
Post Conference Training
Workshops and Trainings are listed in chronological order.
Please make enquiries and bookings directly with the facilitators.
NB. Almost all the presenters are from out of town so this is a rare and wonderful opportunity to learn with them in person.
Saturday 24th September

Workshop with Rev, Meghan Don
Evolutionary Mystic and Death & Dying Guide
Rev. Meghan Don is an Award-winning author, Death Guide (psychopomp), Interfaith Minister and Mentor. She has studied Jungian Psychology, the Mystic Pathway, and is an Initiate of the Sophian Lineage. Meghan has recently returned to New Zealand after spending many years living and teaching in the United States (and most recently Ireland) and brings a wealth of knowledge and wisdom from her own inner experience and her years of mystic training. She is currently writing a book on Death & Dying. It is a comprehensive guide to help you and your loved ones journey through death and into life on both sides of the veil.
www. MeghanDon.Life
Dying To Each Moment
To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.
—Jack Kornfield
Every moment of every day is an opportunity to let be and let go. If you can do this in everyday life, you are also preparing yourself to let be and let go when you are dying.
Many people say they have no problem with dying, yet most struggle with change or letting go of difficulties in their life. Every time change comes into your life, that is death coming to visit. Every time you are asked to let go, you are asked to die in that moment to the life you know. Both of these life occurrences are preparing you for the greatest change and the greatest act of letting go, your death. All, bring new life, if you are open to it.
In this workshop you will learn and explore:
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How you respond to change now and how to prepare for the changes that dying will bring
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The meaning of letting go and what you are letting go into
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The art of letting be
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How to befriend and welcome death through dying to each moment in your life
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A meditation practice to facilitate both the freedom and feeling of safety in letting go
This workshop is suitable for anyone wanting to create greater ease in living and dying.
Date & Time
Saturday Sept 24, 2022
9:30am - 12:30pm
Cost: $75
Email for direct enquiries/bookings: RevMeghan@MeghanDon.Life
Venue: Lotus Heart, 363 St Asaph Street, Central Christchurch
Please arrive 9:15am

Workshop, with Verna Carr
Spiritual Teacher, Energy Healing Facilitator & Psychic Card Reader
Death From A Spiritual Perspective
Death seems so final and so scary. Everyone has their own unique experience, there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Death brings up so many different and sometimes conflicting emotions. The workshop creates a safe place to talk about death and spirituality, share your thoughts and to feel supported and heard.
My workshop 'Death From A Spiritual Perspective' is for people who have experienced the death of a loved one and want to talk about it, make sense of it or who are looking for answers.
Morning: You are guided into conversations sharing stories and beliefs about death in any way you feel comfortable.
Lunch: Food is a great way of loving and connecting. For a shared lunch participants are invited to bring a dish of a loved ones favourite food and an amusing or interesting story of why that dish was chosen.
Afternoon: This is the opportunity to tell your loved ones how much you miss them, or how angry, sorry or sad you are. Maybe there are things said or unsaid, done or not done, maybe you didn’t have the chance to say goodbye or to heal an old wound. Together we will do a gentle ceremony, of gratitude, acknowledgement, forgiveness and releasing.
My job as a teacher is to remind you how magnificent you are, that you are the love of God having a human experience and that you are far greater than even you think is possible.
Date & Time
Saturday Sept 24, 2022
10am - 3pm
Cost: $95
To book please email Verna directly on:
vernajcarr@gmail.com
Venue: Rahotu Sanctuary, Tai Tapu

Relaxing Sound Bath Experience
Sound Bath Meditation #1
with Eva Mason & Dan Salisbury
Yoga teacher Dan Salisbury and sound healer Eva Mason have been facilitating yoga and sound baths for the last few years in a healing soundscape and in the radiant warmth of a log burner.
They are well known for their ability to relax people deeply, and see their work as a tuning fork to call forth a person's own innate healing power.
The sound bath is for anybody who is looking for an hour of deep relaxation through the sound waves created by different instruments, bringing subtle bodies and chakras into tune though the resonant tones of buffalo drums, singing bowls and the power of a sun gong.
Date & Time
Saturday Sept 24, 2022
3 - 4pm
Cost: $35 (pay on arrival)
Space is limited to 12 people (almost at capacity)
To book a seat email: evamason@xtra.co.nz
Bring: mat, pillow, blanket, water
Please arrive 15 minutes early to pay, set up your space and get settled.
NB. If for any reason you cant come after booking please get back in touch to release your seat for the next person on the waiting list
Sunday 25th September

