you and your loved ones.

In this episode of the Dying Your Way Podcast, Claire O’Berry shares why funeral planning matters, what options are available, and how to create a service that truly reflects a life well lived. From traditional burials to green burials, from heartfelt eulogies to intimate memorials, this conversation will inspire you to make choices with meaning and clarity.

Learn how to budget wisely, explore cultural and spiritual traditions, and give your loved ones the gift of closure and connection.

Tune in and start planning your curtain call with love and intention.

For deeper guidance, visit: https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

Resources:

• Dying Your Way End-of-Life Training → https://www.dyingyourway.com/eol-training

📬 Connect with Us:

• 💻 Website: https://dyingyourway.com

• 📧 Contact: [email protected]

• 📱 Instagram: @dyingyourway

• 🗣️ Leave a comment, submit a topic, or tell us your story!

🙏 Support the Podcast:

• ✅ Subscribe — It’s free!

• 💬 Leave a review or comment

• 🔗 Share this episode with someone who needs it

• 👍 Hit that like button to help others find this space

Take a deep breath, hold your loved ones close, and remember: You can die your way.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.