About this blog - Information on Conscious Dying and Alternative Funerals

This blog exists to provide information and news to the public on the growing trends of conscious dying and personalized and alternative funerals. There can be tremendous healing and meaning available through engaging death and the dying process with greater openness and understanding.

Alternative funeral arrangements are more and more common as people seek ways to embrace dying consciously and personalize their own funerals or memorial celebrations for loved ones.

The process of conscious dying and alternative funeral arrangements may include:

• Death midwifing and assisting people and their families to connect and heal
• Living funerals, in which a funeral is held prior to death to allow family and friends to celebrate the life of a dying person while they are still able to share in the experience
• Home wakes, involving keeping the deceased loved one in the home for a period of a few days to allow family and close friends to visit and make their peace
• Personalized memorial celebrations and funerals that reflect the personality and values of the deceased so that they can be remembered and celebrated by their community as they were in life. This may include staging a thoughtful or elaborate themed funeral at a meaningful location.

If you are involved in alternative funerals or conscious dying and would like to contribute an article, please submit it to brendan@friendsaf.com.

This site is maintained by Brendan Miller and Ziri Rideaux, co-founders of Friends Alternative Funerals in Los Angeles, CA.