Opening to Dying and Grieving Paperback 978-0-936663-40-1: $18.95 By Ron Valle and Mary Mohs 125 pages, soft cover This book is not about the why or the what of death and grief. It is about the how — how to be with and use the pain of loss in order to gain a deeper understanding of what lies beyond this realm of reality. Insightful and encouraging, this book poses as a guide for everyone who has encountered death firsthand. Examining death through the clear lens of spiritual growth, Opening to Dying and Grieving offers exercises and tools to encourage as well as enhance the process. The reader will learn that death is a key to discovering the sacred treasure that lies within.

With a new and more graceful handle on life and death, readers will come away from this guidebook with a better understanding and lessening of fear regarding the purpose of dying and grieving. If ever you have questioned the value of death upon life, and the weight that each pulls on the other, this text will leave you with a clearer insight into the cyclical events that bring each of us through existence.

Authors Ron Valle and Mary Mohs put a positive and healing spin on dying and grieving by concentrating on the great spiritual enlightenment that is possible through dealing with death. They remind us, as Swami Rama of the Himalayas taught, that death is merely a comma, and not a period, in our journey of life and to validate this by living in the “Now.” While sympathetically acknowledging the pain, depression, and emotional turmoil existent upon the event of a death, the authors present the healing good that comes from grieving. Valle and Mohs use and tweak ideas initially published by Levine, Kubler-Ross, and many others, to help make the process of grieving easier and more accessible to those who are having difficulty going through it. They offer exercises and other tools to help better accept and comprehend death.

Ron Valle is a professor, counselor, and author currently serving as co-director of Awakening: A Center for Exploring Living and Dying. Mary Mohs has worked with the dying and grieving for over twenty years. Currently Mary is a spiritual counselor, registered yoga teacher, and also serves as co-director of Awakening. Both Ron and Mary facilitate various workshops regarding the sacredness of Living, Dying and Grieving.