Death Cafe, with Melanie Mayell
Death Cafe for First Timers
This is a chance for first-timers curious about Death Cafe to experience what we do in a safe and friendly setting. Usually a Death Cafe runs for 2 hours; a group of strangers meet at a local cafe to talk about death while drinking coffee and munching on cake.
Although there is a host, the conversation is group-led. The basic rules are: no agenda, no speakers, no grief support and it's not therapy. Everyone regardless of beginner or expert is welcome to the table and each opinion, experience or question is valid. There's no judgement, though there can be disagreement or debate. We talk about anything death-related.
Surprisingly there is often laughter at a Death Cafe. Participants usually leave feeling lighter, less fearful of death talk and more inspired about life.
Melanie will introduce the process and act as facilitator.
Please note: Death Cafe is not for the recently bereaved.
Date & Time
Sunday Sept 25, 2022
10am - 12pm
Cost: Koha.
Space is limited to 12 people
To book a seat go to: www.meetup.com/ChristchurchDEATHCAFE/events/286193718
Please arrive 15 minutes early to buy food and/or drinks, and get settled.

Home Death Care with Claire Turnham
Home-Based Death Care
These two workshops build real life skills onto Claire's presentations at Death Matters. For those wishing to become more familiar and comfortable with home-based death care, you will not only come away with the basic skills and techniques needed to do this yourself but with a stronger sense of empowerment at the wider choices for yourself, loved ones and even pets.
Level 1 - Gentle Care in Death
This day is an introduction to home funerals. We will be learning natural, gentle and practical ways to care for our own when they die. Includes the art of bringing beauty and ritual into 'hands-on' body care, and includes a bamboo shrouding demonstration.
Date & Time
Sunday Sept 25, 2022
9:30am - 5pm
Cost: $245
Includes a delicious, nourishing lunch, with all refreshments
Concessions:
- $45 discount available pp on first 7 spaces
- Early bird discount of $25 pp available until Aug 25th
Venue: Rahotu Sanctuary, Tai Tapu, Chch
To book a place please email Claire directly: clairelouiseturnham@gmail.com

Workshop, with Rev. Meghan Don (see bio above)
Meeting Your Death Guides
We all have guides in the other realms who will assist us as we move from this world to the next. These guides are available to you now, to assist you in your living and to help prepare you for your dying. Most people however, are not conscious of these specific guides either now, or when they die. In fact, many are not even conscious they have died.
In this workshop you will:
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Be guided into a deeper level of consciousness, where the doorway will be opened to meet your death guides
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Learn how to continue this death guide relationship now in your life so as to more easily access them at your time of death
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Create a personal death prayer to be read as you are dying to help facilitate a conscious journey
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Create a list of people/friends you want to assist you, and how they may assist you, as you are dying
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Learn meditation practices to draw you into your own sacred presence and deep inner peace, now, and at the time of your death
Meghan, who assists souls on the other side, will also bring forward stories to help with this exploration into the greatest human adventure of all.
Date & Time
Sunday Sept 25, 2022
10am - 4pm
Cost: $150
Email for direct enquiries/bookings: RevMeghan@MeghanDon.Life
Venue: LCM Community Centre, 442 Durham St. North
Please arrive 9:45am and bring your own lunch.

