Spend a Day Exploring & Learning with Our Teacher and Mentor Frank Ostaseski
Saturday, April 22, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville
Frank Ostaseski is a widely-respected global leader in contemplative end-of-life care. His journeys alongside thousands of people nearing death have taught him much about living well. He has captured these lessons in his new book The Five Invitations and will share them with us in a rare day-long workshop in the Washington, DC, area. With Frank, we will explore how to harness the awareness of death to appreciate the fact that we are alive, to encourage self-exploration, clarify our values, find meaning, and generate positive action.
“Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight. She helps us to discover what matters most. And the good news is we don’t have to wait until the end of our lives to realize the wisdom that death has to offer.
“As we come in contact with life’s precarious nature, we also come to appreciate its preciousness. Then we don’t want to waste a minute. We want to enter our lives fully and use them in a responsible way. Death is a good companion on the road to living well and dying without regret.”
More about Frank
Frank Ostaseski is a Buddhist teacher. In 1987, he co-founded the Zen Hospice Project and later created the Metta Institute to train professionals in compassionate, mindfulness-based care. He has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, Wisdom.2.0 and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. His work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and in numerous print publications. In 2001, he was honored by the Dalai Lama for his compassionate service to the dying and their families. He is the author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. More info: www.fiveinvitations.com.
Location
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville offers a beautiful, light-filled facility in a wooded setting with ample parking. 
Format and Registration
This interactive workshop will include practical tools and practices for exploring our personal relationship with death as well as practices for compassionately companioning others as they die. The workshop will incorporate storytelling, inquiry exercise and periods of silent mindfulness practice.
Fees: Base $75, Mid $85, Sponsor $95. Please register here.
Sponsors
The workshop is co-hosted by the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW) and Joseph’s House.
Proceeds
Frank ha
s been a long-time teacher, mentor, and friend of Joseph’s House, and many of our values and practices are rooted in Frank’s teachings. Out of Frank’s and IMCW’s generosity, proceeds from this workshop will be donated to Joseph’s House.
About Joseph’s House
Joseph’s House was founded in 1990 and is located in the heart of Washington, DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. Joseph’s House offers a welcoming community and comprehensive nursing and support services to homeless men and women with advanced HIV disease and terminal cancer. Our community nurtures the living and accompanies the dying, providing a depth of physical, emotional and spiritual support that creates the possibility for profound healing — healing into life or healing into death.