Catharine DeLong on music as medicine at the end of life

Catharine DeLong is a music thanatologist—thanatology is the interdisciplinary study of dying, death, and grief—who plays the harp and sings for hospice patients as they approach the end of life.

She's also the facilitator of the Integrative Thanatology Certificate Program, which I completed last year, at The Open Center in New York City.

In this episode, I speak with Catharine about her compassionate and compelling work at the bedside of people who are dying, including her visit with my grandmother just hours before she died last year. You can connect with her at DeLong Harp or by email.

And, as usual, I share my daily mortality mantras with you. I say both to myself every morning, usually during the ice cold shower I take shortly after getting out of bed to help wake my groggy ass up and start the day off right. I hope they help you as much as they help me.

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Thanks for listening. Until next time, stay mortality minded.

(Music: Brass Beat by Blake © 2011 licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.)