Conversations on Death

Lorena Alvarez Ruiz

This podcast explores death, dying, and the afterlife from multiple perspectives - physical, psychological, spiritual, ethical, historical, societal, and more. Join me on my mission to make death less taboo by bringing forward the many lessons death can teach the living, so that we can live more intentional and purposeful lives.

  • 33 minutes 17 seconds
    Filming the End-of-Life with Elyse Neiman Seiter

    Elyse Neiman Seiter is an Emmy-Award winning TV producer/director with over 20 years experience producing shows for various networks including MTV, Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel. She became interested in death and dying after her own brush with cancer as a young mom, which woke her up to what was truly important in her own life. Elyse founded Mindful Films, a boutique production house dedicated to producing films/TV and digital content about stories of awakening, and is passionate about bringing this type of narrative medicine to the world. In 2023, Elyse completed a year-long course at the NY Zen Center on contemplative care and end-of-life, and is a regular hospice volunteer.

    On today's episode, we talked about documenting the end-of-life process through film and about Riding Home, a documentary about Caryl, a dynamic Vermont horse trainer who confronts end-of-life with honesty, grace, and an irreverent sense of humor.

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    Connect with Elyse!
    Instagram
    Kickstarter
    Website
    More about RIDING HOME
    Emails directed to [email protected]

    Resources
    NY Zen Center's Contemplative Care Program
    End-of-life planning resources and end-of-life options by state

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    30 April 2024, 10:00 pm
  • 38 minutes 25 seconds
    Necrophilia Laws with Dr. John Troyer

    Dr. John Troyer is the Death Studies Scholar at Large and Overlord of Death in the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath in the UK. He's also the co-founder of the Death Reference Desk website, the Future Cemetery Project, and a frequent commentator for the BBC. His most recent book Technologies of the Human Corpse was published by The MIT Press in May 2020.

    On this episode, we tackle a very controversial topic - necrophilia. We talk about famous cases, laws in the US and other parts of the world, the future of these laws... all the things you've ever wanted to learn about but felt too weird to Google. Enjoy!

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    Connect with John!

    Get his book!
    Twitter
    Website

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    16 April 2024, 4:00 pm
  • 52 minutes 29 seconds
    Ghosts & The Supernatural with Marc Hartzman

    ABCnews.com has called Marc Hartzman "one of America's leading connoisseurs of the bizarre" and George Noory from Coast to Coast AM said he's "as bizarre as Robert Ripley." In addition to his books about UFOs, ghosts, Mars, Oliver Cromwell's embalmed head, weird things on eBay, sideshow performers, and unorthodox messages from God, Marc has written for Mental Floss, HuffPost, AOL Weird News, AllThatsInteresting.com, The Morbid Anatomy Online Journal, and Bizarre magazine. 

    On today's podcast we chat about ghosts, mediumship, the supernatural, haunted sites, spiritualism, the embalmed head of Oliver Cromwell, and a bunch of other goodies. Enjoy!
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    Connect with Marc!

    Get his books!
    Twitter/X
    Instagram
    Website

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    2 April 2024, 4:00 pm
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    Near Death Experience with Ray Catania

    Ray is an acclaimed author, metaphysical teacher, theorist, and coach. He is a survivor of a near-death experience (NDE) and has dedicated his life to helping others achieve their full potential. Ray's unique approach combines scientific theories with his own life experiences to reveal how anyone can harness the power of the mind, create their own reality, and BE Limitless!

    Learn how his NDE completely shifted his life and the way he views and understands the universe as a result of this NDE!

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    Connect with Paul!

    Get his books!
    Instagram
    Twitter
    Youtube
    Website

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    19 March 2024, 6:00 pm
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Collecting Morbid Oddities + Curiosities with Paul Gambino

    Paul Gambino has been an avid collector of the bizarre for over 25 years with an extensive collection of Victorian memorial photographs, antique funeria, mug shots, and vintage religious items.

    Paul is the author of some absolutely gorgeous books (which I recommend you get your hands on ASAP): MORBID CURIOSITIES: Collections of the Uncommon and the Bizarre, SKULLS: Portraits of the Dead and the Stories They Tell, and KILLER COLLECTIONS: Dark Artifacts from True Crime. In July of 2024 Paul will release his latest book, The Art of Gothic Living: Dark Decor for the Modern Macabre. 
     

    We chatted about collecting, got to know more about collectors, learned about dope ass collections, talked about mortality and death, the ethics of collecting, and bunch of other juicy shit you don't wanna miss! 

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    Connect with Paul!

    Get his books here!
    Instagram
    Website
    Facebook

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    5 March 2024, 3:00 am
  • 51 minutes 37 seconds
    The World of Whole Body Donation with Jackie Dent

    Jackie Dent is a journalist and an author. She's been writing fiction for years, but found success with non fiction and a much more personal story about her grandparents donating their bodies to science. She's the author of "The Great Dead Body Teachers".  Her journey began when she started to dive into the reasons why her paternal grandparents had donated their bodies to a university. 

    On this episode we cover everything from whole body donation, organ donation, who the donors are, dissection, to who the people behind making body donation possible are. Enjoy!

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    Connect with Jackie!