Relaxing Sound Bath Experience
Sound Bath Meditation #2
with Eva Mason & Dan Salisbury
Yoga teacher Dan Salisbury and sound healer Eva Mason have been facilitating yoga and sound baths for the last few years in a healing soundscape and in the radiant warmth of a log burner.
They are well known for their ability to relax people deeply, and see their work as a tuning fork to call forth a person's own innate healing power.
The sound bath is for anybody who is looking for an hour of deep relaxation through the sound waves created by different instruments, bringing subtle bodies and chakras into tune though the resonant tones of buffalo drums, singing bowls and the power of a sun gong.
Date & Time
Sunday Sept 25, 2022
3 - 4pm
Cost: $35 (pay on arrival)
Space is limited to 12 people
To book a seat email: evamason@xtra.co.nz
Bring: mat, pillow, blanket, water
Please arrive 15 minutes early to pay, set up your space and get settled.
NB. If for any reason you cant come after booking please get back in touch to release your seat for the next person on the waiting list
Monday 26th September

Home Death Care with Claire Turnham
Home-Based Death Care
These two workshops build real life skills onto Claire's presentations at Death Matters. For those wishing to become more familiar and comfortable with home-based death care, you will not only come away with the basic skills and techniques needed to do this yourself but with a stronger sense of empowerment at the wider choices for yourself, loved ones and even pets.
Level 2 - Home Funerals, Made Only With Love
An in-depth day of OWL home funeral guidance which covers the options and value of arranging a family-led funeral in New Zealand. We will be exploring more complex situations and sensitively sharing lived experiences including baby loss, suicide and sudden death.
Designed to give you advanced knowledge, practical skills and confidence to complete all legal obligations and paperwork required when death happens, saving thousands of dollars in the process.
Date & Time
Monday Sept 26, 2022
9:30am - 5pm
Cost: $245
Includes a delicious, nourishing lunch, with all refreshments
Concessions:
- $45 discount available pp on first 7 spaces
- Early bird discount of $25 pp available until Aug 25th
Venue: Rahotu Sanctuary, Tai Tapu, Chch
To book a place please email Claire directly: clairelouiseturnham@gmail.com
Tuesday 27th September

Workshop with Marla Hughes
Proof Of A Benevolent Afterlife
Marla will share true stories of near-death experiences and the research behind them that are leading scientists to rethink the relationship between our brain and our mind, the nature of consciousness, and our understanding of life and death.
Plus learn about Marla’s experiences in expanded consciousness and how she stays connected with her son since his passing.
This is a Q&A workshop with Death Matters 3 conference presenter Marla Hughes. The workshop is a live online event with Marla, (with Melanie managing the chat).
Marla will open with stories from three favourite areas of her research:
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Transformation after an NDE and what the science has to say. She will share some profound stories from her interviews with Dr. Bruce Greyson*, Peter Panagore, and David Maginley and the results of their research into this subject.
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How messages from mediums as well as communications from her son, Dean (who transitioned in 2017, aged 19 yrs), changed her life and continue to comfort her daily.
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Personal experiences with ayahuasca, psilocybin, and MDMA and what she has learned
*'Bruce Greyson is the towering figure in the research on death, the brain, and consciousness. His book (‘After’) represents the best of scientific exploration. It will change the way we live our lives.’ — Barbara Bradley Hagerty, M.L.S
You are welcome to ask questions and explore these subjects further.
NB. This is a stand-alone workshop; it is not necessary for you to have attended the conference to participate.
Date & Time
Tuesday 27th September
Time: TBC
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: NZ$30
To book a seat email: marlahughes116@gmail.com
Please arrive 5 minutes early to log in, check your sound, say hello and get settled.
Tuesday 27th September

Workshop with David Garb and Melanie Mayell
Date With Death
David has been facilitating workshops over the past 22 years for various groups, and has focused specifically on adolescent workshops. These have been run in New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, USA and Canada.
He has a Masters of Education degree in Counselling, a Bachelors of Social Science in psychology and sociology, a Diploma in Special Education and a Diploma in Waldorf Education. He is currently working as a trainer for tertiary institutions, and in private practice as a counsellor and therapist.
Melanie Mayell has been hosting death conversations in the community for the last 7 years via the Chch Death Cafe.
Together David and Melanie have created the Date With Death workshop to help you lighten up about death, talk about it more easily and bust some taboos. This workshop is an interactive conversational process; just bring an open mind and a sense of humour.
Wednesday 28th September

