Don't Die Before You're Dead

I’ve recently returned from assisting my teacher, Ya’Acov Darling Khan, at the Movement Medicine Burial Ceremony. It’s deep work. I DJ’d and drummed throughout the night as participants spent dusk until dawn in graves they had dug themselves.

The idea is to face your fears, spend quiet time in contemplation, connect with the Earth and build a relationship with Benevolent Death.

And the thing about getting close to Death, is that you end up getting closer to Life.

I was a participant in the same ceremony in 2018. When I was younger I used to say I was afraid of two things - Death and spiders. Burying myself underground cured me of both of those fears. I remember the moment I sunk into my grave as the assistants poured soil over the top - I have never felt such an immediate wave of peace and contentment wash through me; it felt like coming home. I emerged the next morning with a renewed sense of life and a deep desire to live. Now my only fear is not loving enough in the time I have here.

Me and my grave at the Movement Medicine Burial Ceremony 2018

I love the opening words in this video by Prince Ea - “It is not death most people are afraid of. It’s getting to the end of life only to realise that you never truly lived.”

Check out the full video here:

So I ask you, how are you going to die?

And how are you going to live?