    Get the book!
    Website
    Facebook
    Instagram

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    20 February 2024, 6:00 pm
  • 1 hour 35 minutes
    Victorian Surgery with Dr. Monica Walker

    Today I talked to Dr. Monica Walker, the Engagement Manager at the Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret in London, which is the oldest surviving surgical theater in Europe. She sees herself as a storyteller that gets to bridge the gap between academia and the general public through the stories and collection of the museum which stands as the last remaining bastion of Old St Thomas' Hospital in its original location near London Bridge. In her spare time she is also a creative photographer and freelance writer for National Geographic: Historia. 

    We chat about history of the museum, of the hospital, victorian surgery, anatomy and dissection, bodysnatching, and about a lil something something that happened to me when I was visiting the museum last year! ;)

    Enjoy! But also... go visit because it's the coolest!

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    Connect with Monica + the Museum!

    Museum Website
    Museum Instagram
    Museum X
    Museum Youtube
    ~
    Monica's Instagram
    Monica's X

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    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    6 February 2024, 2:00 pm
  • 1 hour 18 minutes
    Near Death Experience with Natalie Sudman

    In 2006, Natalie Sudman went to Iraq, serving as a project engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While working in Iraq, the vehicle she was riding in was hit with a roadside bomb. Her book Application of Impossible Things vividly recounts her Near Death Experience when she went out of the body to the spirit world. There it was decided that her work on Earth was not done and with the help of spirit guides, they repaired the body so she could reenter it. 

    Before this experience, Natalie was dubious about anything that smacked of the paranormal. This experience made her a believer. She shares her story here to demonstrate that the paranormal is normal and to assist others who have had similar experiences.

    *Episode recorded in 2022*
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    Connect with Natalie!
    Website
    Application of Impossible Things (Book)
    Blog
    Facebook
    Information about readings

    __________________________
    Connect with me!

    Facebook
    Instagram
    Email Me

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    23 January 2024, 9:00 pm
  • 57 minutes 37 seconds
    Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Death with Megan Miller

    Megan Miller, PhD, RN (she/they) is a Registered Nurse and a faculty member in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. Megan’s work focuses on providing holistic, compassionate, and equitable palliative and supportive care. Her research examines the role of spirituality in supporting management of common cancer-related symptoms, and explores equitable, human-centered approaches to psilocybin-assisted therapy in the context of serious illness. She is the founder of the Creative Dying Project, a Death Café facilitator and a recent grad of the California Institute of Integral Studies Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research program.

    We chat about palliative care; psychedelic-assisted therapy as a supportive tool for facing illness, death, and grief; her preparation in working on a project (Creative Dying) to build a dying center where psychedelic therapy and other integrative therapies can be offered; and lastly, we chat about a conversation game about death that she co-created/launched.

    *Episode recorded in 2022*
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    Connect with Megan!

    Website: https://sites.google.com/view/megan-miller-phd-rn/home
    Creative Dying Game: https://www.creativedying.org/game
    Creative Dying Project: https://www.creativedying.org/
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    Get in touch!

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conversationsondeathpodcast/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conversationsondeath/
    Email: [email protected]

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    9 January 2024, 7:00 pm
  • 1 hour 18 minutes
    Our Digital Afterlife with Dr. Elaine Kasket

    Dr. Elaine Kasket is an expert on technology’s role within our work, individual psychology, and relationships. In a tech-dominated world, she helps her audiences and clients centre their humanity, nurture their connections with others, and maximize mindful, values-aligned personal and relational agency. She's a leading cyberpsychologist, inspiring keynote speaker, effective psychological/transformational coach, and seasoned storyteller.

    On this episode we dive into what our digital footprint is, the implications of having such a thing, its ethical concerns, and what we can do take back control of our data. 

    Elaine is the author of All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of Your Personal Data (Robinson, 2019), in which she argues that what happens to our data when we die is the perfect lens for understanding the true power big tech wields over our information and our identities.

    Her latest book is REBOOT: Reclaiming Your Life in a Tech-Obsessed World, in which Elaine explores how we can reclaim much of that power. At this juncture, with AI growing in strength and influence, Elaine explores how we can retain our fundamental humanity and nurture our relationships at every stage of life, and live more mindfully with and through technology.

    *Episode recorded in 2021* 
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    Connect with Elaine!

    Website: https://www.elainekasket.com/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elainekasketauthor/
    Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/elainekasket
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drelainekasket
    LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/elaine-kasket
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elainekasket
    Coaching and Therapy Practice Website: https://www.drelainekasket.com
    __________________________

    Get in touch!

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conversationsondeathpodcast/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conversationsondeath/
    Email: [email protected]

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    26 December 2023, 5:00 pm
  • 2 minutes 13 seconds
    Back from the dead!!!

    Podcast is coming back in December looking fresh with a new branddd! Woooo!

    Check out the new brand: https://www.instagram.com/conversationsondeath/

    Check out my brand + web design stuffs: https://www.instagram.com/design.by.lorena/

    Alsooo say hello! Hit me up and let me know what topics or which people you wanna hear next! :) 

    Support the podcast - donate to my tea fund here! ;)

    9 November 2023, 3:00 pm
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