Workshop with Psychic Medium Jacqueline Mitchell
Touching Heaven
For over 20 years Jacqueline has been facilitating workshops to guide people into greater self-awareness of our innate connection to spirit.
This workshop will give you tools and techniques so you can communicate with Spirit yourself. It will also include helpful meditations, discussion and further explanations of how things work in the spirit realms.
Date & Time
Wednesday Sept 28, 2022
10am - 4pm
Cost: $150
Space is limited to 18 people
To book a seat please email Jacqueline directly: 4spiritualsouls@gmail.com
Venue: Rahotu Sanctuary, Tai Tapu, Chch
Please bring your own lunch
Thursday 29th September


Workshop with Valerie Wycoff & Majida Jean McElhaney
Finding Life Within Death
Valerie and Majida Jean love to connect with people through dialogue. Coincidentally, they are both Nebraskan by birth. Both are Certified Trainers through the Centre for Nonviolent Communication. They each offer coaching, counselling and workshops to enhance connection, freedom, and new possibilities. They offered this workshop to glowing reviews in Christchurch in 2019.
Valerie lives in Christchurch, where she directs Reflections Threshold Singers, a group which provides trios to “make kindness audible,” at the bedsides of people in the last stages of life.
Majida Jean completed the residential death doula training through Doorway into Light (Maui, Hawaii, USA). She is also an ordained interspiritual minister and a psychosynthesis guide, with experience in the field of trauma, mediation, and transforming difficult emotions.
We warmly invite you to explore what death means for our lives, through facilitated conversation, interactive exercises, and self-reflection.
It is our hope that you will leave with:
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an expanded view of your beliefs about death and their impact
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a deeper appreciation for life and living
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an uplifted sense that you are not alone with your questions
Date & Time
Thursday Sept 29, 2022
10am - 5pm
Cost: $150. Includes morning and afternoon tea
Early price until August 31, $120
To book a seat please email Valerie directly: valerie@bodyvoicealive.nz
Venue: Valerie's home teaching space, Bodyvoice Alive, Ilam, Christchurch
Please bring your own lunch
Friday 30th Sept - Sunday 2nd Oct

Deathwalker Training with Zenith Virago
Deathwalker Training
The in person non-residential Trainings are over 3 days and cover the whole spectrum including illness, dying & death, sudden death, body care, ceremony, disposal and on into bereavement and loss. They culminate in a small ceremony for those who have died. A hybrid of old and new ways of being present, real and beneficial at a challenging time.
Available and appropriate for everyone – for your own personal journey, a family member or friend, to increase professional skills or if you feel you have a calling to some or all aspects of this work.
Everyone has the capacity and courage to do death well. Each of us bring our own rich life experience and this training honours and builds on the awareness and strength that we are all intrinsically have to do this work for ourselves and others.
By nurturing, enhancing and strengthening your inherent capacity and gaining legal and practical knowledge and skills, any concerns or fears can be transformed. This allows you and others to make preferred and informed choices during the various stages of the death and dying process.
Zenith Virago is a leader in this field and has pioneered the concept of empowered continual care at end of life. As a professional Deathwalker for over 25 years she brings integrity, experience and wisdom. The NDCC is a registered charity and works for education, authenticity and empowerment in death, dying and loss.
The in person Deathwalker Training includes:
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Exploring & Embracing Death
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Preparation & Advocacy
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Caring for & being with the Dying (Doula work)
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Funeral Arrangements & D.I.Y
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Ceremony, structure & content
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Ritual & Rite of Passage,
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Bereavement, Loss & Growth
Deathwalker NZ#1 - Date & Time
Friday Sept 30 - Sunday October 2, 2022
9:30am - 4:30pm, daily over 3 days
To book please email Zenith directly: zenithvirago@gmail.com
Location: Rahotu Sanctuary, Tai Tapu, Christchurch
This class is now full - due to high demand a second event has been added below
Deathwalker NZ#2 - Date & Time