TLC Transitional Life Care
A Vajrayana Buddhist education and support program offering spiritual resources for the end of life transition.
DEEP CHAT
TLC Supporting Change
Caring for End of Life Transitions in the Buddhist Tradition
Participants in TLC's Oregon Deep Chat Group-in person & via Zoom
Welcome to Deep Chat, TLC’s open dialogue focused on loss, impermanence, preparing for transition, and what we can gain from learning to work with them. All traditions are welcome, though the Buddhist viewpoint will be embraced. Confidentiality is essential.
We live in times that constantly remind us of impermanence, regarded as a most poignant truth by the Buddhist teachings. This can be a challenge to talk about. Everything we're familiar with: the world, our lives, the earth, our families, and our bodies all continue to change. The transitions of this life begin with birth and evolve into all we become. The truth of loss is ever-present, as is the wisdom of accepting and integrating it into our lives. With candor and insight from an understanding community, we’ll find we're able to support ourselves and each other, and that we're not alone.
TLC's Deep Chat Groups aspire to educate and offer support in a community environment that relies on openness. Contemplation and meditation are included. Our subjects of discussion embrace the many challenges posed by impermanence, not only the dying process and death itself, but the ongoing transitions we experience in our day-to-day lives. Our forums for discussion are offered with the understanding that participants make a personal commitment to attend on a reasonably regular monthly basis. Due to the inward focus and engagement needed to create a self-sustaining community based on trust, we ask that participants respect this request. Facilitation is shared and topics of conversation vary.
Pre-registration is mandatory for participation.
Deep Chat is not a "drop-in" gathering - a commitment to attend regularly is involved.
Each Deep Chat Group takes place once per month.
Currently via Zooming from the San Francisco Bay Area on various Mondays: 6:00-8:00 pm. PST,
Ashland, OR on the 2nd Mondays: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. PST,
Sonoma County and other parts of California and Colorado on the 3rd Thursdays: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. PST
If you're interested in participating on a monthly basis, for more info contact:
Ashland, Oregon area – Leslie Crabtree, TLC Board, at bunyip@earthlink.net
San Francisco, East Bay, & other areas – Director, Julie Rogers, at tlcserves@gmail.com
We currently have a waiting list but please feel free contact us.
This gathering is a free offering to the community, though
donations to TLC Transitional Life Care will be gratefully accepted.
DEEP CHAT TESTIMONIALS
“I’ve gotten a lot out of the Deep Chats and deeply appreciate the effort to make them possible.”
Roger Hardy, San Francisco, CA
“Wonderful Deep Chat yesterday! Beautifully presented and orchestrated, with inviting subject matter and great participants. THANK YOU!!” Susan Goldberg, Ashland, OR
“Today's Deep Chat was very inspiring.” Ani Yeshe – Stephanie Cook, Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies, Ashland, OR
“I have found that Deep Chat a offers a safe and unique environment for sharing experiences of life and end of life – agonizing, painful, joyful, funny, whatever comes up. Each session poses a question for contemplation, and we are invited to share our deepest responses with one another. Sometimes it’s a poem, a personal story, or a creative way in which we met a challenge, or processed a loss; no matter what - I feel held and enriched in the moment, and walk away feeling more like a human being, met, supported and inspired.” Tara Roberts, End of Life Coach, San Rafael, CA
“I have attended many Deep Chat gatherings since we began them in Ashland. I have found Deep Chat to be a safe and nurturing space to discuss loss, dying and death. Wide-ranging in scope, yet also focused because loss is a pervasive theme in our lives, Deep Chat is a refuge for people who are looking for meaning as each of us we face our futures and seek conversation with others in a place of speaking and listening.” Leslie Crabtree, TLC Organizer, Ashland, OR
“My experience in Deep Chat has been exemplary. A lot of difficult topics are discussed, loss, impermanence, and death. The participants are authentically sharing personal experiences that are very moving. The idea is to open communication about life’s difficulties and support each other. It’s a very vulnerable place, but feels totally safe.” Carol Veilleux, TLC Board President, Brisbane, CA
“When making the visceral discovery that impermanence is real through loss of a love one or a pet, or finding out that you have a terminal illness; to have a sounding board to relate one's thoughts and feelings and to be able to coalesce one's experience into a tangible, relatable form is a gift. The Deep Chat has given me that platform. It is also gifting me with the knowledge and experiences of others who find themselves in the same place. What it then affords is a vehicle to take that shared knowing, based within the Dharma, to others who need support and compassion when approaching the end of their lives or confronting the reality of terminal illness.” Christine Rossi, Bay Area Tara Mandala, Berkeley, CA
“At first I wasn’t sure if Deep Chat was right for me, as I am not of or raised around the practice of the Buddha. However, I soon found that Deep Chat transcends ALL beliefs and focuses on the inevitable, what happens when the body temple dies. I got a lot of insights, and the fear of the unknown is no longer fearful.” Dee Miller, Denver, CO
"Deep Chat has surrounded me with a community I've longed for - an open-hearted, authentic, diverse group of folks who are willing to reach far through taboos to get into the heart of things. It's truly a relief and an honor to be present for each other, to finally talk about the fleeting nature of this world and all that moves through it. Our gatherings, whether in person or online, inform and enrich my life. Here is the Dharma - for everyone. I am so grateful for this experience." Julie Rogers, TLC Founder and Director, Oakland, CA