Author Archives: Antal Polony (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

What is PAWS? An Interview with Tara Whitefield

How one organization aids the sick and elderly by offering animal companionship

Tara Whitefield is the Director of Companion Animal Services at PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support), a San Francisco-based, privately funded non-profit that facilitates animal companionship for the physically ill and socially marginalized throughout the Bay Area. She sat down with … Continue reading

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Jewish Burial Practices, Today and Yesterday

Taharah, or ritual purification, prepares the person who passed, and their loved ones, for the next stage of existence

In classic Orthodox Jewish tradition, the newly passed are treated much like the newly born. That is, they are ritualistically purified in accordance with an elaborate sacred Jewish custom called the Taharah, and therefore prepared for their next stage of … Continue reading

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What is the Conversation Project? – An Interview with Martha Hayward

The Conversation Project seeks to share and encourage end-of-life discussion

Martha Hayward is the Lead for Public and Patient Engagement at the Conversation Project, a Boston-based non-profit “dedicated to helping people talk about their end-of-life wishes.” The Conversation Project offers conversation-starters, information resources, and a venue for users around the … Continue reading

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Hinduism: How the World’s Oldest Religion Is Not, Strictly Speaking, a Religion

Hindu death rituals are carefully defined and lovingly observed

Every culture, and every person within that culture, has a different way of dealing with death. A different set of rules, beliefs, practices, personal and societal rituals, strategies for dealing with the inevitable trauma and equally inevitable aftermath. Hinduism, the … Continue reading

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“The Secret Life of Bees,” by Sue Monk Kidd

A young girl grapples with her mother’s death and the universal problem of growing up

Growing up has never been easy for any one. In Sue Monk Kidd’s critically acclaimed first novel The Secret Life of Bees, her protagonist, Lily Owens, does so in the midst of the Deep South’s Civil Rights revolt. The memory … Continue reading

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How to deal with Grief? – An Interview with Ken Breniman

How the practice of yoga can aid the grieving process

Ken Breniman is a yoga therapist based out of San Francisco. His studio focuses on classes specifically designed to those with physical impairments, and those grappling with difficult emotions, which oftentimes become one and the same. He teaches a special … Continue reading

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